Time quietly slipped by amid the war.
The Third Great Ninja War had fully entered its most chaotic stage. Every nation had fallen into dire situations of one against many.
Interests were entangled with old and new grudges alike. The ninja had killed until their eyes were red, and no one was willing to take even a single step back.
If they retreated at a time like this, wouldn't all those relatives and friends who had fallen on the battlefield have died for nothing?
War was first ignited by clashing contradictions and calculations of interest. After that, it was swept out of control by the hatred of the ninja masses. Once things reached this point, it would not stop until blood had been shed to the last drop.
It was a vortex, one that would devour everything, until everyone involved felt a pain they could no longer digest, grew weary of it, and only then chose to break away on their own.
Without anyone noticing, another year passed. If one counted from the time Konohagakure was founded, it should now be Konoha Year 49.
Unlike last time, when rotations still allowed people to be pulled back for rest, the ferocity of the fighting had caused casualty numbers to keep rising. Konohagakure had already begun to show signs of a manpower shortage.
Bad news: Higashino Jirō had remained on the front lines the entire time and had not returned to the village for a long while. At this most critical moment, the village simply did not dare reduce the strength deployed at the front.
Good news: at least he was still alive.
Although the Higashino family could still be considered civilian ninja, they had accumulated several generations of foundation and possessed some reserves. Higashino Jirō's strength was not bad at all—at the very least, he surpassed the vast majority of elite chūnin and even special jōnin.
On April 1st, only a few days after Higashino Makoto had celebrated his birthday, the Ninja Academy reopened, and he advanced to the third grade.
That morning, after finishing breakfast, Higashino Makoto straightened the ninja tool pouch on his body and headed out to school.
Today it was not a shadow clone. At the start of the term, he would generally attend in person.
Higashino Megumi had already gone to work at the hospital early that morning.
During wartime, the number of wounded patients at the hospital had surged, making it extremely busy. They were all people who had suffered severe injuries on the front lines and were sent back at intervals after only basic treatment.
Frontline battlefield medical conditions were, after all, far more rudimentary. Some wounded required long-term treatment and recuperation, and only the village had the conditions to provide that.
After they recovered, they would return to the battlefield. If it was the kind of injury that left a permanent limb disability, or if the ninja's foundation had been damaged by severe poison or by chakra being drained over a long period, then retirement was the only outcome.
That was already considered fairly good. More people died directly on the front lines, without even a chance to be saved.
Besides that, people like Higashino Megumi—whose medical ninjutsu stood out—also had to develop standardized antidotes and first-aid kits by integrating the various types of poisons that appeared on the front lines.
The Konohagakure Hospital was not only a large comprehensive hospital that treated and saved the sick and injured, but also a factory that produced all kinds of medical military supplies.
Because many medical ninja had been reassigned to the battlefield, the hospital was short-handed. Even Higashino Makoto often ran over in the evenings to help out—gaining hands-on experience while also staying late with his mother.
The only consolation was that Higashino Megumi was, at least, a key pillar of the hospital. Her role in the rear was more valuable, so for the time being she had not been sent to the front lines.
But if the situation worsened further, it would be hard to say what would happen later.
…
Compared with when Higashino Makoto had been reborn, Konohagakure had not changed very much. Time seemed to have temporarily stagnated here.
But as Higashino Makoto walked along the road to school, he could still see the enormous impact the war had brought to this place.
The once-bustling streets were now much quieter. Because of the war, and in order to minimize opportunities for spies, Konohagakure had raised the screening level for outsiders entering the village by several grades.
During the war, ordinary commission missions had been temporarily suspended, so there would not be any clients coming over either.
Because large numbers of ninja had been dispatched to the front lines, the village population had also sharply declined. This left commerce sluggish and consumption weak. In the mornings, when many shopkeepers opened their doors, they all looked utterly unmotivated.
Higashino Makoto walked on, admiring everything familiar along the way.
In the distance, there were still only three faces on the Hokage Rock, but he knew that in less than two years, another young face would be added.
Unfortunately, they were only stone statues, unable to show hair color. Otherwise, the Hokage Rock would certainly look even better than it did now—after all, among the four Hokage there were three different hair colors.
