Chapter 154: Chapter 154: Taught Well
The standoff at Mount Kikyo had dragged on for several days.
Both sides clashed repeatedly between the tree line and the mountain ridges. Small-scale skirmishes were nearly constant, yet neither side could manage to break through the other’s lines.
That changed when Sunagakure launched another full-scale offensive.
On the right flank, puppet brigades advanced from the forest, raining down senbon and blanketing the area in poison mist almost simultaneously.
Kitahara Kaede stood on a high vantage point behind the stronghold, watching the collisions of ninjutsu and the billowing clouds of dust and smoke in the woods ahead. He no longer intended to keep such a low profile. After his encounter with Pakura in the forest, there was little point in continuing the charade.
It was time to make his presence felt on the battlefield.
The only way to truly make Danzo hesitate in the open was to make the name "Kitahara Kaede" valuable. War merits were the strongest protective charm one could possess.
The wind shifted, carrying the pungent scent of poison toward him. This time, the Sunagakure toxins weren’t designed for instant lethality; they took a different approach. The poison caused numbness in the limbs and disrupted the chakra pathway system. Those affected wouldn’t die immediately, but they wouldn’t be able to hold a weapon for a long time.
This was exactly what Sunagakure wanted.
As shinobi fell one by one and were carried away, the front line was slowly drained of usable manpower. Fortunately, Konoha had come prepared; their numbers were still sufficient to hold the line for now.
Kaede descended from the height and sprinted toward the combat zone. Before long, he spotted three Konoha shinobi ahead. They were being pinned down by a puppet. One had already collapsed, several poison needles embedded in his thigh, which had turned a deep purple.
The other two tried to drag him back, but a plume of purple poison mist erupting from the puppet’s mouth blocked their path. Choking and coughing, they were forced to retreat, unable to reach their comrade.
Kaede didn’t slow down.
He charged straight through the lingering mist, releasing a Fire Style jutsu that incinerated the puppet’s control strings. The puppet lost its balance and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. With the source severed, the remaining mist was quickly swept away by the wind.
The two stranded shinobi froze, staring at the youth who had appeared out of nowhere. Without a word, Kaede leaned down, hoisted their comrade onto his shoulder, and began a steady retreat toward the rear. They exchanged a glance and hurried after him.
The wounded Chunin, his face covered in grime, blinked in disbelief as he regained consciousness. "You... how did you get me out of there?"
"How are you not affected by that poison mist?"
Kaede didn’t answer. He set the man down and patted his shoulder, gesturing toward the relief team waiting behind them before turning back toward the front line.
Similar scenes played out three, four times.
By the fifth time, the Konoha shinobi on the right flank had taken notice. Wherever Kitahara Kaede appeared, casualties dropped. The wounded, separated from their units by poison, no longer had to wait in place for death. Someone was capable of charging through the mist to carry them back.
Inside the medical tent, Yakushi Nonou was treating her twelfth poisoned patient. Her movements were efficient; her right hand pressed against a neck to confirm breathing while her left hand simultaneously blocked the toxins from spreading into the torso. After a quick assessment, she triaged them—the critical cases were pushed deeper into the tent, while those with mild symptoms were told to wait on the sidelines.
The toxins used by Sunagakure this time were diverse, meaning she could only stop the spread before carefully compounding specific antidotes.
The tent flap was suddenly thrown open.
Kaede entered, one man slung over his shoulder and another unconscious soldier being dragged by his right hand. His clothes were slashed in several places at the shoulder, and there were shallow cuts on his forearm from sharp weapons, but his breathing was steady and his posture upright.
Nonou stood up and took the wounded. As she did, she glanced at the exposed skin on Kaede’s arm. The scrapes were red, but looking at his complexion, there were no signs of poisoning.
She pushed the question aside to prioritize the patients. Kaede helped her move the men into position.
As Nonou began cutting away the fabric near the first patient’s wound, she asked without looking up, "Are you experiencing any dizziness, numbness in your hands, or chest tightness?"
