Hokage Building, Hokage's Office.
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, rubbing his temples as he looked at the document that had just been submitted. It was a request to be deployed to the northeastern border—to the frontlines against Kumogakure.
The applicant was none other than Higashino Shinichi, who had only just returned to the village less than a day ago.
The Third Hokage stared at the document, feeling both gratified and conflicted.
Gratified, because the boy had just come back from the frontlines and hadn't even had time to catch his breath before voluntarily requesting to head to an even more dangerous battlefield. That kind of resolve, that sense of responsibility—it was the purest embodiment of the Will of Fire. If the younger generation of the village all had that kind of spirit, what would Konoha have to fear for its future?
Conflicted, because he did not want to send the boy to the Kumogakure front so soon.
Sunagakure and Kumogakure were entirely different matters.
Sunagakure, though one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, suffered from barren land and scarce resources. Both the quantity and quality of its shinobi were limited, and its overall strength had long ranked near the bottom among the five.
But Kumogakure…
It was a village built on martial strength, with a fierce and aggressive culture that revered power and military achievement. Its strength was unquestionably among the top of the Five Great Villages—a true formidable enemy.
Because of this, Konoha had placed extraordinary importance on the northeastern front from the very beginning.
He had dispatched his most trusted disciple, the meticulous and tactically gifted Orochimaru, as the commanding general, personally overseeing the front and leading more than eight thousand elite shinobi to establish the defensive line.
Namikaze Minato, whose talent was exceptional and whose mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique was advancing rapidly, had also long been deployed there as a key strategic mobility asset.
Even a few days ago, Shimura Danzō had arrived with the elite forces of Root and the ANBU, taking charge of the most difficult intelligence operations and shadow warfare.
At present, the total strength on the northeastern front had reached nearly ten thousand shinobi.
If necessary, he himself—the Third Hokage—was prepared to personally head to the battlefield to command the overall situation.
With such layered reinforcements and the full deployment of elite forces, it was clear how much Konoha's leadership feared and valued Kumogakure as an opponent.
And now he was supposed to send that child there?
He was still so young—he had only just been promoted to jōnin. Although he had accomplished great feats and displayed astonishing talent and character, could he adapt to Kumogakure's brutally direct combat style? Could he protect himself? Would his brilliance make him a prime target, drawing relentless assassination attempts from Kumogakure?
Konoha could not afford to lose a future like that. The burden on that child's shoulders was already heavy enough.
The Third Hokage pressed his fingers against his brow.
At that moment, the door opened softly.
Sarutobi Biwako walked in carrying a tray, on which sat a steaming bowl of soup and a few small dishes. She set the tray down on the desk, then moved behind him and gently pressed her fingers to his temples, massaging slowly.
"What's troubling you now?"
The Third Hokage closed his eyes, letting his wife's fingers knead the pressure points. After a moment, he let out a soft sigh.
"It's that child, Shinichi. He just came back yesterday, and today he's already submitted a request to go to the northeastern front. Biwako… what do you think I should do?"
Biwako was silent for a moment before speaking slowly: "Yesterday, I went to the hospital to help out. I heard many of the wounded who returned from the southwest talk about him. They kept saying the same thing—that child is a hero. That in the most desperate moments, he always steps forward. That he stands in front of everyone else. They trust him, they admire him… some of them would even entrust their lives to him."
The Third Hokage listened quietly, not interrupting.
"Hiruzen."
Her voice softened.
"That child is no longer a fledgling we need to keep under our wings, afraid he might fall or get hurt. He's already made it through the fires of the southwestern battlefield. He's flown high—and steadily. He's even become the wings of many others."
"You want to protect him—I understand. But some birds… perhaps from the moment they break out of their shell, are destined for the vast sky. They're meant to soar, to clash against the fiercest storms."
"Moreover, given this child's strength, temperament, and intelligence—since he dared to submit the request on his own initiative, he must have thought it through carefully and made a clear assessment of the potential risks."
At this point, Biwako withdrew her hands, walked around to stand in front of the Third Hokage, and looked down at him.
"Hiruzen. As elders, when a child has made a carefully considered choice and shown the courage and resolve to head toward danger, what we should do may not be to stop them in the name of protection, but to stand behind them—giving them the firmest support and the fullest trust."
The Third Hokage looked up, meeting his wife's gaze. After a long silence, he reached out, picked up the document, unfolded it, took up his pen, and signed his name.
…
That same noon.
"Jōnin Higashino Shinichi, in view of current strategic needs, following deliberation by the Hokage's Office, it has been decided that in three days, you will lead the Fourth Independent Combat Battalion to the northeastern border frontline, where you will be incorporated into the Northeastern Army under the overall command of Orochimaru…"
Shinichi had just finished training and returned home, the sweat on his body not yet dry, when he received the document delivered by an ANBU operative.
Huh?
The Third Hokage agreed that quickly?
I thought it would at least take some time—or that there would be more deliberation on his side.
But this works too. Saves me the trouble of arguing further.
Shinichi closed the document in his hand, then lifted his head to look toward the northeastern sky.
There, the clouds remained heavy.
Yet in his eyes, the rolling patterns of those clouds—the flow of every current of air—seemed perfectly clear.
The neural reaction speed and dynamic vision enhancement brought by Flash Step… should be no worse than the boost from the Mangekyō Sharingan, right?
Shinichi thought to himself.
Of course, the true strength of the Mangekyō Sharingan went far beyond dynamic vision and neural response speed. Its various strange and powerful unique dōjutsu, its amplification of Yin Release chakra, and its near bug-like genjutsu capabilities were all things Flash Step simply did not possess.
But Flash Step had one massive advantage that the Mangekyō Sharingan could never match—
It required no chakra to maintain.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was powerful, but every activation—especially the use of its techniques—consumed a large amount of chakra and placed a heavy burden on the body, particularly the eyes. Overuse could even lead to blindness.
Flash Step, on the other hand, was different. It was more like a passive, permanent enhancement of vision and neural function.
As long as he lived, as long as his eyes and nerves continued to function normally, this level of reaction speed and dynamic vision would always be there.
That was, without a doubt, a tremendous advantage.
"The clouds in the northeast… might be more interesting than the sands of the southwest."
Shinichi murmured to himself, then turned and walked back inside, beginning to make more thorough preparations for the journey ahead.
…
During the three days Shinichi waited, a piece of news struck the entire shinobi world like a thunderclap.
Kumogakure, citing that one of its ninja had gone missing while carrying out a mission within the Land of Fire, forcefully demanded permission to dispatch a large-scale search force into the territory of the Land of Fire to conduct a thorough and unrestricted search, in order to ensure the safety of its ninja and uncover the truth.
Such an unreasonable demand—one that directly infringed upon national sovereignty and dignity—was, of course, firmly rejected by Konoha without hesitation.
Thus, at dawn the next day, Kumogakure launched a full-scale surprise assault on the northeastern border of the Land of Fire—
and formally declared war on Konoha.
In an instant, the entire shinobi world was thrown into an uproar.
Everyone understood that this war was no longer just a localized conflict between Konoha and Sunagakure.
Although Kirigakure and Iwagakure were still observing from the sidelines and had not yet formally entered the fray, everyone knew—from this moment on, the Third Great Ninja War had inevitably entered a phase of full-scale eruption.
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