Seven days later, January 1st arrived.
At the eastern base of Mount Kikyo, the sky had not yet brightened when Might Guy woke up.
His legs had already fully recovered two days earlier, but Akimichi Choza absolutely refused to let him leave the tent, insisting that he continue resting for another two days no matter what.
Unable to argue with his captain, Guy could only continue pretending to be a "patient" for two more days.
Might Guy sat up from the bed and stretched his right leg carefully. "No, I absolutely have to go on a mission today. If I stay lying around any longer, my whole body is going to rust."
Just as he was thinking this, the tent flap was suddenly lifted.
Ebisu poked half his head inside, saw Guy already sitting up, and looked startled. "You're awake?"
"Mm."
"Don't co out yet. Wait there!"
Before Guy could ask anything, Ebisu imdiately retracted his head, and the flap dropped back down.
Guy blinked in confusion.
A mont later, the tent flap lifted again.
This ti, Ebisu and Genma squeezed inside together.
Ebisu was holding sothing in his hands.
It was a yellow, uneven lump slightly larger than a fist.
Genma followed behind him while holding three sharpened twigs.
Might Guy stared at the yellow object and blinked twice. "What's that?"
Ebisu carefully placed the object onto the table before puffing out his chest proudly. "Cake!"
Might Guy looked at the thing again.
It was indeed yellow, but the shape was crooked and uneven, and there were even several burnt black spots scattered across the surface.
"This... is cake?"
"The flour was borrowed from the logistics uncle, and the eggs were traded from the ss hall." Ebisu's voice gradually grew quieter as he spoke. "We couldn't find any sugar, so I crushed military ration pills and used them instead. As for the color... maybe the heat control wasn't very good."
Might Guy stared silently at the "cake" for three whole seconds.
"You made it?"
"I made it." Ebisu raised his chin imdiately. "What? Not satisfied?"
Might Guy suddenly grinned.
"No."
He reached out, broke off a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.
After chewing several tis, a strange expression appeared on his face.
It was sweet.
The sweetness ca from the military ration pills.
At the sa ti, there was also the bitter taste of burnt flour.
The two flavors mixed together into sothing extrely difficult to describe.
But no matter what, it was still sweet.
"Delicious."
Ebisu froze briefly after hearing that.
Then he imdiately turned his head away. "Hmph. Of course it's delicious. How could sothing made by not taste good?"
anwhile, Genma silently stuck the three sharpened twigs into the cake.
The crooked twigs looked like three wooden stakes jamd randomly into muddy ground.
"There were no candles, so this will have to do."
Ebisu pulled out a small box of matches from his pocket, struck one casually, and lit the tips of the three twigs.
"Make a wish," Ebisu said. "Everyone makes wishes on their birthday."
Might Guy quietly looked at the three tiny flas.
Outside the tent, the cold wind blew continuously, causing the flas to flicker unsteadily as though they might go out at any mont.
He slowly closed his eyes.
Several seconds later, he reopened them and blew gently.
Two of the three flas imdiately went out.
The last one flickered stubbornly for several monts before finally extinguishing as well.
Ebisu's mouth twitched slightly. "Your candle-blowing skills are terrible too."
Might Guy ignored him completely while breaking off another piece of cake and stuffing it into his mouth.
At that exact mont, the tent flap lifted once more, and Akimichi Choza bent his large body to step inside.
He was carrying a long cloth-wrapped package over a ter in length. The package was wrapped tightly with several layers of old cloth strips.
"Captain, what's that?" Ebisu imdiately leaned closer curiously.
Choza ignored him completely and placed the long package directly onto Might Guy's bed.
"Open it."
Might Guy quickly began unwrapping the cloth strips, and the mont the contents were revealed, his eyes lit up instantly.
It was a blade.
The scabbard was made from black wood without any extra decoration.
The hilt was wrapped tightly in black rope to provide a better grip.
Might Guy imdiately drew the blade.
The blade emitted a dark tallic gleam beneath the light.
Compared to his previous broadsword, this blade was slightly narrower, but the overall length remained almost identical.
The weight also felt very similar, but the balance was much steadier in his hand.
Might Guy swung it lightly.
A soft whooshing sound cut through the air.
The feeling in his hand was incomparably natural.
