The sixth day, morning.
Before the unit's assembly time, Higashino Makoto first went to the ninja tools shop he frequented.
He still had shuriken, kunai, and the like. Moreover, once on the front lines, such items would be supplied collectively by the village, so there was no need for ninjas to spend their own money buying them.
Because he did not know how long he would be staying on the eastern front, he prepared to bring extra blade oil before leaving.
His short blade was a valuable chakra weapon, not a consumable like an ordinary weapon. It required frequent maintenance and care, and the specialized blade oil it used would not be provided by the village.
There were not many customers in the shop. Suzune was receiving them; although her husband, Tetsuen, was young, he was a very capable ninja tool smith, and during wartime he was often so busy that he was nowhere to be seen.
Neither of the couple had the talent to become ninjas. They did not know why their daughter, Tenten, chose to become a ninja in the future.
Perhaps it was the influence of Konohagakure's atmosphere. After all, here, becoming a ninja was the goal every child aimed for when growing up.
Tenten was born in early March. Among the future Konoha 12, she would be the oldest. At present, her two teammates were still in their mothers' wombs, and as for the other nine, they had not yet been conceived by their parents.
At this moment, the little one was already three months old, crawling around by herself in the crib beside them. Unfortunately, there were guard rails around the crib, preventing her from trying to climb out.
Children of the shinobi world were indeed full of vitality.
Higashino Makoto stepped forward and pinched her chubby little cheek. The little one immediately found a new target, showed no fear of strangers at all, grabbed Higashino Makoto's finger, and tried to stuff it into her mouth.
"Yiya, yiya!"
After discovering she could not bite it, she began protesting again.
"Makoto, it seems Tenten really likes you!" Suzune walked over after finishing her work.
"I don't look fierce, after all. Besides, she probably isn't afraid of strangers, Suzune-neesan. The little one often sees unfamiliar people in the shop, so she may already be used to it."
"You're right. So, Makoto—what do you need today?"
"A blade-maintenance kit. Get me four boxes."
"Really? That many?" Suzune froze for a moment, then said, "I'll go get them for you."
Very few people bought maintenance oil for chakra weapons. It was not kept at the shop counter, so she had to go to the small storeroom compartment behind them to retrieve it.
"Thank you!"
Soon, after taking the kits and putting them into his ninja tools pouch, Higashino Makoto prepared to pay.
Suzune stopped him. "Makoto, if you're buying so many at once, are you heading to the front lines?"
"Yes."
"Then treat these as a gift from your neesan. Promise me you'll take good care of yourself. Once you're on the battlefield, don't push yourself."
Higashino Makoto smiled and answered seriously, "Don't worry, Suzune-neesan. I still want to see, when Tenten grows up, which of the two of you she'll resemble more."
"Of course me. If she takes after her dad, she's done for!"
...
On Konohagakure's main road, the support forces had already begun to gather.
Quite a few villagers stood on both sides. They had come to see off their loved ones. Some were saying goodbye to family; others stood alone.
In a world where wars were frequent, not everyone had family. In wars between ninjas, the death rate was extremely high; many times, people lost their lives without even getting the chance to be wounded.
Higashino Makoto rejoined his squad and looked over the expeditionary force setting out together this time. There were relatively fewer adults, and many youths—rookies who had graduated in recent years.
The youngest were, like Higashino Makoto, not yet ten years old; the oldest were at most twelve or thirteen.
As for this, Konohagakure had no choice. It was not that there were no more adult ninjas, but the village had to retain the necessary defensive strength.
Ninjas were not ordinary soldiers. With their high mobility and high concealment, they were very suited to stealing the enemy's crystals. It was extremely dangerous for the village to become overly empty.
Higashino Makoto saw quite a few familiar faces in the crowd—for example, Guy and his two teammates; Shiranui Genma with a senbon in his mouth; and Ebisu wearing sunglasses.
Because of the brilliant battle record Might Duy had achieved last year, Might Guy received focused training from the Hokage. When the fighting was not intense, he was reassigned back to the village to recuperate.
Now, they were once again rushing to the battlefield.
