Chapter 8

Snap Back to Reality 8

To my horror, I spent the next two days in the little makeshift hospital with a handful of the other Jounin and Chunin. Two of the patients were on a ventilator of sorts, which I was certain worked with Fuinjutsu. I inscribed the symbols into my head because Fuinjutsu was hands down the coolest thing ever and I wanted to learn it so bad. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was dampened by the sight of the two men fighting for their lives. In retrospect I got off quite easy. The rest of the ninja there treated me with surprising respect once we began recounting the events to the Jounin commander. Killing two enemy shinobi and not leaving my sensei to run was apparently enough for them to finally treat me like an adult. I revelled in it!

… that was until we got paperwork.

Mission reports were tedious to write. I was used to insane amounts of paperwork from my old life, but I didn't have to do it for years and now I remembered why I hated it so much. Thankfully, everyone was suffering with me too, and so in our shared suffering we all bonded. I came to know the ninja in the med ward with me by name. There was Shin, who was a surprisingly snarky guy who came from a civilian family and worked hard to be where he was. Then there was Sima who was from a relatively unknown ninja family that focused heavily on genjutsu, and he loved performing card tricks. Then there was Yuta, who despite looking like a bishounen with his long straight black hair, fair skin, and beautifully angular features, was actually a potty mouth who liked to act all macho… he was really just a softy at heart though. Suddenly all these nameless stoic, professional co-workers had an identity and I began to care about them to some extent. It made me super uncomfortable, because when I cared I worried.

We played cards at Sima's suggestion and I did surprisingly well for a kid my age. The Iryo-nin had given up on telling us to sit still in our beds. I would often times look at the door longingly, wanting to go out on a run so bad. My ribs still hurt though so I stayed put. Shisui, Yugao and Hayate visited during their break times and would also come around during mealtimes to sit with me. Not technically being on duty, I felt like it was easier for me to talk without all the formalities that came with work. Unfortunately all our conversations were layered with heavy tension, because people had lost friends during the attack, and while we had won it wasn't like the post couldn't be attacked again.

We were attacked again…

I had been finally pulled off my makeshift medic leave. My ribs hurt, but my chakra stores had been restored to normal and I had stretched off the sleep in my bones. I was even told I could resume my cooking duties, because everyone was eager to eat something that didn't taste like carboard. They needed the morale, so I kept busy. The day had gone by well enough, but I had been twitchy. Something about being attacked abruptly had made me more paranoid than usual.

Better paranoid and alive than easy going and dead

I found myself on clearing duty with Shisui's team. Without Gaku-sensei around, they felt uncomfortable leaving a Genin without a Jounin around. I was grateful because the stern Uchiha man that lead the Genin team seemed reasonable and kind enough. He set us about, making us work at a fast but not unreasonable pace, clearing out the kunai and shuriken from the previous battle. We were then tasked to check the traps with him which were all working perfectly fine. A few rabbits were caught in them which I felt too horrible to kill. It made me wonder why I could manage to kill a human without remorse or disgust but not an animal. I didn't ponder on it for long though. We reached back to base to report to the logistics division when the alarm bells rang again. The Chunin at his desk strapped his Tanto back onto his gear and stood to attention. The Uchiha Jounin with us pulled out his giant shuriken wheel, placing himself in front of us.

"Team diamond formation! Circle up behind me we have to go out."

He didn't seem too happy about doing it. Us Genin just gulped, and I felt my hands shake with anticipation as I took mid-right in the group formation, Shisui up front and Hayate to my side, leaving Yugao at the back end. We ran outside and into the carnage.

"Help from a distance, do not engage unless attacked from close range, and stick close to me!"

"Hai!" we all but shouted as we ran behind the man.

I did as I was told, sticking with the group, assisting from afar which I admittedly was not the best at. I took to throwing shuriken at moving projectiles, deflecting them from our Jounin so that they could fight without worrying about it. There was a level of trust they afforded us in looking out for their backs that we took seriously, and with the weight it deserved. I felt itchy, wanting to use chakra slide to jump at the enemy nin, to fight them, because clearly standing back and playing a support role wasn't doing anything to help the people, I was watching die. I hated how weak I was, how little I could even do.

I got what I asked for eventually, because the Uchiha Jounin in charge of the team found himself facing against 3 enemy-nin. Shisui performed a rather quick shunshin, taking the enemy by surprise. If us kids had one advantage, it was being underestimated by the enemy. It was clear we were going to break format for now.

