"Obito, there are enemy ninja ahead. Let's report to Masayuki-sensei right away." As Hyuga Bin inwardly complained about the system, he explained the situation to Uchiha Obito.
The two of them immediately hurried toward the team's temporary campsite.
They were only five hundred meters away from the temporary campsite.
After running back to the temporary campsite, Hyuga Bin woke Hyuga Masayuki, who had been resting, and hurriedly said:
"Masayuki-sensei, there are two enemy ninja squads four kilometers ahead. I investigated them with the Byakugan. Their Chakra fluctuations are very strong—the weakest among them are Chunin."
"Hm? How did you discover enemy ninja four kilometers away?" After hearing Hyuga Bin's words, Hyuga Masayuki was initially a little stunned, because four kilometers was simply too far away.
Even the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan head could not see through a distance of four kilometers. Judging by Hyuga Bin's current age, Masayuki figured that even if he used the Byakugan's abilities, seeing five hundred meters would already be impressive.
"I found them while patrolling ahead, so I immediately came back to report it," Hyuga Bin replied.
He did not know that Hyuga Masayuki was questioning the range of his Byakugan, nor had he considered that his range was "too far."
After all, in the Naruto fanfictions he had read, male protagonists born into the Hyuga Clan generally had Byakugan vision ranges of more than ten kilometers.
Since he could not remember whether Hyuga Neji in the original work could see eight hundred meters or eight kilometers, he combined that with his own limit of less than four kilometers and concluded that Hyuga Neji could see eight kilometers.
By comparison, his own range of less than four kilometers was not worth mentioning at all.
Uchiha Obito, standing beside him, did not think much of it either. Since he did not know enough about the Byakugan, he did not realize that Hyuga Bin spotting enemy ninja 3.5 kilometers away with the Byakugan was an utterly terrifying feat.
"Which direction are they heading?" Hyuga Masayuki continued asking.
"Southwest."
"They've breached our defensive line. Rin, fire a signal flare to call the other squads. We're heading over immediately."
Being only four kilometers away meant that the enemy ninja had already infiltrated Konoha's defensive line.
If they continued southwest for another two kilometers, they would encounter the squad assigned to patrol there. They needed to provide support immediately and warn the other squads as well, lest they be picked off one by one.
There were six patrol squads within this area. Even if every enemy ninja was an elite, Hyuga Masayuki was absolutely confident that they could take them down with a fourfold numerical advantage.
Boom!
The four of them had only left the camp by a few hundred meters when they heard the explosion of an Explosive Tag from ahead.
"Damn it, have they already started fighting?" Seeing this, Hyuga Masayuki could not help speeding up toward the battlefield.
By the time Hyuga Masayuki and the other three arrived at the battlefield, one member of the Konoha squad had been seriously injured, while another had suffered light injuries.
The Cloud Ninja hunting squad had already vanished without a trace.
The Cloud Ninja had chosen to disengage from the Konoha squad as soon as they saw Nohara Rin fire the signal flare.
This scene declared Hyuga Bin's option mission a failure.
Hyuga Bin and Nohara Rin stayed behind to treat the two injured Konoha ninja, while Hyuga Masayuki, Uchiha Obito, and the other two Konoha ninja continued pursuing the Cloud Ninja hunting squad.
However, this Cloud Ninja hunting squad clearly possessed a special method of concealment.
Even Hyuga Masayuki, who possessed the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai, could not find any trace of the Cloud Ninja hunting squad.
They could only swallow this huge loss.
No unexpected incidents occurred during the following two-plus months of patrol duty.
At the beginning of the new year in Konoha's forty-third year, Team 22 completed its frontline patrol assignment and returned to Konoha.
Hyuga Bin knew full well that he would not be able to stay home for long, because the Third Shinobi World War was about to begin, and he would once again head to the front lines.
During the following month, Hyuga Bin diligently trained in Creation Rebirth at home every day.
Combined with the training he had done during his spare time over the previous few months, Hyuga Bin had barely managed to master it.
However, without the Yin Seal, the prerequisite for Creation Rebirth, Hyuga Bin did not dare try it lightly.
After all, every use of Creation Rebirth came at the cost of one's lifespan.
Life was precious.
Hyuga Bin did not want his life to end prematurely after only twenty or thirty years because his cells divided too quickly.
Sure enough, just half a month after he mastered Creation Rebirth, Konoha convened a Jonin meeting to prepare for war against the Sand Ninja.
The Jonin meeting lasted an entire day and did not end until dusk.
As Team 22's leader, Hyuga Masayuki did not waste any time. He immediately gathered Team 22 and concisely explained the situation.
With war liable to break out at any moment, Hyuga Masayuki naturally wanted Hyuga Bin and the other two to be sufficiently prepared physically, mentally, and materially.
According to past data, Genin who had just graduated faced a death rate of as high as seventy percent on the battlefield.
In other words, for every ten Genin who graduated, only three would ultimately survive.
As the teacher of Hyuga Bin and the other two, Hyuga Masayuki did not want any of them to die, but he had no way to keep them from going to the front lines.
After all, this was for Konoha, their shared home.
"Within half a month, the village will send ninja to the border to prevent a sneak attack by Sunagakure. During this time, prepare your supplies and be ready to depart for the front lines at any time."
Supplies were scarce on the front lines. Stockpiling goods before heading there to fight was necessary, and Hyuga Masayuki was thinking of the three of them.
"If I can earn merits on the battlefield this time, I'll be able to advance to Chunin." In the face of Hyuga Masayuki's seriousness, Uchiha Obito remained blindly confident about the coming war.
Hatake Kakashi had advanced to Chunin through merit in his second year after graduation. Uchiha Obito had never believed himself inferior to Hatake Kakashi, so he also wanted to become a Chunin to prove himself.
"Obito, if you go to the battlefield with that mindset, you will definitely die." Faced with Uchiha Obito's anticipation, Hyuga Masayuki became angry for the first time and said something harsh.
"Masayuki-sensei, I'm sorry." Uchiha Obito apologized at once.
The Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan had always been at odds, but that did not prevent ninja from the two clans from having good relationships with one another.
Over this year of being a ninja, Uchiha Obito had come to respect Hyuga Masayuki greatly.
He was not an idiot. He knew Hyuga Masayuki was acting for his own good, so naturally he would not get angry just because Masayuki had scolded him.
"Obito, I hope you can clearly understand the dangers of war instead of being blindly confident. I hope Team 22 returns from the front lines exactly as we went there."
"Masayuki-sensei, I understand." Uchiha Obito obediently replied.
Seeing Uchiha Obito's obedience, Hyuga Masayuki patted him on the shoulder and arranged things for the three of them. "All right, that's all I wanted to tell you today. It's getting late, so go home first. Gather at the food street at five tomorrow afternoon. I'm treating you to barbecue."
"Yes, Masayuki-sensei." The moment the three heard "barbecue," their eyes immediately lit up.
Before you continue