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Hidden Leaf Village. The towering main gates cast long shadows in the afternoon spring sun.
Team Taiichi—all four members covered in dust, their clothes stiff with dried blood, unable to hide their exhaustion—finally set foot back on this familiar, welcoming ground.
Looking at the massive gates, Yohei let out a long breath. It was like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Finally... finally back!" he rasped, his voice rough. "Just seeing those gates makes me feel like my bones are gonna fall apart!"
He stretched his stiff limbs, his eyes heavy with the deep fatigue that only came from a long-term deployment.
Saori nodded in agreement. Unlike their previous missions, this one required high-intensity vigilance from start to finish. The actual combat time wasn't that long, but keeping your nerves strung tight 24/7 was what truly drained a person.
"Yeah, outside was... way too tense. Only the village lets you actually breathe."
Kazema didn't say anything. He just stared silently at the giant Leaf symbol, his eyes filled with complex emotions. This mission had shaken him harder than any other in his life.
From struggling to keep up with the team's rhythm at the start, to barely managing to coordinate kills with them by the end—this past month had been a baptism by fire. His combat power had grown by leaps and bounds.
But it also made him realize just how massive the gap was between him and these little "monsters" in front of him. The only reason he made it back alive was because these kids actually cared about their teammates.
Taiichi scanned his exhausted squad. His eyes were full of pride. As the captain, he carried the heaviest burden, but bringing his friends back from a meat grinder like that with all their limbs attached? That was his definition of a perfect mission.
"Let's go. We're heading in!"
Passing through the thick, heavy gates, the noisy, peaceful atmosphere of the village hit them like a physical wave. It was a stark contrast to the lethal, blood-soaked border lines. Shopkeepers yelling out deals, kids laughing and playing—everything screamed safety.
At the first major intersection on the main road, Taiichi stopped.
"Saori, Yohei, Kazema." He looked at each of them in turn. "I'll handle the mission debrief. You guys—" He paused, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Go straight home, wash up, and sleep!"
The three of them blinked, then understood exactly what he meant. Smiles broke out on their faces.
"Understood, Captain!" they chorused.
The bowstring that had been pulled tight for a month finally went slack. Yohei practically sprinted toward his house immediately. Saori and Kazema nodded to each other and quickly left, their figures vanishing into the bustling crowd.
Watching them go, Taiichi took a deep breath of the air—smelling food cooking and regular life. The exhaustion seemed to hit him a little harder, but his eyes sharpened, regaining their intense focus.
Filing the mission report was a captain's final duty.
He turned and marched with heavy steps toward the center of power in the Hidden Leaf: the Hokage Tower.
Inside the Hokage's Office.
Pushing open the heavy doors, Taiichi saw Hiruzen Sarutobi buried under a mountain of paperwork. The escalating border conflicts meant the Hokage had an endless stream of documents to process.
The air in the office was surprisingly clean—a clear sign he hadn't even had time to smoke.
"Taiichi, hold on a second. Let me finish signing this," Hiruzen said casually without looking up. The tone was familiar, but it also highlighted just how insanely busy the Hokage was.
Taiichi waited quietly, letting his eyes wander around the office. Every Hokage decorated the room a little differently. Maybe because he was getting older, the Third had a lot of historical photos on the walls. Pictures of the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and mostly photos of Hiruzen with his own teammates and the Sannin.
Among them, Taiichi spotted a photo of his own teacher, Tsunade, from her younger days. She looked so vibrant and full of youth back then.
"What, looking at your teacher's photo? Any thoughts?" Hiruzen's voice broke his train of thought.
"My teacher was really gorgeous when she was young!" Taiichi blurted out without thinking.
Hiruzen had to fight back a laugh, probably recalling some terrible, embarrassing memory of Tsunade.
"War is about to start. I wonder how Tsunade is doing right now," Hiruzen said, his face clouding with genuine worry. He looked like a master deeply concerned for his student.
Taiichi sneered internally. She's been gone this long, and you haven't asked me about her once. Besides, you're the Hokage—don't tell me you don't know exactly how she's doing?
While he was mentally roasting the Hokage, what came out of his mouth was entirely different. "Based on our recent letters, she should be in the Land of Demons, but she still has no plans to come back."
Hiruzen's face dimmed. The village desperately needed manpower, yet Tsunade—the Hokage's own student—refused to return. Whether for the Hidden Leaf or for him personally as the Third Hokage, it was a silent, crushing blow.
Fortunately, Tsunade's current relationship with the village was classified at the highest level. Very few people actually knew the truth.
Hiruzen looked at the young man standing in front of him and couldn't help but sigh. Tsunade really took in an incredible student. He had inherited her medical ninjutsu flawlessly, and his combat power was just as terrifying.
