After treating the wounded, Yubi stepped back to one side.
But his intervention also made the village's Chunin think a little better of the kids.
At least Yubi had proved that, besides Sasori, he could be useful too.
Since graduating from the Ninja Academy, they had taken on some missions, but those had mostly involved escorting merchant caravans or hunting down roving bandits... failing that, those like him interned at the hospital. Aside from Sasori, that was how things went for most Genin fresh out of school.
Their timing had been fairly lucky. They had missed the previous two years... otherwise, the danger would have been much greater.
Things were relatively peaceful now.
As far as Yubi knew, of those who had graduated a few classes before them... very few were still alive.
The countries at the heart of the Second Shinobi World War were actually the Land of Wind, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Rain.
Although the other major shinobi villages also saw fighting, it was not on a large scale.
Yubi had already seen far too many wounded patients in the village hospital.
Sunagakure's foundations were nowhere near as strong as Konoha's... and it had suffered the most severe losses in the war.
The Ninja Academy system had been proposed and reformed by the Second Hokage... before that, it had merely been a school. Only later was it integrated into the military and political system, after which other villages began to follow suit.
The roles and deployment of medical ninja on the battlefield had only begun to become standardized during this Shinobi World War, when Konoha's combat arrangements showed the other villages their advantages.
The idea of refining the battlefield combat system for medical ninja had also come from Tsunade.
Clearly... the entire Shinobi World had been influenced by Konoha.
The Will of Fire really was outstanding.
There was no denying it.
"Let's go. I'll take you on a patrol of the area and routes we need to scout," Nomura said after a while.
Hearing this, Yubi and the other two got up one after another and followed him out of the cave.
Sasori remained motionless, with no intention of joining them.
No one bothered with him either.
"The area we need to patrol is this canyon. If any enemies want to penetrate deep into our country, this is the most concealed route."
"There are other patrol squads in the surrounding area besides us... but they're up on the surface, where they're easily exposed."
As they bounded through the canyon, Nomura occasionally stopped and pointed in various directions, explaining the terrain to the three of them.
That included what their daily duties involved.
The canyon covered a vast area. Their squad, including the four new arrivals, would have to work in two alternating shifts.
Nomura was very conscientious, explaining almost every route and environmental feature within the canyon clearly so that his juniors could use their surroundings to respond to any unexpected situations.
"The border near us adjoins the Land of Rain and the Land of Birds, so the enemies we mainly deal with are Amegakure and Iwagakure... Konoha's people have a hard time infiltrating this far. The Land of Birds hasn't been affected much by this Shinobi World War. Iwagakure's people pass through its territory to enter our borders. The main battlefield in this war is actually the Land of Rain... countries like the Land of Birds are just strategic buffer zones. They don't get involved in the war much, but the Land of Earth makes use of them."
Nomura continued explaining the current situation to Yubi and the others.
"Patrol and guard duty is a good opportunity for you to hone your tracking and reconnaissance skills."
"Yubi, you're a medical ninja... an important asset to our squad. You'll patrol with us veterans to ensure your safety."
Nomura gave Yubi a slight smile.
"All right."
Yubi nodded.
The other two boys looked at him with a trace of envy.
That was how important medical ninja were.
Having a powerful healer was a tremendous help, whether in small-squad combat or on a large-scale battlefield.
And becoming a medical ninja was much harder than becoming an ordinary ninja.
Besides ninjutsu and training, medical ninja had to master a great deal of medical and textbook knowledge. It demanded considerable talent.
Not just anyone could become one because they wanted to.
On the way, Yubi looked at the system interface before him.
Host: Yubi. Identity: Sunagakure Genin (medical ninja). Age: 8. Current stored positive experience points (saving lives): 126. Stored negative experience points (killing): 0. Currently redeemed shop items and abilities: Kuroo Hazama's medical notes and insights, custom scalpel (from Black Jack).
Kuroo Hazama, the protagonist of Black Jack, was an unlicensed surgeon, but his formidable surgical skills and medical expertise were beyond question.
Almost from the moment it appeared, Yubi's personal system had determined his path toward becoming a medical ninja.
As a doctor, he earned experience points whether he saved lives or killed people... and the two types of experience points could be exchanged in the system shop for different kinds of medically related items.
The reason he could distinguish himself at just eight years old was that he had used the experience points earned from treating patients at the village hospital to obtain Kuroo Hazama's medical notes... and, after thoroughly absorbing that knowledge, had gained outstanding abilities.
What others saw as his "talent."
Unfortunately... the only person in Sunagakure who can be called an outstanding medical ninja is Granny Chiyo. Its collection of medical ninjutsu is small, too, and its foundations in this field aren't solid enough. Even if I become a medical ninja, the environment means my ceiling won't be very high.
The thought flashed through Yubi's mind.
Fortunately, he had the system.
He did not have to worry about his capacity for future growth.
Medical ninjutsu... could also be redeemed in the system shop.
"That's about it. I'll assign your patrol routes each day. For the first half month, we veterans will accompany you personally. After that, you'll be on your own." Before long, after spending over two hours making their way around the canyon, they began retracing their steps.
Nomura spoke.
"Yes."
The three answered together.
By the time they returned to the cave, it had grown dark.
The windblown sand in the canyon had settled somewhat.
But as soon as they returned, a Chunin said gravely, his brow tightly furrowed, "He's overdue. Shimada still hasn't come back."
Nomura's expression turned solemn at that. "Something does seem wrong... we didn't run into him just now, either."
"I'll go take a look."
The Chunin who had spoken first offered.
"Be careful. If anything happens... prioritize getting the information back."
"I understand."
The man nodded, then darted out as soon as he finished speaking.
Seeing this, Yubi and the others could not help growing tense as well.
They had not expected trouble to be brewing on their very first day here.
"Endo... stay here and look after them. I'll notify the other squads at the nearby outposts."
Nomura did not linger either. After giving instructions to the one remaining Chunin in the cave, he quickly left as well.
Although this was not the very front line of the border, the reconnaissance network the village had established along the border was extremely dense... at the slightest sign of trouble, these squads could respond rapidly.
"Heh heh... you brats ready for a fight to the death?"
"You can't become a proper ninja without being tempered in blood."
There were still two other people in the cave: the Chunin named Endo and the wounded man Yubi had treated, whose movement was impaired.
This Endo clearly had a rather nasty personality.
Looking at the two bewildered boys, he curled his lips, taking some pleasure in their predicament.
Sure enough, the moment he spoke, Yubi's two classmates turned pale with fright.
Yubi, however, remained calm. He had long since prepared himself mentally.
He also knew what he would face.
Just then, Sasori, who had been sitting cross-legged at the cave entrance all this time, suddenly packed several puppet parts into a scroll.
Then he stood expressionlessly and, with a whoosh, left the cave as well.
No one knew what he had gone off to do.