Time flowed by day after day, as Shin remained immersed in training.
During this period, his father, Higashino Jiro, rotated back once more and finally had time to accompany his son in training again. However, after barely ten days, he fled.
The reason was simple—and humiliating.
He discovered, to his shock, that he was becoming increasingly unable to withstand his son's rapidly growing strength.
This left him feeling both proud and frustrated.
Proud, because his son was undeniably a genius—one on par with Hatake Kakashi, the only prodigy Jiro could even imagine reaching such heights.
Frustrated, because his dignity as a father was on the verge of collapse.
In order to preserve the image of a powerful, dependable father in his son's eyes, Higashino Jiro made a decisive choice.
He ran.
After their final sparring session, he turned his back to his son, gazed at the rising sun, crossed his arms over his chest, and—while discreetly rubbing his sore forearms behind his back—spoke in a deep, steady voice:
"Shin, your progress is truly astonishing. I believe it won't be many years before you surpass me."
"It's… emotional. I never expected you to have such potential. You really are my son."
"But I have nothing left to teach you."
"The road ahead is yours to walk alone. Keep pushing forward. I'll be waiting for the day you catch up to me—and stand beside me."
With that, Higashino Jiro left.
His broad, sturdy back disappeared into the morning light, leaving behind the impression of an invincible man walking away from the world.
Shin watched silently, feeling a rare swell of emotion.
His father truly was beyond reproach—strong, humorous, never putting on airs, giving his son whatever he asked for, and always returning home for his birthday no matter how dangerous his missions were.
The only flaw was that he occasionally acted like a dramatic, self-absorbed chunibyou.
Did he forget his son had freakish sensory abilities?
If Shin hadn't sensed the subtle movements of his father's hands behind his back, he might have actually believed that performance.
---
The old year passed, and a new one began.
Shin turned six—the exact age to enter the Ninja Academy.
But before that could happen, just a few months into the new year, a major event shook the entire Ninja World.
An event Shin already knew was coming.
The Kazekage of Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage—renowned as the strongest in the village's history—had gone missing.
No one knew when he disappeared.
All Shin heard from his father was that large groups of Sand ninja had recently been active near the borders, moving with unusual frequency, as if preparing for something major.
Before intelligence from the Land of Wind could be fully verified by the other great nations, the news leaked—from Sunagakure's own internal factions.
The Third Kazekage was gone.
No living sightings.
No body.
The Ninja World was no longer ancient or isolated. Though it hadn't entered an age of instant communication, information still spread quickly.
Before long, every major and minor village knew.
With the secret impossible to contain, Sunagakure abandoned restraint.
Whether to redirect the boiling pressure within the village or to prevent internal factions from tearing each other apart over the Kazekage's seat, one thing was certain:
An external war was inevitable.
And who should they fight? The richest target, of course.
They wouldn't pick on poor Amegakure. Even if they lost, attacking Konoha meant they could still bite off a few chunks of meat and leave with full bellies.
Thus, Sunagakure declared war on Konoha.
Large numbers of Sand ninja crossed the Land of Rivers and invaded the territory of the Land of Fire.
As for justification? That was easy.
Sunagakure accused Konoha of conspiring to assassinate the Third Kazekage. This was a war of revenge.
After all, Konoha already had a convenient symbol of darkness.
They pinned it on him first. Truth didn't matter. As long as the Sand ninja believed it, morale was secured.
Danzo: "???"
Inside the underground Root base, Shimura Danzo desperately wanted to shout that it had nothing to do with him.
But he restrained himself. He was a seasoned ninja, after all.
Besides, it didn't matter whether it was him or not. They simply needed an excuse to start a war.
What mattered now was that the war had already begun—and the only question left was how to beat those Sand bastards to death and vent the anger of being framed.
Danzo was used to setting others up. No one was allowed to set him up.
Sunagakure was doomed. Danzo had said so.
And even if the Sage of Six Paths descended personally, he wouldn't be able to save them.
Shin had lived in the Ninja World for nearly six years, and for the first time, he truly felt what the arrival of war meant.
The ninja forces stationed at the border barely managed to halt Sunagakure's advance, becoming locked in brutal skirmishes at the junction between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire.
But that alone was far from enough. Konoha immediately shifted out of routine mission operations and into full wartime mobilization.
