The next day.
After breakfast, Natsuki went to Tsunade's laboratory.
But contrary to what others expected, she wasn't deciphering Chiyo's poison.
She was using Chiyo's poison to make an antidote—the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe Natsuki had given her.
Over this long period, and with Natsuki's hints, the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe had already found six deadly poisons.
If Chiyo's newly made poison was the seventh, then the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe could be successfully produced.
Theoretically, the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe could decipher not only Hanzo's poison but also Chiyo's.
"You brought back a lot of poisons."
Tsunade noticed his arrival. "But there's only one poison I don't recognize. It's most likely Chiyo's newly made poison."
"Is this Chiyo's newly made poison?"
Natsuki looked at the vessel on the lab bench.
"Mm."
Tsunade nodded. "I'm trying to add the other six deadly poisons."
Natsuki reached out and placed his hand on the vessel.
He quickly received a system prompt. This was indeed one of the poisons needed for the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
Last night, because time was tight and the poisons were mixed together, Natsuki didn't touch them one by one.
He pretended to examine it for a moment. "I feel like our luck will be very good."
"Every time you say that, we manage to confirm one of the poisons needed for the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe."
Tsunade chuckled.
"Then let's see if it holds true this time."
Natsuki paused. "How much longer will it take?"
"An hour."
Tsunade glanced at him. "If the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe is really effective, you will become Konoha's number one contributor."
"Does that mean Konoha has to give me whatever I want?"
Natsuki blinked.
"You're not wrong to say that."
Tsunade nodded slightly. "As long as it's a reasonable request, Konoha can fulfill it."
"Does Konoha have a Water Release chakra crystal?"
Natsuki took the opportunity to ask.
"What do you need a Water Release chakra crystal for?"
Tsunade asked, confused.
"I want to make a ninja tool that can enhance the power of Water Release."
Natsuki explained. "Although the Sword of the Thunder God also has a chakra crystal, it's Lightning Release, which doesn't match the Water Release I excel in."
"I see."
The corners of Tsunade's mouth curled up. "Then your luck is indeed very good. Konoha does have a Water Release chakra crystal."
Natsuki's eyes couldn't help but light up.
"Because the Water Release chakra crystal is too precious, no ninja has ever accumulated enough merit to exchange for it."
Tsunade changed the subject. "If the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe can decipher Chiyo and Hanzo's poisons, then your merit will be sufficient."
Of course, there was one thing she didn't say: this Water Release chakra crystal was left behind by Senju Tobirama.
Only a few people knew of its existence.
"I understand."
Natsuki's gaze fell on the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
To be honest, he wasn't absolutely certain it could decipher Chiyo and Hanzo's poisons.
But he could only say there was great hope.
After all, it could even decipher magical poisons and curse poisons, which sounded very unscientific.
Time slowly passed.
"Success!"
Tsunade picked up the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe with a look of anticipation.
But the successful development of the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe was just the beginning.
"Natsuki, bring that experimental white rabbit over."
Tsunade ordered.
Natsuki nodded.
Soon, the white rabbit was placed on the lab bench.
Tsunade fed it Chiyo's poison.
It took a sip and immediately collapsed.
Tsunade then fed it the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
After the white rabbit drank it, an astonishing change immediately occurred within its body.
Not long after, it stood back up and took two steps, showing absolutely no signs of poisoning.
"Natsuki!"
Tsunade hugged Natsuki happily. "We've definitely won this war!"
Before Natsuki could react, his face was squished by her clothes, making it hard to breathe.
But... it was indeed soft.
"Chiyo will definitely never expect us to decipher her poison in less than half a day."
Tsunade released Natsuki and said thoughtfully. "With the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe, the success rate of our counter-scheme will greatly increase."
Natsuki finally breathed fresh air.
He looked up at Tsunade.
Tsunade had fallen into deep thought.
Coupled with her lingering excitement, her fair skin gently rose and fell with her breathing.
"The best way is for us to set up normal defenses."
Tsunade snapped back to reality. "But not too tight, allowing Sunagakure ninjas to successfully poison us."
Yesterday, Nara Shikatsu mentioned a problem.
To beat them at their own game, they needed to find out where Sunagakure would poison them and who would do it.
But the premise of his question was that Chiyo's poison hadn't been deciphered.
They needed to pretend to be poisoned without actually getting poisoned.
But today, there was no need to consider this problem anymore.
