Gathering, Land of Rivers
In the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage held a stack of graduate students' files, smoking a cigarette, seemingly deep in thought.
"Knock knock..." A knocking sound rang out at this moment, and then the person outside pushed open the door to the Hokage's Office. It was clear that the person who came in was quite familiar with the Third Hokage.
"You've arrived, Minato and Tōtō." The Third Hokage's tone was very polite. Both of them were outstanding Jonin among the younger generation of Konoha, and one of them was even his grand-student.
"Lord Hokage."
"Well, I called you here to talk about this year's Ninja Academy graduates. This is my class assignment. Please take a look and see if you have any questions." The Third Hokage handed two sets of three graduate lists to Namikaze Minato and Akimichi Tōtō respectively.
"Oh? It's already decided?" After taking the document from him, the two quickly flipped through the information of their future students.
[Sarutobi Asuma, Yūhi Kurenai, Ishikawa Tatsuki] Akimichi Tōtō quickly skimmed over the three cards in his hand, and soon Genin a basic understanding of these genin.
Sarutobi Asuma, being the son of the Third Hokage, was naturally quite familiar with the area. The fathers of the other two were both Jonin of the village, and he had also met the previous generation's Yūhi Shinkō Jonin, many times.
Unfortunately, Jonin Ishikawa died in the Second Great Ninja War, so it's not surprising that Ishikawa Tatsuki received some support.
"No problem, leave it to me!" Akimichi Tōtō said cheerfully. They were all pure inheritors of the Will of Fire, and their potential was roughly the same, making them a very suitable team combination.
The Third Hokage knew this group wouldn't be a problem, so he focused on another matter. "Minato, your task might be a bit heavy. I plan to entrust Kakashi and the Uchiha Clan children to you."
Namikaze Minato was also taken aback when he saw the list, because Kakashi had graduated almost four years early and was already carrying out missions as a Chunin. Logically speaking, he no longer needed to Guiding Jonin. The Third Hokage's decision broke with past practice.
"The village really didn't handle Sakumo's situation well." The Third Hokage looked somewhat remorseful. "This child is a very promising talent, but he's a bit too arrogant and could potentially become paranoid. So I hope you can guide him."
"The son of White Fang- senpai? And a descendant of the Uchiha Clan..." Namikaze Minato's expression turned serious. "Leave it to me, Lord Hokage. I will do my utmost."
Shuichi was unaware that after he continuously gave him extra tutoring, Ishikawa Tatsuki made significant progress and received high praise from the teachers at the Ninja Academy. In addition, because his father was a deceased Jonin, he was assigned to a pretty good class, greatly increasing his chances of surviving the Third Shinobi War.
After giving some guidance to Ishikawa Tatsuki and Yūhi Kurenai, he did not forget his own training.
He stood alone in the training field, his left hand gripping his right wrist, constantly channeling the chakra within his body to his right hand. Because he wasn't Hand Seals, the process was somewhat difficult.
"Clap clap clap clap..."
The blinding white light stood out so conspicuously in the forest. Lightning Release Chakra overflowed around Shuichi, and a lot of crackling noises rang out as the high-intensity chakra gathered in his hands converged.
He stopped outputting chakra after only a short time, and the noise and white light disappeared instantly.
"There's still a long way to go. It takes me a long time to figure out some key points on my own," Shuichi thought, frowning.
After six months of chakra compression training, the effectiveness of his Ninjutsu has greatly improved, with the high concentration of chakra compensating for the limited chakra output efficiency due to the constraints of his meridians.
Gathering the Lightning Element Nature Transformation in his hand is considered a success, but it's still far from being Chidori usable in actual combat. It can be said that he has only completed the first step of Chidori, only making it look impressive.
"Currently, it's just releasing a large amount of chakra from the hands, which is too wasteful and doesn't have any other effect. It seems the real difficulty lies elsewhere, probably in the part where Kakashi received the White Fang's true teachings."
Shuichi felt that he could stop training to create Chidori on his own; if he didn't understand these key points, there would be little point in practicing further.
Just as I was thinking about making minor adjustments to the daily training, the cry of an eagle came from the sky above the village.
"Hey..."
"This is... Jonin assembly order. The Third Shinobi War shouldn't be this soon, right?" Shuichi somewhat surprised. An emergency order suddenly appearing around the time of graduating from the Ninja Academy seemed rather strange.
Although it wasn't his business, he figured it wouldn't hurt to stop his cultivation for half a day, so he headed home ahead of time.
At this moment, in the Jonin Conference Room, the Third Hokage and two advisors were already waiting in the main seats, their expressions somewhat serious. In front of them, the Jonin from the village had arrived in the Meeting Room one after another.
"Gentlemen..." the Third Hokage said in a deep voice, "We just received an urgent report that a squad of Anbu has disappeared in the Land of Rivers. According to reports from other ninjas, a large number of unfamiliar faces have recently appeared there, far more than usual."
"Now we need to thoroughly investigate the situation within the Land of Rivers, and at the same time, search for any trace of the Anbu members. Those who are currently free, please step forward."
After assessing the available forces, the Third Hokage discovered that only a few teams could depart for the Land of Rivers in time.
Excluding most of the Jonin who have already left the village on missions, and a few instructors such as Namikaze Minato and Akimichi Tōtō who are about to graduate and be assigned to their classes, the number of people that can be mobilized is barely acceptable overall.
Before long, a number of people walked out of the Jonin Conference Room, and then a few more people used the Body Flicker Technique to leave from the roof, indicating that the situation was quite urgent.
At Shuichi's house, while he was resting after dinner, a small snake suddenly crawled in and slithered around in front of him.
"An urgent mission? This is so troublesome." This was the signal from Orochimaru. They needed to leave the village in an hour, and the mission duration was uncertain; it could be very long or very short.
An hour later, Shuichi and Orochimaru met up at the entrance of Konoha. The registration staff had been notified in advance, and the two of them left the village in a flash.
"Teacher, what is the mission? Why is it so urgent?" While traveling at high speed, Shuichi began to inquire about Orochimaru's mission.
"Starting with A-rank mission, it could very well escalate to an S-level. Anbu member has gone missing in the Land of Rivers, suggesting a potential cross-border operation."
"The Land of Rivers? The Shinobi World War? No, not that soon." Shuichi had mentally deduced the start time of the Third Shinobi War many times based on the original work, and the error should not exceed a few months.
"Is that the prelude to Third Shinobi War? Major powers are being drawn into the conflicts between smaller nations, countries are secretly vying for power, and small-scale bloodshed is constantly taking place in the early stages."
"Teacher, could you tell me about the Genin World War?" Since the mission location was the Land of Rivers, the Land of Fire was still quite peaceful. Taking advantage of the free time on the way, Shuichi decided to ask Orochimaru for some advice.