2. Too Early

At night, in a dense forest, several people had set up camp.

A simple tent stood beside the campfire.

Four men sat around the fire, all dressed in high-collared robes. Their pale, grim faces looked terrifying under the flickering firelight.

All of them had some injuries, and after a long silence, a black-haired man with a ponytail spoke up.

"If it weren't for that kid holding us back, we'd have finished by now. I'm going to teach him a lesson right now!"

He stood up, hand resting on the long blade at his waist, as if he were ready to strike down someone on the spot.

"Enough. This matter requires the clan leader's decision. We're in the middle of a chaotic war; having one more person increases our chances of completing the mission."

The older man sitting in the center spoke up to stop him.

Though he had little interaction with the person inside the tent, the man's identity left him no choice.

After all, the clan leader had entrusted this guy to him. No matter how useless he was, they had to watch over him.

Hearing the elder's words, the ponytailed man was frustrated but couldn't go against the captain's orders.

Meanwhile, inside the tent, a man was slowly waking up.

"Where the heck am I? I remember drinking too much by the river... then I slipped and..."

He felt a sharp pain in his head and his back ached as if he'd been hit by a car.

Struggling to open his eyes, he realized there was no familiar ceiling above him.

In the dim light, he could make out the rough fabric of a tent overhead.

He tried to raise his hand but found he couldn't move, as if paralyzed. As a wave of pain hit his head, he fainted again.

Some time passed, and the man was woken up by an argument outside the tent.

Feeling strength return to his limbs, he barely managed to sit up.

Looking at his unfamiliar hands and clothes, and the samurai sword lying beside him, he recalled the memories that had just entered his mind and remained silent for several seconds.

"Seriously? I actually transmigrated? And it's into Naruto? At least I still remember most of the plot—Naruto, Sasuke... But the timeline seems a bit off."

Yes, this man had been an ordinary office worker not long after entering the workforce, living a life of slacking off at work.

However, during a company event, he had drunk too much.

Drunk, he wandered to the riverbank, confused by the alcohol.

A misstep caused him to fall into the water, ending his life.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the body of this unfortunate soul.

"Uchiha Gin? So I'm an Uchiha..."

According to the memories, this was the Warring States period, long before the founding of Konoha.

At this time, the Uchiha clan had just signed a peace treaty with the Hagoromo clan, and they were working together to fight the Senju clan.

Their current mission was to weaken the Senju's young generation through a "Weed Out" operation—teams were sent to ambush and kill young Senju clan members, trying to cut off the future backbone of the Senju forces.

The original owner of this body, named Uchiha Gin, had lost both parents in the war.

Because his mother was the clan leader Uchiha Tajima's elder sister, the orphaned Gin was taken in by Tajima.

However, in the highly talented Uchiha clan, Gin was seen as rather mediocre—some might even say useless.

Despite being over twenty years old, he had lost in a sparring match to a ten-year-old clan member, suffering a humiliating defeat.

Recalling the memory of being beaten by a child, Uchiha Gin's expression turned awkward.

"But that kid was Madara! If I could defeat him, I'd brag about it for life."

After skimming through the original owner's memories, the new Uchiha Gin began analyzing his situation.

This was the Warring States period, a time with no real order, only constant danger.

Blades and jutsu claimed lives indiscriminately, and death could come at any moment.

As an ordinary person who had just transmigrated, Uchiha Gin decided that survival was key.

In this era, living to the age of thirty was already considered a luxury.

Following the original owner's memories, Uchiha Gin tried to circulate chakra through his body.

But it moved as slowly as a snail, sometimes not moving at all.

Frustrated, he silently chanted in his mind:

"System, activate!!!"

Nothing happened for a long time. Uchiha Gin opened his eyes and sighed.

"Useless talent, no system—what a rough start."

After some thought, Uchiha Gin decided to cling tightly to the original owner's lifeline.

Uchiha Tajima, as the current leader of the Uchiha clan, was still quite powerful.

As Tajima's nephew, as long as Gin stayed out of danger, he might live a few peaceful days until the founding of Konoha.

Having made up his mind, Uchiha Gin stood up and walked out of the tent.

The three men sitting around the campfire, pretending to rest, opened their eyes when they noticed the movement.

The elder man saw Uchiha Gin emerging from the tent, his gaze sharp, and coldly ordered:

"Come here."

Seeing that Gin could move again, the elder motioned for him to sit down.

Still adjusting to his new situation, Gin obediently sat across from him.

"Uchiha Gin, I will report the losses caused by your recklessness today to the clan leader. For the remainder of the mission, you must not act rashly. You will follow my orders in all things."

As he spoke, his narrow eyes flashed red.

The pressure emanating from his body made Gin feel suffocated, but he still managed to nod in agreement.

"A three-tomoe Sharingan... that's already top-tier power among the Uchiha."

Seeing the elder's three-tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Gin realized that the difficulty of this mission was no joke.

Earlier in the day, the original Gin had learned that the Hagoromo clan had already completed a major mission.

As a proud Uchiha, he couldn't stand the thought of them showing off.

So he decided to recklessly infiltrate the Senju territory, searching for the mission target.

But before even reaching the Senju's territory, he was spotted by a lookout, and a group of Senju clan members came to kill him.

As the weakling he was, the original Gin was knocked out with a single punch, flying several meters before hitting the ground and passing out.

It was only thanks to the elder man, their captain, that the original Gin was saved.

Such reckless behavior had naturally angered the rest of the team, but the captain, aware of Gin's identity, suppressed their complaints.

"Was the original Gin always this reckless?"

At that moment, the ponytailed Uchiha who had threatened to teach Gin a lesson earlier appeared.

It had been his turn to stand guard, but hearing the commotion, he rushed over. Seeing that Gin had recovered, he glared at him with a furious look.

"Uchiha Gin, if the captain hadn't protected you, I'd have burned off that curly hair of yours by now. If you cause any more trouble, I'll deal with you myself before the Senju even get the chance."

Hearing this, Uchiha Gin couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. Glancing at the other team members' hostile expressions, he felt a surge of pressure.

"Just how much did the original get on people's nerves?"

Glancing at the large shuriken stuck into the ground beside him, Uchiha Gin caught a glimpse of his reflection in the blade. Thanks to the Uchiha's sharp vision, he got his first look at his new face.

A messy head of fluffy curls, a pair of dead-fish eyes, and although his face was fairly handsome thanks to the Uchiha genes, there was an unmistakable air of punchability about him.

"I apologize to everyone for my recklessness today. From now on, I will follow your lead."

Given his current weak state and incomplete control over the original owner's power, Gin decided it was best to lay low for the time being.

"Uh?????"

The others were shocked by Uchiha Gin's sudden change in attitude, as if they had just seen a ghost.