Inside the forest, Saiki pulled out the meager rations he had left to share with the group.
Once Shinku Yuhi and Tsume Inuzuka finished their handover, Tsume walked over to join them.
"Sensei Tsume!" the kids greeted her in unison.
"Mm," she nodded, taking a seat. Her massive ninken, Kuromaru, sat beside her, drool dripping from his jowls as he eyed the meat in their hands.
After rummaging through the pot, Saiki pulled out a large, dripping chunk of meat and handed it to Tsume.
"Here you go, Sensei. This one's yours."
Tsume was long since used to Saiki's habit of eating high-quality meat for every meal.
During their last mission, she'd learned that no matter how grueling the task, Saiki always packed multiple scrolls specifically for food storage. He was a man who never mistreated his own stomach.
"Thanks!" Tsume took the meat and began devouring it without a shred of ceremony.
Beside her, Genhai and Kurenai were eating as well. Kurenai took polite, small bites, but Genhai was a different story.
Having spent the last day away from Saiki eating nothing but tasteless dry rations and soldier pills, the boy had his head buried in his bowl the moment he'd said hello.
Saiki felt the weight of a pathetic, one-eyed stare.
Kuromaru usually acted cold and arrogant, but right now, he looked exactly like a begging Husky.
The dog could speak and understood human language perfectly; Saiki couldn't stand being guilt-tripped by a canine.
He sighed and handed the dog a prime cut. He'd originally planned to just give him the bones.
This behavior was technically a "private kitchen" within the team, but it wasn't against the rules.
Ninja usually lived a life of asceticism; to minimize the risk of exposure on missions, they rarely started fires to cook.
As Shinku had told Jiraiya, being around Genhai and the others significantly improved Saiki's mood.
It allowed him to momentarily forget that they were currently sitting in a literal war zone.
Once everyone had their fill and the physical satisfaction of a full stomach set in, Tsume finally spoke up.
"Saiki, why don't you tell us what happened over the last two days? Your name was whispered across the entire camp this morning."
Saiki blinked, caught off guard.
He didn't view killing as something worth bragging about. He wasn't the type to show off his body count.
He had no intention of reliving the slaughter, but Tsume had backed him into a corner.
"It was nothing special, Sensei. There isn't much to tell."
Seeing his "咸鱼" (salted fish/lazy) attitude and his refusal to elaborate, Tsume felt a twinge of frustration.
Shouldn't a brat his age be desperate for attention and praise?
Shinku had warned her that Saiki was showing signs of psychological detachment.
She had hoped to use this moment to let Saiki recount his heroics, so Genhai and Kurenai could shower him with the adoration he deserved.
She wanted to build his sense of "honor" as a form of therapy.
But Saiki had shut her down before she'd even started.
The Inuzuka were dog-users, and dogs are just domesticated wolves.
Tsume, much like Kuromaru, possessed a wild, volatile temper.
Usually, she was patient with Saiki because he was a genius and significantly more powerful than her, which kept her respect in check.
But Saiki's current "I don't care" vibe finally snapped her string.
"You little brat!" Tsume growled, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
The squad was huddled around the small fire Saiki had built.
Tsume, sitting right next to him, reached out and hooked her arm around his neck in a rough headlock.
She ground her closed fist into the top of his skull, giving him a legendary "noogie."
Being pulled into a mature woman's embrace should have been a dream, but Saiki's face was currently being mashed against her hard, unyielding chainmail.
"Ugh! Sensei! Stop! It hurts! Your armor is too hard!" Saiki cried out, playing the role of the victim perfectly.
Seeing Tsume bare her fangs in a fit of "maternal" violence, Genhai and Kurenai both shrunk back.
They watched her fist grinding into Saiki's head and winced in sympathetic pain.
The two kids didn't understand the underlying subtext.
Only Tsume—the woman who had been previously told by Saiki that her armor was "too hard"—understood exactly what the boy was implying.
There was no pleasure for Saiki here, only physical discomfort.
After Tsume finished "ravaging" him, she huffed and pulled away.
"Get a grip, Saiki! Stop acting like a depressed failure who's bored with the world. Are you a man or not?"
