"Say that again!"
Chiyo's face was filled with shock. This was simply unbelievable. The Kage of an entire village had gone missing? It was like hearing that the Kage was a three-year-old child!
"The Third Kazekage really has disappeared. It happened yesterday. Our squad was given the mission to search this area for any trace of Lord Kazekage!"
Chiyo felt the world spin. She staggered for a moment before steadying herself. She wanted to ask for more details, but the squad captain spoke again before she could.
"Elder, you'll have to ask for the specifics back at camp. This is all we know!"
"Fine. Thank you for the heads-up. I remember you now—you're Yuta, right?"
"Yes, yes! I can't believe Elder Chiyo still remembers me. It's truly an honor."
Chiyo gave him a few more words of encouragement, then led the hundred-plus released shinobi hurrying toward the border camp.
Along the way, countless thoughts raced through her mind.
How could the Kazekage have disappeared?
What would happen to Sunagakure now?
Who would become the Fourth Kazekage?
No matter what, Sunagakure was about to face a period of internal turmoil.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Chiyo unconsciously quickened her pace.
The shinobi who had just been released were already physically drained. The normal marching pace had been manageable, but as Chiyo's speed increased, they gradually started struggling.
Still, they gritted their teeth and kept going. They had seen the scene earlier. Even though they hadn't heard the exact words, Chiyo's drastic change in expression told them something major had happened.
So they stayed silent and pushed themselves harder to keep up with Chiyo.
The one-hour journey was covered in just over forty minutes.
By the time they reached the border camp, Chiyo no longer had time to worry about the released prisoners. She left the accompanying jonin in charge of settling them and checking their condition, then went alone to find the commander here.
"Saro, tell me exactly what happened. How did the Kazekage disappear?" Chiyo didn't waste words. She got straight to the point.
"Elder Chiyo, I only know what was in the orders from the village. I don't have many details either," Saro said helplessly. He himself was still in shock and had simply followed orders to send out search teams.
"Tell me everything you know!" Chiyo snapped impatiently.
"It was said that Lord Kazekage fought a major battle at the Central Oasis and then vanished," Saro answered quickly. "As for who the opponent was or why they fought, the village message didn't specify. I don't know either."
Chiyo was speechless. That was far too little information, but she understood—the village wouldn't share sensitive details with lower ranks. It looked like she would have to return to the village as quickly as possible.
"Take those released Sand shinobi and carefully screen them. Make sure none of them have turned traitor. I won't stay any longer—I'm leaving immediately."
Chiyo gave Saro a few more detailed instructions, especially regarding how to handle the released prisoners, then took her three accompanying shinobi and set off for Sunagakure without delay.
Back at the Leaf camp, Taiichi left the command tent and returned straight to his rest tent. He was truly exhausted. The moment he lay down in his sleeping bag, soft snores filled the tent within seconds.
He slept straight through until around five the next morning, when his strong internal clock woke him.
He scanned the tent. No one else was there. He got up immediately and did a quick wash.
Stepping out of the tent, the camp was already bustling. Some were doing early morning training, others preparing breakfast. Taiichi walked around the camp but didn't spot Yohei or Saori anywhere. Even Kakashi, Obito, and Rin were missing.
They had probably gone out on a mission together. He had no idea when they'd be back.
He found an empty spot and began his regular morning training routine.
Taiichi's Strength and Agility had both now reached jonin level. And unlike average jonin who might only break 25 in one stat, he had crossed that threshold in both.
As he practiced Advanced Taijutsu, his movements were powerful and fluid. Chakra flowed through his body, and a faint blue glow gradually appeared on his skin.
This was the manifestation of external chakra. Before his Strength and Agility broke 25, Taiichi had never shown this phenomenon during training. This was his first full-body training session after the breakthrough.
He could feel his skin and muscles being continuously strengthened by the chakra surrounding him.
When he finished one complete set of Advanced Taijutsu, Taiichi clearly noticed the training effect was roughly double what it had been before. His skin in particular felt noticeably tougher.
Taiichi nodded in satisfaction. The strengthening wasn't huge yet, but this was only one session. In the future, every training session would slightly reinforce his skin. And right now it was skin—later it could be muscles, organs, bones...
In the end, even facing an Ōtsutsuki wouldn't be impossible.
Lost in thought, Taiichi got so excited he almost drooled. He quickly wiped his mouth and looked around. Luckily, he had chosen a relatively secluded spot—no one had noticed.
Shaking off the daydream, Taiichi moved on to Advanced Meditation training.
Unfortunately, meditation remained the same as before. It simply continued to refine and strengthen his mental energy.
After finishing his morning routine and eating breakfast, Taiichi created shadow clones to continue training while his main body headed to the medical camp. His Yang Nature Transformation was on the verge of leveling up, and the medical camp was the perfect place to practice it.
"Director Fujita, is there anything I can help with?" Taiichi asked when he found the busy Sana Fujita in the medical camp.
"Taiichi? Weren't you out on a mission? How are you back so soon?"
Sana Fujita was overjoyed to see him. When she heard he was offering to help, she was even happier. She greeted him while quickly flipping through the past two days' medical reports, looking for any difficult cases she could hand off to him.
Free high-level labor was always welcome—especially when it was someone of Taiichi's caliber.
But after searching, she couldn't find a single difficult case. Taiichi had been too efficient before leaving. He had cleared out all the serious cases right before his mission.
And now, during this rare lull in fighting, there simply weren't many severely wounded patients.
"Taiichi, there aren't any serious cases right now. Why don't you go teach the other medical ninjas? Most of them only have half-baked skills and no complete medical ninjutsu inheritance."
Taiichi gave Director Fujita a strange look. She really wasn't wasting any labor at all. Still, he didn't refuse. Teaching would let him practice too, and reviewing the basics was always useful.
