Chapter 727

In the country where the rain never ceased, a young ninja with white spiky hair sat cross-legged in a dim tent, staring blankly at his arm wrapped in white bandages, not knowing what he was thinking.

Under the dim candlelight in the tent, his complexion appeared extremely warm.

His slightly haggard face carried a hint of gentle tenderness, but if one looked closely, one could still find a hint of obvious complexity in the depths of this expression.

Just then, outside the tent, apart from the pitter-patter of the rain, a slight movement came.

The white-haired spiky youth looked up, and a female ninja with a plump figure and moving features stepped into his tent.

The female ninja wore armor and had a head of brilliant blonde hair; even in such a dim environment, these dazzling strands shone with a light like pure gold.

This couldn't help but make one feel—she was a noble princess, and even the place she came to would be turned into a magnificent palace.

The young ninja's moving and upright cheeks carried a sense of restraint and fortitude.

After stepping into the tent, she looked at the white-haired youth sitting cross-legged in the tent.

"Jiraiya..."

"How are you?"

Her pleasant and gentle voice rang in Jiraiya's ear; just hearing this voice brought a feeling as warm as sunshine.

"I'm fine, Tsunade."

Jiraiya smiled and shook his head.

At the same time, he silently hid the warmth on his face, replacing it with a carefree look.

Tsunade shifted her gaze to Jiraiya's arm wrapped in gauze; a hint of fresh red color seeped through the white gauze, and one could imagine that beneath the gauze was likely a scene of mangled flesh.

Seeing this, Tsunade's mood sank a few more degrees.

Ever since Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru led the army to launch a counterattack against the Rain ninjas and invaded the Land of Rain, this war had already lasted for nearly half a year.

It could only be said that although the Sannin had attached enough importance to the situation of the war, they still underestimated the difficulty of this war.

Konoha, which occupied a strength advantage on paper, was instead remaining passive in the situation.

During this period, there were few large-scale operations between the two sides, mostly sporadic encounter battles, counterattacks, assassination battles, and intelligence battles...

Whenever the scale of the battle showed a trend of escalation, the Rain ninjas would immediately retreat, bringing the four-character tactic of "collapse, retreat, sell, slip" to the extreme.

Whenever Konoha wanted to pursue, they would encounter the interception of the demigod Hanzo of the Salamander.

Under the formidable strength of Hanzo of the Salamander, the Konoha ninjas who went to pursue would soon be repelled.

And among the cluster of Konoha ninjas, with Hanzo of the Salamander's formidable strength, it was almost equivalent to a god descending to earth, entering an empty realm.

With Hanzo of the Salamander providing support, the Rain ninjas fully utilized "Mobile Corps Commander tactics" to the extreme.

Coupled with the fact that the Rain ninjas already occupied the home-field advantage of the Land of Rain, plus the Rain ninjas' characteristic of being good at assassination, the Konoha side was miserable for a time.

The three elements of war.

Heaven's timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony—Konoha was at a disadvantage in all of them.

The war had lasted for half a year, and both sides had suffered losses, but overall it remained infinitely close to a draw.

At first glance, it seemed like both sides had forcibly fought to a tie, but one must know.

In a situation where the Rain ninjas themselves lacked mid-level combat power and their combat quality was far inferior to Konoha ninjas, the war situation could still be a draw; this already explained the excellence of Hanzo of the Salamander's tactics and the brilliance of his command.

And Hanzo of the Salamander's goal was also very clear: to drag Konoha down in the Land of Rain!

Fortunately, Konoha had a large family and a big business, and could still afford to consume with the Rain ninjas for a short time.

This was not the worst part.

As the war continued further, more and more problems began to be exposed.

For example: because they didn't consider that they would be fighting in the Land of Rain for a long time, the standard weapons produced in the Land of Fire would gradually rust because they lacked good anti-rust treatment; grain and grass transported to the Land of Rain would become moldy due to humidity if stored by conventional means; epidemics and acclimatization problems brought by the weather in the Land of Rain...

All kinds of problems broke out one after another, leaving the Sannin overwhelmed for a time.

And because they couldn't make breakthrough progress in the war situation, this also made the Sannin bear immense pressure.

The pressure accumulated more and more, and the suddenly increased pressure would cause people's judgments to have errors and mistakes.

The injury on Jiraiya's body was caused by his own rashness and mistakes.

He shouldn't have made such a low-level mistake, but given the worsening situation, it was inevitable that Jiraiya would lose his footing.

"Hoo..."

Tsunade let out a soft breath, suppressing her chaotic thoughts.

Jiraiya's wound was treated by her, and she knew that such an injury was indeed of no major concern.

What she was worried about was not the wound on Jiraiya's arm, but Jiraiya's mental state.

Real-life examples told Tsunade that the key factor determining the outcome of a battle on the battlefield was often not the ninja's physical condition, but psychological problems!

The more advanced the ninja, the more they would face such problems.

As a commander, it is different from an ordinary ninja.

Every move Jiraiya made affected all the Konoha ninjas.

Tsunade didn't say much, but came to Jiraiya's side, skillfully unwrapped the bandages at the wound, and cleaned and healed the wound.

"Jiraiya, you are no longer the dead-last of the past."

"You are now the commander of the Konoha army; you must hold on and not fall."

"Also, you are my teammate, Tsunade! Pull yourself together, did you hear me?!"

While helping Jiraiya treat the wound, Tsunade said to Jiraiya.

Perhaps because of the tempering in recent days, Tsunade's tone carried a strong flavor.

"Hahaha!!!"

"Don't worry, I am the Toad Sage Jiraiya-sama, how could I fall just like this!"

Hearing this, Jiraiya laughed extremely brightly, his body even swaying back and forth.

It was just that what Tsunade clearly didn't notice was that Jiraiya's smile carried a hint of hard-to-conceal bitterness.

"Teammates, huh... it's just..."

This bitter whisper in the depths of his heart could only be heard by Jiraiya himself.

"Hmm, that's more like it."

Seeing this, Tsunade nodded with satisfaction.

Jiraiya's injury was not heavy, and with Tsunade's medical ninjutsu level, it was naturally treated in a few moments.

"Alright, since you're fine, I'm leaving."

"The medical unit still has things waiting for me to handle."

After treating Jiraiya's wound, Tsunade stood up gracefully and said to Jiraiya.