Chapter 191 — Progress and Lessons
In the backyard of Chiyo's residence, beside a quiet pond, she and Ebizo sat leisurely fishing.
The chaos raging outside seemed to have nothing to do with them.
Even the visit from the acting Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, was met with complete indifference.
That alone spoke volumes.
"Elder Chiyo, the village is in uproar. Are you really just going to ignore it?" Rasa asked, his patience long gone after watching them fish for an entire hour.
Chiyo glanced at him calmly. "Ignore it? The situation has already reached this point—what is there left to hesitate about?"
Ebizo added, "If you want something, you must give something up. Since you chose this path, why hesitate now?"
Rasa fell silent.
They were right.
Sunagakure wanted to take a bite out of Konoha—yet didn't want to strike first.
Such a perfect outcome simply didn't exist.
If they didn't give the village an outlet soon, internal tensions would explode first. And at that point, it wouldn't be about attacking Konoha anymore—it would be about whether Sunagakure itself would collapse.
Rasa had come here seeking their approval.
Now, he had it.
That meant only one thing—
The war could begin.
Soon after, rumors began spreading rapidly throughout Sunagakure.
Konoha had failed to honor its alliance.
Konoha had conspired with Iwagakure to assassinate the Third Kazekage.
Konoha had secretly attacked Sunagakure forces during the war.
Whether true or not didn't matter.
What mattered was the effect.
In a short time, a wave of hostility toward Konoha took shape—silent, festering, waiting.
And soon… it would erupt.
Back in Konoha, inside Taichi's home—
After nearly a month of relentless effort, Taichi had finally achieved a breakthrough in modifying the Flying Thunder God Technique.
But reality had forced a compromise.
His original vision—fully integrating detection, feedback, and reverse summoning into a seamless system—was still out of reach.
The missing piece?
Automatic detection.
Not because he couldn't do it—but because he didn't have enough time.
Another month, and he likely could have completed it.
But time had run out.
That very day, an order had arrived from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Taichi's squad was being redeployed.
Not as a mission team this time—but as part of the regular army.
Departure: tomorrow morning.
So Taichi had no choice but to stop.
What he had now was a semi-finished version.
Instead of fully automatic activation, it required manual triggering.
He looked at the newly modified Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand.
Without the detection module, the user had to actively inject chakra into the mark to summon him.
Not perfect—
But more than enough for now.
And beyond this invention, his growth over the past month had been remarkable.
All aspects of his abilities had improved steadily.
Wind and Water Release had finally caught up to Fire Release, reaching a new level. Even his Ice Release saw a massive leap forward.
A double victory.
With this foundation, Taichi felt confident.
Even facing someone like Madara Uchiha in his final moments—
Winning might be impossible.
But surviving?
Easy.
With that confidence, Taichi headed to the hospital.
When he found Nonō Yakushi, she was once again teaching a new batch of trainees.
The previous group had already been sent to the southern front.
Konoha Hospital now resembled a factory.
New recruits were rushed through basic training and sent to war.
The talented would survive and grow.
The rest…
would become names on a memorial stone.
Taichi pulled Nonō aside into her office and handed her one of the modified kunai.
"This is a special Flying Thunder God kunai," he said. "If you're ever in danger, inject chakra into it. I'll come immediately."
Nonō looked at it in surprise.
Then frowned slightly.
If the situation was truly that dangerous… what could Taichi do even if he arrived?
Seeing her hesitation, Taichi added seriously:
"You might not know how strong I am now. With Flying Thunder God—even if I can't win, I can always escape. So if you're in danger—call me."
She looked into his eyes.
There was no hesitation there.
Only certainty.
"…Alright," she said softly. "I will."
Only then did Taichi feel at ease.
With both the sealing Tags and Flying Thunder God as safeguards—
Unless the enemy could kill her instantly—
He would always have a chance to save her.
That alone made the past month of exhaustion worthwhile.
But the calm didn't last.
That very afternoon—
War came.
A declaration spread across Konoha and the entire ninja world.
Sunagakure accused Konoha of failing its alliance during the Sand–Stone war…
…and officially declared war.
The excuse was flimsy.
Anyone with sense could see it—
This was a coordinated move with Iwagakure.
At the same time, urgent intelligence arrived from Jiraiya.
Three thousand Sand shinobi, led by Rasa, had already entered the Land of Rivers.
Fighting had begun.
In an instant, tension engulfed Konoha.
Until now, war had been distant—just rumors from the borders.
Now, it was real.
Shops raised prices overnight.
Civilians rushed to stockpile supplies.
Fear spread like wildfire.