"No," he answered instantly.
Nonou assumed he was just toughnessing it out. She reached out and gripped his wrist to check his pulse. It was steady. He truly was fine.
Her fingers lingered on his wrist for a fraction of a second longer than necessary before she pulled away. Kaede could tell she wanted to ask something, but he didn’t offer an explanation. Instead, he steered the conversation toward the patients.
"Treat the one on the left first. The poison has penetrated deeper, but he’s still conscious. The one on the right has lost more blood, but the poisoning is less severe."
Nonou’s movements paused for a heartbeat. She had just done a rapid check, and her assessment was identical to his.
The triage priority was exactly the same.
How could a Chunin’s diagnostic judgment of poisoned patients be this accurate?
She remained silent and focused on the patient on the left. Kaede didn’t leave. He knelt down and pressed his hand onto the struggling patient’s shoulder.
"Don’t move. Struggling will only make the poison spread faster."
The patient was on the verge of losing control from the pain, but hearing those words while feeling the firm pressure on his shoulder, he gradually calmed down.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nonou noticed where Kaede was pressing. How did he know exactly where to apply pressure to alleviate the pain?
She handed him a roll of bandages. Kaede glanced at it and took it. Before wrapping the wound, he adjusted the angle of the patient’s arm to avoid the areas where the toxin had pooled. His movements were practiced and precise.
Watching this, Nonou recalled a letter she had received a few days ago. The letter had been brief; Lady Tsunade had only mentioned that if she encountered a Chunin named Kitahara Kaede on the battlefield, she should look after him a bit more, provided it didn’t interfere with her duties.
The letter had ended with a postscript: *He isn’t very good at taking care of himself.*
Nonou had found it strange at the time. When did Lady Tsunade ever write a special letter to look after a mere Chunin? Furthermore, the tone hadn’t sounded like a superior looking after a subordinate; it sounded more like...
She hadn’t let her thoughts wander then. But now, watching the way Kaede treated the wounded, she had a rough idea.
"Who taught you this?"
Kaede’s hands didn’t stop. "Someone very important."
Nonou was silent for two beats. "That person taught you well."
Kaede’s bandaging slowed for a fraction of a second.
"Yeah," he responded softly, continuing his work.
The tent flap opened again as two more men were carried in. One of them was shaking violently, eyes wide with terror, screaming hysterically.
"Am I going to die? I can’t feel my legs! Am I dying?!"
As Nonou prepared to move toward him, Kaede knelt in front of the man first. He offered no comfort. He simply stepped into the man’s line of sight, blocking his view of the chaos.
"If you can scream that loud, it means you aren’t dying yet."
"Shut up and save your strength so you can survive."
The man was stunned into silence by Kaede’s bluntness. The screaming stopped abruptly, though tears still clung to his cheeks as he nodded tremulously.
Finally, there was a brief lull in the chaos. Nonou poured a glass of water and handed it to Kaede.
"Sit down and have some water."
Kaede took it and drank a few sips. But before he could rest, the sound of urgent footsteps and shouting erupted outside the tent. Sunagakure was pressing forward again.
He set the glass down and prepared to leave. Nonou called out to him, pulling a cloth wrap from a storage chest. It contained hemostatic powder, bandages, and acupuncture needles.
"You’ll have a use for these."
Kaede looked at her and took the kit. "Thank you, Nonou-senpai."
Nonou’s eyes curved into a soft smile. "Stay safe."
As Kaede reached the tent flap, she called out again.
"Kitahara-kun."
He stopped.
"If you get poisoned, don’t try to fight it with willpower alone," Nonou said, her tone full of genuine concern.
Kaede looked back at her. "I know."
The tent flap fell shut. Nonou stood there, her gaze lingering on the arm of the patient Kaede had just bandaged.
The technique was clean and efficient, identical to that of someone she knew very well.
...
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