Foreign Ninja

Izuna woke up just as dawn was breaking.

He lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a few seconds, then decisively formed a Shadow Clone seal.

Shadow Clone silently appeared beside the bed. Izuna said to him, "Transcribe the sheet music for that song from last night; I need it today."

The Shadow Clone gave a resigned look, moved out a small table, sat down, and spread out a blank sheet of paper.

There were no musical scores available, so he had to use Numbered Musical Notation to write them down.

Izuna got up, washed, changed his clothes, brushed off the grass clippings from his sword practice the night before, and put on his straw Waraji under the eaves.

Madara was already waiting for him at the door, carrying two lunches wrapped in cloth. When he saw Izuna come out, he stuffed one of the lunches into Izuna's hand.

The two of them, with Rice Balls in their mouths, went out the door and headed towards the Hokage Building.

The Hokage Building was bustling with activity.

The Ninjas were calling out in hushed tones, and piles of documents and mission reports were being sorted and processed. Dozens of Ninjas moved around the hall, each performing their assigned duties.

The air here was stagnant, and the indoor temperature exceeded 20 degrees Celsius, which is considered high in spring. However, none of the Ninjas in the entire Mission Hall showed any discomfort. They were completely focused on their work and shut out anything irrelevant.

Izuna couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement at the state of these people. The reason was simple: he had been enveloped in steam as soon as he entered, making it hard not to admire them.

He and Ban went up to the second floor together, sat down at their respective workstations, and immediately began working on the tasks on their desks.

"I don't have much to say about this Memorial Service," Izuna mumbled, stuffing the last bite of Rice Ball into his mouth. "After all, I've never been to Memorial Service before. We can only take it one step at a time, from the opening remarks to security, one thing at a time."

Tobirama pulled a draft security plan from the corner of the table and handed it to him.

Izuna took it and unfolded it. On it, a complete floor plan of the Dueling Arena and surrounding area was drawn with extremely fine ink lines. Each entrance and exit was marked with the number of the Security Force responsible for it. The location of the Medical Tent, the evacuation route, and the isolation zone for the Envoy's viewing area were all clearly marked by Tobirama with different colored inks.

"Did you not sleep again last night?" Izuna asked, looking at the security deployment map, which was as detailed as a CAD drawing.

Tobirama ignored him and pushed another document in front of Izuna: "This is the Roster material donations submitted by the various families. The three families sent a large quantity of Medicinal Herbs. I allocated a portion to the hospital, and the rest to the village treasury. Please take a look and see if there are any problems."

Izuna looked down and flipped through the Roster. The lists of supplies for each clan— Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga, Sarutobi, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Nara, Shimura, and Aburame —were densely packed, with each item—food, Medicinal Herbs, Ninja Tools, and cloth—marked with its quantity and equivalent value.

Izuna's gaze lingered on the Hyuga Clan's Roster. The Hyuga Clan had donated nearly 30% more supplies than expected, a truly generous gesture.

Izuna returned the Roster to Tobirama, saying, "The Hyuga Clan is trying to make a statement."

"As expected," Tobirama said calmly. "This is an opportunity for the Hyuga Clan to change. If they want to take over our mantle, they will have to bleed."

The two of them checked the various procedures of the Memorial Service, one after the other.

Hashirama, and the eulogy was drafted by Izuna and polished by Hashirama.

Regarding the venue setup, Rokuhiko led a team yesterday to clear away all the rubble from the Dueling Arena, and the altar's framework was completed. Plain-Colored Cloth will be laid on it this afternoon.

The white chrysanthemums used in the flower offering ceremony were made by the Yamanaka Clan who took the initiative to arrange the bouquets. They went up the mountain to pick flowers before dawn this morning, along with the women of their tribe.

"The White Banners on either side of the altar were provided by the Senju Clan." Tobirama turned a page of the record, his pen lightly tapping the paper. "Also, regarding the portraits of the victims, each family must submit them by today. Those without portraits will use wooden plaques instead; the inscriptions on the plaques were personally carved by Yamanaka Iharu 'Yamanaka Kiyomasa father, and were completed yesterday."

Izuna nodded and was about to turn to the next page of the flowchart when Tobirama suddenly stopped writing.

"There's one more thing." Tobirama's tone remained unchanged, but Izuna noticed that his fingers tightened slightly as he held the pen. "Regarding the foreign Delegation, one of the Rock Ninja from the Land of Earth was killed in this battle. Specifically, an adult male Rock Ninja took Isshiki direct hit from Isshiki's attack while covering a young Konoha Ninja during the melee. His heart was pierced by Black Rods, and he died on the spot."

"The Envoy Ishimi, made it clear that he refused to allow this Iwa Rock Ninja to participate in the Memorial Service. His reason was that this was a matter for the Land of Earth, and the deceased should be mourned by their own country."

Izuna's fingers, which were turning the pages, paused, and his brows furrowed.

He blurted out almost instinctively, "How can that be? He died protecting someone from Konoha; we have to show our support."

"Don't rush," Tobirama's voice remained calm. "The Land of Earth has its own considerations. Kudan Moku was Ninja from the Land of Earth, and according to custom, his body should be transported back to Iwagakure for an Iwagakure."

"This is their village's internal affair. If we forcefully add his name to the Memorial Service register, it will only make things difficult for them."

