Chapter Twenty One- The 173rd

"Tometsu Uchiha sir, reporting to your command under the orders of Sakumo Hatake," I said as I approached a man who was stationed on the northern encampment walls.

The obvious Jonin in front of me nodded once as he turned back to the papers on his desk. Flipping through a bunch of them before settling on one that held his attention. He didn't seem particularly strong but with his spiked black hair and lackadaisical posture, I would bet this man was Nara.

"My name is Yamen Nara, I will be your overarching commander from this moment onwards." He trailed off as he continued going over a few papers.

"Do you know anything of how this army operates, I am reading here that this is the first time you have been stationed" The man asked but didn't even look up from the abnormal number of files he was flipping through.

"No" I answered simply.

"Well, I guess I have time to give you a quick crash course, save your commanding officer the trouble…." He said as took four files and separated them. I just nodded in thanks.

"We'll start at the top which is our Kage. If he joins the battlefield it is obvious he will lead from that moment onward. Then you have the war commander, for now, it is Sakumo Hatake and I report to him. Think of him as a general. Then there are the infantry, rear guard, and healing divisions. All have their own commander who like me, report to Sakumo." He trailed on and I quickly began understanding the hierarchy.

"Then this is what matters to you. In the infantry division, there are ten vice commanders under me. Each commands a total of 'hopefully' a thousand shinobi, as you would guess things would continue to delegate until we get to the lieutenants of said vice commanders. In which there are two per vice commander. The lieutenants watch over fifty squads that are each run by a captain. And in those ten-man squads are what we call foot soldiers. The bottom of our military." The man finished, he even wrote it on a spare piece of paper as he went and handed it to me.

"Obviously there are separate more 'niche' divisions and special squads, but you don't need to learn that now" He trailed off as he lit a cigar he picked up from a nearby ashtray.

"I understand, thank you for the lesson commander. I assume I would be placed as a foot soldier then?" I asked as the man nodded and flipped over the four papers.

"These four are captains, each of them could use you. Thus I will let you choose which you would like to work under." The man said as he leaned back and began puffing his cigar.

I nodded as I approached his desk and began looking over my four options.

Tozen Armaka, Chunin with a focus on taijutsu and shuriken jutsu. Great track record with a low number of squad casualties. A neutral person though very focused on the objective.

Rea Uchiha, Tokubetsu Jonin with a specialty in genjutsu and taijutsu. A decent record and a moderate number of squad casualties. An introvert, but willing to come out of that for the betterment of her squad.

Korin Akimichi, Tokubetsu Jonin with a specialty in his clan's taijutsu. A great record along with a moderate number of squad casualties. Outgoing and the first to jump to a comrade's aid.

Yoru Nara, Chunnin with no specialty other than intelligence. Proficient in his clan's ninjutsu and above-average strategy and intellect. A small record due to a recent promotion but as of now not a single squad member has died under his command.

Pretty much just a summary of their abilities and personalities though I had to say if these were my choices there were only two worth considering. The recently promoted Nara and the admirable Akimichi.

"I would like to join Yoru Nara's squad," I said after a flashback of my former sensei blowing up in front of me crossed my mind. 'I hate my damn eyes'

"Hm, an interesting choice?" The infantry commander hummed as he put his cigar down and gave me his full attention for the first time since I arrived in his office.

"Nothing really, just compared to the others his squad seemed like it would be the best fit." I gave an uncommitted answer as the man nodded.

"You are now assigned the barracks on the top of the northern wall. Go there and introduce yourself to your captain. He'll take care of the rest." The man finished and I took that as my cue to leave and I quickly did after I took a document Yamen tossed to me. Presumably, my transfer orders. I continued out the door with a small smile on my face.

Only to be stopped by a scarecrow leaning against the wall that was waiting for me.

"I still don't understand why I can't join your squad sensei" I said as I continued walking, miffed but excited to meet my new squad.

"You're not ready, we run high-risk missions deep into Suna territory. No time for hand-holding that deep in the desert." He answered as he caught up to me and continued walking with me. I clicked my tongue at his dismal but I couldn't dispute it, at least not yet. It wasn't like the same man didn't station me a few hundred feet from Suna's strongest shinobi in my first battle.

"Now don't start that emo Uchiha shit with me, kid. Tell me, where did Yamen send me" The man asked as we continued walking towards the northern barracks, I squinted my eyes at the man and handed him the light orange colored envelope.

He smirked as he took my transfer orders and began looking them over, he chuckled slightly at something that caused me to tilt my head and look at him with a questioning gaze,

"Nothing, just odd is all. You'll understand soon." He said as he handed me back the envelope and we continued walking in silence.

It seemed it was getting to the older shinobi as he sighed and addressed me once more before I entered the barracks.