Black, white, and yellow.
Black and white could not be seen on the Hokage Rock, but along the way they frequently appeared in Higashino Makoto's sight.
Quite a few households in the village had black-and-white funeral banners hanging outside.
That indicated that someone in the family had recently died. Black and white were the ritual colors used for funerals in this world.
On the streets, one could occasionally see members of the Uchiha Police Force on duty, and many villagers looked at them with a hint of dissatisfaction in their eyes.
They constantly boasted that the Uchiha were the strongest clan in the ninja world, yet now they were cowering inside the village, with hardly anyone going to the battlefield.
Unfortunately, how could these villagers know that unless it was absolutely unavoidable, the higher-ups did not dare send that group of battle maniacs onto the battlefield.
A clan that grew stronger the more it fought—if by accident they produced another powerhouse like Madara, what would the village use to deal with it?
The experiments on Hashirama's cells, which had originally carried great hopes, had produced nothing at all—aside from killing a pile of willing and unwilling test subjects.
There was, however, one exception, which Danzō had quietly concealed. For the time being, no one besides him knew about it.
Judging by age, that surviving test subject was about the same age as Higashino Makoto.
After arriving at the school, there were, as usual, quite a few people gathered in the training ground in front of the teaching building, though fewer than in the year Higashino Makoto had first enrolled.
There were likely no fewer new students, but far fewer parents had come.
It was once again the time of year when new students enrolled. The six-year-old brats were brimming with excitement. At this moment, they felt only that they were about to take the first step on their own ninja paths, that a great legendary story was about to set sail.
What filled their hearts were dreams of becoming Hokage. The cruelty of war spoken of in the streets and alleys simply could not frighten them.
This was what ninja were like. Only after truly feeling the brutality of slaughter would they spontaneously yearn for peace—or else turn into lunatics who took pure pleasure in killing.
Standing in a second-floor classroom, Higashino looked down at the lively scene of the new students below, just like when he himself had enrolled a few years earlier.
Now, he was already in the third grade, a senpai to the two classes ahead of them.
"Hey, Makoto-nii, it's really lively—just like when we first enrolled."
The one speaking was Uzuki Yugao. Now, like Higashino Makoto, she was also eight years old, though that was counted by nominal age; she would only officially turn eight after her birthday in November.
Compared to the little radish-like child she had been before, she had already grown quite a bit—tall and slender, beginning to show a sharp, elegant air befitting someone who practiced swordsmanship.
Her long purple hair fell over her shoulders, very beautiful. Still, no matter what, she was only eight years old—just a little girl—but her way of thinking was far more mature than before.
Higashino Makoto smiled as he looked at her and said, "It's good for it to be lively. The war has made the village far too quiet. It's rare to see such a cheerful scene."
"The war…" Uzuki Yugao fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "I hope these juniors can avoid it. Ah—no, even better if we don't have to go either."
"That might be a bit difficult. Hayate is graduating today, right?"
"Yeah. The graduation exam will be held in the morning. Let me think—it should start around nine o'clock."
Just as they had guessed back when they first enrolled, the academy had compressed general culture classes and increased the hours for training courses, making the improvement of combat capability the top priority.
Now, because of wartime casualties, Konohagakure had already begun to feel a shortage of manpower and urgently needed reinforcements. Letting Ninja Academy students graduate early was a measure taken out of necessity.
Starting from fourth grade, teachers would encourage students to graduate, unless their grades were truly terrible.
The nominal six-year system had effectively become a four-year one. This had actually started several years earlier. Kakashi's graduation at age five was an exception, but most of his peers—such as Guy, Asuma, Kurenai, Obito, and Rin—had all graduated at age nine.
Second- and third-year students were also recommended, though it was not mandatory, giving individuals more freedom of choice.
But children were still children. Hearing that there was a chance to graduate early, no one would pass it up.
Higashino Makoto was an exception. He had refused Inoue-sensei's recommendation, and at his request, Uzuki Yugao had also not applied for early graduation.
Uchiha Shisui, however, was another matter. Up to now, he had still not appeared in the classroom.
Nor was it just him. Several other classmates were also absent.
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