Chapter 4: Front Lines

The forward operating base that Yuriko and squad eight was sent to was a perfect representation of wartime bases, barely controlled chaos and bleak moral. Mud and blood mixed freely on the ground and walls, several of the fortifications were heavily damaged and even with all of that, the Konoha shinobi and the daimyo's samurai still moved through the base with grim determination.

"Squad eight reporting as ordered, Goryu-taicho," sensei announced as we came to rest in front of a middle aged man who was staring down at a table dominated by a map.

"Welcome to FOB Hachi," Goryu-taicho returned with a nod looking us over with a small frown. "Sorry, but I knew we were getting genin, but… them?"

While intellectually I knew he had every right to be concerned, I couldn't help but scowl a bit in response to being dismissed like that.

"They are young, yes, but they have proven themselves and they have already bloodied their hands," sensei replied in a calm voice.

"Best I could hope for in this situation I suppose," Goryo-taicho sighed as he rubbed his face, belatedly, I realized he had bags surrounding his dark blue eyes. "Alright, onto the briefing, you're here to take part in our counter offensive against the Iwas and Kumo forces across the No Man's Land and capture the Tensei Bridge, we do that and we control their primary point of ingress into Hi no Kuni."

Sensei studied the map intently for several seconds before nodding. "What is to be our role in the battle?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Your team will be apart of the second attack wave, you will be attached to Meiji company under Jonin Saiga," the commander replied easily.

"Understood, when does the attack begin?"

"Five hours from now," Horyu answered grimly. "I'm sorry I can't give your team more time to rest, but we need to push the element of surprise while we still can, and they will notice the reinforcements sooner rather than later."

"Understood, we'll be ready," sensei replied, his face grim before turning to us with a nod, signaling us it was time to leave.

Following our sensei out of the command building we remained professionally quiet as we walked to one of the more secluded areas of the base. "Alright, I wish I could say you all are ready for this, in all honesty your aren't, not completely anyways," he admitted bluntly, the three of us exchanging looks with one another.

"Chances are high that one of us will die today, so," sensei sighed as he unsealed four cups and have one to each of us, keeping one to himself, before pouring a bit of sake into each cup. "I shouldn't b e doing this considering your ages, but… as your sensei I wanted to be able to share your first drink with you."

He held his cup out to us, the three of us hesitantly returning the gesture. "May each of you grow in splendid shinobi," he whispered gently to the three of us. "While we may march towards death, we shall not fear, for we are family and we march side by side as one."

Recognizing the cue we each spoke up. "Family," we chorus before our cups clinked together, and following our sensei's lead, we downed the alcohol.

And promptly be coughing as it burned our throats.

"And that's the non-alcoholic version too," sensei chuckled as he smiled at us warmly.

This… was a perfect representation of sensei, he was stern and foreboding, but underneath that he was a warm man who cared about our well being, he fussed over us when we were injured, made sure myself and China-chan were alright when our family was away on the front lines, taught Ali-kun those little tricks you only learn if your family were shinobi.

He was our sensei, and while we each had a father, he was also our father. He taught us how to be shinobi, he showed us what it meant to live for the village. He also showed us little things, like common plants that made excellent spices, little pranks to pull on your comrades to ease their tension.

It finally hit me, my sensei might die today.

I could feel my pulse accelerate at the realization hit me, this wasn't like going up against bandits or missing ninjas, this was going up against a properly air,ed and organized army. Sensei was jus the tip of the iceberg, Chika-chan and Aoi-kun both had an even greater chance of dying in the battle.

A hand on my head cut my rapidly approaching panic attack in its tracks as I looked up at the knowing expression on my sensei's face. "You Uchiha always hide it well… but your eyes are always the windows to your souls," he commented with a slight smirk. "Yes, we may die, but… even if we do, we continue to live on in the memories of the people we leave behind," he told me his hand soothing my thoughts as he simply allowed it to rest in my hair. "Better?"

"Yeah," I whispered, taking a deep, calming breath before nodding in confirmation. "I'm ready."

"Good," he replied, looking over each of us carefully before nodding. "Alright, let's meet up with the rest of our company."

PRIMARY QUEST ALERT!

