A/N: Kindly checkout the Auxiliary chapter if you want to know about Sarutobi Yosuke.
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The air in the Hokage's office was always thick with the smell of old paper and tobacco smoke. But today, it felt heavier. For fourteen-year-old Sarutobi Yosuke, it felt like the walls themselves were holding their breath.
His uncle, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stood before the large window, his back to the room. The afternoon sun cast a long shadow from his hat across the polished floor.
"The reports are confirmed," Hiruzen said, his voice a low, tired rumble. He finally turned. His face, usually a mask of gentle wisdom, was etched with deep lines of worry. "Skirmishes along the border with Iwa have escalated. The Third Great Shinobi War… it has begun."
Yosuke stood straight, his hands clasped behind his back. He didn't flinch. He'd known this was coming. The peace after the Second War had been a fragile, thin thing, like ice over a deep river. Now, it had cracked.
"You are being deployed, Yosuke," Hiruzen said, walking to his desk. He picked up a scroll. "A B-rank mission. Strategic importance."
Yosuke took the scroll. His fingers, calloused from countless hours of sword training, felt smooth against the parchment. "Understood, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen's eyes softened for a fraction of a second. He wasn't just looking at a soldier; he was looking at his nephew. The son of his brilliant, lost brother. The boy he'd promised to protect.
"The Tanuki Bridge," Hiruzen explained, pointing to a spot on the map unfurled on his desk. "It's a key crossing. Intelligence suggests Iwa sympathizers may be moving to secure it. Your team is to ensure that does not happen. Secure the Konoha-side village and gather any intelligence. That is all."
Yosuke nodded, already memorizing the details. "We will not fail."
As Yosuke turned to leave, Hiruzen spoke again, his voice quieter. "Yosuke."
Yosuke paused at the door.
"Do not be a hero," the Hokage said, his words hanging in the smoky air. "Just come home."
Yosuke offered a small, confident smile—the one he practiced in the mirror. The one that said 'everything is okay.' "Always do, Uncle."
The smile vanished the moment the door closed behind him.
At the main gate, his team was waiting.
"Taichō! Over here!"
Yuhi Hisako, an eighteen-year-old chūnin with bright eyes and hair the color of dark wine, waved enthusiastically. She bounced on the balls of her feet, a whirlwind of energy even before a mission. "We got the briefing scroll. A bridge! This is so exciting, isn't it exciting, Shoji?"
Next to her, Aburame Shoji, seventeen, stood perfectly still. The high collar of his jacket hid the lower half of his face, and his dark glasses hid his eyes. A faint, soft buzzing hummed around him. He gave a single, slow nod. "The mission parameters are acceptable."
"See? He's excited too!" Hisako chirped. Her gaze then fell on Yosuke, and her expression shifted to one of pure, unwavering respect. "What's the word from the Hokage-sama, Taichō?"
"The word is that the war is official," Yosuke said, his tone easy and calm. He ruffled his own spiky hair. "And our job is to make sure Iwa doesn't get a cozy spot on our doorstep. Standard secure-and-scout."
Before they could discuss further, another group approached. The first was a man who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. He had the distinctive ponytail of the Nara clan and was leaning against the gate's wall as if it was the only thing keeping him upright.
"Took you long enough, kid," Nara Shikadou, the jōnin sensei, said with a lazy sigh. "Can we get this over with? The sooner we leave, the sooner I can find a decent napping spot."
Behind him were his three genin.
"Yosuke-san!" Sarutobi Tadashi, a twelve-year-old boy with earnest eyes, stood at a respectful attention. He wasn't from Yosuke's direct branch of the family, but the pride he felt for his clan and his village burned brightly in him. "It is an honor to be on a mission with you!"
Next to him, Uchiha Eiji, eleven, scoffed quietly. He had the beginnings of a proud smirk on his face and his arms were crossed. "A bridge? They need two teams for this? I thought we'd be seeing real action against Iwa shinobi." He didn't even bother using an honorific.
The third genin, Koizumi Yuka, an eleven-year-old girl with nervous hands, flinched at Eiji's tone. She kept her eyes on the ground, fingers unconsciously tracing the seal on her medical pouch.
