Chapter 68

Kazuki was having a private meeting with Tsunade and Shizune before he left for his infiltration mission, as he had decided to actively take part in the war.

"It's okay, Sensei. I have been prepared for this for a long time, so don't worry. I will be safe," Kazuki reassured his sensei, trying to convince her because he didn't want her to stop him at the last moment.

"Fine, so have you gotten any leads regarding the white clone that you collected for research? I know it's made of Grandfather's cells, but I want to know why and by whom. I want to know if the village had any involvement in this matter," Tsunade queried, and Shizune, who was by the side, was shocked by the revelation. However, Kazuki kept his composure, and he chose not to reveal any information about Madara hastily because that might cause too much chaos. But he was not going to let his sensei be caught off guard while he was away, so he had made preparations. In the past week, after he got his hands on the White Zetsu clone, his research had a huge breakthrough.

"Sensei, the creature is definitely something made using Shodaime's cells, and the chakra involved seems much more potent than the ones we are normally attuned to. It feels more in tune with nature, like a sapling given form." Although Kazuki knew what exactly Zetsu was made of, he chose to hold back most of the information. He pulled out a scroll and passed it to Tsunade, who curiously read through it, and her eyes couldn't help but widen in surprise.

"Kazuki, is this true? Are you absolutely sure? I don't want you telling me later that it was only a possibility." Tsunade couldn't control her excitement and picked up Kazuki, starting to question him with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, Sensei, put me down first. When have I ever lied to you?" Kazuki couldn't help but be flustered by Tsunade's sudden actions. Shizune at the side was giggling, seeing Kazuki's reaction. Tsunade quickly composed herself and waited for Kazuki to explain further.

"Sheesh, you need to control your emotions more, Sensei. I'm not a little kid anymore, you know." Both Tsunade and Shizune couldn't help but roll their eyes at Kazuki's comment.

"Yeah, you just have to follow all the instructions on the scroll that I gave you. I have enclosed all the materials that you need, Sensei. Can you please summon Lady Katsuyu here? I have a favor to ask her, and it's better if you leave a few clones of Lady Katsuyu around the camp. Although I have tweaked the barrier to detect intruders, it's better to have additional eyes who can detect nature energy." Kazuki requested that Tsunade summon her blood bond; meanwhile, using a different scroll, he released a little wooden lifeform that he had collected from beneath the Senju ruins.

The little creature, which was originally in a dormant state, was now happily playing around the room. Both Tsunade and Shizune were attracted to the cute little wooden creature with three heads and six hands. Shizune quickly approached to observe the wooden lifeform up close.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu" (Summoning Technique)

Tsunade, while curious about the wooden lifeform, still went ahead and summoned Katsuyu as per Kazuki's request. Out of a puff of smoke, a small Katsuyu arrived in front of them, and the moment Katsuyu's eyes fell on the little lifeform, she froze in shock. After a few moments, a new consciousness entered the little Katsuyu's body. It was the consciousness of the main Katsuyu's body.

"Tsunade, how did you come by this Shizenjū (nature beast)?" A soft but majestic voice emanated from the small and petite body of Katsuyu. Tsunade was shocked because the main consciousness of Lady Katsuyu had personally descended onto this small form. Normally, the main consciousness of Lady Katsuyu never leaves the confines of the sacred land; even after reaching Super Kage level, Tsunade was not confident in summoning the entire body of Katsusyu.

"Lady Katsuyu, I did not expect you to personally come. This was something my apprentice just brought out. I have no knowledge of it; however, you may ask my student about it." Tsunade was confused about why Katsuyu was so concerned about the cute little wood lifeform, but she chose to answer Lady Katsuyu honestly.

The little slug immediately turned to observe Kazuki, who was as confused as Tsunade because he originally only wanted to find a place rich with nature energy in tune with the little wooden beast's characteristics. He felt Shikkotsu Forest was the perfect place to nurture this little thing because, if he was right, this little thing could prove to be a major game-changer in the future. He was only able to recently revive this creature after he had a breakthrough studying Zetsu's clone.

"Kid, are you the one who created this Shizenjū (Nature beast)?" Katsuyu asked Kazuki directly after Tsunade mentioned that Kazuki was the one responsible for the nature beast.

"Well, Lady Katsuyu, I did not create it; I simply revived it. I originally found this creature in a state of suspended animation beneath a Senju ruin." Kazuki chose not to withhold any information because Katsuyu identified the creature the moment she laid her eyes on it and called it a Nature beast. He was curious to find out more information about it from Lady Katsuyu.

"Sigh, I guess I was being too hopeful. Now that I observe it, I sense it's already had a vessel before, and surprisingly, it seems to have good affinity with Tsunade here. Kid, are you aware that you cannot bond with this nature beast (Shizenjū)? It's attuned to light-style nature, while you are brimming with dark-style nature." Katsuyu right away understood that the kid must have luckily found a nature beast that survived the old war and revived it because, as per Katsuyu's knowledge, the knowledge of creating nature beasts has been long lost.

"Katsuyu-sama, although I don't exactly know the origin of the beast, I understand it has a different affinity than me. I just wanted to ask if you could help nurture this nature beast at Shikkotsu Forest." Kazuki shared his intentions with Katsuyu. Now that he understood that Katsuyu might hold some answers, he mentally decided to have a conversation with Katsuyu at a later time.

