Chương 26: Gekko Hayate’s Graduation

Time flowed quietly amidst the flames of war. The Third Great Ninja War had fully entered its most chaotic stage, with every nation plunged into the dire situation of fighting on multiple fronts. Interests, intertwined with both old and new hatreds, drove the shinobi into a blood-red frenzy; no one was willing to take a single step back. If they were to retreat now, would the lives of the kin and comrades who fell on the battlefield not have been lost in vain?

War is ignited first by contradictions and calculated interests, then driven out of control by the collective hatred of the shinobi. At this point, it would not stop until the blood ran dry. It was a vortex that consumed everything, continuing until all participants felt a pain they could no longer digest, grew weary, and finally chose to tear themselves away. Without realizing it, another year had passed. By the reckoning of the Hidden Leaf's founding, it was now the year Konoha 49.

Unlike the previous times when troops could be rotated back for rest and reorganization, the stalemate of the war and the mounting casualty counts meant that the Leaf was beginning to experience a shortage of manpower. The bad news was that Dongye Jiro remained at the front lines and had not returned to the village for a long time; at this critical juncture, the village did not dare reduce its strength at the front. The good news: at the very least, he was still alive.

Though the Dongye family was still considered commoner shinobi, they had accumulated several generations of heritage. Jiro's strength was considerable, surpassing the vast majority of elite Chunin and Special Jonin. On April 1st, just a few days after Dongye Zhen's birthday, the Ninja Academy reopened, and he moved up to the third year. In the morning, after finishing breakfast, Zhen adjusted the ninja tool pouches on his person and headed out for school.

Today, he was not using a Shadow Clone; usually, on the opening day of a term, he would attend in person. Dongye Hui had left early for work at the hospital. During wartime, casualties surged, and the hospital was incredibly busy. These were the men and women who had been severely wounded at the front, given basic treatment, and sent back in intervals. Field medical conditions were far more primitive; some wounded required long-term treatment and recovery, a capacity only found within the village.

Once healed, they would return to the battlefield. For those with permanent disabilities or whose foundations were damaged by potent toxins or long-term chakra depletion, the only outcome was retirement. This was considered fortunate; many more died instantly at the front, never even granted the chance for a rescue. In addition, those with outstanding medical ninjutsu like Dongye Hui had to synthesize universal antidotes and emergency kits based on the various types of poisons appearing on the front lines.

The Konoha Hospital was both a large comprehensive medical facility for saving lives and a factory producing various medical military supplies. Because many medical-nin had been deployed to the war zones, the hospital was short-staffed. Even Dongye Zhen frequently ran there in the evenings to help, gaining hands-on experience while keeping his mother company during her overtime. The only consolation was that Hui was a backbone of the hospital and more useful in the rear, so she had not yet been sent to the front.

But if the situation worsened further, the future was uncertain. Compared to when Dongye Zhen had first been reborn, Konoha had not changed much; it was as if time had temporarily stagnated here. However, as Zhen walked the path to school, he could still see the massive impact the war had left on the place. The once-bustling streets were now much quieter. Because of the war, and to minimize opportunities for spies, the Leaf had raised the security clearance for outsiders entering the village by several levels.

During wartime, ordinary mission requests were temporarily suspended, so few clients visited. With a large number of shinobi deployed to the front, the village's internal population had decreased significantly, leading to a stagnant commercial scene and weak consumer spending. Many shop owners looked listless as they opened their doors in the morning. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Zhen walked along, taking in the familiar sights.

On the distant Hokage Rock, there were still only three faces, but he knew that in less than two years, a new, young face would be added. It was a pity they were only stone statues and couldn't display hair color; otherwise, the Hokage Rock would surely look better than it did now—after all, the four Hokage possessed three different hair colors: black, white, and yellow. While black and white couldn't be seen on the stone faces, they frequently appeared in Zhen's eyes along the road.

Many households in the village were draped with black and white banners. This indicated a recent death in the family; black and white were the ceremonial colors for mourning in this world. Members of the Uchiha Military Police Force could occasionally be seen on patrol. Many villagers looked at them with eyes full of dissatisfaction. They frequently boasted that the Uchiha was the strongest clan in the shinobi world, yet here they were, huddled within the village while few of them went to the battlefield.

Little did these villagers know that the high command didn't dare send these combat fanatics to the front unless absolutely necessary. If a clan that grew stronger through battle accidentally produced another powerhouse like Madara, what would the village have to counter them? The Hashirama cell experiments, into which so much hope had been placed, had yielded nothing but a pile of dead test subjects—both voluntary and involuntary.

Well, there was one who had survived, a fact Danzo had quietly concealed; for now, no one else knew. Counting by age, that surviving test subject was roughly the same age as Dongye Zhen. Upon arriving at school, the usual crowd gathered on the training grounds in front of the teaching building, though it was smaller than the year Zhen had enrolled. The number of freshmen might not have decreased, but fewer parents attended. It was another year of new enrollment; the six-year-old brats were emotional and excited.

At this moment, they felt they were taking the first step of their shinobi path, the start of a great legendary tale. Their hearts were filled with dreams of becoming Hokage; the tales of war's cruelty circulating in the alleys couldn't scare them at all. This was the nature of shinobi—only after experiencing the reality of slaughter would they spontaneously yearn for peace, or become psychopaths who lived purely for the joy of killing.

Standing in the second-floor classroom, Zhen watched the bustling freshmen below, just as he had looked years ago. Now, he was in the third year, a senior to the previous two classes.

"Hey, Zhen-niisan, it's quite lively, just like when we enrolled." The speaker was Uzuki Yugao. Like Zhen, she was now eight years old—though technically she wouldn't officially be eight until after her birthday in November. Compared to her previous small stature, she had grown quite a bit, standing tall and graceful with the burgeoning sharp aura of a swordswoman. Her shoulder-length purple hair was very beautiful. She was still a young girl, but her thoughts were far more mature than before.

Zhen looked at her with a smile and said, "It's better when it's lively. The war has made the village too lonely; it's rare to see such a cheerful scene."

"The war..." Yugao fell silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"I hope these juniors can avoid it. Ah, no—it's better if we don't have to go either."

"That might be difficult. Hayate is graduating today, isn't he?"

"Right. The graduation exam is this morning. Let me think... it should start around nine o'clock." Just as they had speculated upon enrollment, the school had compressed general cultural classes and increased the duration of training courses, making student combat effectiveness the primary requirement. Now, due to war casualties, the Leaf had begun to feel the shortage of hands and urgently needed combat reinforcements. Allowing Academy students to graduate early was a necessary evil.

Starting from the fourth year, teachers would encourage students to graduate unless their grades were truly abysmal. The six-year education system had effectively become a four-year system. This had actually begun years ago; Kakashi graduating at age five was an anomaly, but most of his peers—such as Guy, Asuma, Kurenai, Obito, and Rin—had graduated at age nine. Recommendations were also made for the second and third years, though these were less mandatory, giving students more personal choice.

But children are children; hearing there is a chance for early graduation, few would miss it. Dongye Zhen was an exception, having refused Inoue Kuroiwa-sensei's recommendation. At his request, Uzuki Yugao had also not applied for early graduation. But Uchiha Shisui was another matter, for he had not yet appeared in the classroom. Not only him—several other classmates were also absent.