Setting Up a Flag

On a chilly dawn beneath a faint scattering of stars, the sky had begun to pale with the first hint of sunrise.

Hanyu and his squad had gathered at Konoha's main gate.

"Everyone's here. We're setting out now for the front lines in the Land of Rivers. We're to complete the mission within three days." After looking over every member of the squad, Hanyu gave the order to move out. At a time like this, no one would ever "lose their way in life," not even for a moment. For a ninja, even the slightest delay on a mission was an unforgivable offense.

Aside from the ninja on guard at the village entrance, no one else came to see them off. There were no tearful farewells, either... In Konoha, little expeditions like this happened all the time.

The uncertainty of life and death on the battlefield was naturally worrisome, but people had long since grown used to it. Besides... was anyone really worried about Hanyu?

Perhaps someone was.

After leaving the village that morning, Hanyu's squad didn't travel particularly fast. If anything, they kept a steady, unhurried pace. This wasn't because Hanyu was slacking off. Once they reached the Land of Rivers, they would very likely be sent straight into battle. If they pushed themselves to the limit on the way there, they'd have to fight afterward with exhausted bodies, which would undoubtedly increase the chances of defeat. So, as long as there was enough time, rushing at full speed was never a smart choice.

The squad continued at a steady pace. Seven hours later, they stopped for a short rest, then traveled until nightfall. After completing that day's planned journey, they stopped at the designated location to rest and regain their strength.

Nara Nagisa handed each of the other three a bowl filled with hot soup. "Have something warm to eat, everyone. Once we go farther, we probably won't get a chance to enjoy food like this. The ninja at the front lines all live on Military Ration Pills."

Given the weather, hot food was always more appetizing than cold.

"Military Ration Pills? Those aren't bad. I think they taste pretty good." Hanyu took the bowl and said this... It sounded a little like he was arguing for the sake of it.

"Captain, are you sure your sense of taste is all right?" Nara Nagisa couldn't believe Hanyu's answer. The other two looked just as doubtful. They couldn't believe anyone would think Military Ration Pills tasted good.

They were edible, sure, but there was no need to mention the taste.

Hanyu shook his head without offering an explanation. He genuinely thought Military Ration Pills tasted pretty good. That didn't mean anything was wrong with his sense of taste... If anyone else had endured three straight months of an extra-strength, extra-dose version of the Senju Secret Medicine, they'd probably think Military Ration Pills tasted good too.

They might even consider them a delicacy, something they could eat for months without getting tired of it.

The three subordinates exchanged glances. At last, they realized their captain was... a little unusual. Well, "unusual" was a polite way of putting it.

In truth, there was definitely something wrong with his sense of taste. Take the bowl of soup in his hands right now: it looked and smelled delicious, but to him, it just didn't taste right... He didn't know what the original Senju Secret Medicine was like, but the stuff Hanyu had been eating had really packed a punch.

More importantly, he was already on the "second course" of treatment. The good news was that the dosage was nowhere near as ridiculously large as before—he only had to pop one pill a day now. The bad news was that Sanshao was clearly a practical person. The secret medicine she made focused only on its effectiveness, not its taste. And the more effective it was, the worse it tasted.

The one thing worth celebrating was that Hanyu's efforts had paid off. The secret medicine's effects were obvious. Although he'd only been a ninja for a short time, Hanyu could guarantee his chakra reserves were now greater than those of his teammates.

He'd eaten Golden Turd Fertilizer and grown strong. If the only price was a terrible taste and, at most, a temporary problem with his sense of taste, then the trade was absolutely worth it.

"Chichiwa, Renjuro, get some rest. Nara and I will take the first half of the night watch. You can switch with us for the second half." After quickly finishing his food, Hanyu made the arrangements.

Compared to the last time he'd traveled at night, this was undoubtedly much safer. They were in the heart of the Land of Fire, not near the border. But after what had happened last time, Hanyu was naturally more cautious... Besides, it was standard practice for ninja traveling outdoors to set up a night watch.

The others had no objections. At the order, Chichiwa shifted to lean against a large tree, pulled a thin blanket over herself, and lay down without taking off her clothes. Her weapon rested beside her.

Renjuro simply lay down on the withered grass on the other side.

Ninja really were built differently from ordinary people. If civilians camped in a winter wilderness like this, they'd freeze into stiff corpses. There wouldn't be any other outcome.

"Unusual weapon, isn't it?" Nara Nagisa saw Hanyu looking toward Chichiwa and spoke up.

"Yeah, a little... old-fashioned." Hanyu calmly looked away, not at all embarrassed at being caught peeking... Just now, he'd been looking less at her weapon than at her face.

