"I'm not asking about that; I'm asking about your first real experience in battle," Kushina repeated, her tone tinged with a bit of dissatisfaction. Does my student lack intuition? Can't we be on the same wavelength for once?
Hagoromo thought for a moment and then spoke:
"I'm reasonably satisfied with my performance. My sensory abilities gave me the advantage in the dark. From start to finish, the fight lasted less than two minutes. In fact, I only used one move per enemy—a 'lightning strike' tactic. Looking at the results, it was decent: three dead and one wounded. Even the Sand Jonin whose arm I severed likely won't make it across the border safely. Objectively, I held all the favorable conditions. If they had a sensory ninja, I definitely wouldn't have won so easily. In a straight fight, the gap between me and a Jonin is still very clear, both in experience and raw power."
Through this battle, Hagoromo had clearly identified his weakness: Chakra reserves. The high-powered techniques he pursued required a massive amount of chakra, and at twelve years old, his body simply hadn't matured enough to provide that kind of volume yet.
"I'm very satisfied with you, Hagoromo," Kushina interjected. "You need to understand that a ninja isn't a samurai. There are no 'ifs' in survival. I knew you were talented before, but today you proved you are exceptional."
Kushina had actually been worried about his psychological state—specifically, the impact of his first kill. She hadn't expected him to go straight into a tactical debrief. Since he could analyze the battle so naturally, it meant his mental state was perfectly fine.
Hagoromo nodded. A ninja isn't a samurai, and certainly not a knight. A ninja pursues the one-hit kill, not a fair one-on-one duel. Whether you use a blade or poison, the result is the same: a dead enemy is a mission accomplished.
If he knew Kushina was worried about his "trauma," he would have told her it was unnecessary. Those destined to be shinobi are taught how to kill efficiently from birth. For a "straight-A student" like Hagoromo, the battlefield was just the final exam he had simulated in his mind ten thousand times.
"But my chakra is mostly gone," Hagoromo added with a wry smile.
He had pushed the output too hard. Especially the Chidori Sharp Spear—projecting chakra five meters away from the body is an incredible drain. Even with his talent for refined chakra control, he couldn't sustain that level of consumption.
"Haha!" Kushina burst out laughing, slapping his shoulder hard. "That's what happens when you only have eyes for A-rank and S-rank jutsus! Now you know you're running on an empty tank, don't you?"
Hagoromo felt depressed. You Uzumakis and Senjus are all "chakra monsters"; you have no idea what it's like for the rest of us with normal gas tanks.
The Anbu finished processing the battlefield, searching the corpses for intel before scrubbing any traces of the fight. The rest of the camp had woken up during the skirmish—they were ninjas, after all, and couldn't sleep through high-level Lightning Release going off nearby.
Once the area was confirmed clear, everyone returned to rest, though the guard was doubled to two Anbu squads. Hagoromo returned to Kushina's tent, collapsed onto his bedding, and fell into a deep sleep within ten minutes.
By 6:00 AM the next morning, he was awake. He tied his forehead protector on—today they would enter the main headquarters, and without it, he risked being attacked by his own allies.
Everyone gathered by the stream to wash up before eating. Konoha's field rations were, quite frankly, terrible. Hagoromo considered just eating Military Rations Pills rather than chewing on something as hard as a rock.
After breakfast, the Anbu meticulously cleared the site, restoring it to its original state to prevent tracking. The group of nearly forty people then set out in a Manji (Swastika) Formation: one Anbu squad scouting ahead, two guarding the flanks, and Kushina, Hagoromo, and the final Anbu squad bringing up the rear. The twenty medical ninjas were protected in the center.
They maintained a pace of 30 km/h. To cover the remaining 200 kilometers, they would need about seven hours of non-stop running—a modest speed for a ninja, but a grueling test of endurance for the non-combat medics. No one complained; the previous night had proven that this was a war zone, and the sooner they reached the HQ, the safer they would be.
Fortunately, they encountered no more enemies. By early afternoon, the Konoha Frontline Headquarters finally came into view.
Strategic Positioning (Manji Formation):
The formation used by your team is designed to provide 360-degree protection while keeping the most vulnerable assets (the medics) in the heart of the group.