Teammate A and Enemy B (3)

The Land of Rivers lay between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, serving as a buffer zone between the two great nations. This country had no hidden village, yet it had suffered no shortage of war and turmoil.

Small countries like this were cannon fodder and victims in every Ninja World War. To them, war was a brutally cruel "natural disaster," because the initiative to choose war had never rested in the hands of these small nations.

Of course, there were also arrogant individuals who sought to challenge the standing of the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Hanzō the Salamander, the leader of Amegakure Village in the Land of Rain, was one of them. He himself was an exceptionally powerful ninja and had always sought to attain the status of "Kage," making him highly active during the Ninja World Wars.

That was beside the point. In short, during every Ninja World War—or whenever Konoha and Sunagakure went to war—the Land of Rivers became territory repeatedly contested by both sides.

For a long time, this small country had been an ally of the Land of Fire, influenced and controlled by Konoha. Yet after the Third Shinobi World War, perhaps in order to prevent a one-sided slaughter by Sunagakure, the daimyo of the Land of Rivers suddenly declared neutrality. That meant Konoha would neither help the Land of Rivers defend its territory nor take its casualties into consideration during the war.

But even after they declared neutrality, due to tradition, the Sand Ninja still regarded the Land of Rivers as part of Konoha's side. Even if this small country offered no resistance, the Sand Ninja showed no mercy when they struck.

This lesson showed that fence-sitting was never a smart choice under any circumstances. The Land of Rivers had now realized its mistake, but this small country had already been battered to ruins by the two great nations.

Along Konoha's foremost two-hundred-kilometer defensive line, six hundred ninja had been deployed to monitor the Sand Ninja and serve as the first line of resistance in the event of an invasion.

Hagoromo had also arrived here by then.

His body was hidden beneath a cloak, his face covered by a pure white mask, with a hood pulled over it. Hagoromo was currently crouched on a thick branch, completely concealed by the dense canopy.

He looked somewhat like a shady squatter lying in wait, which was a little awkward, but his eyes remained fixed on the distant movements without blinking.

As always, this was a battlefield.

The team Hagoromo belonged to was currently designated Team 132. It had originally been a four-man team, but unfortunately, everyone except the captain had died during Sunagakure's previous attack. Hagoromo had naturally been assigned here as a replacement.

For now, the two of them could only carry out reconnaissance missions together.

Because the area that needed monitoring was quite vast, Konoha's ninja along this foremost battle line were deployed rather thinly and sparsely. As a result, each team was responsible for a large area and bore heavy duties.

The captain of this team was a Jonin, and a fairly capable one at that. That was also why he had survived the previous battle. After receiving simple treatment, he had returned here.

Well, that sentence had missed the point. The important thing was that this team captain had a special identity. His surname was Hyuga, and he possessed a pair of Byakugan.

That allowed them to anticipate the enemy, spot the enemy, and strike the enemy first.

Hagoromo had exchanged few words with this captain. At the beginning, the man had merely warned him about a few things to watch out for... Perhaps that was the cold indifference shared by all ninja who remained on the front lines for too long. Such ninja had killed many enemies, but perhaps even more comrades had died around them. Gradually, they became numb. Carrying out their missions properly was likely their only remaining obsession.

On Hagoromo's sixth day here, near evening, a peculiar birdcall rang out from the woods.

Then those strange birdcalls began echoing one after another.

This was Konoha ninja's unique method of passing signals. It meant the Sand Ninja's attack was coming.

And it was a large-scale attack, with a rough estimate of around a thousand men.

Hagoromo's gaze passed through his mask and shifted toward Captain Hyuga opposite him. His eyesight was good enough to clearly see the hand signals the other man was giving him.

"Thirty minutes. Prepare to engage the enemy!"

Well, Hagoromo was only a half-baked reconnaissance ninja after all. He could not compare to someone else's professional Byakugan. He had not discovered anything yet, but enemies were already in the distance.

He turned his gaze back and became focused.

His first encounter battle was about to begin.

To be honest, he was still somewhat nervous. In a one-on-one fight, he was basically unafraid. If he could not win, he could always run. But this was a group battle, a kind of fight he was not very familiar with.

A chaotic melee meant accidents could happen anytime, anywhere.

Just as he continuously gathered his focus and refined his chakra to its peak, the enemy appeared.

The location where Hagoromo was stationed was a dense forest in terms of terrain, while the opposite side was fairly flat wasteland without vegetation. Any movement there would be obvious at a glance.

Then Hagoromo saw large numbers of Sand Ninja pouring out in the distance, openly charging straight toward Konoha's defensive line.

Seeing the enemy's movements, Hagoromo frowned. He was not afraid; he simply felt that they were being far too blatant. Ninja charging head-on like this—forget seeing it, he had never even heard of such a thing...

Yet it was happening right before his eyes. Were they not making themselves into targets?

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

But Hagoromo had no time to think further. The enemy had already drawn close, entering attack range.

The enemy had formed a wedge formation, and the Third Battalion where Hagoromo was stationed was not their main direction of attack. On the contrary, they were on the enemy's flank, in an advantageous position for attacking.

Then, from the previously silent forest, a huge number of wide-area ninjutsu suddenly came rushing at them like a barrage!

"If you have a long-range attack ninjutsu, use one. If not, forget it, then follow me!" Captain Hyuga reminded Hagoromo as he passed by him.

To be honest, he did not expect Hagoromo, who had only just joined the team, to be of much use. Many brats like him were killed in their first battle after stepping onto the battlefield, before they even understood what was happening.

Hagoromo nodded at the reminder, indicating that he understood.

The densely packed Sand Ninja charged head-on at Konoha's defensive line like samurai. At the instant the two sides came into contact—

Hagoromo pulled two scrolls from his Ninja Tool Pouch. After thinking for a moment, he stuffed one of them back.

He swiftly opened the remaining scroll. At the center of a circular sealing formula was the character for "sword."

"Release!"

Hagoromo formed a one-handed seal. With a bang, a cloud of white smoke rose from the scroll, and something appeared in his hand.