I used my chakra slide to burst forward into the air, then the momentum it gave me to kick at the man engaging Shisui. He jumped back in a retreat. Shisui nodded my way and we came to a silent agreement. Both of us flanked the man, he performed a too quick hand seal movement before the earth jutted out at our direction. I performed the aerial manoeuvre I had been trained for to evade the projectiles, but one managed hitting my arm and throwing me off balance in the process. I still managed to land a kick on the man while Shisui used the distraction to cut the ninja with a kunai. The man cursed, holding his wounded hips, and backing away.

"I'll take front, you hit the openings," I said snapping my wrist as my body practically vibrated with energy.

Shisui just nodded, then we jumped straight into action. The man grunted at my speed. I managed to circle him, my intense lessons on footwork paying off. I circled him, forcing him to turn around to attack and defend my jabs, giving Shisui the openings to hit. This man was slimy as fuck though, and I found our little taijutsu session ending up in me receiving more blows than I dished out. He was slow though, so I just reinforced the areas he targeted with chakra to minimise the damage as best as I could. It wasn't until he hit my ribs that I was thrown back. I coughed out some blood again, cursing as I kicked off the ground, throwing a round of shuriken at him, before going through the hand signs for my clones. He didn't have the time to see me go through my hand seals, as Shisui had contacted him, and so he didn't know which clones were real or not. It gave me the perfect opportunity to Circle Walk around him and use my Tiger Claw techniques to jab at the back of his knees, making him fold for enough time to help Shisui land the killing blow.

So the man was a low Chunin then. I was glad we didn't get anyone beyond that because we would have been in big trouble. Shisui signed the word 'regroup' and I nodded. We rushed back behind sensei, who was now having active help from both Hayate and Yugao, all three of them apparently in the sword carrying business

"Do you know any long-distance support jutsu?" he asked, as we ran up behind them.

"Two." I said quickly.

"Ok then, fire at any openings and watch my back!"

"Hai!"

It was weird taking orders from a kid barely older than me. It was weird seeing other kids fighting in this war. I wasn't a kid so there was a level of detachment that my morals afforded me, but seeing Shisui, a real seven-year-old boy fighting was… well it was a bit disturbing. I couldn't wallow in how unfair the world was to children because I needed to make sure they wouldn't die. We managed to support his sensei for a bit before the fighting took a turn for the worse. What we had assumed had been a single wave of enemy Shinobi, was now suddenly reinforced with dozens of new players.

"Shisui take point and retreat!"

"Hai Sensei! Will you—"

"No! Go now!"

"But Sensei!"

"Do not talk back. Retreat! If things go south take the red scroll from the administrative building and go north east. There should be another border post there!"

At Shisui's hesitance, and by extension the rest of ours, their sensei turned angry. He shouted a stern 'NOW' before we suddenly sprung into action and retreated. We went back towards the administrative building which was the sturdiest one in the post by far and formed our diamond form again. Shisui cursed and Yugao murmured in agreement.

"This is going bad," Hayate said, coughing slightly.

"We will need reinforcements after this," Yugao agreed. "Didn't your sensei leave for them a week ago.

"They should have been here yesterday," I grunted with a worried frown.

We didn't have time to discuss this when an intense killing intent struck the field. I had been used to a normal level of it by now, but this was powerful. The ground shook and several Konoha-nin were impaled as spikes jutted from the earth.

I nearly lost my footing as I witnessed the absolute carnage. A large man with a mad grin on his face stepped forward. His chakra burned brightly, like a raging pool of lava that engulfed everyone in his way. I didn't realise I had been frozen in fear until a kunai hit my shoulder, throwing me off kilter. I hissed before shaking off my fear and forcing myself to hold my ground at the enemy nin that attacked us with a grin. He probably thought we were easy pickings. To my relief a Konoha-Chunin engaged him, and our attention was turned back to the mayhem that was the massacre.

"Sensei! We have to help him!" Shisui shouted moving to run.

