Land of Fire, Hidden Leaf Village.
After two days of long travel, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Rock Lee, Tenten, and Yakumo finally returned to the village.
When they saw the gates of their own village, they finally let out a long breath.
Before long, the returning Leaf rookies caught the attention of the Hidden Leaf's gatekeepers, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane.
"Yo, you're finally back." Izumo Kamizuki, with sideswept bangs and medium-length brown hair covering his left eye, still had quite an impression of these rookies and waved in greeting.
After all, during the Chunin Joint Exams, the two of them had been responsible for testing the Hidden Leaf candidates before the first exam site.
And Shikamaru and the others were the geniuses of this generation.
Shikamaru stepped forward to talk with the two of them, registering their return to the village, and asked at the same time, "Has anything major happened in the village lately?"
The spiky-haired Kotetsu Hagane shook his head and said, "After that attack during the Chunin Joint Exams, the village has been recovering. But I did hear that a lot of retired shinobi have received conscription orders."
Conscription orders?
Shikamaru, Choji, and the others were slightly stunned.
They had grown up in the Hidden Leaf and lived in peace for so many years. This was the first time they had ever heard of conscription orders.
Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki had both participated in the Third Shinobi World War. Izumo Kamizuki said somewhat wistfully, "Who knows how long this war will last."
The Leaf rookies' hearts grew even more unsettled.
They had just returned from the Land of Stars, had seen that place's development with their own eyes, and had caught a brief glimpse of the Land of Stars' military mobilization capabilities. But