Might Duy's Decision

Year 37 of Konoha.

The smoke of war had finally risen.

Iwagakure and Sunagakure attacked at the same time, marking the full outbreak of war.

Fortunately, Sakumo Hatake and Jiraiya stood on the two fronts, holding back the fierce assaults of the enemy villages.

They dragged the fighting into two separate battlefronts.

Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure thus fell into a stalemate.

Reports from the front kept pouring into Konoha.

Even the atmosphere throughout Konoha had grown much heavier, while the prices of food and ninja tools soared.

Although the front lines had held back the enemy attacks.

The effects of war touched every aspect of life, and there was no sign of prices falling.

Konoha's Hokage Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office chair, blowing smoke rings as he looked at his teammates.

Shimura Danzō sat with his eyes closed as if resting, while Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura frowned over the reports from the front.

They were the small group who would decide the course of the coming war.

"Iwagakure and Sunagakure must have formed an alliance."

"Otherwise, they couldn't have attacked at the same time."

"Kumogakure and Kirigakure have shown no signs of movement so far. That may be the only good news."

"But what about the Land of Rain? The village can't sustain a third battlefield."

The two of them looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was considering a solution.

Because of the two battlefronts, especially the Iwagakure front, the village had already deployed a large number of ninja.

The Iwagakure front had a road running through the territory between three countries, and they also had to guard against Takigakure and Kusagakure.

Those two forces were opportunists. Who knew what they might do if they saw Konoha weakened?

By comparison, the Sunagakure front was somewhat better.

The Land of Rivers would not dare harbor any ambitions toward Konoha, and though it covered vast territory, it had little population.

They only needed to deal with Sunagakure and would not be affected by other forces.

But Sunagakure was no easy opponent either.

The combined forces committed to those two battlefields already amounted to seventy percent of the village's strength.

As for the remaining ninja.

Konoha still needed people to defend the village, and at most, they could squeeze out another fifteen percent of their strength.

At this time, the Land of Rain was also crucial, as it lay where three countries met.

Not only would they have to face Iwagakure and Sunagakure at the same time, but the ninja of the Land of Rain were also a troublesome matter.

Yet they could not weaken the forces on the other two fronts, or Sunagakure and Iwagakure would advance unopposed.

For the moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not think of any good solution.

"Danzō, what do you think?"

He tossed the ball to Shimura Danzō.

Only then did Danzō open his eyes.

"Send the Uchiha to Sunagakure. That is the best option."

This made Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitate, though he quickly came to a decision.

"We'll discuss that further."

The Uchiha's main force was defending against Kirigakure. Although Kirigakure had shown no unusual activity, they still had to prepare for the worst.

The others naturally understood Hiruzen Sarutobi's concerns. There were many Uchiha elites, and if they went to the battlefield, it would be far too easy for them to accumulate military merit.

Once their military merit rose, so would their reputation. Hiruzen Sarutobi feared he would no longer be able to keep them under control.

Uchiha Jin alone was enough to give him a headache.

"Isn't Uchiha Jin's military merit a little too high?"

Mitokado Homura looked at Uchiha Jin, whose achievements were far ahead of everyone else's in the battle report.

At that, Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his head.

"He submitted one A-rank ninjutsu and six B-rank taijutsu techniques from the front."

This left them all silent.

After a long while, Utatane Koharu finally asked in a puzzled tone.

"Does the front line have time to research ninjutsu?"

"He created them before. He's only submitting them now."

The mention of this irritated Hiruzen Sarutobi. It was exploiting a loophole, but there was no easy way to close it, because Jin's techniques were simply too effective.

If there were more techniques like those, Konoha's strength could increase considerably.

"Hmph!" Shimura Danzō snorted. "Let's discuss what to do about the Land of Rain."

Hiruzen Sarutobi took the chance to change the subject.

"Then Orochimaru will lead a team to the Land of Rain front."

"Hiruzen, Orochimaru isn't capable enough yet." Danzō interrupted Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I will lead the team into the Land of Rain this time."

"Danzō, you need to prepare for an attack from Kumogakure."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's arrangement made Danzō frown. Kumogakure had been badly weakened in the First Shinobi War and had yet to fully recover.

It was unlikely that they would take the initiative to attack.

This also disrupted Danzō's plan to go to the front and gather talented people.

"Letting the still-immature Orochimaru lead the team, Hiruzen—you'll regret this."

Danzō's face darkened.

"Danzō, I am the Hokage."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had made his decision.

News that Orochimaru would head to the Land of Rain to open a new front quickly spread.

This was also a way to encourage the village's ninja to voluntarily contribute to the village.

Might Duy, who was helping a wealthy merchant move goods, also heard the news from ninja passing by the roadside.

"The front lines?"

Might Duy fell into thought.

After spending the day moving goods for the merchant, he went to the mission office to collect his wages.

He looked at the two-thousand-ryō note in his hand.

"Diapers, milk, clothes, and future ninja tools and tuition."

He calculated everything carefully, then sighed.

With hands covered in mud, he solemnly tucked the money into his clothes.

He walked to the door of his secluded home.

"Little Guy, grow up quickly and help your father."

A gentle female voice came from inside.

A smile appeared on Might Duy's face as he pushed open the door and entered.

"I'm home."

His gentle wife was soothing their child. When she saw Duy return.

"Dinner's on the table."

After saying that, she continued soothing their newborn son. Might Guy stretched out his tiny hands, grasping at something as he giggled without stopping.

"You've worked hard." Might Duy scratched his head awkwardly. "Sorry, I only made two thousand ryō today."

His wife smiled. "That's enough to cover our expenses for a while."

Might Duy sat at the table and began eating his wife's cooking.

With a gentle wife and an adorable son.

He was actually quite content already.

A genin's income barely covered the household expenses, but if he worked hard, he could still save a little by the end of the month for Duy to use.

As long as they could keep living peacefully like this, it would be enough.

But was it really enough to simply remain peaceful like this?

Might Duy stopped his chopsticks. His lips moved, then he suddenly sped up and fiercely shoveled the food into his mouth.

"Delicious! It's so delicious!"

Might Duy's strange behavior made his wife realize something was wrong.

After all, this man really acted like a child sometimes.

Perhaps sensing something, Might Guy closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Only then did his wife sit down at the table.

"Tell me. What happened?"

The husband and wife sat facing each other.

Might Duy put down his bowl and chopsticks. Rice grains clung all over his beard. He took a deep breath before saying it in a loud voice.

"I want to protect the village. I want to give you a better life. I want to..."

"Go to the front lines!"