Tsunade's gaze fixed on a familiar name.
In the next moment, she slammed the list onto the table with a sharp smack, startling Shizune and Kurenai Yuhi, who were helping organize documents nearby, causing them to look up.
"That brat!"
Tsunade squeezed the words out through clenched teeth. Without explaining anything to Shizune or Kurenai Yuhi, she grabbed the list, strode out of the room, rushed to the other side of the hospital, and kicked open the door of a treatment room.
The door slammed into the wall with a loud bang.
Several nurses inside, who were organizing equipment, trembled in fright, nearly dropping the trays in their hands. Meanwhile, Shinichi, who had been at a desk sorting through preliminary injury reports sent back from the front line, looked up.
"Tsunade-sensei."
Shinichi closed the file and stood up, his tone calm as if nothing had happened.
"Don't call me sensei!"
Tsunade strode up to him in a few steps, slammed the crumpled list onto the table beside him, and shouted angrily, "The Shinichi Higashino on this list, that's you, right?!"
The nurses exchanged glances, then silently left the room, leaving the space to the teacher and student.
Shinichi lowered his head to glance at the list, then looked up to meet Tsunade's almost blazing gaze.
"Yes."
"Yes?!"
Tsunade's voice rose several degrees higher. "Who approved this?! When did you sign up?! Why don't I know about it?! What is that old man thinking?! He actually allowed you to go to the battlefield? How old are you?!"
She paced back and forth in the room, then stopped and looked directly at Shinichi, her voice deep.
"The front line is very dangerous. You are not allowed to go!"
Shinichi stood straight, meeting her gaze, and said calmly, "Tsunade-sensei, I am a Special Jonin of Konoha, a registered official ninja. The village needs strength, and the seniors on the front line are bleeding. How can I remain safely in the rear? Moreover, I once said in front of the entire village…"
"I said you're not allowed to go!"
Tsunade suddenly raised her voice, interrupting him, anger filling her tone. "Special Jonin? So what if you're a Special Jonin? On the battlefield, even Kage can die! Do you think your little bit of strength is enough? That's a battlefield, not an arena!"
Although Shinichi had previously refused her arrangement to work at the hospital and become a rear-line medical staff member, Tsunade had already anticipated that he would go to the battlefield, but definitely not now!
The war had only just broken out, and he was already rushing to the battlefield?
Was he trying to die?
She took a deep breath, trying to make her tone sound more rational.
"Listen, kid. For now, you will stay in the village, in the hospital! This place also needs manpower. It's also contributing to the village, and it's safer, allowing you to better utilize your medical talents!"
Shinichi remained silent and did not refute her, only looking at her quietly.
Those eyes that were usually gentle and smiling were now deep and calm, but that calmness only made Tsunade more restless.
She sighed, her tone finally softening.
"Kid, do you know?"
She looked away, gazing out at the gray sky outside the window, her voice lowering. "I know you're very strong, stronger than your peers, even stronger than many Jonin. You're a genius, the future hope of Konoha. The old man and many others have high expectations for you."
"But!"
She turned her head back, her gaze sharp again.
"On the battlefield, genius is the most useless title! It's even more dangerous than being an ordinary ninja!"
"The battlefield is not a competition. There are no rules, no audience, no applause. There is only survival and death!"
"What determines life and death is often not who has higher talent or stronger Ninjutsu. It could just be a poisoned metal needle shot from the shadows, or an Explosive Tags buried under your feet that you didn't even notice, either can take your life!"
"You have no idea where danger will come from! Can your eyes watch every direction at once, every inch of land, every single person?"
Tsunade grew more agitated as she spoke. "And precisely because you are a genius, the most prominent rising star of Konoha, you'll stand out on the battlefield like a torch in the dark! The commanders of the Village Hidden in the Sand are not fools. Once they get intelligence, the first target they will eliminate is someone like you, a seedling with the potential to become a major threat! You will be targeted, ambushed, and surrounded at all costs! Do you understand?!"
"And look at your peers, who among them is on the battlefield now? And that kid from the Hatake Clan, Kakashi! Isn't he also a genius? Isn't he still staying in the village, doing missions and continuing his training? That's the proper arrangement for ninjas your age!"
What she said was indeed true. One of the original wishes of the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, when he established the village, was to keep children away from war and allow them to grow up in a relatively peaceful environment.
Therefore, even after war broke out, Konoha remained relatively conservative in deploying manpower and would not easily send underdeveloped young ninjas directly to the most brutal front lines.
In the original trajectory, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin's generation had still spent more than a year in the village after the war began, even being able to participate in the Chunin exams during that period.
Even during the most critical and manpower-scarce stages of the war, Konoha was extremely cautious in using young ninjas. Typically, only Chunin were dispatched, while Genin rarely participated directly in frontline combat, at most taking on auxiliary, patrol, or logistics tasks in relatively safe secondary lines.
"Tsunade-sensei."
Shinichi finally spoke, "You've also heard my analysis report. You should understand that the Village Hidden in the Sand's war against Konoha is only the beginning, the first spark to ignite the entire powder keg. Village Hidden in the Cloud's lightning speed offensive will soon follow, and even the Village Hidden in the Stones and Village Hidden in the Mist are watching like tigers eyeing their prey."
"At that time, the flames of war will sweep across the entire national border. Can I remain in the rear forever? When the village needs every bit of strength to fill the defensive lines, when manpower is stretched to the limit, can I still refuse on the grounds of being young, or being a genius who needs protection?"
He slowly shook his head. "I'm afraid not. At that point, it won't be a matter of whether I want to go or not; I will have to go, and may even be hastily thrown into even more dangerous, unprepared battle lines."
"Rather than passively waiting for that moment and being pushed along by chaos, it's better to take the initiative now. Compared to the others who may surround us in the future, the Village Hidden in the Sand is currently the greatest threat, but also relatively the weakest link.
Gaining experience on their battlefield, adapting to war, and tempering myself is better than being thrown later into more dangerous fronts to face more dangerous enemies."