Battle for Tensei Bridge

OBJECTIVE

Capture the Iwagakure base on the opposite side of the bridge for Konohagakure.

REWARD

15,000 EXP, 20,000 Ryo, 5,000 Reputation with Konohagakure and allied nations, ?

BONUS OBJECTIVE

Capture the base with less than 40% losses for Konohagakure and allies

Personally heal 250 soldiers

Your team survives

REWADS

10,000 EXP per objective completed, 10,000 Ryo per objective completed

Cannot turn down this Quest

Once we met with the company commander we were assigned with the medics of our team, both because of my iryojutsu and as guards while one the actual battlefield.

"I have to say, Uchiha-san, with your current level of skills I would say you would be ready to pass the trade three medical exams with minor difficulty," the leader of the medical squad commented as we talked about my experience level with medical techniques. "I never learned [Mystical Palm] until I was a chunin at least."

A small grin of pride found its way into my face as we spoke. "I know the basics of being a medic in general, but what to the different grades?" I questioned curiously, my mother had been more focused on getting my Chakra control to a more acceptable level than explaining the differences between medical levels.

"Well, third grade medical ninja are the very basics, it means they know how to deal with minor training injuries, but not much outside of that, if you were to leave the shinobi corps you would be able to get a job as a nurse with it without having to go for schooling," Saya Michiru explained, brushing her stringy brown hair out of her face as she spoke. "Second grade are most common and are battlefield medics, they know how to triage and stabilize grievously injured people and would be welcomed with open arms in ER wards if they were to leave the shinobi corps. Finally the first grades are the full on surgeons and specialists, they could open their own hospital if they left without any issues whatsoever."

I nodded in understanding of the explanation. "That makes sense," I vocalized after a moment. "I think I'll go for the third grade examination when things settle down."

"If you want, I can issue a letter of recommendation that you skip to the second grade test if you perform well during your deployment," she offered with a slight smile. "I can guarantee you, by the end of your deployment here, you will have the experience needed for it."

Before I could respond, however, the squadron commander called out to us, the operation was beginning.

In movies these kinds of moments were always filled with heroic speeches and shouts of defiance or something, not so here, once the first wave left, silence reigned in the base while we all waited with baited breath, the distant sounds of combat heard.

"Second wave!" Goryo-taicho shouted loudly, giving us our signal to charge forward.

I activate my [Sharingan - Stage Two] as we charged forward, while I was a firm believer in it being a tool that shouldn't be depended on, I knew that I needed every advantage I could get to survive the coming battle.

It was the screams that hit us firsts, followed by the signs of clashing metal and crackling of lightning. "Medic!" a voice shouted out, the captain of the medical squad raising their hand and signalling their change in course to where a group of Takigakure ninja were protecting a group of downed shinobi.

The captain ran her eyes over the scene with an odd sense of calmness. "Squads two, three and four," she called out to our small company. "Continue on, triage only so the support teams can pull the injured out," she announced, and she must have had command with this group before because without a word of question the team split up into separate squads with a medic to each squad. "Uchiha-san, please assist me."

"Understood!" I replied as I quickly ran my eyes over the injured and moved to one who had a deep cut in his leg and began healing it, the medical captain stepped up to man who seemed to be more blood and flesh before she began healing him, my team joining the Taki ninjas in the perimeter.

I worked steadily as more injured were brought to us in a never ending stream of bodies, Saya-taicho working without pause as she continue to heal the more severely wounded shinobi and samurai, a few times taking a single look at a man and shaking her head in a negative, indicating he couldn't be saved. On my end, the injured being directed to me were decently well off and primarily needed the bleeding stopped before they were safe to be brought back to base or good enough to get back to fighting.

I lost count of how many pop ups I had gotten signalling a level gained in [Mystical Palm] while I worked, but I could see the resulting change as wounds became easier to close.

It was an hour into the battle that the defensive line for our triage area was broken through by a Kuni shinobi, his body sparking with electricity as he charged at Saya-taicho who was busy keeping a man alive.

