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Not far away, three figures were breaking down a tent. One of them kept fumbling with the poles, earning eye-rolls and sharp jabs from his teammate. It was Kakashi, Obito, and Rin—the brand-new Team Minato that had only been together for a month.
Taiichi rubbed his eyes, made sure he wasn't seeing things, then felt a flash of pure anger flare up in his chest.
They were supposed to be "adapting" back in the village. How the hell did they adapt all the way to the front lines already?
The anger lasted half a second before Taiichi crushed it. This was the ninja world. War didn't wait for kids to finish their D-rank errands. He couldn't change that right now.
He took a slow breath, forced a relaxed smile back onto his face, and walked over. In that moment he realized his own mindset had grown a little more mature.
"Hey, Kakashi! What are you guys doing out here so soon?" Taiichi called, genuinely curious.
Before Kakashi could answer, Obito piped up from behind the tent. "Hah! What do you think? We're here to rack up real achievements, obviously!"
Taiichi ignored the idiot. Obito still didn't get what he was really asking. All he cared about was looking cool and imagining glory on the battlefield.
Kakashi shot Obito a withering glare, clearly wishing he could tape the guy's mouth shut. Then he sighed and answered honestly.
"We didn't want to come either. We were supposed to keep grinding D- and C-rank missions for another month, but Minato-sensei got pulled for an emergency deployment. You can see how that turned out."
Taiichi felt a headache coming on. The village really was scraping the bottom of the barrel if they were yanking brand-new jōnin instructors and their genin teams straight to the front.
"So what's your plan now?" he asked. "You know how bad things are up here, and Minato-sensei isn't even around to lead you."
Kakashi scratched his silver hair, looking just as frustrated. Obito, of course, wasn't having it. "Come on, Taiichi, don't underestimate us! We can take missions on our own without Minato-sensei!"
Kakashi slapped a hand over his face and turned away. This idiot really didn't know the meaning of the word "death."
Rin, at least, had some sense. She grabbed Obito's sleeve and shut him up before he could dig the hole any deeper.
"Rin, if you're free while you're here, come by the medical camp and find me," Taiichi offered. "Your medical ninjutsu could use the real-world practice. I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone."
Rin's eyes lit up. Unlike Taiichi, she hadn't had a back-door connection like Tsunade to fast-track her training. She'd been grinding medical ninjutsu on her own for a long time and desperately needed hands-on experience.
"Thank you so much, Taiichi! I don't even know how to repay you!"
Taiichi just smiled and didn't answer. But Obito clearly didn't like the sound of "repay." His brain short-circuited for a second and flashed on an image of Rin offering herself in gratitude. The next instant he was on his feet yelling.
"Rin! This guy's definitely up to no good! You gotta watch out!"
The whole group went dead silent. Saori burst out laughing behind her hand. Kakashi and Rin looked like they wanted the earth to swallow them whole. Obito had zero dignity left.
At that exact moment, Yohei flickered over, hooked an arm around Obito's neck, and dragged him into a headlock. "Obito, my dear little cousin… you've gotten way too lazy lately. Since we're both stuck in camp for a while, your big cousin is gonna train you properly!"
Yohei moved so fast that Kakashi barely caught the motion. If I ran into someone that quick on the battlefield, I'd be dead before I even drew my blade. And this was just one member of Taiichi's squad. What the hell was Taiichi's own strength like now?
Kakashi clenched his fists. Looked like he needed to have a serious talk with Minato-sensei about the team's future training plan.
Rin watched Obito get hauled off, worry written all over her face. Kakashi, on the other hand, didn't even blink. He knew Obito would be fine—probably just sore for a few days.
"Rin, don't worry. Yohei's Obito's cousin. He won't go too far," Taiichi reassured her.
With that settled, Taiichi and Saori headed off to break down their own tent. Before he left, he reminded Rin he'd be heading to the medical camp soon and she should meet him there for the introduction.
Back at their tent, Saori finally let her laughter out. "That Obito kid is totally into Rin, right?"
"Childhood friends," Taiichi said with a shrug as he packed gear. "Him, Rin, and Kakashi grew up together. It's… complicated."
He paused, then added with a grin, "I didn't realize Yohei was Obito's cousin, though."
Saori rolled her eyes. "They're both Uchiha. In a big clan like that, everyone's related one way or another."
They kept chatting and laughing while they finished packing. Yohei still hadn't come back. Looked like Obito was getting the full "cousin special." Taiichi didn't worry about it—Obito would survive, even if his ego took a beating.
Once everything was squared away, Taiichi said goodbye to Saori and headed for the medical camp alone. That was going to be his other battlefield for the next stretch of the war.
Rin was already waiting outside the medical tents.
When she saw Taiichi, she hurried over. "Taiichi, are we going in now?"
"Yeah. Stick with me, watch everything, ask questions later. I'll put you to work right away—this is the best kind of training you can get."
