Kurama Yakumo gently shook her head, tossing out all the strange thoughts in her mind.
Karin was standing there looking completely absent-minded, and Yakumo thought that the most urgent thing right now was to properly comfort Karin.
She slightly narrowed her eyes, thought for a moment, then spoke seriously, "In my opinion, since Lord Rengoku didn't clearly reject you, that means there's still hope."
"After all, if he really didn't like you, he would have just refused outright."
Hearing this, Karin lifted her head and stared straight at Yakumo, as if trying to find more confirmation on her face.
Yakumo smiled slightly and continued, "Sasuke is the best example. Think about it, back when we were still in school, so many girls liked him."
"But what did Sasuke do? Every single time, he rejected them directly, without hesitation and without mercy, not leaving any room at all."
As she said this, Yakumo could not help but curl her lips, showing a trace of helplessness.
"And besides, Karin, you have to know this. The person Lord Rengoku dotes on the most is you."
"Shion, Hotaru, and I are all behind you."
"So what if you're young right now? People grow up slowly!"
Listening to Yakumo's words, Karin nodded thoughtfully.
After being silent for a short while, she suddenly seemed to think of something, and her eyes lit up.
That's right. Back in their class, Sasuke had been recognized as the most handsome boy.
At that time, none of them had been selected for the elite class yet.
Every time recess came around, groups of girls would swarm around Sasuke like bees drawn to nectar.
Some racked their brains to give Sasuke all kinds of small gifts, while others tried every possible way to start conversations with him.
Yet, when faced with these enthusiastic girls, Sasuke always wore an icy expression and bluntly rejected every bit of goodwill.
Sometimes, even if someone just wanted to trade lunches with him, he would coldly toss out a line without changing his expression:
("Sorry, I don't eat outsiders' bento,") That kind of indifference was downright intimidating.
Compared to Sasuke's cold rejection of other girls, Master treated her with pure affection and care.
Master just hadn't responded for now because she was still young.
After all, Master hadn't directly rejected her.
The more Karin thought about it, the clearer she felt inside, and the gloom hanging over her heart gradually faded away.
A child's thoughts are as changeable as the weather in June, and Karin was no exception.
Although her personality was rather stubborn and firm, even a little bit of dejection could easily creep into her heart.
Fortunately, such negative emotions came quickly and left just as fast, disappearing before long.
Karin raised her head and looked straight at Yakumo, saying seriously, "You're right, Yakumo. I'll grow up sooner or later. I will definitely become Shishou's bride!"
As she said this, her face was full of longing, as if she were already imagining the future.
Hearing these words, Yakumo froze slightly, then a faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Honestly speaking, she really hadn't expected this ninja war to let her discover Karin's special feelings for Lord Rengoku.
She leaned close to Karin's ear and lowered her voice as she suggested, "You absolutely can't let anyone else know about this."
However, Karin felt very puzzled by this. She had never been the type to bury her feelings deep inside or hide things.
So she didn't have much concern about whether to keep it secret.
She blinked her big eyes and asked, "Huh? Why?"
Facing Karin's question, Yakumo thought for a moment, then slowly explained, "Do you remember what Teacher Dan said? Things that haven't been accomplished yet shouldn't be announced everywhere, or it just lets others know your weakness."
After hearing Yakumo's words, Karin nodded thoughtfully and interpreted it on her own.
That is, if she exposed this feeling too early, it might bring Rengoku a lot of trouble or even become a fatal weakness for him.
Thinking of this, Karin quickly agreed, "Mhm, you're right!"
Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she hurriedly reminded Yakumo, "Then you have to keep it secret for me too, Yakumo!"
———
Rengoku arrived at the tent where discussions were being held.
All of the high-ranking members of the team were gathered here.
Tsunade, Kato Dan, and Hatake Sakumo were sitting together, discussing the current situation.
The moment Rengoku stepped into the tent, he got straight to the point and asked, "Is Sunagakure's poison troublesome?"
His gaze settled on Tsunade.
"Sunagakure's poisons are still just variations of the old ones. The antidotes we prepared before might be slightly less effective, but dealing with these poisons shouldn't be a problem."
The main concern for Tsunade's team was whether Sunagakure had developed any new poisons. If that were the case, Konoha's losses would be very heavy.
However, several years had already passed since the Third Great Ninja War, and Sunagakure still hadn't come up with anything new.
This showed that Sunagakure's resources were truly depleted to the extreme.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be so stingy even during wartime.
Speaking of which, Sunagakure had been completely countered by Konoha their whole life.
Their poisons were unstoppable on the battlefield, yet Konoha produced Tsunade, a saint of medical ninjutsu.
Not only were their poisons cracked one by one, but she also directly pushed forward the development of the entire ninja world's medical system.
Teams with the means would all bring medical ninja along.
This directly or indirectly weakened Sunagakure's poison-based combat.
As for White Fang, he even killed Scorpion's parents, indirectly leading to the mysterious death of the Third Kazekage.
That caused Sunagakure's strength to plummet off a cliff, and now Sunagakure was basically at the bottom among the Five Great Nations.
"How was your consumption today, and what's our combat plan going forward?"
Although Rengoku had already become an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan user, he hadn't yet gone all out in an external battle.
When he previously attacked Kumogakure, Yugito died, but that situation was still different from a battlefield like this.
They had the Hyuga clan acting as intelligence gatherers, and the numbers under Chiyo and Rasa were roughly the same.
Four thousand and five thousand, respectively.
Why did Sunagakure have more people than Iwagakure or Kumogakure?
Because Sunagakure had stuffed in a lot of genin. They had practically mobilized their entire force.
Although the first two interceptions caused Chiyo's side to lose seven or eight hundred people, compared to Sunagakure's total of nine thousand, it didn't count as serious damage.
Those first two battles were also thanks to Rengoku's Susanoo.
In a war of this intensity, unless casualties exceeded half, it was impossible for fighting to stop.
And now the most critical issue was whether Rengoku's Susanoo could withstand eight thousand people.
Whether in terms of strength or consumption.
"There's absolutely no need to worry about consumption. Today only counts as a warm-up."
"Even if there is some consumption, Karin can replenish it for me."
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