Because with the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe, they could actually get poisoned.
This way, Sunagakure ninjas wouldn't suspect they were playing a counter-scheme.
This was also why Tsunade said the success rate of their counter-scheme would greatly increase.
"Natsuki, go get Shikatsu."
Tsunade rubbed his head.
"Mm."
Natsuki turned and left.
A moment later, he returned to the laboratory with Nara Shikatsu.
"Shikatsu, Natsuki and I have deciphered Chiyo's poison."
Tsunade got straight to the point.
"So fast?"
Besides his astonishment, Nara Shikatsu also showed a look of pleasant surprise.
With his high intelligence, he instantly had the same idea as Tsunade: their counter-scheme had a high probability of succeeding.
Once successful, they could inflict heavy damage on Sunagakure, perhaps even ending the war directly.
The two quickly began to discuss.
The best places for Chiyo to poison were the water source and food rations.
Although it rained every day in the Land of Rain, Konoha couldn't just drink rainwater directly.
Their water source came from underground.
With Earth Release ninjas around, drawing water from underground wasn't a difficult task.
From another perspective, Earth Release ninjas could also dive underground to poison the water.
Sunagakure had the most Earth Release ninjas after Iwagakure.
After all, the environment in the Land of Wind was very harsh.
The most common ninjas in Sunagakure were Wind Release ninjas, followed by Earth Release ninjas.
There were almost no Water Release ninjas.
Because using Water Release in the desert environment of the Land of Wind consumed a lot more chakra.
Tsunade and Nara Shikatsu both believed it was most likely for Sunagakure to poison the water source.
But other places also needed to be protected.
What if Sunagakure did the opposite?
After discussing, Tsunade held a Jonin meeting in the main tent and began assigning tasks.
Natsuki's squad also received a mission.
To protect the food rations and medicine.
Besides that, Natsuki also had a private, secret mission from Tsunade.
That was to make as much of the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe as possible.
To prevent Sunagakure ninjas from knowing about the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe, Tsunade only had him make it.
In other words, only the two of them knew of the existence of the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
At the rear of Konoha's main camp.
Natsuki, Maruboshi Kosuke, Nonou, and Nawaki arrived in front of their mission objective.
This was a giant tent, piled high with important supplies—namely food rations and medicine.
But a small laboratory had been carved out inside the tent for Natsuki to make the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
Of course, such an important place naturally wouldn't be guarded by just one ninja squad.
Besides an ANBU squad hidden in the shadows, there were three other ninja squads.
"Senior Hizashi, we'll leave the sensing and reconnaissance to your squad. If there are any anomalies, please notify us promptly."
Natsuki walked up to Hyuga Hizashi.
"Naturally."
Hyuga Hizashi smiled. "Please leave it to us."
Natsuki was in charge of these five ninja squads.
If it were before, Hyuga Hizashi and the others would definitely doubt whether he had the strength to be the person in charge, but now he had proven himself.
In terms of age, he was the youngest.
But in terms of strength, among the five ninja squads present, he was the strongest.
Natsuki nodded and walked into the tent with Nawaki and the others.
Their mission was to guard the medicine and food rations inside the tent.
The other four ninja squads provided protection outside the tent.
The reason Tsunade issued such an order was naturally to make it convenient for Natsuki to make the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
[Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked Gordon Template Ability 4: Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.]
After Natsuki made the first vial of the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe, he unlocked the corresponding ability.
He immediately went from beginner to mastery level, greatly increasing his speed in making the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
And the Gordon template was only short Ability 5, Poison-to-Medicine Conversion, from being fully unlocked.
"So boring."
Nawaki sighed.
All day long, he hadn't done anything, just pacing back and forth inside the tent on patrol.
"As a ninja, you have to endure loneliness."
Maruboshi Kosuke reminded him.
"You can make antidotes with me."
Natsuki smiled.
"I'd rather fight Chiyo to the death than make antidotes."
Nawaki's mouth twitched.
"It's hard to train Water Release here, but you can still train."
Natsuki suddenly thought of something. "I created a taijutsu. Do you want to learn it?"
"I'll learn it!"
Nawaki immediately became excited.
"Nonou, you teach them."
Seeing this, Natsuki said.
"Am I learning too?"
Maruboshi Kosuke asked with some surprise.
"This taijutsu is called Soru. It's an advanced Body Flicker Technique. There's no harm in learning it."