Thinking about Jiraiya's student, Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen felt a sliver of hope. The future of the Leaf rested in the hands of these young kids.
But for now, I can still hold the line for a few more years. Give them time to grow.
Taiichi had no idea what the Hokage was thinking, otherwise he would have found a new way to mentally trash him.
He pulled out the prepared debrief scroll and handed it over, verbally reporting their combat record at the same time.
Even though he had already read the ANBU reports on Team Taiichi's kill count, hearing it directly from Taiichi still made Hiruzen slightly shocked.
One month. Thirteen skirmishes. Four Jonin and twenty-six Chunin killed in action.
That record was easily the best performance of any Leaf squad since the year began. Especially those four Jonin. Jonin were the core military strength of any ninja village. Losing four in one go was enough to make the Sand Village bleed.
And just as Hiruzen suspected, when that lone, surviving Sand Jonin managed to drag himself back to base, his report immediately grabbed the attention of Sand High Command.
They had specifically formed that elite hit squad to hunt down the Leaf's black ops teams operating behind enemy lines. The fact that the hunters became the hunted was brutally ironic.
It was also the exact reason why Team Taiichi's kill rate dropped so drastically later on. The enemy realized there was an untouchable monster operating in that sector and intentionally avoided them.
"You've worked hard, Taiichi. Your squad did an excellent job. Because of your slaughter, the border facing the Land of Wind is much more stable. The village can now redeploy forces to other fronts."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage. It was all thanks to my teammates putting their lives on the line."
It was the truth. In the current pre-war standoff, the Sand Village couldn't afford to dump more heavy hitters onto the Leaf border. The remaining, low-level infiltration attempts could easily be handled by ANBU and the frontline outposts.
Plus, if that elite Sand squad had been allowed to run wild behind Leaf lines, the damage would have been catastrophic. It was sheer luck they bumped into Team Taiichi the moment they deployed. That was the real value of their mission.
Hiruzen thought for a moment before making a decision. "Your squad's performance was outstanding. The village needs to show its appreciation. Let's do this: your mission payout will be calculated as one S-Rank and four A-Rank missions."
"An S-Rank? Thank you, Lord Hokage!" Taiichi raised an eyebrow, a genuine smile breaking across his face.
One S-Rank and four A-Ranks. Even split four ways, each of them was walking away with two to three million Ryo. That was serious cash.
But the money was just a surface-level reward. The official mission record was the real prize. Having a completed S-Rank mission on his file gave Taiichi the security clearance to exchange for a massive amount of A-Rank ninjutsu from the village vaults.
Leaving the Hokage's Office, the fatigue finally showed on Taiichi's face.
He was exhausted. Running missions was draining, and dealing with the Hokage was just as bad. Ever since the White Fang incident, Taiichi felt that whatever thin connection he had with Hiruzen—built entirely on Tsunade—had basically vanished.
You only truly understood the danger of a situation when you lived through it. Hiruzen's reckless manipulation during the White Fang scandal proved one thing to Taiichi: the future of the Hidden Leaf absolutely could not be trusted to the current leadership.
No wonder Tsunade refused to come back, no matter how much he tried to talk her into it.
Hanging around these "parasites" wasn't going to fix the Leaf. The only person he could rely on was himself. But right now, he was still in his growth phase. He had to be patient and wait for his era to arrive.
Walking down from the Hokage Tower and turning a corner, Taiichi bumped into two people he didn't expect to see.
"Master Jiraiya, Lord Orochimaru!" Both men were wearing full combat gear, walking toward him. Taiichi's gaze swept over Orochimaru before locking onto Jiraiya.
Orochimaru gave a slight nod. Jiraiya, on the other hand, let out a loud laugh.
"Yo, Taiichi! Just get back from a mission?"
"Yes, sir. Just finished debriefing with the Hokage, heading home to crash. What's going on with you guys?"
Taiichi asked, genuinely curious. Based on their gear, they were deploying.
Jiraiya didn't hide it. He clapped Taiichi on the shoulder and said flatly, "Just going to say bye to the old man. We're heading to the front lines."
"So it's finally come to this," Taiichi sighed. War meant a massive body count. But he quickly shoved those dark thoughts aside and plastered a bright smile on his face.
"Then congratulations to you both. May your martial luck be strong! I assume you're heading up as Supreme Commanders for the front lines?"
"Haha, you sure know how to talk, kid!" Jiraiya laughed, hands on his hips, clearly loving the sound of that.
Orochimaru also wore a confident smirk.
Supreme Commander of a war front was the absolute best way to build a resume and farm prestige. Right now, Orochimaru was very interested in the Hokage seat and fully intended to compete with Jiraiya for it.
Taiichi knew exactly how that story ended, but he could only offer a moment of silence for them in his head. Hiruzen wasn't the type to give up power that easily. There was a lot of messy politics waiting for them.