"Fine, kid, I agree to your request. But I have a personal request of mine. Can you let my contractor here form a bond with the Nature beast? In return, if you need anything, Shikkotsu Forest is willing to provide it." Katsuyu, out of nowhere, made a request of her own, wanting to let Tsunade form a bond with the nature beast. Everyone within the room was confused, including Kazuki, as he had no idea what was happening. But he quickly agreed to it because if it would help his Sensei, then it'd be better. Although he had the bones from the ruins, he had not made much progress on that front, so having a new source of information was to his benefit.

After a brief conversation, Lady Katsuyu left with the nature beast, and she also advised Tsunade to visit Shikkotsu Forest and completely master Senjutsu. Although Tsunade knew about Senjutsu, she hadn't mastered it yet, and the prerequisite to forming a bond with a nature beast was mastery over nature's energy.

Kazuki, after settling a few more important things, donned a brand new Kitsune mask that he had crafted and went to meet the ANBU team that was waiting for him. The team consisted of a total of six members, including Kazuki, and the team was handpicked by Kazuki himself with Tsunade's direct authorization. The team consisted of an elite Jonin, two Jonin, one Tokubetsu Jonin, and Kazuki. The last pick was Torune, who was originally surprised when the order was passed because he was just a Genin and hadn't been promoted yet.

Kazuki had asked for Torune because many of Kazuki's upcoming strategies involved Torune as the core. Kazuki had already reached Chunin rank due to his contributions in the past few months. He had more than enough contributions to reach even the Elite Jonin rank, but Tsunade chose to withhold his rank due to a lack of experience, and it would also attract unwanted attention.

The elite ANBU team was originally skeptical about the person in charge of the team, as Kazuki was only a Chunin, but they couldn't question orders, and Kazuki was Tsunade's apprentice.

Kazuki reached the place where his team was waiting, gave a quick nod in Torune's direction, and passed two scrolls over to the ANBU team captain. "Burn the mission details scroll after you have gone through it. The other scroll has new outfits along with new gear and masks for all of your ANBU team. You guys have five minutes. Discard all your old items and gear. In case you feel anything's missing, let me know," Kazuki ordered, and the ANBU team quickly flickered to a nearby tent.

Kazuki then turned to Torune. "Torune, I have some new gear here. The mission we are going to perform will be very dangerous. It's better to be prepared. Go; you have five minutes before we leave." Torune, who knew about Kazuki leading the team, chose not to question him and followed his order. Within five minutes, the team of six was ready to depart.

Originally, the ANBU were wondering why Kazuki had asked them to change their gear, but after they checked the scroll, they were surprised and delighted. Within the scroll were four chakra weapons corresponding to their preferences, and the outfit and mask assigned were filled with various fuinjutsu seals whose purpose they had no idea about, but they could vaguely guess it was of a defensive nature. The scroll even consisted of a dozen highest-level medical scrolls and various medicines. Even the explosive tags and various ninja tools were of the highest quality. The ANBU team quickly composed themselves, and after fully gearing up, they went back to meet their new team leader.

"The mission we are going on is going to be long-term. The primary objective will be sabotage and intel gathering, and the secondary objective will be to assassinate high-value targets if the situation allows," Kazuki shared the objectives for their mission. The ANBU leader quickly interjected, "Leader, the mission scroll states..." Kazuki quickly raised his hand, gesturing for the ANBU captain to stop.

"I know what the mission scroll states, and your first directive in the scroll was to follow my commands without question. We will only use codenames henceforth. I will go by 'Ryu,' and you guys can pick a name for yourselves before we depart. Although this is a very dangerous mission, I will try my absolute best to bring all of you back alive, as long as you guys follow my instructions to the letter. Is that understood?" Kazuki didn't want issues to pop up later, so he wanted to make things clear before they started. The ANBU captain nodded, and they chose to stick to their ANBU codenames. Torune picked 'Mushi,' so with their directives set, the team set off in the direction of Iwagakure.

It had been more than four days since Kazuki and his team left toward the Iwa front. Tsunade, in the meantime, had completed sending out reinforcements to the Kumo frontline. She mobilized close to five thousand Shinobi to the Kumo front as reinforcements. Although Jiraiaya was confused, he accepted Tsunade's goodwill as they were in dire need of Sinobi to bolster their ranks. With the reinforcements, the Leaf Shinobi numbers on the Kumo front reached eighteen thousand, which was more than the initial numbers they were originally assigned.

Tsunade also simultaneously dropped her passive stance and started pushing the Iwa army out of Kusagakure, one step at a time. The number of minor skirmishes within the Iwa front had drastically increased, almost by half a dozen times just in the past week. Onoki, who was originally confused by this behavior, ordered the Iwa army to intensify the attacks after learning that Tsunade had sent close to a third of her numbers to the Kumo front as reinforcements. The increased intensity of battles on the Iwa-Konoha front spread like wildfire, intensifying the battlefield on all fronts. Even Iwagakure and Kumogakure, after their recent collaboration, dropped all pretence and went at each other's throats with full force.