Chapter Twenty Six- The Eternal Genin

Sweat and blood fell down my cheek as I jumped back and touched against a metal surface.

Normally I would've kept moving but I took the chance to catch my breath knowing that my back was protected. 

"Doing alright there Tometsu?" Kosuke the wok-wielding shinobi asked as it seemed the battlefield around us took that moment to pause as well. The 'genin' behind me had taken out nearly more shinobi than I had up to this point, but based on his strength and performance thus far I'd put him at a high chunin level. 

There was a story there that I was sure to learn after this battle.

"Doing alright old man, you're about two behind." I said with a cocky smirk as my red eyes blazed as I looked around the thirty shinobi that had surrounded us and cut us off from the rest of the squad.

The bad thing was it was around sixty at one point.

[13x Suna genin killed! +4500XP]

[3x Suna Chunin Killed! +3900XP]

{Level up….. +10 stat points]

"That is a fact, though over half of my kills were chunin" The man said with a chuckle as I felt the metal pot move as he ran towards the shinobi cutting off our escape route.

I wiped the blood from the cut on my cheek and set my sights on a duo of chunin preparing for a combination jutsu towards my right. It wasn't my eyes that warned me of this but my senses telling me they were molding a large amount of chakra.

My eyes snapped to them as I caught the tail end of their hand seals. It was a basic combination and one I had used myself during my first stint on this battlefield.

I yelled a warning towards Kosuke and disappeared in a burst, the warning was for him to move out of the way in case I didn't make it in time. 

Seven timed bursts and I was behind both of the shinobi just as they had released their fireball and great breakthrough jutsus. A click of metal was heard along with a scrape from the sheaths guard. Sparks flew as my flaming sword cut straight through the distracted chunins neck. I hoped to keep my momentum and take the others head in the same swing but it was not to be. He canceled his fireball and parried my flaming sword with a deft twist of his kunai.

We separated quickly as I had to dodge a barrage of kunai and shuriken from the genin that were not occupied by Kosuke. Now there were only five chunin left and the rest were genin, well if my sensing was to be believed.

[Suna Chunin killed! +1,500xp}

Luckily there was a loud horn that reverberated through the sand dunes causing all of the shinobi to look up with a scowl, soon the shinobi surrounding us had disappeared. All except one, the fire-style natured chunin that just stood there and looked at me with a hate-filled glare.

"I'll find you tomorrow leaf village heathen!" He said with a visceral growl, I honestly felt kind of bad as it seemed the woman chunin I killed might've been his sister or even his lover, or both. You never know with the desert people after all.

"That's fine, bring more assholes for me to kill!" I said with a blood-thirsty smirk as I yelled toward the ninja retreating into the distance.

"You need to work on your stamina and chakra usage kid, that battle lasted a mere two hours." Kosuke said as he appeared next to me. I couldn't dispute that as my ankle hurt from using my half-baked movement jutsu. It was without mentioning that I hadn't caught my breath in at least ten minutes. As for my chakra?

-

Level 11 (6,500/7,000)

Name: Tometsu Uchiha

Chakra: 670/2600

Title: Fang's Apprentice- Boosts the learning speed of Kenjutsu and Lightning release by 20%

(Secondary) Title: Prodigious Killer- Boosts stats by twenty percent when fighting an enemy of a higher level than yourself

Strength:49

Dexterity:67

Agility:62

Endurance:40

Intelligence:104

Stat points:0-(10)

Perk Points:4-(1)

-

"And you need to apply for a promotion, you're at least as strong as a chunin, maybe even an elite." I said between ragged breaths but my squinted eyes gave my message clear. I watched the man swallow three chunin in a powerful Water Dragon jutsu and was able to block several jutsu with an unusual mastery of the Water Wall jutsu. It was too bad I didn't have the time to watch the seals as I was fighting a group myself.

"Just trying to help you out kid" The near middle-aged man said with a sigh and shrug as he took his pot off his back and sat on it. 

That was another thing that caught my eye, I don't know what that pot was made of but damn if it wasn't sturdy. The genin used it like a turtle shell and blocked a few dozen projectiles, and even smacked away an explosive tag mid-air. It was an odd but extremely impressive fighting style.

