A Year Later

Winter gave way to spring, summer ended, and autumn began. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed. The Third Shinobi World War had raged fiercely throughout that year. On the western front at Kikyo Mountain, thanks to Orochimaru's capable command, the line had held firm.

Unable to break through with their assaults, the Sand Ninja had their funding cut yet again by the Daimyo back home. Enraged, the Chiyo Siblings threw caution to the wind and led their forces to plunder the Land of Rain, their ally during the Second Shinobi World War.

The demigod Hanzo had lost the keen edge he'd shown during the Second Shinobi World War. All he wanted was to defend the Land of Rain, so he led his troops in setting up defensive positions throughout the country.

Then the Land of Earth followed suit. Led by Tsuchiemon, a close aide to the Tsuchikage, they launched another raid on the Land of Rain from the northern border. Hanzo was left utterly distraught and had no choice but to send someone to swallow his pride and beg the Land of Fire for help.

As a result, the front line gradually shifted north. The Land of Rain had somehow become a battlefield for three great nations.

Jiraiya lost his position as commander of the northern front because he'd gotten too carried away. The old, squinty-eyed Mitokado Homura replaced him.

Jiraiya was sent toward the Land of Earth to serve as a hired hand for the Anbu Captain, Mitarai Zixiao.

The Cloud Ninja of the Land of Lightning had settled in the Land of Rivers for good and refused to leave.

Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen had no good solution, so he discussed the matter with the Hyuga family and sent those close-combat experts to deal with the muscle-bound brutes.

At present, the Land of Lightning's defenses consisted entirely of Hyuga clan members. Of course, there were plenty of civilian cannon fodder too, such as Bing San's classmates.

The Land of Water was strangely quiet, as though it didn't want to play with everyone else. It was holed up at home, and who knew what it was doing.

The Third Mizukage, that blind man who kept his eyes shut all day, was up to something too. No one knew what.

"Listen, could you stop coming here to argue every single day? You've been at it for over a year. Couldn't you take it somewhere else?"

Bing San had such a headache from the bickering of the supply-team jonin that he'd started talking nonsense. If they didn't hold their meetings in the command tent, were they supposed to go to the Hokage's office?

Orochimaru was out directing the fighting, leaving Bing San and Shin'nosuke Sarutobi behind yet again.

Shin'nosuke Sarutobi had now become the administrator in charge of supplies. His job was to listen to people argue all day.

The jonin all nodded at Bing San, then carried on.

Bing San left the tent with a dead look in his eyes and went to cool things down in the nearby medical camp.

As soon as Bing San entered the medical camp, countless Ninja nodded and greeted him.

Ever since he'd revealed his Ice Release while covering the retreat that one time, Bing San hadn't gone back to the battlefield. He'd stayed at the medical camp, helping treat the wounded.

All around him, people cried out, "Ow, ow, ow! Easy, easy!"

The wounded stretched as far as the eye could see. There must have been over a thousand of them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others had originally estimated that the Sand Ninja would retreat after three or four attacks at most.

They hadn't expected the Chiyo Siblings to fall out with the Daimyo and go completely off the rails.

They'd sent out nearly every Ninja in Sunagakure, and when they ran out of supplies, they plundered everything in sight.

They'd made themselves thoroughly detestable. Who'd ever heard of an army that even plundered its own country?

To boost morale, they'd even announced that whoever broke through Konoha's defensive line could become the next Kazekage.

They'd also officially informed the Shinobi World that the Third Kazekage, Ryunosuke, had fallen.

Even Bunpuku, the stubborn monk, had been "dragged" to the front lines. If that stubborn monk hadn't been slacking off on the job, the fighting would have been far more brutal.

As Bing San went around cooling things down with ice, Nara Shikaku found him.

Bing San was a little surprised. He was just a tool and a mascot. Why would Shikaku come looking for him?

Bing San gave Shikaku a Danzo-like look and said, "All right, what do you want?"

Shikaku smacked his forehead. "Could you stop giving me that death glare? Those tiny eyes and hooked nose of yours are already creepy enough. Now you're scowling too. People are going to think I owe you money."

Bing San was speechless. He actually looked pretty good. Maybe he just hadn't grown into his features yet. He had small eyes, an oval face, a hooked nose, thin lips, pale skin, and long silver hair.

He looked like the Second Hokage's face with Danzo's features, only much cuter than Danzo. He was just a little short—under 1.6 meters.

Bing San twitched his lips. "Cut the nonsense. You hate trouble more than anyone. You wouldn't come chat with me for no reason."

Shikaku lowered the hand covering his face. "It's not me who wants to see you. Someone else does.

Your senior, Minato Namikaze, has arrived. He brought something from the old man in your family and said he has to give it to you in person.

A bunch of your classmates are here too. They want to have a little fun with you, the 'legendary commander.'"

Bing San tilted his head. "Seriously, why not just give it to my clone? Why send that girly Minato Namikaze to deliver it? I really don't want to see him."

For some reason, our little sun Minato Namikaze and Bing San just didn't get along. Maybe it was the ill-fated bond between snakes and toads.

Orochimaru had officially taken Bing San on as his disciple. Bing San's current summoning animal was Ziyan of Ryūchi Cave, a purple, fire-natured venomous snake.

The first time Bing San summoned Manda, Manda had acted like he owned the place. But Bing San had simply taken out the Golden Set Meal—expired—and Manda had nearly drooled itself to tears.

After eating, Manda had never answered Bing San's summons again. But Orochimaru had summoned it a few times, and it was still alive and well.

"Come on, let's see what it is." With that, Bing San headed out first.

Shikaku followed. Nara Shikaku really had good genes. He was handsome and well-built; he looked like the protagonist no matter how you looked at him.

They reached a small camp on the west side of the main camp. Before they even went in, they heard strange noises from inside.

Bing San peeked in and was left with a face full of exasperation. Two green-skinned watermelons were carrying things while walking on their hands, making incomprehensible noises as they went.

The one behind them, chewing on a toothpick with a dead look in his eyes, was Shiranui Genma. And there was his former "underling," Namiashi Raidō.

Bing San covered his face and pretended not to know them. Namiashi Raidō shouted, "Boss Bing San! Boss Bing San! We're over here!"

Everyone nearby turned to look at Shimura Bing San. After all, there was only one person with such a strange and famous name.

Bing San felt his face burn. Those two green-skinned weirdos had really made things hard for them.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they continued inside. At the next turn, they saw Kakashi looking smug, Rin smiling warmly, and Obito sprawled on the ground. Best to ignore him.

Obito jumped up from the ground and pointed at Kakashi. "You smug jerk, Kakashi! That was unsportsmanlike!"

Then he saw Bing San coming over and waved at him like an idiot. He'd completely forgotten he was covered in dirt and even shuffled closer to the others.

Bing San shook his head. This guy? The future big boss? Who'd believe it?

Little-sun Minato Namikaze watched Bing San with a warm smile and said, "Junior Bing San, this is something Lord Danzo gave you." Then he handed Bing San a short sword.

Bing San examined it closely. The words "Peerless of the West" were engraved on the hilt. It was the short sword from Tachibana Muneshige's pair of long and short swords.

The blade was just over fifty centimeters long, its surface gleaming. Seals were etched all around the hilt. At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary weapon.

Looks like the old man had made some kind of shady deal with Sarutobi Hiruzen after returning. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten one of Tachibana Muneshige's swords for Bing San.

Bing San gripped the sword and swung it a few times, feeling the warmth coming from the hilt.

(end)