Natsuki paused. "I plan to create six taijutsu techniques and name them the Konoha Rokushiki."
Marine Rokushiki—he definitely couldn't use that name in the ninja world. It would sound very confusing.
He originally wanted to name them the Natsuki Rokushiki, but that didn't show a high level of Will of Fire awareness.
Ultimately, he named them the Konoha Rokushiki, demonstrating that he was an outstanding inheritor of the Will of Fire.
Moreover, Konoha Rokushiki sounded closely related to the Konoha Whirlwind series of taijutsu.
He could also say the inspiration for the Konoha Rokushiki came from Might Duy.
"Truly remarkable."
Maruboshi Kosuke immediately sighed emotionally. "You might become a taijutsu grandmaster like Teacher."
Senju Tobirama was a recognized Water Release grandmaster.
He created a massive number of Water Release ninjutsu, deeply influencing even Kirigakure.
Maruboshi Kosuke meant that Natsuki could become a taijutsu grandmaster.
The reason was that there were too few taijutsu in the current ninja world.
The only one that could be called an advanced taijutsu was the Eight Inner Gates.
Nonou had pretty much learned Soru, so teaching Nawaki and Maruboshi Kosuke was no problem at all.
Natsuki, on the other hand, continued making the Curse-Breaking Poison Recipe.
To speed things up, he even created three shadow clones to help out.
The time came to the next day.
In the main tent of Sunagakure's main camp.
"Lady Chiyo."
An ANBU ninja reported the results of yesterday's investigation.
"We can have Earth Release ninjas go poison them."
Rasa said immediately.
"If we can think of it, Konoha definitely can too."
Pakura reminded him. "The defense at the water source will definitely be the tightest."
"The location of the food rations and medicine is too deep inside. Poisoning them there is also the most difficult."
Rasa frowned.
Many ninjas were skilled at infiltration.
But infiltrating Konoha's main camp was another story.
It meant breaking barriers, taking out outposts, and possessing extremely strong concealment ninjutsu.
Even a genius like Natsuki was discovered when he infiltrated Sunagakure's main camp.
Where would Sunagakure find a genius comparable to Natsuki?
Although Natsuki was discovered, he completed the mission.
Poisoning was different. Being discovered meant mission failure.
Konoha definitely wouldn't foolishly consume potentially poisoned water and food rations anymore.
"We should also learn from Konoha and create a diversion."
Chiyo suddenly had an idea and spoke up.
Rasa, Pakura, and the others subconsciously looked at her.
"Make a big show of poisoning the food rations and medicine, while secretly poisoning the water source."
Chiyo explained. "If discovered, make a huge commotion on the surface. It would be best if we could destroy the food rations and medicine."
"Brilliant idea, Lady Chiyo!"
Rasa said immediately.
"Rasa, you will be in charge of this."
Chiyo ordered.
"Yes, Lady Chiyo!"
Rasa promised. "I will definitely complete the mission!"
Pakura wanted to say something but ultimately remained silent.
She knew Chiyo favored Rasa to become the next Kazekage.
In fact, it wasn't just her. Over half of Sunagakure's ninjas favored Rasa.
Because he possessed the Kekkei Genkai Magnet Release.
Although Pakura's Scorch Release was no worse than Magnet Release, Magnet Release signified orthodoxy in Sunagakure.
After all, the Third Kazekage also mastered Magnet Release.
And Rasa's Magnet Release was learned from the Third Kazekage.
Sunagakure had two orthodoxies: one was Magnet Release, and the other was Puppet Jutsu.
Puppet Jutsu was created by the Second Kazekage, Shamon, and its most outstanding inheritor was Chiyo.
Theoretically, the most likely candidates to become the Fourth Kazekage were Rasa and Chiyo's son, Sareki.
They both belonged to the Kazekage faction of ninjas.
As a ninja not belonging to the Kazekage faction, if Pakura wanted to become the Fourth Kazekage, she needed either overwhelming strength or overwhelming merit.
Overwhelming strength was very difficult for her to achieve, so she could only try to gain merit.
But just now, Chiyo handed a huge merit to Rasa.
If he could truly succeed in poisoning them, then Sunagakure would most likely be able to repel Konoha and end this war.
Rasa's merit would then go without saying.
Pakura sighed inwardly.
From the perspective of a Sunagakure ninja, she hoped Rasa would succeed.
But from a personal perspective, she hoped he would fail.
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