I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. There was no way he would survive out there, not now, not with that tank of a man ploughing through our ranks. I watched in horror as their sensei put up a fight only to be kicked so hard you could see the unnatural way his chest caved in as he fell back. I stared in horror as Shin and Yuta, the two men I had come to learn more about, and respect were utterly destroyed in a matter of a minute. If the gap between a Genin and a Jounin was large, then the gap between a Jounin and an Elite Jounin was like the sea. I hadn't even heard of this man from the story, and yet here he was killing everyone with such ease… oh they had killed my friend's sensei. I turned to glance worriedly at them for a second, but they were trembling on the spot, their stances tense as tears glistened in their eyes. Once again, I was reminded that these were children.

"We have to retreat," I said finally.

If we stayed any longer, we would be dead. I would have stayed back to fight, even just for my pride, but there were three kids with me no older than ten. I wasn't going to let them die. Yugao and Hayate made to move with me, to get the red scroll but Shisui stayed firm on his feet, and I realised that unlike his teammates he wasn't trembling from fear… no he was trembling from rage. His eyes were a bright red. Sharingan!

"Shisui we need to go," I said tugging at his arm, but he did not budge. "Shisui!"

"No, he killed sensei!"

"Listen, he's beyond our level you understand! We need to do what your sensei said! We need to get the scroll and get out. We need reinforcements!"

"I'm not going until he's dead!" Shisui said, his words low and dark, before he shunshined straight into the battle.

"Fuck! Yugao, Hayate! Go now, take the scroll and go!" I shouted.

"We can't leav—"

"—Are you fucking listening to me! Take the scroll and leave or Iwa is going to get a fucking border post! Do it for the Village!"

Normally I wouldn't care about the Village's needs, but right now the Village's needs were my needs. I needed Konoha safe. If Iwa got a hold of this border post, it wouldn't win them the war, but it would set Konoha back and put us in a more precarious situation and possibly extend this mess. We needed to win this, no exceptions and yet… I understood Shisui. I wouldn't be able to control my emotions if Gaku-sensei had—I couldn't even seem to imagine the thought of it. I wasn't about to let Shisui die alone though. I could do something! I could possibly get him out. Thankfully Yugao and Hayate did as they were told, probably taken entirely off guard by my commanding tone.

I ran in after Shisui, past a Konoha-nin who was struggling to breathe his last breaths, past another Iwa-nin who was dying of blood loss as his arm was dismembered not a meter away, and I realised that this, this was war, and I couldn't even bring myself to feel disgusted by it. I didn't have the time to ponder just how messed up I already was, when I saw Shisui, the idiot he was, run after the man who had practically caused an earthquake and kill a dozen Jounin with just one Jutsu.

"Fuck!"

"Hah! A child! You are a brave one and now a dead one!" the man grinned mercilessly.

Shisui just screamed as he charged him. I could see it, in slow motion, the speed at which the man could easily kill the boy I had come to see as a friend. I expelled all the chakra I had to my feet in a moment of desperate panic, I flung myself at the man. He noticed me too late, caught off guard by my sudden attack and was thrown back a few meters. I cried out as I crashed onto the ground, my arm cracking with the impact as I stumbled to my feet in front of the boy who had very nearly died. I let out a hissed breath, as I held out a kunai in a defensive stance.

"Hina!"

"Run!" I screamed. Shisui paused. "NOW!"

"That's sweet. You think he can run from me. You should have left when you had the chance."

I was swatted away like an inconsequential fly, and I gasped in pain as I crashed against the ground. I was flung back again from the sheer momentum I was going at, but I managed to plant my feet on the ground the second time, skidding back onto my knees. I scrambled up when I realised the position the Uchiha boy who had grown on me was in.

"Shisui!" I screamed in horror and pain.

I was running at him in worry, the boy dodged one hit from the man, whose very punch seemed to shake the ground, and then the next hit—I could see it. It would land. I was about to cry out in horror as the fist was barely an inch away from the boy's face, when suddenly it was stopped. Almost like he had come out of nowhere, Minato was in the middle of the field, both hands up and holding the Iwa-nin at bay. The man grunted as he jumped back and away. Minato looked down at Shisui in worry.

"Are you ok kid?" he asked.

"H-hai!"

"Good, now step aside. You've done well."

Shisui nodded, stumbling to his feet before running my direction. He held out his hands and helped me up. I groaned as my bones creaked together. There were only a handful of Konoha-shinobi standing, and the Iwa-nin who were now outnumbering us all stopped their fighting too. They were looking at Minato with horror. So he had made a name for himself already as the Konoha's Yellow Flash.