"So we're just going to leave it at that?" Izuna slammed the schedule on the table, his brow furrowed deeply. "People risked their lives to save our people, and we haven't even given them a formal response? Is that acceptable?"

Tobirama didn't respond, because he also felt that Izuna was right.

However, since the Envoy from the Land of Earth had already refused, Konoha had to respect their decision. But it was precisely because this was necessary that it was so frustrating.

Seeing Tobirama's silence, Izuna knew that he was also in a dilemma.

He lowered his head and continued flipping through the flowchart, but his mind was already racing with other things.

He recalled a similar case he had learned about in history class in his previous life.

Those foreigners who sacrificed their lives for China during the War of Resistance against Japan.

Norman Bethune, Dwarkanath Kotnis, Grigory Kulishenko, and Hans Schieber—their names are inscribed on the monument in the Martyrs' Cemetery, standing alongside Chinese martyrs, regardless of nationality or skin color.

The state built a special memorial hall for them, compiled and published detailed historical materials, and people come to lay flowers every year on Seimei and the anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan.

He recalled that the Martyrs' Monument at the Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall had more than 4,000 names engraved on it, nearly half of which were foreigners.

If my homeland could achieve this in my previous life, then why can't this Konoha I've changed even manage to include an extra name at Memorial Service?

"I know this isn't the rule." Izuna raised his head again, his tone a few degrees heavier than before. "But Tobirama, you know what? I once heard a... well, a rumor."

Tobirama looked up at him, and Madara turned his head slightly. Izuna carefully chose his words and continued, "It was a long time ago, in a very small place. A great battle was fought in that small place, not only by its own people, but also by many outsiders who came to help."

"Those people didn't have to come. They weren't paid, nor were they pledging allegiance to the ruler there; they just felt that the people there shouldn't be bullied, so they came."

"Later, many people died there, trying to save the locals, shielding them from the Kunai, just to protect this village."

"After the people of that place won the battle, they built a large cemetery for these people, engraved their names on a monument, and placed it alongside the local soldiers who died."

Every year, people go to pay their respects at the graves. Schools organize students to lay flowers, and the government compiles their names into a book to be passed down from generation to generation. They call these people "International Friends," "martyrs," and "benefactors."

"They wouldn't refuse to commemorate us just because we refuse. We should remember those who died for us forever."

The Office fell silent for a moment. Hashirama, who had been engrossed Hashirama his work, looked up in surprise at Izuna, his expression a mixture of astonishment and emotion.

Ban couldn't help but reveal an expression that was somewhere between relief and heartache.

How does Izuna know all this so clearly? Could it be that they experienced these things in that world?

Tobirama put down his pen, his Red Eyes fixed on Izuna: "... Is this true?"

Izuna nodded. "I know we may not be able to do it that formally right now, but at least, at least we can do a little more than we are now."

"Even if we can't directly add this Rock Ninja's name to the Memorial Service register, we still need to make a statement, we need to let the people of the Land of Earth know that we remember this kindness, not just in words, but we really want to leave something behind."

He paused for a moment, then said, "For example, we could create a special Memorial Register, not just for this time, but for future times as well."

"The names of all Foreign Ninjas who sacrificed their lives in missions to Konoha, regardless of whether they were from our village or not, are recorded here as long as they died for Konoha."

"For example, we could designate a piece of land and build a cemetery when conditions permit, and engrave their names on it. The monument would read 'International Friends Who Sacrificed for Konoha,' regardless of nationality or Shinobi Village, treating everyone equally."

Hashirama admiration, "Great! Let's do it this way! Izuna, how did you come up with all this?"

"That's what we should do anyway," Izuna replied matter-of-factly.

Hashirama was stunned. Was this something he should do? But in our world, there had never been a time like this.

In those war-torn times, managing one's own tribe was already a struggle; how could anything like this have happened?

It was completely unexpected that foreigners would be willing to contribute their efforts and even make sacrifices this time.

The strangest thing is that none of the Foreign Ninjas who were sent out returned to the team unharmed.

Even in the Land of Wind, where puppets are practiced, one person was seriously injured and nearly died.

They could have easily gained merit by simply using puppets to watch from a distance, but he insisted on trying to bind the puppets Isshiki puppet silk after they had all been scattered, which resulted in his serious injury.

To be honest, this battle was originally Konoha's battle, and even if those foreign Ninjas didn't contribute, they wouldn't have any complaints.

However, they not only deployed a strong fighting force, but also genuinely joined the battle.

They still don't understand why those foreigners work so hard.

Despite the bizarre situation, Izuna didn't seem to find anything wrong with it at all, and handled it with remarkable skill.

It seems that some of his hazy memories contain aspects of his past that we are unaware of.

Hashirama lowered his eyes, now deeply interested in the story of another world. He really wanted to know what kind of environment could have shaped Izuna's personality and common sense.

Tobirama wrote down Izuna's words on the scroll, then looked up at Izuna and said, "Since the Land of Earth has clearly refused to include us in the Memorial Service register, we cannot force it."

"But the Memorial Register you mentioned can be started first. This doesn't require anyone's approval, nor does it involve diplomatic procedures; Konoha can decide it themselves."

"I'll draft the regulations for the roster; a first draft should be available today. As for the cemetery... note it down and include it in the subsequent agenda of the village affairs meeting."

Izuna nodded and picked up the flowchart again.