"Master Jiraiya, I'll head out then. I won't hold you up from seeing the Hokage." Taiichi looked dead on his feet, actively excusing himself.
"Go, go. Get some sleep!"
Watching Taiichi walk away, Orochimaru finally spoke, his voice carrying that signature raspy hiss. "Jiraiya, when did you take Taiichi Matsushita on as a student? Aren't you worried Tsunade will come back and murder you?"
"Haha! You were literally there when she dumped him on me!" Jiraiya boasted, completely ignoring the fact that Tsunade had basically threatened his life to make it happen.
Orochimaru didn't care. As a lifelong friend, he knew exactly how full of crap Jiraiya was. Staring at Taiichi's retreating back, Orochimaru murmured, "His power spiked hard. Standing next to him just now... I actually felt a trace of threat."
Jiraiya froze. He hadn't noticed that at all. But a second later, his booming laugh echoed so loud even the Hokage upstairs probably heard it. "That's my student for you! Making his master look good!"
Stepping into his house after a month away, Taiichi casually sealed off the noise of the outside world and headed straight for the bathroom.
Sleeping in the dirt and breathing blood for a month... even with the supply drops at the outposts, it was barely enough to stay sane. Right now, the only thing that could fix him was scalding hot water.
Taiichi expertly filled the tub, peeled off his dirt-caked, blood-stained clothes, and slowly sank his exhausted body into the water.
"Hssss... ahhh..."
The burning comfort wrapped around him instantly. His hyper-tense muscles melted under the heat. It felt like every single pore on his body was sighing in relief.
Taiichi closed his eyes, resting his head on a warm towel. He let the heat swallow him. This was an absolute, perfectly safe luxury he couldn't even dream of on the border.
With his nerves finally unwinding, Taiichi's mind slowly kicked back into gear. Eyes still closed, he pulled up his system interface to check his loot for the month.
> [Congratulations, your Chunin Job Level has increased to Lv5]
> [Attribute Point +1, Skill Point +1]
A month of non-stop slaughtering enemies had pushed his job level up by one. But his biggest gains were his existing skills—he had finally grinded a few of them up to the absolute cap of Lv10.
> [Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Lv10 Maxed, Fire Nature Transformation EXP +1000]
> [Water Wall Lv10 Maxed, Water Nature Transformation EXP +1000]
> [Mystical Palm Jutsu Lv10 Maxed, Yang Nature Transformation EXP +1000, Chakra Control EXP +1000]
Following his Fire Nature Transformation, his Chakra Control became his second base skill to break the Lv10 ceiling. It was currently sitting at Lv11 (1243/3000).
Hitting Lv11 in Chakra Control caused a massive, tangible shift in his combat output. He could distinctly feel that casting any ninjutsu now cost at least 10% less chakra, while the raw destructive power increased by 10%.
That massive swing in efficiency meant Taiichi's raw combat power and his ability to sustain a long firefight just jumped up an entire tier.
But that wasn't even the best part. Right now, Taiichi had this vague, lingering sensation. The Bloodline Limit he had been obsessing over but couldn't figure out? He felt like he could finally attempt it.
That absolute, god-like feeling of total chakra manipulation made him realize that fusing two elemental chakra natures wasn't actually an impossible task anymore.
Sure, knowing you can do it in your head and actually making your hands pull it off were two different things. But having that instinct meant Taiichi finally had a clear direction to grind toward.
Thinking about it, Taiichi couldn't stay in the tub a second longer. He scrubbed down in record time, threw on some clothes, and bolted out to his private training ground. A Bloodline Limit! He had waited so long for this. He finally had a shot at touching that kind of power.
On the training ground, Taiichi immediately activated the perimeter ward. This was strictly to block anyone from spying on him.
He closed his eyes and pulled up his system panel, looking at the exact breakdown of his current base skills.
> Fire Nature Transformation Lv12 (323/4000)
> Wind Nature Transformation Lv10 (1312/2000)
> Water Nature Transformation Lv10 (123/2000)
> Earth Nature Transformation Lv6 (403/1000)
> Lightning Nature Transformation Lv6 (258/1000)
> Yang Nature Transformation Lv9 (856/1600)
> Yin Nature Transformation Lv7 (131/1000)
Ignoring the lower-level Earth, Lightning, Yang, and Yin natures, he was left with his absolute highest stat—Fire—and his secondary tier elements: Wind and Water.
Fire + Wind equals Scorch Style. Fire + Water equals Boil Style. Wind + Water equals Ice Style.
Scorch and Boil were absolute powerhouses for raw damage, but Taiichi was fully confident his base Fire Style was just as lethal as either of them. But Ice Style? Combining offense, absolute defense, and insane utility into one package?
That was exactly the Bloodline Limit Taiichi wanted most.