I didn't think twice as I leapt to intercept him, my hands quickly forming the seals for the [Chakra Scalpel] jutsu as I managed to slap my hand on one of his legs, severing his tendon and causing him to pitch forward onto the ground as his injured leg gave out on him. Before he could flip him onto his back or take any other action I was on him, pressing my chakra infused hand into his neck, severing the arteries on either side of his neck before place my hand against his chest, over his heart and using the [Chakra Scalpel] to destroy it, a small notification telling me he was dead popped up.

Sparing me a glance Saya-taicho nodded to me before turning back to the man she was working on, prompting me to do the same, a few of the soldiers around me staring wide eyed the fact that a seven year old, four foot even, child just took down a fully grown man in several seconds.

I on the other hand was sweating, a pulse of fear running down my spine, the only reason I had managed to take the man out was because he was so focused on the better healer, if he had decided to go after me instead…

Shaking those thoughts off I turned back to my patient and kept working.

Soon after the third wave arrived, and I belatedly realized something. 'It has only been an hour since we left the base,' I thought to myself as me and Saya-taicho were having our chakra replenished by the support shinobi in the third wave.

As soon as we were topped off, we were heading closer to the front lines, getting attacked several times as a few enemy shinobi managed to break through and attempted to take out the rear support of the fighters.

Two managed to get through to Saya-taicho and me, the medical captain showed that she didn't wear the Jonin flak vest for show as she quickly decimated her opponent in two moves before supporting me in my battle against a chunin. I couldn't help but stare at the unassuming medic who quirked a grin at me.

"Not all medics need the super strength of Tsunade-sama," she explained. "Most of us actually use a variant of the Hyuga Gentle fist that uses chakra scalpels instead of targeting tenketsu, it's not like we don't know where our opponents vital organs are without the byakugan."

Holy fuck, and shinobi willingly try to fuck with Konoha medical ninja. Fucking idiots.

When we entered the battlefield, we didn't set up a triage area this time, no, there was no room with all the fighting, instead we were battling against foreign shinobi, I was using my tried and true method of fighting, my Kodachi with [Chakra Flow] active in one hand and [Chakra Scalpel] in my other.

It was a style that was uniquely my own, I had realized when I had shown Hasai-sensei the way I had fought Tsukiyama and he had told me he couldn't remember anyone mixing the two styles of fighting like that. So, taking that into consideration he did what he could to help me refine the style - me using it without having the [Chakra Scalpel] active, and helped me develop the [Fire Release: Chakra Flow] to make my style more effective.

It showed in the battle as shinobi focused on my burning kodachi, not noticing the [Chakra Scalpel] until it was too late and my hand was pressed against them, either hitting their vital spots to kill them, or disabling them enough to easily kill them as I fought I ignored each of the popups that appeared before me, notifying me of my levelling skills, my actual level increasing, taijutsu and ninjutsu my eyes were stealing.

Although that last one wasn't completely being ignored as I turned some of the jutsus I learned on those that I stole it from, no wonder Kakashi did that, it was fun seeing their shocked faces when it happened. One thing that caught my attention, however, was Saya-taicho's fighting style, and the notification I got from watching it with my [Sharingan] watching it.

Whatever it was, I wasn't able to copy it, not completely anyways, a screen had popped up stating that I had to have [Intermediate Iryojutsu] and [Intermediate Gentle Fist] in order to copy… holy fuck… [Gentle Fist: Chakra Scalpel].

The fighting style was… fucking terrifying, every time she even grazed someone they were dropping down and coughing blood violently, and if she tapped their heads, they dropped like their strings were cut as blood leaked from every opening on their head.

Okay… if this was my old world, [Chakra Scalpel] would probably be outright banned from use, here though? I'm surprised there weren't more people using it.

Pulling my attention away from the medical captain, I turned my own efforts towards the enemy, dodging the swipe of a tanto wielded by what looked to be a Kumo chunin. "[Observe]" I barely vocalized as I looked at him.

Name: Shiki Ihara

Level: 22

EXP: 556/12,000

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Title: Chunin (+25% Reputation gains)

STATS

HP - 1,540

CP - 724

STR - 45

INT - 26

DEX - 64

VIT - 32

WIS - 24

LUK - 20

PERKS

Expert Knife Fighter - +50% effectiveness with [Knife] type weapons

Chakra Flow Expert - +50% effectiveness with [Chakra Flow] techniques

Agile - +2 DEX per level

Well… that would explain the electricity that was enveloping the tanto he was wielding as he charged at me again.

