Chapter 29: Chapter 29: "Danzo’s Command Fumbles, the Battle Stalemates"

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: "Danzo’s Command Fumbles, the Battle Stalemates"  Kushina decided to create a hidden compartment in her bedroom. She dug a passageway downward, leading to a small secret room where she could rest. Every night, she'd sleep there, leaving a shadow clone in her bedroom to maintain appearances. In the Land of Rain, the downpour continued relentlessly. Konoha and the Hidden Rain Village were locked in fierce combat. Danzo was losing hair by the handful. He had never imagined that under Hanzo's leadership, the Hidden Rain Village would be such a tough nut to crack. The expected swift victory had not materialized. Instead, the Rain Village had managed to bog down Konoha's forces. This was something Danzo hadn't anticipated. And yet, the Hidden Rain had done just that. Once Konoha's forces entered the Land of Rain, the battle turned into a deadlock. The thing causing Danzo the most headaches was Hanzō's poison. Whenever Hanzō appeared, large numbers of Konoha ninjas were poisoned to death. Fortunately, Konoha had Tsunade, who continuously developed antidotes, gradually reducing the casualties. Even so, Konoha couldn't secure a swift victory against the Hidden Rain. The grand battle they had planned for ended up dragging Konoha into a quagmire instead. "What's the status?" Orochimaru asked, his brow furrowed as he gazed out into the rain, pondering how to break the stalemate. Damn it! Danzo's leadership was a disaster. Under his command, wave after wave of Konoha ninjas had been sent to their deaths. But since Danzo was the overall commander, there was nothing Orochimaru could do but swallow his frustration. "I never expected the Hidden Rain Village to be this strong. Looks like the old man was right -letting them grow unchecked has become a real threat," Jiraiya muttered. He no longer had the energy he'd shown when they first arrived on the battlefield; now he looked worn out, lying lazily on the ground, too tired to move. At this time, the Chunin Exams consisted of only two parts: a written test and a combat test. Passing both would result in a promotion. "Leave them here," the Third Hokage said. Since the war had begun, he had been swamped with work, dealing with one issue after another, all of which required his personal attention. The Hokage's office had practically become the Third Hokage's home, where he ate and slept. After finishing the paperwork on his desk, he sighed in relief and began reviewing the Chunin Exam applications. He scrutinized each one carefully, stamping them as he went. "Jiraiya went to the front lines, but it seems Minato stayed behind in the village," the Third Hokage mused as he came across Minato's file. Remembering that Jiraiya had specifically asked him to keep an eye on Minato, the Hokage pulled out Minato's records. That's when he noticed that Minato had joined Takuya and Mikoto's two-man team, turning it into a standard three-man genin squad. "What?" The Hokage frowned as he looked at the number of completed missions. Did they forget to add a couple of digits here? Takuya's team had completed only thirteen D-rank missions and twenty-eight C-rank missions. Are they sure they didn't miss a digit or two? Takuya's class had been out of the Academy for almost a year. Other teams from his graduating class had completed at least a hundred D-rank missions, along with numerous C- rank missions. Yet Takuya's team had done so few? Something didn't add up. "Investigate Takuya's team's mission history. I want accurate numbers," the Hokage ordered. "Yes, Hokage-sama," an ANBU operative replied before vanishing from the office to gather the necessary information. It wasn't long before the data was delivered to the Third Hokage. "These kids," the Hokage chuckled when he compared the reports. It wasn't a mistake-the records were correct. The reason the mission count was low was that Takuya's team simply hadn't taken on many missions.