Meanwhile, the scene inside another cave was nowhere near as quiet as Shen's location.
Nawaki smashed the entire cave almost to the point of collapse before finally taking down a squad of Rock-nin.
Gasping for breath after escaping outside the cave, he panted, "Phew! These Iwa shinobi are so tough—had to hit them this many times just to finish them all off."
Rock-nin, whose bodies were hardened for combat as part of their techniques, seemed like his natural enemy.
When it came to brute-force battles, whoever hit harder always won.
Though the Strength of a Hundred Technique boosted Nawaki's power, it didn't improve his body's durability.
One of the Yin Seal's built-in protections was that stored chakra could never go beyond what the body could handle.
With only slightly greater hardness than the Rock-nin, Nawaki had no choice but to spend significant effort continuously pounding them.
Inside the collapsed cave lay five bodies with twisted limbs—proof of what had happened.
It wasn't until just before dawn the next day that Team One managed to pull back from the Land of Earth.
That day's results showed that Shen had eliminated four squads while Nawaki had eliminated two.
Nayou, who had been providing intelligence from atop a cliff the entire time, also managed to eliminate a passing squad.
Team One's combat effectiveness was approaching that of the young Sannin.
At least this was how Orochimaru saw it three days later when receiving orders to reinforce the Land of Grass.
In the Hokage office, after hanging up the phone, the Third Hokage stared intently at the location of Takigakure on the shinobi world map hanging on the wall.
"Their moves are surprisingly fast."
News had just surfaced about someone attacking the Land of Earth from multiple locations when the Land of Stream couldn't wait and declared war on the Land of Grass.
There must've been something underhanded going on between the Third Tsuchikage and the leader of Takigakure.
Looking downward toward Amegakure, the Third Hokage suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
If Rain ninjas joined in too, the pressure on the Land of Grass would become unprecedentedly huge.
Though seemingly fair—a three-on-three matchup—the reality was that Konoha's main forces were all stationed in the Land of Hot Water.
Because of Sakumo's strength, the Third Hokage could confidently send him to hold off Kumogakure while assigning his three apprentices to handle the more complicated situation in the Land of Grass.
"If either the Land of Grass or the Land of Hot Water is breached, the battlefield will instantly spread into the Land of Fire."
He prayed such a scenario would never come to pass.
Both the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Grass needed to be held at all costs.
Above the Land of Hot Water, Hagoromo's Ship, marked with the Konoha symbol, was flying at full speed toward the Land of Grass.
Orochimaru sat in the cockpit expressionless.
Jiraiya and Tsunade were studying the terrain maps closely.
"The guerrilla warfare tactics used by Team One have proven very effective against scattered Rock-nin."
"Indeed, but squads capable of operating like this remain too few."
Suddenly, focusing on piloting, Orochimaru interjected, "It's not that there are too few. It's because they're practically irreplicable."
"Why? We've got plenty of teams combining Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga techniques in the village."
Jiraiya was puzzled.
"The village could certainly form over a hundred such teams, but there's only one Shen Uchiha," Tsunade shook her head and offered her opinion.
"Oh, right—Shen's got that thing going on," Jiraiya suddenly realized, thinking back to something that had happened before.
A few years ago, he hadn't been very familiar with Shen yet.
But one night, someone anonymously handed Tsunade a set of photos showing him peeping into the women's bathhouse.
Back then, beaten senselessly by Tsunade without understanding why, Jiraiya thought maybe he'd just gotten too carried away and someone had taken pictures without him noticing.
Yet a week later, when Tsunade slammed another stack of photos onto the table in front of him, his hopes of it being a fluke were completely dashed.
"I was so careful this time!" Covering his head while taking the beating, Jiraiya immediately swore to track down the culprit.
Much to his disappointment, after nearly a month of beatings, he found absolutely no clues at all.
A firm disbeliever in ghosts and spirits, Jiraiya still broke into a cold sweat as he got hit.
Eventually, The Third Hokage couldn't bear to watch anymore, scolded Shen briefly, and thus ended Jiraiya's six-month-long suffering.
During that period, wrapped entirely in bandages, Jiraiya stirred some pity in The Third's heart.
Seeing how close Jiraiya was to going insane, the old man gave him a subtle hint.
It was a blank piece of paper with Konoha's symbol drawn upside-down, and beneath it the two characters reading "Sincere Heart."
Flipping it over, Jiraiya stormed straight to Commercial Street to confront Shen.
Of course, in the end, he simply couldn't find anyone.
Even more bizarre, when he woke up late that night from his sleep, he discovered a small note placed beside his bed: Give it up, Uncle Jiraiya.
Enraged beyond reason, Jiraiya directly went to block the entrance at the Uchiha clan head's house.
Naturally, that attempt also ended in failure.
Then, frustrated and discouraged, he discovered his own home was gone—not collapsed or torn down, but completely, utterly vanished!
Jiraiya immediately figured it out—Shen definitely had help, possibly more than one accomplice!
With no other options left, he could only go to the underground lab to seek help from Orochimaru, who, when they were younger, almost got caught peeping together.
"It must've been Byakugan. If not him, then maybe only Nawaki."
Thinking himself fully capable now, Jiraiya furiously confronted Nawaki.
"Ah? Why would I ever help that guy!"
Troubled, Jiraiya ultimately let go of Nawaki, who was trying to earn a little pocket money.
Years later, when Konoha Troublemaker King decided to hang up his gloves, Jiraiya finally understood—it had actually been Team One operating collectively against him all along!
Shen's flawless plan, the hidden Nawaki nearby, and Nayou, who could sense his location—all contributed to his tragic fate.
Back in reality, Jiraiya reflected further and finally understood just how irreplaceable Shen truly was.
After all, throughout Konoha, people with Byakugan and those familiar with him weren't hard to find. But the mind behind such a strategy, and the capability to evade detection so thoroughly—that kind of person existed only once.
"Shen corresponds to the brain, Nayou to the eyes, and Nawaki to the arms and legs."
Tsunade, standing aside, quipped in a timely manner: "So you're saying it's a trio then?"
Orochimaru, piloting the plane, suddenly turned his head around, his eyes gleaming with an unusual light: "Then why don't we follow their example and launch a surprise attack on the Stream Country or the Earth Country?"
"Follow their example?" Jiraiya gave a bitter smile. "We don't have the Byakugan though."
"No, we don't need that!" Tsunade smacked the armrest of her chair.
Jiraiya instantly straightened his posture upon understanding. "You mean Hagoromo's Ship? Are you saying we should conduct an airborne operation?"
Orochimaru nodded with narrowed eyes. "Go wherever we're needed."
"If we'd thought of this method sooner, back when we were at the Hot Springs Country—"
Jiraiya placed a hand over Tsunade's clenched fist. "There's no such thing as 'if' in this world."
He leaned closer to her, offering what he considered a dashing smile. "Tsunade, it's not too late for us to figure things out now. Regret isn't something a ninja can afford."
Slightly touched, Tsunade looked up, only to meet that overly greasy face once again.
She quickly retracted her fist and delivered an elbow strike right at him.
"Don't get too close!"
Cowering in his seat, Jiraiya couldn't figure out why he had gotten hit again. He'd been perfectly fine just moments ago. "Could it be... Tsunade is the sadistic type?"
Recalling a certain murderer's remark, he suddenly felt chills run down his spine—and inexplicably wanted to bang his head against the wall.
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