Hisako's cheerful smile tightened. "The 'real action,' little genin, usually starts with protecting 'just a bridge.' Maybe try listening instead of talking. You might learn something."
Eiji's smirk faded into a glare.
"Alright, alright," Shikadou interjected, pushing himself off the wall. "Save the energy for the road. You're the boss on this one, kid. Lead the way."
Yosuke's easygoing smile returned. "Right. Our priority is the safety of the village and the bridge. Shoji, wide-range reconnaissance. Hisako, you're with me on point. Team Shikadou, stick close. Let's move out!"
The two teams leaped into the trees, the forest canopy swallowing them whole.
The journey was a study in contrasts. Yosuke and Shoji were a constant, silent dance of vigilance. Yosuke's eyes were half-closed, his mind expanding outward, feeling the forest—the chakra of the birds, the squirrels, the flow of the wind. Beside him, Shoji's kikaichū beetles streamed from his sleeves, flying ahead and to the flanks, becoming his own sensory network.
Hisako, meanwhile, filled the quiet with friendly chatter. "So, Yuka-chan, medical ninjutsu, huh? That's so impressive! You must have amazing chakra control."
Yuka stammered a shy "Thank you, Hisako-senpai."
"It's a foundational skill," Eiji stated, as if he was an expert. "A true shinobi relies on offensive power."
Tadashi, trying to be diplomatic, added, "Offensive power is useless if you can't get back up, Eiji. Right, Yosuke-san?"
Yosuke, without breaking his scanning rhythm, smiled. "A team is like a sword. The offensive edge is important, but so is the strong spine that holds it together. And the handle that allows you to wield it. Everyone has a part to play."
And then there was Shikadou. Somehow, miraculously, the Nara jōnin was napping while walking, his body moving on autopilot through the branches.
Suddenly, a rabbit, startled by their movement, burst from a bush right next to Eiji.
In a blur of motion almost too fast to see, the cheerful expression vanished from Yosuke's face. There was a shing of metal. One moment he was five feet away, the next he was positioned solidly between the genin and the source of the noise, a drawn kunai in his hand, his body coiled and ready. His eyes were sharp, cold, and completely focused.
It was over in a second. He saw the rabbit and relaxed, sliding the kunai back into its pouch. The warm smile was back as if it had never left. "Just a rabbit. My apologies. Jumpy today."
He continued forward. The others followed, but the mood had shifted. Tadashi looked at Yosuke with even greater awe. Yuka looked terrified. Eiji's arrogant smirk was gone, replaced by a thoughtful, slightly pale frown. He had just gotten a glimpse of the menace hidden beneath the easygoing surface.
After a few hours, they arrived. The village near the Tanuki Bridge was small and quiet. Too quiet. No farmers tended the fields. No children's laughter echoed from the streets. Curtains twitched in windows as hidden eyes watched them.
"This feels wrong," Hisako muttered, her cheerfulness finally gone.
"Yeah," Yosuke agreed, his voice low. "Shoji?"
Shoji held up a hand. The faint buzzing around him intensified. "My kikaichū are… agitated. They do not like the chakra they feel. There are signatures. Many of them. Hidden in the woods on the far side of the bridge. They are not moving. They are… waiting."
Yosuke's face settled into a look of grim calm. The switch had been flipped.
"Ambush," he said, the word simple and cold. "They knew Konoha would send someone. They're waiting for us to walk onto that bridge."
He turned to Hisako, his orders crisp and clear. "Signal Shikadou. Tell him to secure the village headman and be ready for trouble on this side. We've got a problem."
Just then, a single figure emerged from the tree line on the far side of the bridge. He didn't hide. He stood boldly in the middle of the worn wooden planks, hands on his hips. The forehead protector of Iwagakure glinted on his brow.
He was smiling. It wasn't a friendly smile.
Yosuke's eyes narrowed, all traces of his cheerful mask gone, replaced by the focused intensity of a born predator. The war wasn't coming anymore.
It was right in front of them.