"A good blade."
The pleasant surprise on Might Guy's face could not be hidden at all.
Choza grinned broadly. "I had soone forge it over the past two days. Your old blade broke, so naturally it needed replacing."
Might Guy looked up at him and instantly understood why Choza had stubbornly forced him to remain resting for two extra days.
It was because of this blade.
Choza said nothing more and simply pointed toward the base of the blade.
Two characters were engraved there.
[Youth]
Might Guy froze briefly.
"Hehe, do you like it?"
Choza smiled broadly.
Might Guy imdiately gave a huge thumbs up, revealing a mouthful of shining white teeth. "Thank you, Captain, for the Youth!"
"Hahaha! As long as you like it. Hurry and finish your cake. This afternoon there's still a mission to complete..."
Before Choza could finish speaking, a sharp whistle suddenly exploded outside the tent.
"Whoosh!"
The sound was shrill and piercing.
It was not an ordinary assembly whistle.
It was the signal for an ergency assembly.
Three long whistles followed by one short whistle repeated continuously three tis.
Choza's expression changed instantly.
He imdiately turned around and rushed outside the tent. "Follow !"
The birthday celebration was instantly forgotten as the four people rushed outside together.
Ebisu and Genma's expressions also beca serious imdiately, with Genma even removing the toothpick from his mouth.
The mont the four stepped outside, they discovered that the entire camp was already in chaos.
People were everywhere.
So were crawling out from tents.
So were running over from the direction of the ss hall.
Others were rushing back from the training grounds.
Everyone was heading toward the central assembly field as quickly as possible.
Nobody shouted.
Nobody spoke.
Yet the entire atmosphere was stretched taut like a tightened bowstring.
Within an extrely short amount of ti, the central assembly field was already packed full of people.
One square formation after another stood tightly arranged together.
There were a total of one thousand five hundred Ninja present.
Every Ninja stationed at the eastern Mount Kikyo base had arrived.
Might Guy stood within Team 9's formation and swept his gaze around.
To his left was Team 3.
To his right was Team 5.
The captains stood at the front while the wounded stood toward the rear.
Even the injured Ninja from the dical tents who could still move had forced themselves outside while leaning on crutches.
Nobody spoke.
One thousand five hundred Ninja stood silently in the field, and the only sounds that could be heard were the howling wind and the heavy breathing of exhausted soldiers.
At the very front, standing atop the high platform, was a single man.
He looked around forty years old, thin and gaunt, with very little flesh on his face and narrow eyes that gave off an extrely sharp feeling.
His hair was tied into a bun fastened with a hairpin.
He wore the traditional green combat vest of the Nara Clan, with the clan emblem embroidered onto the collar.
Nara Shikaku.
The overall commander of the Mount Kikyo eastern base.
A generation senior to Akimichi Choza.
Might Guy had only seen him twice before.
The first ti was when he initially reported to the camp.
The second ti was during the all-camp assembly eting last month.
The mont Guy saw the solemn expression on Nara Shikaku's face, his heart tightened slightly.
"An ergency assembly at this ti... could Sunagakure have already begun a surprise attack?"
"But the timing feels wrong."
Might Guy rapidly sorted through the tiline in his head.
This situation only reminded him of the famous Battle of Mount Kikyo, where Sunagakure launched a large-scale assault against Konoha.
But according to his mories, the timing should not have matched yet.
Might Guy's expression shifted uncertainly.
anwhile, Nara Shikaku still had not spoken.
He simply stood silently atop the high platform with empty hands behind his back.
Gradually, he waited for everyone to stand properly.
He waited for the flags to flap violently in the wind.
He waited for the atmosphere to sink to its heaviest point.
Only then did he finally open his mouth.
"Two thousand Iwagakure Ninja are advancing toward our border."
His voice was not loud.
Yet every single word was perfectly clear and reached the ears of all one thousand five hundred Ninja below.
"Iwagakure's vanguard force has already advanced to within fifty li of our position."
The silence beneath the platform beca even heavier.
"Konoha's mobile reinforcent force is already rushing toward us."
"But they will not arrive until dawn tomorrow at the earliest."
Nara Shikaku's gaze slowly swept across every face below the platform.
"Before then..."
He paused briefly.
"We must hold this place!!"
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