I was sure that if we fought one-on-one it would be extremely close, the only edge I had on him was speed but he ticked off every other box. Not to mention his Jonin level chakra pool, a decent amount less than Rizen but nothing to sneeze at. But his level was simple to check, just like the rest of my squadmates.

[Kosuke Maruboshi Lvl 34 {Water}] 

He was a few levels under Rizen but he was the strongest on the team for sure. Roku is the closest at level thirty-two and possesses a similar affinity to water. The twins were around twenty-five and Tiber was twenty-eight. Yuka was the second lowest at seventeen while Captain Nara was at twenty-seven.

A breath later and six bursts of leaves surrounded us, bringing with it our worried and haggard squadmates.

"You guys ok? Yuka give them a once over" Captain Yoru said as he began issuing orders the moment the squad was reunited. The small healer ran towards us in a hurry, Kosuke quickly waved her off as he didn't even take a hit. Thus making her set her sights on me.

"I'm fin….." Before I could even finish brushing the healer off she grabbed my cheek much like a grandma would causing me to growl, which was odd. I can't remember a time I did that before, but I also couldn't remember a time somebody manhandled my face. Well besides my mother but that was well.. My mother.

"Feitsy huh? Just stay still for a few seconds, I'm a little shaky on this jutsu." Yuka said with a giggle as her hand lit with a green energy, but it was far from perfect. As it would fade in and out every few seconds but after half a minute she relented and I rubbed my cheek with a small scowl. 

"Thanks….." I said as the cut I received from poorly parrying a tanto was completely gone.

She hummed in response as she left to check over the others, it wasn't long before Captain Nara took her place.

"Do we need to go over formation drills?" Yoru asked with a raised eyebrow that caused me to scratch the back of my head in embarrassment.

"No. Won't let it happen again." I said as it was primarily my fault that the squad had split up. During our charge to the edge of the battle front I had lagged behind momentarily to catch a glimpse of a Suna shinobi going over a lengthy bout of hand signs. Thusly getting myself separated from our squad when half a battalion executed a pinsir attack on us.

Though I would say it was worth it as I learned a rather nasty A-ranked wind ninjutsu for the trouble. Wind Style- Bladed Tornadus, a mini tornado. But the winds inside of it seemed to be extremely sharp, it did maul through a group of genin in seconds. The shinobi that used it had around chunin chakra levels so I doubted what I saw was the jutsu's true potential.

But the technique had twenty three hand seals, not even to mention the fact that it required a moderate ability in shape manipulation and of course the first stage of nature transformation.

Much like the Sickle Blade jutsu I received from Sakumo except the difference in difficulty being shape manipulation requirements.

"Good, if Kosuke didn't react in time you would've been screwed. Be sure to thank him for that" I relented that point as the Nara left me to go talk with Roku.

It gave me a chance to realize something, this squad for lack of a better term was stacked. A tokubetsu Jonin, six chunin level shinobi and a healer which was extremely valuable on its own. Hell without counting me the average level of this squad was well over twenty-five and if you didn't count Yuka as she was barely a combatant it would be closer to thirty.

It made me realize the striking resemblance between Captain Yura and Infantry Commander Yumen. Either he was his uncle or father, I'm surprised it took me this long to realize. Nepotism huh? 

Well I wouldn't complain, I was on this squad after all. Well for however long it took to get a promotion to Captain.

"Thanks, you know for having my back. Things might've gotten dicey" I said as I sat next to the relaxing genin.

"Ha that's a funny one Shadow, with the way you fight you would've lasted more than long enough for their retreat horn to wring" the man said with a chuckle as he unsealed a few pieces of firewood and lit it. 

"Shadow?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just a legend, well more of a travesty. One that my greatest teacher had told me about decades ago. Would you like to hear it?" The man asked as he affixed his pot over the flame and unsummoned a cutting board. It seemed we were having lunch/dinner early today.

I hummed in interest as I slid a package of rice onto the cutting board.

He nodded in thanks as he added a small bit of oil to the pot.

"Before the founding of the great villages and even before the founding of the first village which was ours, it was a time of strife and endless conflict." He began a story I felt I had heard partly before. 

