We finished breakfast in a hurry, just like the last meal of field rations. It didn't matter; it was just calories, nothing more.
Afterward, I found myself kneeling in the open patch at the center of camp, my tanto resting across my thigh. The edge was blunted from yesterday's fighting, so I dragged the whetstone along it in slow, even strokes.
A few feet away, Hanami was sharpening her shurikens, while Takeru, the older chūnin from Tsume-san's squad, was checking his kunai, laying them out in a neat row.
We worked in silence for a bit until Hanami muttered,
"We're running low again."
Takeru grunted in response. "No kidding. The last supply drop barely had any tools. We got food and medicine, but weapons?"
He tapped an empty pouch. "We're rationing kunai now."
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. At least we have plenty of medicine. Shigure-san's been keeping us patched up pretty well."
Takeru let out a dreamy sigh. "Yes… Shigure-san."
Hanami groaned loudly and rolled her eyes. "Please stop. She just healed you once."
Takeru didn't deny it. "Can you blame me? She's… Shigure-san."
I couldn't help but let out a faint laugh, shrugging as I checked the tanto's edge with my thumb.
Sharp enough.
Hanami shot me a look. "Don't encourage him."
"I didn't say anything," I replied.
"You laughed."
"…Fair point."
Takeru opened his mouth to say something else when footsteps interrupted him.
Three younger shinobi approached, kids, really. They wore non-standard gear, too clean and too relaxed, and they were too loud for a camp this close to the front lines.
The boy in front stepped forward, chin raised and voice dripping with arrogance.
"Oi, I'm Asuma Sarutobi. You guys using this area?"
Hanami paused mid-stroke, looking up at them with a raised brow.
Takeru forced a polite smile. "For now, yeah. Why?"
"We need it for training," the boy said. "Our sensei said we need to start training."
Two others followed behind him: a girl with long black hair and red eyes, and a boy wearing a bandana.
I recognized them immediately.
Kurenai Yūhi. Genma Shiranui.
Future elites. Future legends. Right now? Just three genin with far too much confidence for a battlefield.
Hanami's jaw tightened, and Takeru stayed stiff.
Damn, they're cocky.
I stood, wiping the blade with a cloth, and said evenly, "You can use that side. We're almost done."
Asuma blinked, surprised at being told no, but then shrugged it off and
nodded. He jerked his head at the others. "Let's go, guys."
He swaggered off toward the far clearing, the others following him.
A moment later, their jōnin instructor, a tall man with a tight jaw and a calm expression, walked past us. He gave our group a respectful nod before following after his students.
Hanami exhaled sharply through her nose.
"Damn brats," she muttered. "Playing ninja while the rest of us are bleeding."
She stood, dusting off her hands. "I'm going to check on the others."
With that, she left.
Takeru watched her go, his shoulders slumping. "Some people get all the luck," he said under his breath. "Born into clans, training as soon as they can walk. They get fast-tracked to officer ranks without a second thought."
I sheathed my tanto and looked at him. "Were you considered for the officer track at the academy?"
Takeru let out a humorless laugh. "Me? Nah. Us orphans rarely get picked. You know how it is."
I did. I wasn't chosen for a genin team either and was booted directly to the corps.
He stretched his back, wincing. "Time to regroup with our squad. The commander's probably calling for assignments."
"Yeah," I replied. "Let's go."
We walked back toward the center of camp.
We moved through the branches like shadows, the wind snapping against our clothes.
It had been about an hour since we left the forward camp.
Tsume crouched on a thick branch, Takeru beside her, and Kuromaru low and alert near their feet.
Hanami stood just behind me, her expression sharp.
Across a gap between trees, on another line of branches, I spotted Sayuri-san, Riku, and Shigure. They were talking quietly, their faces serious.
I leaned slightly toward Tsume-san.
"Are we pushing into the Land of Earth now?" I asked in a low voice.
Tsume didn't look at me at first. She scanned the terrain, nostrils flaring as she took in her surroundings.
"That's what command wants," she replied. "We've lost a lot of people, yes. Reinforcements from the village are coming, but until they arrive, we're pushing where we can and holding."
She paused, her tone dropping even lower.
"And Lord Orochimaru reached us last night and is leading this front. We'll be fine."
That made me stiffen.
Sayuri-san must have known.
Most jōnin probably knew.
Information like that didn't reach people like me.
A cold weight settled in my stomach.
Orochimaru. The man who, in my memories of the manga, was both a traitor and a monster.
Hanami noticed my silence.
"What's wrong, Basara-kun?"
I hesitated before shaking my head.
"Nothing. Just… trying to understand why we're invading when we're already stretched so thin."
Takeru let out a dry snort.
"That's why we're still chūnin. We don't see the full picture."
Or maybe Konoha was losing and throwing everything at its enemies.
Suddenly, Kuromaru lifted his head, ears perked, and nose twitching sharply.
Tsume's eyes snapped to him.
"What is it?"
The answer arrived on its own.
A flare shot up ahead of us, bright and sharp against the fading sky.
The signal.
"Let's go!" Tsume barked.
Everyone leapt from the branch in unison.
