CH_37

Natchi's jinx was spot on—

Just after Konoha Year 46 ended, on the very first day of Year 47, the big move came!

Over seventy percent of Konoha's shinobi had received orders and were about to leave the camp…

Tōji knew what this meant—on the surface, they were forcing a decisive battle with Iwa!

Konoha's jōnin and chūnin formed an offensive line, advancing in an encirclement toward Iwa's positions. Like most genin squads, Tōji and Natchi would provide logistical support behind this line.

Their new squad was primarily responsible for rescuing and treating the wounded.

On the front-line squads, this time they were deployed as four-man teams—but even if a squad took casualties, they wouldn't be pulled back for reorganization.

The wounded naturally needed dedicated personnel to handle them.

Though Tōji and the others weren't front-line combatants, as long as they were in the combat zone, the odds of running into enemies were nearly a hundred percent.

Whether it was Tōji, Natchi, or anyone else—they were all human. And all humans were bundles of contradictions.

In an era that glorified heroism, even Tōji harbored heroic dreams. Natchi even more so.

Which was why Natchi would occasionally get hot-headed and want to charge into battle. If Tōji had been born into a clan like the Uchiha or Hyūga, he probably would've chosen to spill his blood on the battlefield too.

That morning, listening to Uchiha Fugaku's "New Year's address," the Konoha shinobi were all fired up—ready to die for their country. Tōji almost wondered if Fugaku had used some kind of mind-affecting genjutsu. But it definitely worked!

They left the camp in waves. By the afternoon, the Konoha camp felt empty. Tōji and the others were about to head out as well—and it was then that they learned who their new squadmates were.

Tōji's logistics squad was more special than the average one. Or rather, all logistics squads equipped with "medical-nin" were special.

Special in that—they had a jōnin as their squad leader!

And that jōnin was someone Tōji and Natchi were relatively familiar with—Rawari!

The other new squadmate was someone Tōji knew even better… his former desk-mate, Itoi Neru.

It turned out Neru had been here all along. After Rawari had been transferred to this front, Neru had been assigned under him. And Rawari's squad had been doing battlefield rescue and casualty recovery work.

Except the squad had already been reduced to just the two of them.

So the four of them naturally formed a new "medical squad."

Within this squad, both Tōji and Neru could use the 【Healing Technique】—they were "medical-nin." So among genin squads, they were considered a little more important.

There were only six such "medical squads" in total, and the others each had only one "medical-nin."

With someone as iron-blooded and reliable as Rawari, Tōji had no concerns whatsoever.

But as for Itoi Neru… Tōji, even as her desk-mate, didn't really know her well. And right now, he couldn't help slipping back into his "better to be cautious than sorry" mindset.

What exactly was the Itoi clan? Tōji wasn't sure. He only knew that their numbers were small—but they did have one distinctive trait—

Every member of the clan could use a secret technique that manipulated their own hair. Though Tōji didn't think it was particularly strong…

The Itoi clan members all had black eyes and black hair. The men were handsome and the women beautiful—with a certain spirited, almost icy air about them.

"It's been a while, Captain Rawari! And a while since I've seen you too, Neru-chan." Tōji was the first to greet them.

"Good to see you again, Captain Rawari! And you too, Neru-chan!" Natchi followed suit.

"It has been a while. I still remember you two." That was about as warm as Rawari got.

"Hey." Neru had always kept people at arm's length—that was just how she was at the Academy. This was already her way of returning the greeting.

Tōji was used to it by now—he didn't think much of it.