Mentally I was thanking my choice to be reborn as an Uchiha, I wasn't sure how I would've survived this fight without the use of the predictive abilities of the [Sharingan], seriously, my face was numb from all of the close calls I had with the edge of the lightning charged blade, even then it wasn't enough.

HP: 400

Status: Numbed (Right arm, -50% effectiveness when using your right arm, chakra flow disrupted)

Fucking hell, the only thing keeping him wary right now was the chakra surrounding my left hand, obviously he had seen what I had done to his allies and was completely aware of what I was capable of with it.

Panting I lunged at him, clumsily swinging my kodachi at him as I swept my more response left hand low, hoping to blow out one of his knees caps only for him to simple lean out of the way of my sword and swing his knife down for my good arm.

Not wanting to risk it I pulled my hand away before he could remove it and leapt back to gain some distance. This… was bad situation… unlike Tsukiyama, this guy was smart enough not to give me any space as he charged forward, keeping close with me as we continued our deadly dance against one another.

He managed to score another two hits, dropping my health to under a 100 points and numbed my chest and left leg, completely disrupting my chakra flow and causing the [Chakra Scalpel] to cut out.

Growling angrily I glared at the impassive chunin, had to hand it to him, he was rather professional about the whole thing, no insults, no mocking, just a quiet determination to kill me… although I have to admit, I didn't like that part.

Panting I tried to keep myself out of his reach as he kept his dogged pursuit up, all around us our allies were distracted with their own battles as I narrowly avoided death by a hairs breath.

All it took was one bad step with my numbed leg, and it was over… I… was going to die.

The [Sharingan] that had kept me alive up to that point was useless as I lay prone on the ground, Shiki Ihara standing above me with his tanto ready in his hand. I could feel the cold fear gripping my heart as I stared up at him, I was stronger than when I fought and defeated Tsukiyama who was near Shiki's level, but I was nowhere near as experienced as my opponent, and that had made all the difference as he systematically dodged my inexperienced strikes and wore me down.

He kneeled on my chest, my breath strangled at as his weight prevented my lungs from completely filling themselves as my arms were unable to gather enough strength to push him off me.

He raised his knife, I saw my mother's face as she laughed at some joke my father told her.

Time slowed as the knife lowered, I could see my team as they smiled at me as I arrived at our training ground.

The knife was about to spear my chest and enter my heart when suddenly, it and Shiki was… gone.

What?

A primal scream of rage was heard as I looked around and spotted a familiar person standing over me, Shiki tumbling back, blood spurting from his mouth.

"Keep the fuck away from my sister," my brother coldly announced to the world as he stood over me, unarmed, but threatening, clad in a simple blue shirt with a large Uchiha fan dominating the back and a pair of black shinobi pants taped around the ankles. It was a statement I realized, as I stared at him, him not wearing any armor or flak vest, that's how confident he was that they wouldn't even be able to touch him.

My breath caught in my throat as I spotted his eyes, they were the characteristic red and black of the sharingan, but… rather than three comma like shapes circling around the pupil it was instead a solid black four pointed shuriken shape with a red iris in the center.

Holy fuck my brother had the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Shiki coughed out some blood as he got back to his feet, retaking his stance as he eyed my brother warily, seeing their ally's plight, two more Kumo chunin joined Shiki in facing off against Sakaki who looked wholly unconcerned with their presence.

"Nii...san," I managed to gasp out as I struggled to sit up and try and help him.

"It's alright, squirt," he replied easily, sparing me a quick glance and a smile. "Heal yourself up, I'll be finished here in a moment."

Credit where credit is due, the Kumo shinobi didn't react to my brother's statement in a visible manner, they simply surrounded my brother as he stepped forward to face them with an unhurried stride.

The Kumo chunin moved a one as they charged in to attack my brother with their weapons of choice, the other two wielding kodachi's of their own as they slashed at my brother.

