Naruto I Have an Attribute Panel Chapter 220 210: Tsunade Gets the Call

Leaf forward camp, Land of Rivers.

After healing the entire team, Taiichi dropped onto the edge of a cot like a sack of bricks. Between the antidote research that had already drained him and the all-out fight with the Fourth Kazekage, his body was running on fus. The Yin Seal had topped off his chakra, but his mind was still fried.

He replayed the battle in his head. This ti there was no ambush, no cheap shot—just straight-up trading blows with Rasa. The fact that he'd held his own without pulling out every trump card told him exactly where he stood. In a one-on-one out in the wild, he might actually be able to kill the Kazekage.

Of course, both of them had been holding back. Still, it was enough to know he could survive anything the ninja world threw at him right now.

He stood up, stretched the stiffness out of his shoulders, and stepped outside. Night had fallen hard. A bright moon hung over the trees, stars scattered across the sky, and campfires glowed everywhere. Patrols moved between tents in steady rotation.

Every shinobi he passed stopped and saluted.

"Lord Taiichi."

"Lord Taiichi."

The respect was real. He recognized at least seven faces from people he'd personally pulled back from the brink, plus two more he'd fought beside. No wonder Tsunade still commanded that kind of loyalty even after years away—great dics earned it the hard way, and when they could also wreck you in a fight, people paid attention.

He reached the main command tent. Lights were still blazing inside and heated voices carried through the canvas. Even this late, the brass was grinding away.

The guard ducked inside to announce him. Taiichi waited outside until the man reappeared.

"Lord Jiraiya says to co in."

Taiichi nodded and stepped through the flap.

Minato was there—first ti Taiichi had seen him since they split up. The blond gave him a quick, secret wink.

Jiraiya looked up. "Taiichi. You've got sothing to report? Breakthrough on the antidotes?"

"Antidotes are still the sa for now," Taiichi said. "I already wrote to Tsunade-sensei. We should hear back soon."

Jiraiya's face lit up. Any ntion of Tsunade still hit him hard after all these years.

Taiichi didn't drag it out. "This afternoon while I was resting, I got a distress signal from Yohei—"

He laid out the whole rescue: the ambush on Yohei's team, the three Sand jonin, Rasa showing up personally, and how he'd used Flying Thunder God to pull everyone out one by one. The room went dead quiet.

When he finished, Jiraiya's expression had gone sharp.

"Shikaku. What mission did Yohei's squad actually have?"

"Deep recon behind enemy lines," Shikaku answered instantly.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "Any other recon teams report back in the last two days?"

"Two ca back—yesterday and today. Nothing unusual. We sent out ten teams total on the sa day. Only three have returned."

The math hit everyone at once. Seven elite squads still missing. At least seven jonin unaccounted for. And one of the teams that did make it back had only survived because Taiichi showed up.

"Send out a full-scale assault tomorrow," one of the staff officers said. "Hit every Sand patrol and outpost we can reach. Force them to pull people back from the rear to reinforce the front. That should take the pressure off our missing teams."

Shikaku nodded. "It's the cleanest option we have. We were already planning the next push anyway."

Jiraiya didn't hesitate. "Double the strike teams at first light. Minato, you slip back behind their lines and see if you can find any of ours. Everyone else—stay sharp. Sand knows we found one of their hunter teams. They'll be expecting us to co looking for the rest. Don't get cocky."

A chorus of "Yes, sir" filled the tent.

Jiraiya turned back to Taiichi. "You keep grinding on those antidotes. Tomorrow's fight is going to be bigger. Without a cure for Chiyo's poison, our dical corps is going to get crushed."

"On it," Taiichi said.

He left the command tent and headed straight for the dical camp. Sleep could wait. Every extra antidote he could mix tonight was one less shinobi dying tomorrow.

Inside the lab he lost himself in the work—distilling, mixing, testing—while the rest of the camp prepared for war.

At the sa ti, hundreds of miles away in the neutral Land of Iron, Tsunade sat in a small inn wearing nothing but a loose bathrobe. One leg dangled off the bed, red toenails swinging lazily while she read Taiichi's letter and took occasional pulls from a sake bottle.

She looked twenty-five, tops. Only the people who knew her real age rembered she was pushing forty.

The letter made her smile, then snort, then laugh outright. Taiichi had clearly exaggerated how bad things were at the front. The camp wasn't on the verge of collapse—he was just trying to lure her back with a sob story and a mountain of flattery.

"Cute," she muttered, swirling the bottle. "Kid thinks he can con after all these years."

The door opened. Shizune stepped in carrying a small bag of groceries.

"Lady Tsunade, what's so funny? I could hear you laughing from the hallway."

Tsunade didn't answer right away. She just folded the letter, stood up, and headed for the study.

"I'm going to go solve a problem for that little brat," she said over her shoulder. "Don't wait up for dinner."

The door clicked shut behind her.

Shizune sighed, used to it by now. At least Taiichi still cared enough to write. That was more than most people in Konoha could say.

Inside the study, Tsunade cracked her knuckles and started pulling out old notes on Chiyo's poisons. If her student was going to drag her back into the war, she might as well show up with sothing useful.

"Alright, Taiichi," she said to the empty room. "Let's see what kind of ss you've gotten yourself into this ti."