Director Fujita felt a bit embarrassed under his gaze. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear to hide her slightly flushed face, then stood up and walked over to him.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to them. Those guys will be thrilled!"
And so, Taiichi followed Director Fujita as they made rounds through the medical camp. She grabbed one medic here, pulled another there, and in no time eight medical ninjas were trailing behind them.
She then led everyone to a treatment tent and turned to address them.
"Today you'll be learning from Taiichi. I've asked him to give you medical instruction to improve your skills. This is a rare opportunity—make the most of it."
Hearing they would be studying under Taiichi, every medical ninja present became excited. During this period, Taiichi was the person they admired most.
His medical ninjutsu was superb. Even critically wounded patients on the brink of death had been snatched back from the Shinigami's grasp. Just imagining reaching that level themselves sent shivers of excitement through them.
Soon, many patients in the medical camp witnessed a strange scene: eight medical ninjas following a young shinobi like students, listening attentively and respectfully as he explained cases.
And his explanations were excellent—breaking things down from simple to complex, drawing connections to similar cases, and using real patients right in front of them for hands-on demonstration. The learning effect was far better than normal.
Unfortunately, this came at the expense of the patients. Each one was examined and practiced on repeatedly by the eight medical ninjas. Anyone who had experienced it knew exactly how awkward and painful it felt.
One patient with a broken arm had his injured limb checked over and over by eight different people. By the end, he was sweating from pain, not just nerves.
"You guys, can you please hurry up and treat me? If not, just let Lord Taiichi do it. Stop torturing me!"
The chunin was on the verge of breaking down. This group had basically been using him as their personal practice dummy for bone fractures.
It wasn't his fault for complaining. In the entire tent, he was the only one with a broken bone. All the other patients had cuts or ninjutsu injuries, so the medical ninjas naturally focused all their practice on him.
Even Taiichi couldn't stand watching anymore. He stepped in, treated the man in a few swift moves, and sent him out of the medical camp.
"I told you guys to take it easy. Don't just torment one person!"
"Sorry, Teacher Taiichi. There was only one fracture patient here. We didn't have anyone else to practice on."
A drop of cold sweat slid down Taiichi's forehead. These people were definitely going to be trouble in the future.
He just hoped that if they ever embarrassed themselves outside, they wouldn't drag his name into it. That would ruin his hard-earned reputation in one go.
Overall, though, after a full day, the eight medical ninjas had gained a tremendous amount. Not only had their theoretical knowledge expanded greatly, but they had also learned many practical medical ninjutsu applications they had never even considered before.
These were techniques and methods that veteran medical ninjas had accumulated through years of experience. Not everyone was willing to share them as freely as Taiichi did.
By the end of the day, all eight expressed their sincere gratitude to him.
After dinner, Taiichi went to his usual training spot. He dispelled his shadow clones and absorbed the day's memories. Now he finally had time to check his most important gain from the day.
[Yang Nature Transformation Lv10 (12/2000)]
Through a full day of teaching and practical application, his Yang Nature Transformation had reached Lv10. Without hesitation, while no one was around, he added 1 skill point.
[Yang Nature Transformation Lv11 (1/3000)]
A massive flood of memories and insights surged into his mind—far more than when he had leveled up Fire, Wind, or Water.
Perhaps this was what made Yang unique. Taiichi didn't fully understand it yet. Right now, his only task was to absorb these memories as completely as possible without losing any of them.
About ten minutes later, he had fully integrated the new knowledge. He now understood exactly what Yang Nature Transformation at Lv11 meant.
Compared to the well-understood traditional five nature transformations—Lightning, Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water—most people knew very little about Yin and Yang Release.
Yang Release usually represented physical power, using life energy that governs the body as its source. It could infuse life into tangible things.
Yin Release usually represented spiritual power, using imagination-based mental energy as its source. It could create form from the formless.
This was the fundamental essence of Yin and Yang that Taiichi had gained from the new insights.
Although his current Lv11 Yang was still far from being able to truly infuse life into objects, breaking into Kage-level Yang Release had brought him real changes.
The first was his Constitution. After recently increasing it through training, it had now gone from 27 to 28.
Taiichi could clearly feel that some of his chakra was constantly converting into Yang-natured chakra, which in turn continuously nourished every cell in his body.
And this happened instinctively, without any conscious effort on his part.
This made him think of Hashirama Senju's Sage Body. While he hadn't reached that terrifying level yet, he now had a "budget version" of a Sage Body.
Taiichi believed that as his Yang Nature Transformation continued to improve, achieving a true Sage Body—or even something stronger—was not impossible.
Next was the boost Yang Release gave to medical ninjutsu. When he formed the seals for Mystical Palm Technique, Taiichi carefully felt the subtle differences.
As one of the techniques he used most frequently, he didn't need a target. His experience alone let him notice the changes.
As expected from Yang Release, which could infuse life into tangible things, Mystical Palm originally stimulated cellular potential and accelerated cell division to heal injuries.
But now, Taiichi could feel that his Mystical Palm had greatly reduced that cost. The Yang-natured chakra acted like a universal remedy, partially repairing the lifespan reduction caused by excessive cell division.
This change alone was worth it. If he had previously needed to be cautious when using Mystical Palm, now he could use it boldly and freely. His healing effectiveness had also improved.
After initially testing the effects of Lv11 Yang Nature Transformation, Taiichi was overall very satisfied.
While it hadn't caused a sudden massive leap in his combat strength, it had solidly strengthened his physical foundation. That single point in Constitution had saved him at least half a year of training time.
After finishing his evening training, Taiichi returned to his tent to rest. All that remained was waiting for Yohei to return so he could test the stronger Yang Release on his Mangekyō.