Training time always passed quickly.
And when you were training while suffering from amnesia, it passed several times faster than usual.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month had gone by.
Over the past month, many things had happened in the outside world. Undercurrents surged between ninja villages large and small, while funds from untraceable sources poured into the mercenary market.
Looking at one or two missions alone, perhaps nothing would seem unusual. But with sufficient intelligence resources, one could see the deeper meaning behind it all by surveying the entire mercenary market—
Preparing for war.
Call them a motley crowd or civilian elites.
In any case, mercenaries were being gathered through every possible channel, issued weapons, and readied to risk their lives for money and status.
The shinobi world remained peaceful.
But the clever ones could already feel the damp, hurried wind that came before the storm.
"Looks like things are going to get troublesome."
Inside Konoha, Shikamaru Nara sat at one end of a bench with a foxtail grass stem between his lips. Ino was in the middle, touching up her makeup, while Choji Akimichi sat on the other side, stuffing potato chips into his mouth.
They were only eleven years old and had yet to graduate from the Ninja Academy, so after class each day, they had nothing to do but wander around the village.
Children of eleven or twelve were naturally brimming with self-confidence. After learning a few ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques, they thought themselves invincible and could hardly wait to take missions outside the village and make a name for themselves—
Like Naruto.
But Shikamaru greatly enjoyed his current life.
If he could, he truly wanted to remain a carefree student for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately...
"War is coming."
Shikamaru