CH_42

The reason Rawari was still a tokubetsu jōnin was that he only knew Water Release jutsu.

As Kakashi once said, Konoha's jōnin had all mastered at least two chakra nature transformations.

Tokubetsu jōnin fell into three main categories:

The first type were chūnin who met the overall strength requirements for jōnin but lacked seniority—i.e., insufficient mission count. These usually got promoted to full jōnin before long.

The second type were elite-level chūnin who had an extra special skill. Their overall ability exceeded the chūnin tier, but their combat power hadn't reached ordinary jōnin level. Most of these came from bloodline clans or secret art families.

The last type had overall strength clearly above chūnin level but had no special skills and only mastered one chakra nature. Most of these came from civilian families or minor clans with no special inheritance.

Rawari belonged to the latter.

For the vast majority of shinobi who came from civilian backgrounds, tokubetsu jōnin was the end of the road. Without bloodline advantages, special inheritance, or lucky encounters, Rawari was about as far as you could go.

But in Tōji's eyes, Rawari already gave him a strong sense of security. Even now, when they'd been ordered into even more dangerous territory…

Because after Uchiha Fugaku took over as regional commander, most of the strategies came from Nara Shikaku.

Many of Iwa's tactics were read by Shikaku, preventing their overall strategy from unfolding smoothly.

Though Iwa would still send in reinforcements, their forces had been effectively contained by Konoha to an increasingly smaller area.

Of course, the consequence was that both sides' shinobi on the actual battlefield were forced into more frequent and larger-scale battles.

But that was just the surface Shikaku wanted.

By drawing enemy forces into an arc-shaped front line, the area around Kannabi Bridge would be left vulnerable!

Iwa would eventually notice the problem. But it was like a game of shogi—often, when someone set a trap, you wouldn't see it right away. After all, the "players" on both sides weren't on the same level.

Now Tōji and the others were continuing to push toward that arc-shaped front Shikaku had designed.

Which meant a bigger turning point was near.

Within a few days, Minato Namikaze would appear somewhere on this battlefield, drawing Iwa's attention.

For Tōji and the others, the greater danger came from the fact that Konoha's rescue squads had been reduced by nearly half.

This meant the remaining "medical squads" were prime targets for Iwa.

Especially since medical-nin tended to be weaker in combat.

Konoha wasn't without countermeasures. All squads that were likely to become Iwa's primary targets were placed under Konoha's enhanced protection.

For instance, as soon as Rawari's squad arrived in the "new combat zone," they were immediately assigned a protection squad—one ordinary jōnin leading three chūnin.

Most "protection squads" were similarly configured. After all, more combat power still had to be allocated to the front lines.

On the front lines, there would be a small number of chūnin-level medical-nin. But even for Konoha, medical-nin were scarce. This wasn't the Tsunade era yet.

That was why even someone like Tōji or Neru—who only knew the bare basics of medical treatment—was still in demand.

And in terms of medical capability, because Neru's credentials weren't quite sufficient when the squads were first formed, she was originally grouped with Tōji and the others as a regular combatant.

But in reality, Neru's skill level was already enough to form another "medical squad" with others.

So in the end, Tōji's squad didn't get any special treatment.

And danger often struck hardest at the very beginning of a change…