"Konoha's Yellow Flash, huh? It's going to be a pleasure killing you," the Iwa-nin grinned.

"Boruda Tenaki, the Earthquake," Minato said eyes narrowed.

"I see you know of me! Let's see whose name will last the ages!"

Their pre-battle banter had been short. Minato looked angry at the amount of dead Shinobi at his feet, and well—Boruda seemed like he was itching for a challenge. All we could do while watching these two-ninja fight, was not get in the way. I, and every other small fry in this place decided to back the fuck away and watch with bated breath. My eyes could barely keep up with them, the speed at which they moved was impossible.

This was what I needed to become.

The battle barely lasted 30 seconds before it ended. Suddenly the invisible blur that was their fight slowed down as Minato basically teleported 10 feet away from Boruda. The bigger man slumped to the floor and his head lolled off his shoulders. The dismembered head dropped to the ground in a moment of silence. Then as if on cue an army of Konoha-nin came in from the distance and the Iwa-nin all shouted for a retreat. The back-up didn't celebrate just yet, as they continued running after the Iwa-nin and into the forest.

I slumped down, my shaking legs barely keeping me up at this stage. Shisui caught me and his eyes were glinting with tears. He looked angry, but not at me—at himself.

"I-I'm sorry," he cried.

"You're alive right so don't be… but next time don't go on a suicide mission," I grumbled.

"I-It wasn't—" he began before trailing of and realising, yes, yes it was a suicide mission. He had the decency to look ashamed at the realisation and then tears sprung at his eyes when he turned to the field and to the body of his sensei. I let go of his hand and let him go. He needed to grieve. As I watched his receding form, I barely had a moment to notice a form kneeling besides me until I was pulled into a familiar embrace.

"S-sensei," I said in relief as I hugged back with my good arm.

"Are you hurt?" he asked as Yama nudged me on his back. I sat on the dog grateful to be carried.

"Yeah, broken arm," I said grounding my teeth in pain. "Hehehe and also maybe a kunai to the shoulder."

He let out a relieved look and I winced as I coughed up some blood. "Ah… ok and maybe some internal bleeding too."

"What am I going to do with you," he huffed.

"Possibly send me to the med ward?" I asked hopefully.

"Come on kiddo. It's good to see your sass still intact."

I couldn't smile at him. A heaviness weighed on my soul after what I had witnessed. The death, the carnage, and worst of all—my own uselessness. Konoha shinobi died and I just—just watched. I barely did anything to contribute. There wasn't anything I could do, not with how powerless I was. With heavy thoughts, I was led back into the safety of the structure.

I saw Kakashi again briefly. He had followed his sensei for this mission. He looked tired. I could relate. Now I could understand why many of the kids who grew up in war had those deep-seated lines under their eyes like the way I remembered Itachi had been drawn. We were all tired. Our bodies weren't made to take this kind of stress. I was mentally prepared of course, but not physically. No amount of training could prepare a growing body for minimal food, constant stress and 12 hour working days for months on end. In the months that I had been working at border post 9, I had barely survived 4 skirmishes. The worst had been the second one, with 40 shinobi dying in one day. I was just surprised I wasn't one of those numbers, a statistic of war.

My body count was at a 6. I remembered every single kill, and oddly enough I felt no remorse, no sickness or repulsion at the thought of having killed. I was worried at the start of course, but that was more of a worry for my lack of any emotions on the topic, and my growing addiction to battle—if you could call it that. I was jumpy and paranoid during battle, but when I sunk my blade into the enemy's throat, or when I landed that killing blow it was an indescribable feeling. It felt like an accomplishment, a stepping-stone towards another win. When I sunk my fingers into the woman's eyes that first time, I had been satisfied because I had done my job, and there was no better feeling than accomplishing a challenge.

I didn't talk much anymore to anyone outside of sensei. Shisui, Yugao and Hayate had been assigned back to Konoha. Without their Jounin sensei, they had no place in the border post. Konoha was willing to send out children to the front lines, but even they weren't desperate enough to throw them out there without Jounin supervision.

My 6th birthday had up and gone in the whole mess. 3 months… it felt like an eternity. I had somehow managed to survive it, and when I was done, I looked like an absolute mess.

"Ready to go home kiddo?" sensei asked me as we packed.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said, with a tired smile.

"You've done your duty exceptionally," he said ruffling my hair.