Large numbers of deployed ninja were recalled, reorganized into full combat units, and dispatched to the front lines.
The village's once-peaceful atmosphere vanished overnight, replaced by a suffocating tension.
Villagers stood silently along both sides of the roads, watching the departing troops with grim expressions.
Among them were fathers, husbands, and sons—people who stepped onto the battlefield without hesitation to protect the Land of Fire and Konoha.
How many of them would return? No one knew.
On one front, the higher-ups sent envoys to the Capital of Fire to meet the Daimyō and secure wartime funding.
On another, they summoned representatives of the major clans and civilian ninja to hold daily meetings, discussing strategies for the conflict ahead.
Everyone understood that once war began, it would never remain a matter between just two nations. Sooner or later, every major military power would be dragged in.
The borders with the Land of Wind had to be reinforced, but the other borders could not be neglected either. Manpower had to be spread thin to guard against future threats.
After the first two Great Ninja Wars, all of this had become grimly familiar.
Time slipped by quietly under this growing pressure, and in the midst of it, Shin welcomed his sixth birthday.
That evening, Megumi and Jiro smiled as they watched their son stand before the cake, eyes closed, silently making a wish.
In past years, Shin had gone through the motions. There were no Dragon Balls in the Ninja World—what was the point of wishing?
But this year was different.
Because of the war, he made his wish seriously.
Higashino Jiro asked with a smile, "Shin, what did you wish for this year?"
"It won't come true if I say it out loud."
"Right, right," Megumi said, smiling as she pulled out a thick notebook. "Here—this is my gift to you. I organized and summarized the key points of Medical Ninjutsu study."
"And this is mine," Higashino Jiro said, producing a short ninjatō.
It was the same style as the black ironwood blade he had given before—but this one was real.
"Before, you were too young. I was afraid you'd accidentally hurt yourself or someone else," he said seriously. "But now you've grown up. You're not like other children—your mind is mature. It's time."
"Thank you, Father. Thank you, Mother."
Shin put away the notebook and drew the blade, examining it carefully.
It wasn't new. The hilt and scabbard bore clear signs of age, but the blade itself gleamed as if freshly forged, without a single nick.
Two characters were engraved along its surface: Higashino.
Jiro explained, "This was your grandfather's blade. It's mixed with Chakra Metal. Back then, it cost our family everything we had."
"Your grandfather wielded it. Your uncle did too. Later, it was damaged and kept as a family heirloom."
"Recently, I had a master craftsman restore it. Now I'm passing it to you. I hope it earns a name in your hands. I believe you can do that."
Higashino Shin did have an uncle—otherwise his father wouldn't be named Jiro.
But both his uncle and grandfather had died in the previous two Great Wars, and his grandmother passed away shortly after the Second War ended.
On his mother's side, there was no one left either. Megumi had been a war orphan since childhood.
"I will," Shin said quietly. Then he asked, "When do you leave? And where?"
The couple fell silent for a moment before Higashino Jiro answered.
"The day after tomorrow. Iwagakure troops have appeared in the Land of Grass. More manpower is needed there."
As expected.
Not long after Sunagakure launched its war against Konoha, Iwagakure had begun making its move as well.
Originally, Jiro had just rotated back from the Land of Rivers and narrowly avoided the outbreak of war. Now, he was being sent out again—this time toward the Land of Grass.
"Be careful, Father," Shin said seriously. "If you run into a large enemy force, don't try to play the hero. Survive. Mom and I will be waiting for you at home."
Jiro patted his son's head. "Don't worry. You know my strength. I won't die that easily."
Unlike Sunagakure—with its smaller numbers and reliance on poison and puppets—Iwagakure favored overwhelming numbers.
Though they lacked many top-tier elites, their mid- and lower-level ninja were densely packed.
In war, they rarely sent out small elite teams. They moved in companies, even battalions.
Against monsters like Minato, they were little more than walking merit points. But for ordinary Konoha ninja, a single mistake meant being swallowed alive.
Two days later, another army departed.
This time, Shin stood among the villagers lining the road, watching them go.
This was war.
He knew Konoha still had strength to spare—for now. But once Kumogakure joined, and later Kirigakure followed, Konoha would be stretched to its limit.
That would be the moment when Ninja Academy students were forced to graduate early to replenish the ranks.
Judging by the timeline… he would almost certainly be one of them.