There was also another boy wearing sunglasses. Higashino Makoto heard his companions call him Aoba, so he was likely Yamashiro Aoba. One of his companions had very distinctive features: naturally curly, shoulder-length hair and red pupils. Unfortunately, there were no black tomoe in them—so that was Yūhi Kurenai.
Since Kurenai was there, then the one with the prematurely mature face beside her had to be Sarutobi Asuma. Just looking at how he seemed practically glued to Yūhi Kurenai made that obvious.
If even the Third Hokage had sent his own son to the battlefield, what could anyone else possibly say?
Besides that, Gekkō Hayate's peers, Kamizuki Izumo and Kotetsu Hagane, were also present. Higashino Makoto did not recognize the teammates of the two "gate guardians."
All along, Higashino Makoto's social circle had been very small, and he preferred staying at home to study, so aside from Gekkō Hayate and Uzuki Yūgao, there were not many familiar figures he had encountered.
He had not expected to run into so many at once today. These people would all become the backbone of Konohagakure in the future.
Unfortunately, Umino Iruka was not there, nor was Hayate's female classmate Tsubaki. As for them… how should it be put— their talent was insufficient, and they had not managed to graduate early.
Actually, Iruka's parents were quite formidable. In this war, they had been promoted to jōnin and were an important representative force of civilian-born ninjas within Konohagakure's jōnin ranks.
It was just that Iruka had failed to inherit his parents' talent for ninjutsu, possessing only extremely solid theoretical knowledge.
Uzuki Yūgao was pulled aside by her mother, who was carefully giving her detailed instructions. Higashino Megumi also stroked her son's head, but did not say anything.
After Yūgao returned to formation, Uzuki Sakura said to Gekkō Kumomi, "Kumomi-niisan, I'll be leaving the children in your care."
"Don't worry. I'll protect them well. You don't need to worry too much."
Higashino Megumi already understood her son's strength and reminded him, "Makoto, protect your companions."
"I will, Mom."
...
When the time came, everyone bid farewell to their loved ones and set off immediately.
After leaving Konoha's main gate, the formation spread out, and the unit gradually vanished into the roadside forest. This was the way ninjas marched: they usually did not take the main road, nor did everyone bunch together.
They were often organized as two or three familiar squads forming small groups that could look after one another. These groups kept their distance from each other, dividing into what appeared to be a loose formation but was in fact a tightly connected, flexible whole.
This was to prevent being caught in an enemy ambush along the way and getting wiped out by a map-wide ninjutsu.
Although such a possibility was very small—after all, the gathering of reinforcements was no secret—the choice of advance routes was strictly confidential.
Advancing together with Higashino Makoto's squad were old acquaintances: his classmates Hyūga Tokuma and Aburame Muta, who had applied for early graduation last year.
Their teammate was a girl from the Inuzuka clan, named Inuzuka Meko, from the same year as Gekkō Hayate, and she brought along a half-grown… husky?
Higashino Makoto's gaze turned subtle. He felt the road ahead looked a bit bleak.
"Your look is kind of off. Do you have a problem with me?"
This husky's senses were very sharp—it noticed someone staring at it.
"I swear I absolutely don't!" Higashino Makoto denied it flatly.
"Good. Otherwise, be careful—I might bite you."
This was outrageous. The dog could talk. He was actually talking with a husky. He had known the shinobi world was magical, but this was way too magical.
The jōnin leading the three-man team came from the Sarutobi clan, named Sarutobi Hiyoma.
He laughed heartily. "You brats from Kumomi's squad, relax—Rocky is very reliable."
Damn it. A dog named Rocky? You don't exactly look like a heavyweight.
Gekkō Kumomi also smiled and said, "Makoto, Inuzuka clan ninja dogs are quite reliable partners for us Konoha ninjas."
"I know, Sensei."
On this point, Higashino Makoto truly believed it. He had just been momentarily stunned by seeing a well-known furniture destroyer. After all, this ninja dog's eyes carried a hint of intelligence.
Still, the composition of Hyūga Tokuma's squad was rather intriguing. Wasn't this exactly the setup of what would later become Team Eight among the Konoha 12?
One who worked with dogs, one who worked with insects, plus a pair of Byakugan.
Looks like a reconnaissance unit.
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