"This era was known as the warring states period and many legends were born during this time. Many names were scratched onto history but two were made the largest, along with their two respective clans. The Senju and the Uchiha." I tilted my head at that as I had already learned about this in the academy, the bitterest rivals joined hands to create the strongest village. Insert more propaganda and brainwashing but that was the jist.

"The two biggest names were the 'Ghost' of the Uchiha and the God of Shinobi. Madara and Hashirama, the two greatest shinobi in recorded history." I nodded at that, but I didn't learn much about the former Uchiha clan head in the academy. That was something my father and uncle taught me separately. 

So to say I was interested would be an understatement, the man had a decade on Uncle so he was young enough to hear first hand what the Ghost of The Uchiha could do.

"Both those two were outliers of the spectrum and even my former teacher doubted if there would ever be another like them." He continued and I began to wonder who this teacher was that he talked of in such reverence.

"Yet there were two others that would have made their own legend during that time if they weren't overshadowed by their illogically powerful brothers," Kosume said, which caused me to raise a quizzical eyebrow. I obviously knew of Lord Hashirama's brother, everyone knew of the Second Hokage after all. But I had never heard of Madara having a brother, which seemed odd if the man was apparently so powerful.

"The Shadow of The Uchiha and the Genius of The Senju. That was their moniker during the warring states period. And they both could take on any Kage of this time, even two on one." At this he turned to me and looked me dead in the eye. Showing how serious he was about his statement and daring me to question it.

"Izuna Uchiha and Tobirama Senju, much like their brothers, were bitter rivals. Lord Tobirama once said that if there was one man he'd give anything to fight again it would be him." Kosuke said with a melancholy smile, but I wasn't surprised as I had already caught on based on the similarities. But what left me wide eyed was that I realized who his former teacher was, the Second Hokage.

What the hell was he doing messing around as a genin, students of Kage are usually expected to either succeed them or become prominent members of the village. Much like the Sanin and Lord Hiruzen.

"An interesting tale, but what did that have to do with calling me Shadow" I doubted if Kosuke was trying to compare me with the forgotten legendary warrior.

"Well the tale wasn't over but I guess that's just the impatience of youth. It's the way you fight but also your sword. Izuna didn't fight like your regular Uchiha clansmen, his main sparring partner was his brother after all." Kosuke said as I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Despite his eyes he rarely used his genjutsu, most likely due to the fact his main two opponents could counter it easily." Kosuke began making me nod in agreement. I doubt the eye contact genjutsu could work on either Madara or Tobirama for more than a second. A waste of chakra and time.

"No, he was a swordsman of the highest caliber and wielded a flaming sword much like yourself. He was a powerful shinobi all round whether that was from his ninjutsu to kenjutsu and even his taijutsu. But if there was one thing that set him apart it would be his physical skills, his speed specifically was unmatched during that time period. Well until it wasn't," Kosuke continued.

"You just reminded me of the story about him, and look! We wasted enough time for dinner to just appear in front of us." The wok wielding ninja said with excitement, shaking me away from my enthralled trance.

Steaming pork and stir fried rice was placed in eight bowls surrounding his pot. I had to admit it smelled good and probably tasted just the same, I was a sucker for teriyaki sauce. It seemed I wasn't the only one as the squad had surrounded us in mere moments

We all surrounded the cooking pot and quickly ate our meal.

"Well that's one day done unless those desert bastards decide to attack again. Only six more to go…" Tiber commented after he let out a large burp.

"How many did you guys get? I got 7 myself" Roi asked as he looked towards the rest of us in curiosity.

"Six" His twin Koi answered followed by Yuka's zero.

"Nine desert lizards!" Tiber said with a smile as his canine companion yipped with joy along with him.

"I had five but most of mine as well as theirs would've been much harder without the Nara" Roku said as he gave a respectful nod to the captain, who took it in stride.

"Sighhhh, well if we're counting assists I had twenty-three," Yura said as his lazy expression morphed into a smirk as the grumbles of the other three chunin reached his ears.

"Nineteen, no assists," I said with a cocky smirk that caused the other three grumbling chunin to deflate even further.

"Seventeen" Our eternal genin followed behind me with the killing blow causing the three guys to fall back into the sand in defeat. We all chuckled at their antics and soon grew quiet, this was only the first day of our week of war. We'd need every bit of rest the Sand army would allow.