Sakaki dodged all of them with frightening ease, he knew exactly where each strike would be and how to avoid all of them with the same unhurried stride.

It was sudden when he struck, hell, if I didn't have my own sharingan active, I would have completely missed it when it happened as he slammed his fist into one of the newcomer's solar plex before countering a retaliatory strike from Shiki.

A sudden influx of chakra was seen as the third completed a set of seals.

Unable to copy [Light Release: White Burning Flare], Requires: [Light Release Kekkei Genkai]

I opened my mouth to shout a warning to my brother, but… it was too late as a flash of light struck out instantly covering the distance, only, somehow, my brother wasn't there anymore.

He was behind the [Light Release] user, with blood streaming out of his left eye as he slammed a kunai into the man's head, killing him.

Wait… what? What the fuck did my brother just do?

The two Kumo shinobi struck out quickly, obviously as confused as I was about what happened, but forcing themselves to attack so they didn't give him any opening. Only, again, my brother simply just wasn't there. I didn't see any indication of any movement, one second he was there, the next he was behind the two completing a set of seals.

Unable to copy [Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song], requires [Fire Nature Manipulation (Level 50)]

I could see why it would require so much when he released the technique, several dragon-head shaped fireballs shot out of his mouth consuming the two Kumo shinobi instantly, the pair not even able to scream before they were turned to ash.

"Holy shit…" I stated numbly as I stared at my brother.

"Language, squirt, don't want mom to hear you talking like that, do you?" he questioned with a chuckle.

I could only stare in fascination as his Mangekyou Sharingan changed back into the normal three tomoed sharingan as he wiped away the blood from his eye.

"Wait, let me see that," I said hurriedly as I held up my hand glowing with healing chakra only for him to stop me with a gentle shake of his head.

"It's no use, Yuriko-chan," he told me gently as he pushed my hands down. "All power comes with a cost, and the Mangekyou Sharingan has a great cost, the more we use it's power, the more we lose our eyesight."

I blinked several times, I already knew this, but at the same it, I wasn't supposed to. "Is… is that how you got behind them?" I questioned as several things clicked at once.

Sakaki nodded. "Koshintō," he said simply before patting my head. "Come on, we're still in a battle."

I blinked dumbly in response before nodding in agreement and getting to my feet, reclaiming my kodachi. "Let's go," I agreed before moving after my brother to reunite with my company.

Fighting beside my brother showed me just how far I had to go if I really wanted to make a difference in the world, there was no wasted movements as he flickered between the shinobi between us and the rest of my company, nobody even touching him, even without using his Mangekyou Sharingan's Koshintō ability - whatever that did.

But even still, she didn't let her brother do all of the work alone as she darted around in the confusion caused by his presence with her [Fire Release: Chakra Flow] and [Chakra Scalpel] active as she took full advantage of their distracted states, even if life seemed like a game, people die when their heart explodes.

Still, it was odd… I was seeing even more clearly than ever before since my brush with death, it didn't matter how quick someone was moving, outside of a select few that were using a special jutsu, I was able to track all of their movements with ease as I countered any attacks directed at me.

[Sharingan - Stage Three] has leveled up!

Oh… that would explain why pretty well. Apparently that brush with death was enough to supercharge the growth of my sharingan. I spotted a samurai, wearing the colors of the Kaminari no Kuni daimyo charge at me with his sword upraised.

Honestly, good thing these aren't the Tetsu no Kuni samurai, I thought to myself as I sidestepped him, my [Chakra Scalpel] striking him three times as I bypassed his armor to destroy his heart and lungs before moving onto a chunin who was preparing a jutsu.

You have copied [Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow]

Flashing quickly I mimicked his hand signs, using [Sharingan: Genjutsu] to slow him down before announcing his own technique. "[Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow!]!" I threw out the arrow shaped lightning jutsu impacting it directly into the chunin's chest, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at me.

Taking the advantage it presented me I closed the distance before slashing my burning kodachi across his neck and immolating his body.

"Yuriko-chan!" Chika-chan shouted as she spotted me and my brother working our way towards them. "We thought we had lost you!"

