Konoha, Genjutsu Training Barrier Field.
The last rays of the setting sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and night enveloped the entire village.
Inside the barrier field, however, it was as bright as day.
Dozens of "prototype illumination orbs" provided by Orochimaru's Team Zero were embedded around the field, emitting a steady light.
Uchiha Yagen, Shimura Sota, Sarutobi Hasumi, and Tachibana Shiorin were sitting cross-legged on four cushions in the center of the barrier, as instructed by Yuhi Shinku.
They closed their eyes, trying hard to adjust their breathing, their hearts filled with tension and anticipation.
"Are you all ready?"
Yuhi Shinku's calm voice rang out in the field.
"Yes! Teacher Shinku!"
The four of them responded in unison, their voices resonant and full of the vigor unique to young ninja.
"Very good."
Yuhi Shinku nodded with satisfaction. He turned around and waved gently to the several ninja behind him, who were also dressed in Yuhi clan attire.
"Activate, Genjutsu: Real Battlefield Simulation System."
"Yes!"
A dozen or so Yuhi clan ninja began to form hand seals rapidly at the same time. Their movements were uniform, as if they had practiced thousands of times.
Buzz—
An invisible, massive chakra fluctuation instantly spread out in all directions with the barrier as the center.
The four of them felt a slight dizziness in their brains, as if their consciousness was being slowly drawn out of their bodies by a gentle yet irresistible force.
The scene before their eyes began to blur and distort.
The breathing of their companions around them, the voices outside the barrier, the rustling of the wind blowing through the leaves... everything was rapidly receding.
Then, there was a pure white, without any impurities.
Time, space, self... all concepts seemed to lose their meaning at this moment.
"Is this... the system developed by Lord Hokage and Teacher Shinku..."
This was the last thought before Yagen's consciousness completely sank.
...
Unknown time passed.
The first sense to recover was touch.
A sticky sensation came from his cheek.
"Drip... drip..."
Liquid dripped onto his face and slid down his skin.
Next was the sense of smell.
A fishy smell mixed with damp earth and rotting leaves rudely filled his entire nasal cavity.
This smell made Tachibana Shiorin's stomach churn, and she almost vomited.
Then, hearing.
The sound of rain, endless rain, the sound of it hitting some kind of canvas, and indistinct shouts in the distance.
Finally, vision.
The four of them opened their eyes almost at the same time.
The scene before them was no longer the barrier field.
They were standing in a muddy clearing. The sky was gray, and a annoying drizzle was falling.
In front of the four of them were military camps, one after another.
Earthy yellow makeshift tents stood disorderly in the mud, their colors darkened by the rain.
Between the tents, flags with the Konoha symbol were planted, drooping listlessly in the wind and rain.
Around them, figures were hurrying everywhere.
They wore uniform Konoha attire, their faces bearing the solemnity and fatigue unique to war.
Some were meticulously wiping their ninja swords and kunai under the eaves of the tents; others were in groups of three or five, working together to drive huge wooden stakes into the mud, reinforcing the camp's defenses.
These people turned a blind eye to the sudden appearance of the four of them, as if they were just air.
In the distance, at the entrance of a huge medical tent, several medical ninja were carrying a wounded person covered in blood, whose human form could no longer be discerned, rushing in.
The smell of blood and disinfectant mixed together could be smelled from far away.
Everything here was unbelievably real.
"My god..."
Shimura Sota's mouth was open wide enough to fit an egg. He looked at the incredibly real scene before him and stammered, "Is... is this genjutsu? Teacher Shinku is too amazing, right? This is simply... simply exactly like the real thing!"
He took a step forward, wanting to feel that reality.
"Wait!"
Uchiha Yagen gave a low shout and grabbed his hand.
The moment he opened his eyes, Yagen had subconsciously activated his Sharingan.
The single tomoe slowly rotated in his eye socket, vigilantly scanning everything around him.
As the captain, his first reaction was not shock, but danger.
Too real.
Everyone here, every tent, even the touch of every inch of soil under his feet was so real that it made his scalp tingle.
If Teacher Shinku hadn't emphasized again and again before coming in that this was just genjutsu, he would have thought he had really been transported to the battlefield by some space-time ninjutsu.
"Captain, I..."
Sota was startled by Yagen's serious look, realized his loss of composure, and quickly withdrew his hand.
"This place... is so scary..."
Tachibana Shiorin's voice trembled slightly.
As a medical ninja, she was particularly sensitive to the aura of life.
She could clearly feel a shadow of death permeating this camp.
The faint killing intent on those ninja, the painful wails of the wounded, were all presented before her eyes.
"My god... this uncanny workmanship of genjutsu... is this really genjutsu? I can even feel how sticky the mud under my feet is!"
"This is no longer within the scope of genjutsu."
Sarutobi Hasumi, the team's "navigator," also put away his usual gentle wisdom at this moment, his face full of gravity.
He crouched down, carefully observing the surrounding environment. "Air humidity exceeds ninety percent, wind direction is variable, continuous breeze... The environment here is exactly the same as the Land of Rain described in textbooks."
"The depth of rain penetration into the soil... is exactly the same as a real rainy environment. This genjutsu even simulates the most subtle laws of nature."
As expected of the man known as the "Calm Navigator," even in this environment, he maintained absolute calm and analyzed his surroundings immediately.
Just as the four of them were shocked, vigilant, and analyzing everything around them.
A voice they were extremely familiar with and revered sounded directly in their minds.
"Welcome to the Real Battlefield Simulation System."
It was Lord Hokage's voice!
The bodies of the four trembled violently.
"Here is your first practical combat lesson. Everything you see, hear, smell, and touch will be absolutely real. You will feel pain, bleed, and even... experience death."
"The only difference is that when your vital signs drop to a certain threshold, the system will automatically kick your consciousness out. But before that, I hope you can treat this place as a real battlefield."
Lord Hokage's voice paused for a moment, seemingly giving them time to accept and digest.
Then, the voice sounded again, with an epic heaviness.
"The time you are in now is the era of the Second Great Ninja War."
"The location is the eastern border of the Land of Rain, Konoha's First Army Camp."
Ninja War? Land of Rain?
These terms made the four of them a little nervous.
They had actually... returned to that war-torn time?
Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice, like the most professional game narrator, introduced the background of this "dungeon" to them without any emotion.
"The Second Great Ninja War has broken out. The leader of Amegakure, the demigod Hanzo of the Salamander, has declared war on the Land of Fire, Wind, and Earth simultaneously. The Land of Rain has become the most brutal meat grinder."
"In order to contain the enemy and create opportunities for other fronts, the village has dispatched several squads led by Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru deep into the heartland of the Land of Rain to carry out decoy missions."
"And what you will face next are the cruelest and most ruthless enemies in the ninja world. Sunagakure's puppet masters, Iwagakure's Explosion Corps, and... those elusive assassins from Amegakure."
"Now..."
Lord Hokage's voice carried a hint of expectation.
"Listen to your first mission."
As soon as his voice fell, the four felt their bodies being gently pushed by an invisible force.
Their gazes involuntarily turned to the largest commander's tent in the center of the camp, which was lit up.
A bold and loud voice was faintly coming from the tent, seemingly deploying something.
"This place is the frontline command post, with Lord Jiraiya, one of the 'Konoha Sannin,' serving as the commander-in-chief."
"Go, future of Konoha."
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