"Fine, you pouty child. Make it the rank of lieutenant and I'll transfer you to my squad" Now if I was easy that would've made me smile but I was going to ride out this emo streak for a few weeks or so.

"I don't want to join your shitty squad anyway old man!" I said as I raised my voice not to yell at him but to cause a scene. Heads began poking out of crudely made earth windows as they looked down at us. I burst into a round of chuckles as I watched Sakumo's shocked expression.

{Quest Accepted}

A Masters Test

Objective: Become a lieutenant of the Western Leaf Army.

Rewards: 2 Perk Points, Title, ???

I was surprised by the quest and distracted enough to not notice that Sakumo had disappeared. Shrugging at my teacher's disappearance I took out a small set of directions that Commander Yamen gave me.

'Room number 173' Humming at that I came upon the specific room built into the encampent walls second floor. I would've called it a cave but it had a surprisingly nice wooden door and it looked relatively spacious given the distance from the two rooms on either side.

Not long after I approached the door and knocked a few times.

Only to be met with a few familiar faces. 

"What are you doing here kid?" Roi or maybe Koi asked as he opened the door for me. The two twins that I assumed were in Ruko's squad.

"I'm here to join the hundred and seventy-third squad?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"Really? Come on in then kid. I'll introduce you to everyone" Roi said as he opened the door and held it for me. Taking his word for it I entered the 'cave' like entrance to find around seven people hanging around in what I could guess was the common room.

"Captain, it looks like we've got a new guy!" Roi said and I was sure now that I had the right twin yelled out toward what I could guess were the 'rooms'. Calling them rooms was a stretch as it was more of an opening with a small earth bed mound bed and enough leg room for me to barely fit, comfortably at least. Though it was surely a thousand times better than roughing it out in the desert, so I doubt anyone would complain. 

Honestly, this was probably a luxury for some of these shinobi who have been enscripted since the war started. 

It didn't take more than a few moments for an older teenager to stumble out of one of the rooms. Bed hair and look like he wished he was anywhere else but here, yep this guy was a Nara.

He came over to us and gave me a once-over. I nodded to him and handed over the envelope I received from the Infantry commander.

"Tometsu Uchiha, genin.... A note here says your teacher has already recommended you for promotion… that teacher is Saku…." The teenager finally looked like he was fully awake, eyes wide as he paused to check over the exact name a few times.

"Welcome to the squad" The young man decided it was probably too 'troublesome' to ask for more information and just moved on with the process, I could respect that.

"Glad to be here captain," I said with a smile as I looked around the room to also give a greeting to my new squadmates. I was monetarily shocked at the amount of familiar faces I saw. 'The hell were the chances?'

"Yeah, I encourage you to at least get to know the rest of the squad, make it count as the entire division is being deployed tomorrow afternoon. We'll go over your role in the squad in the morning, give you a chance to settle in and me a chance to go over what the file says you're capable of" Captain Yoru dismissed me and yawned as he turned around to head back towards his room.

I smirked slightly as I turned around the greet my comrades and new squadmates.

"You have the commander pull some strings for you or something?" Roku asked with a raised eyebrow. My eyebrow twitched in response while the two twins chuckled at his jab.

Of course, it would be these three, Roi, Koi, and old man Roku.

"You three know this kid?" A teenage Inuzuka asked as the brown lab at his side barked in greeting.

"Tometsu Uchiha, genin" I said as I introduced myself to the room, though there were only three other new faces aside from the Inzuka teen.

"Tiber Inuzuka, chunin, and this here is Borka" The first to respond and obviously the most talkative greeted me with a nod. His lad came to me and tilted his head slightly. He took a smell of me before barking in 'acceptance' while wagging his tail.

"Yula, Genin healer" The lowest-spoken and smallest in the group addressed me next as I smiled and nodded as I gave Borka pets. From the first impression my guess would be she was from a civilian family that had joined the healing corps. Odd that she decided to be so close to fighting. Another detail to note was that she was probably the same age as me, but I surely don't remember her from the academy.

"Guess it's my turn then. I'm Genin Kosuke Maruboshi, a pleasure to meet you kid" The man seemed overly nice for a shinobi, too genuine or he was just that good at misdirection. Though he was an odd-looking man, around thirty if I had to guess, and equipped with a wok or some other cooking pot on his back. 'Least we got a decent cook' I decided as I smiled to the man and accepted his greetings.

"Alright! Now that that's all settled get over here kid. Let us take some of your money" Roi said as he tossed a deck of cards onto the table, I noticed Koi take out a suspiciously unmarked sake bottle moments after. What sold it for me was the Inuzuka teen preening with excitement and the exaggerated sighs from Roku and the squad's healer.

"You're on, you damn degenerates," I said with a chuckle as I took a seat.