Arrival at the Front

The rain showed no sign of letting up. If anything, the thunder made it grow even more ferocious.

The smell of gunpowder in the canyon was quickly washed away by the rain, leaving only mud everywhere and several charred corpses.

Nishikawa Tetsu crouched beside a Stone Ninja's corpse. With practiced ease, he removed the man's still-intact Ninja Tool Pouch, then stripped off his standard-issue Stone Ninja tactical vest. It was a little damaged, but still usable.

"Hey, Nishikawa Tetsu."

Uchiha Fugaku watched Tetsu practically "looting" the bodies, his brows furrowing again. As the Young Clan Leader of the Uchiha Clan, he had never seen behavior so shameless.

"Isn't the compensation from Konoha enough for you? You're even stripping clothes off the dead."

"This vest is woven from high-density fibers. It could fetch five thousand ryo on the black market. That Ninja Tool Pouch has three Ration Pills and five Explosive Tags in it, worth two thousand ryo."

Without looking back, Nishikawa Tetsu deftly packed the spoils into his backpack. His tone was matter-of-fact. "War is all about resources, Senior Fugaku. For a civilian ninja like me, with no clan to support me, this is my resupply."

Uchiha Fugaku's mouth twitched. He wanted to argue, but the other man's reasoning made too much sense. In the end, all he could manage was, "Suit yourself."

Namikaze Minato gave an awkward smile, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with what Tetsu had done.

The fight just now had made him realize how anything could become the key to surviving on a battlefield that changed in an instant.

"Area's clear. We didn't leave behind anything that could reveal who we are, except for that crater where the explosion sent everything flying."

Nishikawa Tetsu stood and slung his now much bulkier backpack over his shoulders, then dusted off his hands. "Let's go. The smell of blood will soon attract wild animals or another patrol."

"Hmph. Do we need you to give us orders?"

Uchiha Fugaku snorted and turned, leaping onto the cliff wall. His words were still sharp, but this time he didn't recklessly charge ahead at full speed. Instead, he deliberately kept low and moved at a pace all three of them could maintain.

Beyond the canyon lay a muddy plain.

This was the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, and one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Second Shinobi World War.

Along the way, the three saw many villages destroyed by war. Ruined walls stood in the rain, and now and then a few stray dogs could be seen scavenging among the wreckage. The air reeked of rotting corpses and charred wood.

Namikaze Minato, who had been excited at first, grew increasingly solemn and quiet.

This was war: nothing but endless suffering and death.

Nishikawa Tetsu remained calm. History books and documentaries from his previous life had prepared him for war's cruelty, but he said nothing, silently recording details of the surrounding terrain.

Several hours later.

At last, rows of lights appeared through the gloom of the rain ahead.

It was an enormous camp, its perimeter lined with barbed wire and Barrier seals. Searchlights swept back and forth from the tall watchtowers through the rainy night.

Konoha's front-line headquarters.

"Who goes there!"

As they approached the camp entrance, two Anbu wearing Konoha Vests appeared in an instant. They crossed the long blades in their hands, blocking the trio's way.

"Uchiha Fugaku. I was assigned to escort newly promoted Genin to the front."

Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward, took the Summoning Toad and his mission scroll from his robe, and handed them over.

One of the Anbu took the scroll and checked it, then looked at the toad. Only then did his tense posture relax. "So it's you, Jonin Fugaku. Thanks for your effort. Lord Jiraiya is waiting in the command tent."

The gate slowly opened.

The strong smell of disinfectant hit them as they entered the camp.

Medical Ninjas hurried everywhere, while wounded soldiers lay on stretchers, groaning.

Bandages, blood, severed limbs—this was the entrance to a hell more vivid than the battlefield itself.

As Namikaze Minato watched a ninja who had lost both legs being carried past, he unconsciously clenched his fists.

"Don't look."

Nishikawa Tetsu spoke softly. "You'll get used to it. You have to survive before you're in a position to pity anyone else."

