"Bullying the weak? I'm even better at it."
Taiichi's words carried real weight after he'd just dropped one Cloud chunin with a single strike. No one laughed. The remaining Cloud ninja tightened their formation, eyes sharp with sudden caution.
" Matsushita Taiichi, don't push your luck," Killer B growled.
"So what if I do?" Taiichi shot back, already moving. "You said this is war, right? Why can Cloud ninja gang up on us but I can't use my strength to pick off the weak? Double standards, Killer B."
He vanished in a yellow flash. Another Cloud chunin went flying, chest caved in from a chakra-enhanced punch. Killer B roared and tried to intercept, lightning chakra flaring around him for speed, but Taiichi was already gone again, reappearing from a different angle with another marked kunai. One by one the chunin fell. Killer B's protection couldn't cover everyone when his enemy could teleport at will.
By the time the last chunin dropped, Killer B had gone quiet. He and the three surviving jonin formed a tight defensive square, eyes locked on Taiichi like he was the only threat left.
Taiichi wiped blood from his blade and smirked. "What's with the staring? I'm just following your rules. And let's not forget—you Cloud ninja started this war. Keep looking at me like that and people might think I'm the villain here."
Killer B didn't take the bait. Instead his gaze flicked toward the wounded Uchiha jonin still receiving treatment in the distance. "That Uchiha's too hurt to use Flying Thunder God, isn't he?"
Taiichi's expression shifted. Killer B didn't wait. He barked orders at the other jonin. "Kill the Uchiha. I'll hold Taiichi."
"Looks like playtime's over," Taiichi muttered.
He flashed to the wounded man's side. Treatment had stabilized him enough to move, at least. Chakra wings burst from Taiichi's back in a flare of golden light. He grabbed the Uchiha, beat the wings hard, and shot upward, dodging kunai and jutsu as they climbed. Killer B's furious shouts faded below them.
"Remember this, Killer B," Taiichi called down. "I'm keeping score. Tell your Cloud ninja to watch their backs."
He flew higher and farther until the battlefield disappeared behind clouds.
On the ground Killer B stared after them, face dark. They had destroyed an outpost and killed seven Leaf shinobi for the cost of four chunin, but the victory tasted like ash. Taiichi had toyed with them, and now they had to worry about retaliation.
"Fall back," he ordered. "Report to my brother."
At the Leaf forward camp, Taiichi landed hard and handed the wounded Uchiha off to a shadow clone for further treatment. Then he went straight to Orochimaru.
"Outpost Nine is gone," he reported. "Tailed Beast Bomb took it out. Only two survived by the time I got there."
Orochimaru's tongue flicked across his lips, eyes gleaming. "Heh. Cloud's getting desperate, Taiichi. Can't you feel it?"
Taiichi nodded. "They're forcing attrition now. If we keep trading bodies like this, our losses are going to climb fast."
Orochimaru studied him for a moment. "You're still thinking like a medic, not a commander. War doesn't care about fair fights or saving everyone. We protect the bigger picture. On the actual battlefield you drop sentimentality. You fight when you must. You sacrifice when you must. Hesitation gets more people killed."
Taiichi absorbed the words without argument. "Understood."
Orochimaru laid out the new plan. Pull back from fixed outposts. Station forces in the field for early warning instead of static defense. Form dedicated hunter teams to mirror Cloud's tactics—ambush and kill their roaming squads. See who breaks first.
Taiichi handed over ten of his special Flying Thunder God kunai. "Each hunter team gets one. If things go bad I can teleport in and extract them."
Orochimaru turned one over in his long fingers, already dissecting the sealing array with his eyes. "Clever. Shadow clones plus sealing to create a live link. How did you stabilize the transmission?"
He looked up, genuine interest lighting his face. "Taiichi, your talent is wasted on simple battlefield work. Have you ever considered researching chakra itself? The true nature of it. The final secrets of life and death. Work with me."
Taiichi blinked, surprised by the direct offer. Orochimaru's reputation for experiments was dark, but right now the man was offering partnership, not a cage. And Taiichi had always been curious about the deeper mechanics.
"I've been chasing the same questions," he said honestly. "Strength helps me survive long enough to study them. If you have projects worth looking into, I'm interested. Just don't expect me to ignore the war when it calls."
Orochimaru actually smiled—rare and sharp. He clapped Taiichi on the shoulder. "Good. I'll hold you to that."
Over the next weeks the northern front turned into a brutal back-and-forth of hunter teams. Leaf held the edge. Taiichi's support network let Leaf squads call for instant backup whenever they hit trouble. Cloud teams kept getting picked apart. Within a month they lost every outpost in the Land of Hot Springs and had to fall back into the Land of Lightning.
Cloud brought in another thousand reinforcements and finally shifted to a defensive posture. Both sides were exhausted. Even Taiichi felt the grind—days of constant teleporting between battlefields had drained his stored chakra and left him bone-tired. When Cloud stopped pressing, Leaf eased off too. An uneasy quiet settled over the north while everyone licked their wounds.
Far to the south, things stayed strangely calm. Sand had their hands full with Mist after Cloud pulled out. Leaf held the Land of Rivers and saw no reason to push into the desert. Most days the southern camp ran on routine patrols and personal training.
One afternoon Yohei and his team finished drills and headed back when a messenger ninja intercepted them.
"Uchiha Yohei. Urgent mission."
Yohei grinned, tension easing. Finally something to break the boredom. Kakashi, Obito, Rin, and Saori looked equally ready.
The messenger handed over a sealed scroll. "This one's classified. Only the assigned operative reads it."
Yohei checked the security markings, then glanced at his teammates. They understood and stepped back. He broke the seal and read.
Simple retrieval. Pick up intelligence from a contact in the Land of Rain and bring it back. Farther than expected, but straightforward on paper.
He rolled the scroll shut. "I need to gear up. I'll be back in a few."
The messenger followed him without a word. Yohei stopped and turned. "I get the classified part. But you don't have to shadow me the whole way."
The man stayed silent and kept pace.
Yohei sighed and kept walking. Some rules were just annoying.