"So why were we reorganized into a new team?" Akira asked after eating and drinking his fill. "Nawaki, you graduated a few months ago, right? Didn't the academy already assign you a squad?"
At Akira's words, the smile on Nawaki's face slowly faded, replaced by a shadow of sadness.
"My two teammates… both died on the Kumogakure battlefield. I'm the only one who made it back."
He still remembered that road filled with explosive tag traps.
Even though they had been extremely careful, and Orochimaru had been leading them, danger was unpredictable. In the end, they still couldn't escape fate. His two teammates died in a chain of detonations.
If Nawaki hadn't spent some time training with Akira's half-finished explosive tags before, he probably would have died there as well.
Now he had a serious stress reaction to explosive tags.
"I see." Akira nodded thoughtfully.
So Nawaki had escaped his original destined death.
He was no longer the ninja who died to explosive tags.
"Me too," Aburame Mushi-hime raised her hand. "But mine was on the Sunagakure battlefield. My teammates and our squad leader were killed by Sand ninja. I barely survived."
On the battlefield, no one cared if you were a newly graduated genin.
Death chased everyone relentlessly.
If your steps slowed even slightly, death would catch up and take you.
"But didn't Konoha have the advantage on the Sand front?" Akira asked curiously. He had heard that the White Fang of Konoha had driven back the Third Kazekage.
Mushi-hime shook her head.
"It's not exactly like the rumors say."
"In reality, Lord White Fang led a large force to cut off Sunagakure's supply lines, but the Third Kazekage intercepted them."
"At first White Fang was actually at a disadvantage. The only reason he survived was because the Rain Country broke through Chiyo's defensive line and forced the Third Kazekage to return. Otherwise… White Fang might have died there."
Hanzo seemed even stronger than in the original timeline.
In the original story, Hanzo only pushed into the territories of the three great nations, but there was no mention of him breaking any national defense lines.
So although White Fang could fight the Third Kazekage, he wasn't dominating the battle—he was actually being suppressed.
But the Kazekage couldn't kill him either, which was why he chose to withdraw.
Mushi-hime continued,
"My squad was surrounded and wiped out by Sand ninja during that battle. I was the only survivor."
"But in the end, after the Third Kazekage retreated, Lord White Fang—despite being heavily injured—managed to cut off Sunagakure's supply lines. That's what finally gave Konoha the advantage."
"Before I was transferred away, I heard that Sunagakure had sent Chiyo to Konoha's battlefield. After that… I don't know what happened."
"I know about that," Nawaki suddenly raised his hand.
"Chiyo used poison to force our Konoha forces to retreat back into the Land of Fire. To deal with her poison, my sister Tsunade has already been sent to the Sand battlefield."
The tides of war were constantly shifting.
No one knew when the wind would suddenly change direction.
"Orochimaru-sensei… can we win?" Mushi-hime asked hesitantly.
Orochimaru fell silent for a moment.
Truthfully, he didn't have much confidence either.
Right now, four great ninja villages were attacking Konoha at once, and Konoha's manpower was already stretched thin.
If the situation continued like this and dragged on long enough, Konoha might eventually be worn down completely.
"We will win," Akira said confidently.
"The final result will be Konoha's victory."
That was how history originally played out.
After achieving several strategic victories across the four battlefronts, the Three Legendary Sannin defeated the Rain Village, and Konoha ultimately won the war.
In terms of mid-level forces, Konoha indeed couldn't match the combined power of the four villages.
But in top-tier combat power, Konoha still had hidden strength.
Orochimaru hadn't fully entered the war yet.
Jiraiya's location was unknown, but Akira knew he hadn't taken the field either.
At the highest level, Konoha still had:
Hiruzen SarutobiDanzo ShimuraSakumo Hatake
Just those three were already holding three battlefronts.
On the Mist front, the Uchiha clan was handling things, and the balance there remained even.
Currently, Konoha's weakest battlefield was against Kumogakure—but even there, the Hyuga clan had managed to hold the line.
And although it looked like four villages were attacking Konoha, the alliances were unstable.
The Stone Village was constantly causing trouble for the Mist.
Sunagakure wanted to flank Iwagakure.
Kumogakure distrusted everyone.
The four villages weren't exactly peaceful with each other either.
Orochimaru glanced at Akira in surprise.
He hadn't expected the boy to have such confidence in Konoha's strength.
So he truly believed in the Will of Fire.
Yet according to intelligence reports, Akira supposedly had an extremely murderous personality.
Looking at him now, Orochimaru found that hard to believe.
Akira didn't seem like someone excessively bloodthirsty.
Orochimaru thought for a moment before saying,
"For now, you don't need to worry about the battlefield."
"You should focus on preparing for the upcoming Chunin Exams."
"The reason you were reorganized into a team is precisely so you can participate in them."
Registration for the Chunin Exams required a three-person squad.
"The Chunin Exams…" Akira gritted his teeth.
That old geezer Hiruzen could have just promoted him directly, but instead he was making him take the exam.
"I thought Big Brother and I would be rivals in this year's exam," Nawaki said with relief.
"Who knew we'd end up as teammates instead."
Akira's growth in just one year was ridiculous.
Before Akira graduated, Nawaki could still fight him evenly.
Now they were on completely different levels.
Orochimaru hesitated for a moment before saying to Akira,
"Try to restrain yourself a little."
"Relax," Akira shrugged. "I won't kill them all."
Because of the war, all the participants in this Chunin Exam were Konoha ninja.
Killing one or two might be acceptable.
But killing everyone?
The rest of Konoha would probably have serious complaints.
Orochimaru silently took back his earlier thought.
His expression darkened slightly.
This kid really did have a dangerous killing intent.
Powerful yet troublesome children like this were exactly the type Orochimaru disliked the most.
Akira walked home as summer settled over the village.
Even though the war still raged on the frontlines, Konoha remained as lively as ever.
Street vendors lined the roads.
Civilians walked through the marketplace.
"You really can't see any signs of war here," Akira muttered.
The only difference was that there were far fewer ninja among the crowd—mostly ordinary civilians.
"Monster! Beat up that Byakugan monster!"
Akira's ears twitched.
From a nearby alley came the shouting of children.
"Byakugan?"
Curious, Akira walked into the alley.
He didn't represent the Hyuga main family, but if a branch family child was being bullied, he couldn't just ignore it.
Inside the alley, he saw a group of children surrounding and bullying a little Hyuga girl.
"Hinata?"
Akira's eyes widened as he looked at the girl crouching with her head covered.
Wait.
No.
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