I couldn't help but beam proudly. The only good thing to come out of this mission was how close I had become to Sensei. It was one thing to spend most of my day training with him, it was something else to have fought besides him, bled besides him, and killed with him. I had originally scoffed at the idea of the Will of Fire, but all things considered I felt it now; for the people who I fought besides who I didn't even know the name of, and especially for Sensei and Yama, who I entrusted my life to. This was a level of trust and kinship that I felt now could not be broken for anything.

He had indubitably become family, and I didn't take that term lightly.

Family had always been something I put significant importance on. A value more than basic love or even a feeling of acceptance. It was blood and no matter what, you stuck with your family. It was something my mother from my previous life taught me, and one that my current mother did not embody. Catherine was the only one ever to have been accepted in as family that wasn't blood, and now Gaku-sensei and by extension Yama and Nami had become a part of it.

I packed my bag, strapping my hitaite to my forehead before slinging it over my shoulders. When we walked out, I was waved out by many people, all of whom we're thanking me and sensei for our service.

"Aww the little chef leaves! Now we have to be stuck eating carboard again," Yuta groaned, pushing his too pretty hair out of his stupidly pretty face.

"Aww, I didn't know you fancied me Yuta-san," I said with a grin, giving the heavily bandaged man a once over like I was assessing him.

"I would be an idiot to ignore one as beautiful as you," he said smoothly.

I nearly swooned. I had to stop myself. I couldn't fall for his pretty looks. He wasn't just a pretty boy; he had a vulgar mouth and a bad boy attitude too. I huffed instead holding back a blush. To my surprise Yuta backed away suddenly looking very scared and then I turned around to see sensei giving him the stink eye.

"You chatting up my student?" he asked gruffly.

Gaku-sensei mad was a sight to see. A big buff 7-foot man glowering at you was intimidating in and of itself, especially when they turned on 'dad mode'. I just chuckled as Yuta stammered out a horrified no, and then sensei chuckled.

"I was just kidding. Lighten up pretty boy. Come on kiddo, kiss your boyfriend goodbye. We have to go."

"H-he's not my boyfriend!" I protested. It was obvious that Yuta was just humouring a little kid with some fun banter!

"Sure~"

Ugh sometimes I wanted to punch him. In what was a rare gesture, Gaku picked me up and put me on his shoulders. I scrambled on, not commenting on how embarrassing it was to be treated like a kid, because honestly, I was tired, and I'd take a free ride at this stage. I waved a goodbye at Yuta who screamed his address to me so we could meet up sometime. I yelled mine back before we exited Border Post 9.

Finally I was going home!

A/N Oh my god you guys won't believe what just happened. I don't know if it was fate or whatever but I ended up choking on food the other day and my dad had to do the whole grabbing me from behind and hitting my back thing to get it dislodged from my throat. I thought I was going to die! And then right after I calmed down, my first thought was I nearly died like Hina did XD As you can see I am very alive right now, and now I'm laughing about it so it's become a rather hilarious memory XD

Also check out my instagram at jaz_hop for my Hina and Guy running together fanart. I wish this site had an option to add pictures in like AO3, but it doesn't allow for it :')

Ah, time for some review responses (insert love heart emoji here for all my cute readers! ;P)

RileyBlue00- Oh my god you showed your partner? That's so sweet! Thanks, I'll keep up my good work!

NavyGuy95- The fact that you think this story is the bee's knees makes you a cool dude in my opinion 😉

Chillingbear- Oh, I'm not so sure about Hina being a battle junkie. She just loves the feeling of victory, of overcoming obstacles and getting somewhere, so there's a sense of satisfaction when she kills her enemies XD Also, I have no idea why I like Shisui. I just thought he was cool, and anyone willing to die for something they believe in makes me instantly love their character

Helyanweh- People shout out the names of their techniques a lot in the manga too. I think sometimes it's because there's a level of fear that comes from knowing a rasengan is going to explode your guts out before it happens XD About the Shadow Clones, yeah I actually got that wrong. That was a mistake on my part so thanks for pointing it out.

Cwrywn- Thanks! Yeah, the fights in this get progressively more brutal. It's got an M rating so I'm going ham with the dirtier aspects of war.

i30817- Thanks for backing me up there but actually that was a mistake on my part. I've always mixed up normal clones with shadow clones, cause I've heard Naruto scream it out like a million times that the word clone is just instantly associated with the word shadow in my head.