Saiki could let almost anything slide, but questioning his masculinity was a line he wouldn't let her cross.
During her "assault," Saiki had only offered a token resistance.
He knew she was genuinely annoyed and was letting her vent her frustration.
But now, he reached up and gripped the arm she had around his neck.
With a subtle flex of his strength, he effortlessly broke her "lock" and set himself free.
Tsume felt a sharp jolt of pain in her arm. She was stunned; Saiki had moved her limb as if it weighed nothing at all.
Despite not being a dedicated Taijutsu specialist, the Inuzuka's "Beast Mimicry" granted her physical stats far beyond the average ninja.
The fact that Saiki's small frame contained enough raw power to overpower her so casually was terrifying.
Before she could process the shock, Saiki delivered his rebuttal with an indignant scowl.
"Whether I'm a man or not... shouldn't you be the one who knows best, Sensei?"
It was a reflex, a sarcastic comeback Saiki threw out without thinking.
But Tsume heard it, and her mind immediately flashed back to their previous mission.
Ninja often ignored etiquette in the field, but Saiki had taken it to the extreme.
He had stripped her pants off and literally pried apart her pale, fleshy peaches to clean her wounds.
He had seen every inch of her, touched things no man should have touched, and hadn't looked away for a second.
And that wasn't all.
Despite his age, Saiki had experienced a very visible "male reaction" while looking at her.
Judging by the "tent" he'd pitched in his pants that day, he was developing into a very "capable" man. His "capital" was already quite formidable.
She'd been meaning to have a talk with him about that incident, but the war had gotten in the way.
Saiki's accidental complaint just now had dragged that entire embarrassing scene back to the forefront of her mind.
After a heartbeat of stunned, red-faced silence, Tsume exploded in a defensive shout.
"Shut up! You're the one who's acting like a nagging old woman! Even the girls are more decisive than you. I ask for a simple battlefield report and you act like I'm asking for your life!"
"There's nothing to tell. Is killing people really something to be proud of?"
Saiki stated his philosophy flatly before sitting back down to give them the summary they wanted.
He recounted the grueling night march, the lack of rest, and the immediate engagement upon reaching the line.
"That's the gist of it. I ran across half the Land of Fire without stopping, hit the front lines, and started swinging. I nearly died of exhaustion."
Saiki finished his summary as if he were talking about a boring grocery trip.
Listening to his "humble" description, Kurenai's eyes were practically sparkling with hearts.
Her cheeks, still holding a bit of baby fat, flushed a deep crimson. "Saiki... you're truly incredible!"
Even Genhai looked at him with pure, unadulterated worship. "Boss! You're a legend!"
Saiki felt a shiver of disgust. Being looked at like that by a guy gave him the creeps. He had zero interest in that kind of "bonding."
Saiki had omitted the grisly details, but the fact remained: in a single engagement, nearly a hundred Cloud ninja had died by his hand.
Between the Chunin and Jonin he'd erased, there were several elites who held significant rank in their village.
The scale of the damage Saiki had inflicted on the Cloud—and the sheer power he now possessed—left Tsume feeling like she didn't even know her own student anymore.
While Saiki's group was decompressing, things were significantly worse in the enemy camp.
High atop a mountain in the Land of Hot Water, the Cloud headquarters was a den of fury.
"Is there any new intelligence?"
Dodai, the strategist known as the Raikage's right hand, asked with a dark, heavy expression.
"I apologize, Lord Dodai. This is all we could gather on such short notice."
The intelligence officer bowed his head in shame.
Dodai studied the scroll. Saiki Shiroya. Adopted younger brother of the Sannin Tsunade. Prodigy of the Chunin Exams. Field promotion to Chunin. It was all surface-level data. Because the Cloud hadn't participated in the exams, they lacked a detailed combat profile on the boy.
For an elite like Kukai to die at the hands of a brat was a stain on the Cloud's honor.
But for that same brat to slaughter nearly a hundred men in a single night? It was a catastrophe.
Dodai read the report again, then turned to a communications officer. "When do Lord A and Lord Killer Bee arrive?"
"They've been on the move for two days, Sir. They should reach the front by sunset."
"Good," Dodai muttered, his eyes returning to the tactical map.