Taichi walked through the chaotic streets, watching silently.
This panic would pass.
But it revealed something deeper—
The fear of war ran through everyone.
Suddenly—
An ANBU operative wearing an animal mask appeared before him.
"Special Jōnin Matsushita Taichi. By order of the Hokage—assemble your squad immediately. Reinforcements depart in one hour."
Taichi froze for a brief moment.
So it had begun.
"No time wasted… the front must be critical already."
He straightened.
"Yes. Understood."
The ANBU vanished instantly.
Taichi turned—
And without hesitation, began moving.
War had arrived.
Taichi didn't dare waste a second.
Time was critical.
He immediately created two shadow clones to notify Yōhei and Saori, while his main body rushed back home. He quickly gathered everything he had prepared—medicines, kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, spare short blades.
This wasn't a mission he'd be returning from in a month or two.
On the battlefield, preparation meant survival.
Especially his specially crafted medicines—those were life-saving assets. Once at the front, even if he had the skills, he might not be able to find the materials to recreate them.
By the time he finished packing, there was no time left to spare.
He immediately headed for the village gate.
By then, over a hundred shinobi had already gathered.
They stood in small groups, discussing Sunagakure's declaration of war.
Some were furious, cursing Sunagakure for its betrayal.
Some were excited, eager to earn glory in battle.
Others were anxious, quietly worrying about whether they would survive.
When Taichi arrived, this was the scene that greeted him.
Overall, morale in Konoha was high.
After all, just two months ago, under Jiraiya's command, the southern front had dealt Sunagakure a crushing blow.
Now that war had reignited, Konoha's shinobi still carried that confidence.
It didn't take long for Taichi to spot his squad.
They were gathered with Kakashi Hatake's team, and as expected—
Yōhei and Obito were arguing heatedly.
Obito's face was flushed red, clearly worked up.
Taichi walked closer and listened for a moment—
Then immediately understood.
Yōhei was "educating" Obito again.
Just… in a rather ruthless way.
"Obito, I've always heard you're popular," Yōhei said exaggeratedly. "Didn't expect all your admirers to be grandmas!"
"Wh—who said that?!" Obito shot back, flailing. "I just happened to run into a few elderly ladies today! They needed help—of course I helped!"
Hearing that, Kakashi rolled his eyes, while Rin smiled helplessly.
This was… completely on-brand for Obito.
Only Saori looked confused, unable to follow what was going on.
"If I hadn't run into you," Yōhei continued, his tone turning colder, "you'd probably still be helping old ladies cross the street—and who knows when you'd finally show up."
Obito still didn't get it.
"It's fine! I would've made it in time! It's just crossing the street—it doesn't take long!"
At this point, even Kakashi and Rin grew serious.
They could tell—
This wasn't just teasing.
Yōhei was trying to correct him.
And as shinobi, lacking a sense of time…
could get you killed.
"What if this wasn't just a gathering, but a battlefield?" Yōhei pressed on.
"What if you were late and got labeled a deserter?"
His voice sharpened.
"What if Rin was fighting for her life, waiting for backup—and you were late?"
"What then?"
"I heard you're often late because you're helping people. Is that what you call 'making it in time'?"
Each word struck like a blade.
Obito froze.
His mouth opened—but no words came out.
The image of Rin lying in a pool of blood flashed through his mind.
His chest tightened.
"I… I… that won't happen… how could it…"
He couldn't even finish a sentence.
Rin couldn't bear to watch anymore and tried to speak—
But Kakashi stopped her.
This was a rare opportunity.
If Obito didn't fix this flaw now, it could cost him—or someone else—their life.
"You need to understand your limits," Yōhei continued mercilessly.
"If you like helping people so much, why not learn the Shadow Clone Technique?"
"Don't tell me you can't learn it—you just never tried."
"Doesn't that say something about your mindset?"
His gaze turned sharp.
"This is wartime now."
"If you keep going like this—what do you want to see first?"
"Your own corpse on the battlefield… or Rin's? Or Kakashi's?"
"Stop… please… stop…"
Obito covered his ears, his earlier bravado completely gone.
He looked utterly defeated.
Not far away, Taichi watched quietly.
Seeing that Yōhei had pushed far enough, he stepped forward and gently patted his shoulder—signaling him to stop.
Any further, and Obito might genuinely break.
Yōhei took a deep breath, calming himself.
Truthfully, he was still irritated.
Earlier that day, he had run into Obito not long after leaving home—
And personally watched him help three different elderly women find their way.
If Yōhei hadn't dragged him here himself, who knew what else Obito would've gotten sidetracked by?