Rin nodded eagerly. Unlike Taiichi, she hadn't had a master like Tsunade to fast-track her. She'd been practicing medical ninjutsu for a long time and desperately needed real experience.
They walked straight to the head medic's tent. Taiichi lifted the flap and stepped inside. A female doctor was buried in paperwork at the desk. She didn't even look up.
"Give me five minutes. I need to finish these forms."
Taiichi frowned—not because of the rudeness, but because the voice sounded way too familiar.
When the doctor finally looked up, Taiichi's eyes widened.
"Director Fujita! You're here on the front lines too?"
Fujita Sana stood up and crossed the tent in a few quick steps. She and Taiichi went way back—he'd worked under her for a long time at Konoha Hospital.
"Taiichi! It's been ages! I came with Lord Jiraiya. You showing up at the southern camp is perfect timing. You have no idea how famous you've become among medical ninjas lately. We desperately need someone of your caliber here."
Taiichi blinked, a little dazed. He was that well-known? He hadn't realized. A flicker of suspicion crossed his mind—was someone trying to set him up for a fall? The village loved using people as symbols and then throwing them under the bus when it was convenient.
Fujita noticed his hesitation. She glanced at the quiet girl standing behind Taiichi, then back at him. Taiichi gave a tiny nod—she's with me, we can trust her.
Fujita relaxed and explained. "It's probably the Third Hokage's idea. With Lady Tsunade gone and the village short on medical talent, they need a new figurehead—especially against the Sand. You've got the background, the skill, and the Third's approval. You're the perfect symbol."
Rin listened in stunned silence. She hadn't realized Taiichi's reputation had already reached that level.
"The Sand's poison is getting worse," Fujita continued. "Our old antidote pills only suppress the symptoms now. We have to wait until the wounded get back to base camp to treat them properly, and even then we can only handle them one at a time. There's no broad-spectrum cure."
Taiichi nodded. He understood the bottleneck now. They had enough people, but the Sand's new poison was tying up too many hands.
"Director, can we go see the patients now? I want to get started right away."
Fujita led them toward the medical area. On the way, Taiichi added one last reminder to Rin.
"Rin, everything we just talked about in the tent—don't breathe a word of it to anyone. Especially not to Obito. That kid's mouth runs faster than his legs."
"Got it, Taiichi. I understand."
They reached the edge of camp. Painful groans and cries drifted from the tents even before they got close. The sound was enough to make anyone's skin crawl.
"Director, what's going on here?"
Fujita sighed. "This is what makes the new Sand poison so terrifying. It isn't lethal, but it causes dizziness, paralysis, and nonstop, agonizing pain. At first you can grit your teeth and bear it, but eventually…"
She didn't need to finish. The screams said it all.
"That's why we put them out here on the edge of camp. The constant noise was destroying morale."
They stepped into the main medical tent. Twenty-something wounded shinobi lay on cots, most of them chūnin, a few genin, and two or three jōnin still clenching their teeth against the pain. Several medical ninjas were using the Delicate Extraction Technique to slowly pull the poison out, but the process was painfully slow and chakra-intensive.
"You see the problem," Fujita said. "Right now the only real treatment is painstakingly extracting the toxin bit by bit with the Delicate Extraction Technique. It's too slow and burns through chakra like crazy. The other medicines only manage the pain."
Taiichi picked up a patient's chart, scanned the notes, checked the tongue and eyes, and did a quick physical exam.
"This looks like it's based on the venom of a desert red scorpion. The goal is to cripple our numbers and drain our medical resources at the same time."
"You've seen this poison before?!" Fujita's eyes lit up with hope.
"Not exactly, but I've seen the scorpion. I'll need to examine a patient myself to be sure."
Without waiting, Taiichi put on his medical gear while Rin helped. He turned to Fujita. "Director, could you prep a patient for me? I want to try something right now."
A jōnin was quickly brought over and laid on the table. When Taiichi turned around, he realized it was another familiar face.
"Captain Yamaguchi! Looks like this is the second time I've seen you on my operating table," Taiichi joked.
Yamaguchi managed a pained grin. "Heard a hotshot medic was coming, figured it had to be you. I volunteered as your guinea pig. This damn pain is killing me…"
"Don't worry. It won't hurt much longer."
Taiichi injected a quick anesthetic. As Yamaguchi's eyes fluttered shut, he got to work.
A chakra scalpel opened the inflamed wound. Foul blood and pus poured out. Taiichi formed a spinning water sphere in his left hand and pressed it into the wound, sucking out the contamination. He repeated the process until only clean blood flowed. Then he switched to the Delicate Extraction Technique, his right hand glowing with thick Yang-natured chakra as he scanned the captain's body for every trace of poison.
Water spheres were pressed in and pulled out again and again. After the fifth extraction, the poison was finally gone. Taiichi sealed the wound with Mystical Palm and straightened up.
"Director, I understand the toxin's structure now. Give me a little time and I'll have the antidote ready."