Uchiha Fugaku glanced back at the two of them but said nothing. He led them straight through the wounded soldiers' area to an enormous tent in the center of the camp.

"Come in."

Before they could announce themselves, a deep, slightly weary voice came from inside the tent.

They lifted the flap, and a wave of warmth mixed with the smell of tobacco washed over them.

The tent was spacious. A huge sand table stood in the middle, studded with flags representing different forces. A tall man with long white hair and a red coat stood with his back to them, studying the position of Amegakure on the map with a worried expression.

Hearing their footsteps, the man turned around.

Red markings were painted on his face, and the character for "oil" on his Forehead Protector stood out under the lamplight.

There was none of his usual irreverence on his face now, only the authority of a commander.

Jiraiya, one of the Konoha Sannin.

"Oh? Fugaku."

Jiraiya's gaze swept across the three of them, then settled on Nishikawa Tetsu and Namikaze Minato, who looked somewhat worse for wear. His expression softened slightly. "You're a little later than I expected. Did you run into trouble on the way?"

"We encountered a Stone Ninja Ambush Squad."

Uchiha Fugaku stood at attention as he reported. "One Earth Release Jonin and three Chunin."

Jiraiya's hand paused as he reached for his pen. His brow furrowed. "A Stone Ninja elite squad? Did you evade them?"

As far as he was concerned, escaping an ambush by an elite Stone Ninja squad while escorting two freshly graduated deadweights would have been lucky enough.

"No."

Uchiha Fugaku paused, seeming to search for the right words. Then he said stiffly, "We wiped them out."

"Right, as long as you got away, that's—wait, what did you say?"

Jiraiya jerked his head up, his eyes wide as bells. He thought he must have misheard. "Wiped them out? You three?"

He knew the team's lineup very well.

Uchiha Fugaku had awakened the Three Tomoe, but he was still young. Namikaze Minato and Nishikawa Tetsu were fresh out of the academy.

Against an elite Stone Ninja squad, surviving at all would have been a miracle. They had actually managed to kill them instead?

"Yes."

Uchiha Fugaku took a deep breath. Though he very much didn't want to admit it, he turned slightly and pointed to Nishikawa Tetsu behind him. "It was mainly because of this guy's tactics."

"Oh?"

Only then did Jiraiya truly take notice of the black-haired boy standing inconspicuously in the corner. He remembered the boy. His grades showed only a perfect score on the written exam; his other results had been quite average.

"Nishikawa Tetsu, right?" Jiraiya stroked his chin, intrigued. "Tell me, how did you do it?"

Nishikawa Tetsu stepped forward and bowed respectfully without groveling, then calmly uttered four words:

"Dust Explosion."

Then he explained as concisely as possible how he had used the terrain, an enclosed space, a mixture of flour and aluminum powder, and Explosive Tags to cause the blast.

As Nishikawa Tetsu spoke, Jiraiya's expression shifted from surprise to astonishment, then finally to something indescribably strange.

He turned to Uchiha Fugaku as if seeking confirmation. "Really?"

Uchiha Fugaku nodded with a dark expression. "That Stone Ninja Jonin died horribly."

"Hahahaha!"

After a brief silence, Jiraiya suddenly burst into hearty laughter. He clapped Nishikawa Tetsu on his slender shoulder so hard that Tetsu nearly fell to the ground.

"Interesting! Very interesting! You killed a Stone Ninja Jonin with flour used for baking bread? If that old fossil Ōnoki found out, he'd be so angry his back would snap!"

The weariness seemed to fade from Jiraiya's eyes as he looked at the three boys before him, a light of hope shining in his gaze.

"The Uchiha's Dojutsu, a civilian genius, and one more..." Jiraiya paused and looked at Nishikawa Tetsu. "A Science-minded Brain."

"It seems my Team Five might bring a little excitement to this dreary battlefield after all."

Jiraiya's smile faded, and his expression turned serious. "Welcome to the battlefield, Konoha's Eaglets. Go get some rest. Starting tomorrow... special training."