"Kumo chunin," I replied quickly grabbing a kunai with the hand powered by [Chakra Scalpel] and threw it at a Iwa ninja, idly noting how deeply the kunai cut into the man. "Nii-san helped me out, nii-san, meet my team, team meet nii-san."

Hasai-sensei snorted in response, rolling his eyes at me. "Good to have you with us, Sasaki-san," he greeted respectfully as we quickly fell into a loose formation around me as I began healing their minor injuries. "Are you good to be here?"

"I was assigned to support this area, Hasai-san" Sakaki replied with an easy grin. "Remember the combo we used at Shiorin Pass?"

Hasai-sensei snorted as he began molding chakra. "How could I forget," he replied as he flashed through a set of seals before slamming his hands together as a nearby leaf ninja threw up a signal flare for temporary retreat. "[Wind Release: Great Hurricane Breakthrough]!"

Unable to copy [Wind Release: Great Hurricane Breakthrough], requires [Wind Nature Manipulation (Level 75)]

Beside him my brother also finished his seals. "[Fire Release: Great Flame Annihilation]!"

Unable to copy[Fire Release: Great Flame Annihilation], requires [Fire Nature Manipulation (Level 75)]

What happened next could only be described as hellfire. I would not be surprised if the strength of the two B-ranked ninjutsus combined into a force that matched the power of the S-Ranked ninjutsus in the show.

The enemy lines crumbled pretty quickly after that, even as I hurriedly began to apply [Relaxation] to my brother and Hasai-sensei. "Wow… that… was something," Aoi-kun stated, looking utterly dumbfounded at the devastation, even with the chakra ceasing it's empowering, the flames still raged in the field, the onrushing allied forces steering well clear of it as a group of Taki ninja began using Water Release techniques to quench the flames.

"That… is what happens when you work as a team," Sakaki-nii stated with a grin.

Hasai-sensei chuckled a bit in response as he clapped my brother on the back. "Come, we still have a base to secure," he announced. "No rest for those with wicked hearts, eh, Sakaki-san?"

Sakaki snorted as he ruffled my hair, garnering a yelp from me. "Indeed, Hasai-san," he nodded as he stepped forward. "I'll follow your lead here."

Hasai nodded as we rejoined with the remaining members of our company, I noted with relief that Saya-taicho was fine, she looked like blood splashed on her, but fine nonetheless and began our trek to the enemy base.

END CHAPTER

AN: So… any guesses on what Sakaki's Mangekyou Sharingan's abilities are? SeerKing, unfortunately you are not allowed to participate since you helped me name it, but anyone else want to take a guess? Just a heads up, the Right eye follows the same principles of the left eye.

In addition, another thanks goes out to SeerKing, he's been a huge help with some of the aspects of the fic, so… thank you, might as well assume that every chapter has some kind of thanks going out to him.

[Fire Release: Chakra Flow] (Active)[Level 1- 100(MAX)] - Chakra Flow using Fire Natured Chakra, causes the weapon to be enveloped by flames, higher levels allow for greater manipulation of said flames - +50 - 250 fire damage, 50% chance of applying [Burning] status to target

[Gentle Fist: Chakra Scalpel] (Active/ Passive)[Level 1-100(MAX)] - A taijutsu style created by Konohagakure medical ninja in conjunction with the Hyuga Clan, it uses the basis of the Hyuga Gentle First taijutsu style and incorperates the [Chakra Scalpel] into it, allowing for the medics to damage their target's organs without the use of a byakugan - Internal Damage on contact, [Bleeding] and [Organ Damage] status effect applied, severity scales with level

Sharingan Stage 3 (Active/Passive)[Level 50 - 100] - The so called 'HAX' power of the Naruto World, steal your enemy's jutsu by watching them make their hand seals and throw it back in their faces, plus it'll help you predict their moves and can even trap them in genjutsu while looking through enemy ocular based genjutsu, you can even 'see the future' by predicting the movements of everything in your eyesight have fun, but be warned, opponents with sufficient speed can overcome your predictive abilities!- 25 CP/second when used by non Uchiha, 5 CP/second when used by an Uchiha. +50-100% DEX when active, can learn opponent's jutsu by watching them form their hand seals, cannot learn elemental kekkei genkai or hiden jutsus.