New Ninja Blade: Youth, Emergency Assembly!!

Seven days later.

January 1.

Eastern Kikyo Mountain Camp.

Before dawn had fully broken, Guy woke up.

His leg had completely healed two days ago.

But Choza absolutely refused to let Guy leave, insisting that he rest for another two days.

Unable to argue with him, he could only spend another two days as a "patient."

Guy sat up and flexed his right leg.

"No, no matter what, I'm going on a mission today! If I keep lying around, my body's going to rust!"

Just as he thought that, the tent flap was lifted.

Ebisu poked half his head inside and froze when he saw Guy sitting up.

"You're awake?"

"Yeah."

"Don't come out. Wait there!"

His head withdrew, and the flap fell shut.

Guy blinked.

Before long, the flap was lifted again.

Ebisu and Genma squeezed inside.

Ebisu was carrying something in his hands.

Something a little bigger than a fist, yellowish, with a bumpy surface... dough?

Genma followed behind him, clutching three sharpened twigs.

Guy looked at the yellow thing and blinked.

"What is that?"

Ebisu set it on the table and puffed out his chest.

"Cake!"

Guy looked at it again.

It was certainly yellow, but its shape was crooked, and several dark blotches marred the surface.

"...This is a cake?"

"I borrowed the flour from the logistics uncle and traded the Cooking Squad for the eggs."

Ebisu's voice grew quieter as he spoke.

"I couldn't find any sugar, so I crushed up Soldier Pills to use instead. As for the color... I might not have gotten the heat right."

Guy stared at the "cake" for three seconds.

"You made it?"

"I did."

Ebisu raised his chin.

"What? Not satisfied?"

Guy broke into a grin.

"No."

He reached out, broke off a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed twice.

It was actually pretty sweet.

The sweetness of Soldier Pills, along with the bitterness of burnt flour.

Mixed together, it was hard to describe.

But it really was sweet.

"It's good."

Guy said.

Ebisu froze for a moment.

Then he turned his head away.

"Hmph. Of course it is. How could something I made not taste good?"

Genma stuck the three sharpened twigs into it.

They stood crookedly, like three stakes planted in mud.

"No candles, so make do," he said.

Ebisu pulled a box of matches from his clothes.

He struck one and lit the tips of the twigs.

"Make a wish," Ebisu said. "You have to make a wish on your birthday."

Guy looked at the three tiny flames.

The wind blew outside the tent, making the flames tremble as though they might go out at any moment.

He closed his eyes.

A few seconds later, he opened them.

He blew.

Of the three twigs, two went out.

The third flickered once before finally dying.

Ebisu's mouth twitched.

"You're not very good at blowing out candles either."

Guy ignored him and stuffed another piece of cake into his mouth.

The flap lifted, and Choza bent down to enter.

He carried a long cloth-wrapped bundle over a meter in length, bound in several layers of old fabric.

"Captain, what's that?" Ebisu leaned closer.

Choza ignored him and placed the bundle on Guy's bed.

"Open it and see."

Guy tore off the cloth strips in a few quick motions, and his eyes lit up.

It was a blade!

The sheath was made of black wood, without any decoration.

The hilt was wrapped in black cord, firm and non-slip in his grip.

Guy drew the blade.

Its edge gleamed with a dark light.

The blade was a little narrower than his previous cleaver, but just as long.

It weighed about the same, but felt steadier in his hand.

Guy gave it a swing.

The sound of cutting wind was faint. It fit his hand perfectly.

"A fine blade." Guy's face was full of delight.

Choza grinned.

"I had someone forge it over the past two days. Your old one shattered, so I had to replace it."

Guy looked up at him and finally understood why Choza had insisted he rest for two more days.

It was because of this blade!

Choza did not say much. He pointed at the base of the blade.

Two words were engraved there.

[Youth]

Guy froze.

"Hehe, do you like it?"

Choza smiled.

Guy immediately gave him a thumbs-up, flashing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Thanks for the Youth, Captain!"

"Hahaha! As long as you like it. Hurry and eat your cake. After that, there's still a miss—"

Wheeeeeee!

Before Choza could finish, a piercing whistle suddenly exploded outside the tent.

It was not an ordinary assembly whistle.

It was an emergency assembly.

Three long blasts and one short blast, repeated three times.

Choza's expression changed drastically, and he immediately rushed out of the tent.

"Follow me!"

The three of them forgot all about the birthday and immediately followed.

Ebisu and Genma reacted at once, taking the toothpicks out of their mouths.

The four of them ran out of the tent, only to find the camp already in complete chaos.

People were everywhere.

Some crawled out of tents, some ran over from the mess hall, and some charged back from the training grounds.

All of them were rushing toward the central clearing.

No one shouted, but the air was stretched taut.

In that short time, the central clearing had already filled with people.

Formation after formation stood packed together.

A total of fifteen hundred people.

Every ninja in the camp had arrived.

Guy stood in Team 9's position and looked around.

Team 3 was on the left, and Team 5 was on the right.

The captains stood in front, while the wounded were behind.

Even those in the medical tents who could move had come out on crutches.

No one spoke.

Fifteen hundred people stood in the clearing, and it was so quiet that only the wind and heavy breathing could be heard.

A man stood on the raised platform at the very front.

He was around forty, thin, with little flesh on his face and narrow eyes.

His hair was tied in a topknot, fastened with a hairpin.

He wore the Nara Clan's traditional green vest, its collar embroidered with the clan crest.

Nara Shikaku.

The overall commander of the eastern Kikyo Mountain camp.

He was a generation senior to Akimichi Choza.

Guy had met him twice.

Once when he first reported to the camp, and once during last month's camp-wide assembly.

Seeing the grave expression on Shikaku's face, Guy's heart tightened.

An emergency assembly at a time like this... Could Sunagakure have begun its surprise attack?

But! The timing is wrong!

Guy quickly sorted through the timeline.

This situation brought to mind only the Battle of Kikyo Mountain, Sunagakure's surprise attack on Konoha.

But it did not match the timing in his memories.

Guy's expression shifted repeatedly.

Nara Shikaku still had not spoken.

He stood on the platform, empty-handed.

Simply standing there.

Gradually.

He waited until everyone had taken their positions.

Until the flags snapped loudly in the wind.

Until the pressure in the air reached its lowest point.

Then, at last, he spoke.

"Two thousand Iwagakure troops are advancing toward our border."

His voice was not loud.

Yet every word reached everyone's ears clearly.

"Iwagakure's vanguard is already fifty li away."

The area below the platform grew even quieter.

"Konoha's supporting mobile units are on their way here."

"But even at the fastest, they will not arrive until dawn tomorrow."

Shikaku's gaze swept over everyone below.

"Before then—"

He paused.

"We must hold this place!!"