He didn't mean anything by it. It was just that, aside from lacking a hint of sultriness, Chichiwa reminded Hanyu a little of a girl from his previous life who had left a deep impression on him as a child—a beautiful woman named Tomie, with a lovely smile.

"I think I may have met her before." Then he added this. But this time, Hanyu wasn't talking about his previous life. He thought he might have met Chichiwa during the night he'd spent at Konoha Hospital a few months ago... There was a particular reason for that: the weapon beside her.

It was a bow.

Bows and arrows had long since ceased to be a mainstream weapon among ninja. As mentioned earlier, ninja were exceptionally agile by nature. This made shuriken, thrown Kunai, and other projectiles—including arrows—extremely ineffective at dealing damage.

Unless the attack was a surprise, it was easy for an opponent to dodge a ninja tool thrown from a distance. But if there was a good opportunity for a surprise attack, why use a projectile at all?

Never mind ordinary projectiles. Even with Kagutsuchi fired by certain people, was the accuracy really that high?

So bows had long since left the battlefield. Hanyu's description of Chichiwa's weapon as "old-fashioned" was quite accurate. Ninja were assassins, not archers.

Still... Hanyu turned his gaze to Nara Nagisa. Even though a bow was an awkward weapon, Chichiwa's potential was completely different from that of an ordinary archer if her squad included someone from the Nara Clan... Ninja were agile, and archers had trouble hitting their targets, but that was another matter if their side had someone who could restrain the enemy.

"Were you and Chichiwa in the same squad before?" Hanyu asked Nara Nagisa. The information he'd been given indicated that they hadn't been teammates before.

Nara Nagisa shook his head, just as Hanyu had expected. "No, but we knew each other. I worked with Chichiwa on a few missions... Actually, when we returned to the village this time, we were supposed to be promoted to Chunin. But then we were told at the last minute that we'd been assigned to a new squad."

"..." Hanyu had never known that.

He'd assumed they were all Genin, but it turned out the others had been forcibly held back a rank... Sanshao-sensei really did have special privileges.

"I guess this has something to do with me. If not for me, you'd probably already be Chunin." After thinking for a moment, Hanyu decided to tell them the truth.

"You're the captain, but you can't decide how a new squad is formed." Nara Nagisa shook his head again. He was right: Hanyu couldn't make that decision. But Nara Nagisa didn't know that, although Hanyu couldn't decide, Sanshao could.

Nara Nagisa continued, "And even if the delay in our promotions was because of you, it's no big deal. On the battlefield, there's no difference between Chunin and Genin. There are only ninja who survive and ninja who die in battle."

Nara Nagisa didn't seem to care whether he was promoted to Chunin on time. Unlike the later generation of Genin who would make a huge fuss about wanting to become Chunin, the Konoha ninja returning from the battlefield didn't care much about such things. War and killing had simply left them numb. So what if they were Chunin? Would their chances of surviving on the battlefield really be much higher than a Genin's?

True enough, staying Genin wasn't a big deal. Konoha's situation was a little special: ability and rank seemed to run in reverse. Jonin were often evenly matched, while Genin were the strongest... Hanyu desperately held back that comment.

"Besides, I think you might make a pretty good captain after all... That's Lightning Release, isn't it?" Nara Nagisa had spotted the occasional Electric Arc flickering over Hanyu's body.

Even while chatting, Hanyu hadn't forgotten to keep training.

"Yeah. This new chakra nature is harder than I expected, so I have to make the most of my time," Hanyu said.

Lightning Release was the third nature transformation Hanyu was learning. But he didn't mean that Lightning Release was harder to learn than Fire Release or Water Release. He meant that learning a third nature was far harder than learning the first two... If becoming a dual-nature user was a concrete, achievable goal for a large number of ninja who were willing to work hard, then becoming a three-nature user genuinely required talent.

Hanyu could already use Water Release and Fire Release fluently, but he was still only working on transforming his chakra's nature for Lightning Release. He couldn't use Lightning Release Ninjutsu yet... He was behind the training plan Sanshao had made for him, so he had to hurry and catch up.

"Captain..."

Thinking about his training had made Hanyu lose focus for a moment, and Nara Nagisa had to remind him.

"Sorry, something else crossed my mind... But you don't have to call me that. We're all about the same age. Just use my name. Still... Nara, once we reach the battlefield in a few days, you have to be careful. Extra careful."

That warning left Nara Nagisa confused.

But Hanyu knew that, in all kinds of stories, the especially friendly, good-hearted, easygoing person in a squad was often the first to die on a dangerous mission.

Without realizing it, Nara Nagisa had raised a pretty bad flag for himself.