Early the next morning,
Tachibana was already up, dressed, and headed to the Mizukage Building for his official registration as a shinobi.
It was his first time stepping inside the iconic cylindrical building adorned with the bold character for "Water" (水). Up until now, he'd only ever glimpsed it from afar.
The architects of this world seemed to have a peculiar fondness for cylindrical buildings.
From what Tachibana recalled of his previous life, among the Five Great Nations, only Konohagakure, the protagonist's home, boasted a variety of building designs. The other four, and even some smaller nations, almost exclusively used the cylindrical style.
That said, Kirigakure's architecture still had its own unique flair.
Due to the village's mountainous terrain, the buildings were spread out unevenly among the hills. What might look like a short walk on a straight path could easily become a multi-hundred-meter detour through winding stone stairways.
The Mizukage Building itself, perhaps to emphasize the Mizukage's authority, sat proudly on a sloped mountainside at a higher elevation.
Below it was a semi-open plaza hollowed out from the mountain, something like a massive arched bridge cavity, used to receive civilians who came to post missions.
Above that plaza stood the circular building where the Mizukage and village leadership worked. To reach it, one had to climb a long stone stairway. Fortunately, since it was mostly shinobi going up and down, no one really minded.
"The squads that were short on personnel have already absorbed the medical-nin who recently transferred from civilian doctor positions."
"As for you, there's about a month left until the current ninja academy students graduate. When they do, a number of new genin squads will form, and you'll be placed with others from your cohort. It'll be a good time to build team synergy."
At the registration desk, two shinobi, one rotund and the other thin, barely glanced at Tachibana's file before casually assigning his upcoming placement in a tag-team style of chatter.
'"From the same cohort," huh… A month from now, Zabuza will probably be on a killing spree again. I'd be lucky if there's even a full squad left to join. Don't tell me they'll put me on a team with him…'
Tachibana sighed internally.
"So, does the village have anything lined up for me in the meantime?"
Since he was already here, he figured he might as well ask, just in case.
"You're free to arrange your time as you see fit. But I'd suggest heading to the Kirigakure Hospital."
"Yeah, there are a few medical-nin who haven't been placed in squads yet. Since they used to be civilian doctors, they're back at the hospital for now, waiting for reassignment."
"Otherwise, if you just train at home, don't blame us if they forget to put you in a team when the graduates are sorted."
Listening to these two banter like a comedy duo, Tachibana felt a metaphorical storm cloud gather over his head.
They were nice guys, surprisingly friendly for people working in the Blood Mist Village. Maybe it was because the registration post was so quiet, they had time to develop a bit of a talkative streak.
They reminded Tachibana of Konohagakure's gatekeepers, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane.
"Thanks, you two. I'll be off now!"
Seeing that they still looked like they had more to say, Tachibana quickly grabbed his newly-issued forehead protector and made a hasty exit.
Ding! Achievement Unlocked: "You're Already Invincible, Now Go Save the World!"
'I'm not even a genin from Konoha! What's a Kirigakure genin supposed to save the world with, good intentions?'
Tachibana groaned inwardly while opening his system panel.
A surge of delight hit him. Just for becoming a genin, he'd received a reward of 300 gold coins. The last time he saw a reward that generous was when he first arrived in this world.
'As expected of the shinobi world. If genin already gives this much, the rewards for chūnin and jōnin must be even better.'
'Too bad only Konoha bothers with a "Special Jōnin" rank. The other villages can't afford that kind of luxury.'
Feeling pretty satisfied with his windfall, Tachibana exited the Mizukage Building and began tying his forehead protector around his left arm as he walked.
Despite being called a "forehead protector," it probably wouldn't save his life if someone was already aiming at his head. Wearing it on his arm was more convenient, it doubled as an armband to indicate his status, without interfering with daily life.
'One day, maybe I'll rip this thing off mid-battle and yell "I'm actually a top-class chef!" Just to throw people off.'
Grinning to himself over these jokes only he could understand, Tachibana strolled toward Kirigakure Hospital, planning to share the good news with Aunt Keiko.
Other passing shinobi noticed his goofy smile but didn't find it strange.
'Probably some clan kid who just passed his genin exam. Can't blame him for being a little too happy.'
But it seemed the heavens didn't appreciate how easily pleased Tachibana was.
Ding! The Third Great Ninja War Has Officially Begun! Achievement Unlocked: "S3!"
Ding! Limited-Time Gacha Banner "Survival UP" Now Available! This banner will close after 30 days.
The abrupt system alert shattered Tachibana's good mood.
'I just became a genin and the Ninja War's already started?!'
The mention of a limited-time banner gave him a bad feeling. He quickly pulled up the system panel again.
The war-related achievement gave him another 300 coins. And the "Survival UP" event banner did contain plenty of top-tier survival gear and abilities…
…but Tachibana couldn't bring himself to celebrate.
"Why is this event only 30 days long?!"
He browsed the banner: as he feared, it was packed with defensive and life-saving tools.
Even the purple-tier items included skills like Hold the Line, Mirror Reflection, and Disguise Skin, all god-tier in life-or-death scenarios.
The gold-tier pool featured rare traits like Sturdy Shield and Prismatic Armor, the kind you'd only find on legendary Pokémon.
Even without focusing on the rewards' quality, the sheer variety of attribute-neutral abilities made this banner especially valuable. With just a few pulls, he might unlock access to new element-based banners.
But then he remembered yesterday's double 10-pulls.
After tallying up everything, even with the two 300-coin achievement rewards today, he only had 1,520 coins. That gave him just enough for maybe two 10-pulls over the next 30 days, if he completed every daily and achievement along the way.
Tachibana had never trusted his luck to begin with. Without hitting the pity counter, he wasn't counting on landing any gold-tier items.
And in this kind of war-torn world, every extra survival tool meant another chance to live.
Missing out on this banner felt like missing out on a fortune.
What made it worse was that pity counters didn't carry over between banners.
Still, for the sake of his own survival, even if it wasted his pity progress, Tachibana decided to roll on this event anyway.
Right now, he felt like someone who just left the grocery store with discount ingredients, only to pass by a new restaurant offering an all-you-can-eat buffet for just 9.9 yuan.
'Ah well… Life's unpredictable like that. Guess I'll need to start saving up some gold from now on.'
Thankfully, the Third Ninja War probably just meant a clash between Sunagakure and Konoha, for now. That should give him a bit of time to grow stronger before the storm reached Kirigakure.
With that thought, Tachibana returned to his original plan: head to the hospital and meet with Saigyouji Keiko.
But just after he left the Mizukage Building,
In the office upstairs, Third Mizukage's brows furrowed as he read the emergency intel sent via messenger hawk from the forward outpost.
"Summon all jōnin currently not assigned to missions. Emergency meeting."