My boots hit the ground as we broke into a full sprint, weaving between trees. The entire line of Konoha shinobi advanced through the forest and over boulders, pushing deeper into the Land of Earth.
As we reached the rocky terrain, the forest thinned out.
We ran for another hour, the sun dipping lower and casting long shadows.
Finally, as darkness crept in, our company slowed. A command was relayed down the line, signaling a temporary halt.
I stopped beside a cracked boulder, breathing heavily. My legs throbbed, and my chakra felt like it was slowly leaking away from the constant exertion.
Hanami eased down near a tree trunk.
Takeru sat heavily beside her, wiping sweat from his neck.
Tsume leaned against Kuromaru, her eyes sharp even as she rested.
I slid down the boulder and closed my eyes for a moment.
Unease washed
over me.
The news about Orochimaru.
The fact that we were now in enemy territory.
And the eerie silence, no Iwa shinobi, no traps, no scouts.
Something was wrong.
I opened my eyes.
And froze.
Because beneath the earth, beneath us...
I felt it.
A massive surge of chakra.
My breath caught.
What the hell…?
The chakra surged again, more powerful this time, deep and dense like stone grinding against stone.
I opened my mouth to warn the others when the ground shuddered—once, twice—then erupted.
"MOVE!"
I didn't even hear my own voice. Instinct took over.
Chakra flooded my limbs. I reinforced everything, legs, spine, arms, then jumped as hard as I could, crossing my forearms in front of my face just as the world exploded beneath us.
BOOM—!!
The earth cracked open like a shell. Ten-meter chunks of dirt shot upward, trees splintered, and a wave of force slammed into me midair. I twisted, trying to land correctly, failed, and hit the ground, rolling and tearing skin off my palms.
Pain shot through me, but I got up immediately.
Dust filled the air, thick enough to taste. The atmosphere vibrated with hostile chakra, dozens, maybe even hundreds.
I couldn't see my team.
I couldn't sense them either; the explosion had saturated the ground with too much ambient chakra. Everything was noise.
Shit.
Shapes moved in the haze, too many, too fast.
Iwa.
They dropped from broken ridges and from the air, numbers overwhelming. Four for every one of us. The sound of stone armor grinding filled the air.
One of them lunged through the dust straight at me.
A blur of brown, a boot aimed at my throat.
I ducked just in time. The kick sliced through the air where my neck had been. A single hit would've snapped me in half.
"Tch. Tree-hugger."
The Iwa shinobi grinned amidst the swirling dust.
I drew my tanto in a single movement.
Steel met flesh but snapped off.
His skin was rough, granite-like.
Doton.
He blocked with his forearm, sending shockwaves up to my shoulder. I slashed again, side, knee, ribs. Cuts formed, but they were shallow. Too shallow.
He was stronger. He was more experienced.
He charged forward and threw a punch that shattered the ground behind me as I rolled out of the way.
More shapes shifted within the smoke.
More Iwa.
The battlefield descended into chaos.
I rushed back at him, targeting vulnerable spots, eyes, throat, and armpit. Each time, he angled his body, smirking.
Then a flare of chakra cut through the haze from the right...
...and a Hyuuga slammed into view, hand glowing.
"Jūken."
The strike connected with the Iwa shinobi's ribs.
I felt the impact like a shockwave.
The enemy's smirk vanished. He spasmed once, blood spraying from his mouth. The Hyuuga followed up with two more precise strikes to the heart and the diaphragm.
The stone-skinned bastard dropped like a puppet with cut strings.
I exhaled shakily. "Thanks."
The Hyuuga nodded curtly, Byakugan blazing as he shifted into another stance and advanced toward another enemy, palm extended...
...then froze.
Just for a second.
I didn't understand why until...
He exploded.
A wet, horrifying burst of blood and flesh engulfed in dust.
My mind stalled.
What just happened?
The Iwa shinobi stepped from the settling gore, skin gleaming like polished rock, his expression flat and empty. His palm was steaming.
He moved toward me.
Fast.
I tried to dodge, too slow. His hand shot forward...
And missed
Deliberately.
A shadow flickered behind him. I followed it,
Sayuri.
Standing on a broken boulder, eyes narrowed, hands raised in a Ram seal. Her expression sharpened with focus.
Genjutsu.
Thank you...
The world snapped back into clarity as the enemy paused for a fraction of a second too long.
I flooded my blade with chakra, reinforcing it to the limit. The chakra-infused tanto vibrated in my hand.
I stepped in and slashed his throat.
He dropped.
My heart hammered so loudly it drowned out the battle for a moment.
Then something massive moved ahead.
A deafening BOOM shook the ground, followed by three enormous shapes bursting into existence through clouds of smoke:
Giant snakes.
Orochimaru's summons.
Each one tore through the Iwa formations like living siege weapons. Shinobi screamed, jutsu detonated in flashes. Our line surged and buckled simultaneously.
I could barely keep track of the shapes around me as we continued fighting.
Someone shouted...
"We're losing ground!"
They were right.
The Iwa numbers were overwhelming.
And then...
A white flash.
Silent and cold.
I turned toward it...
...and a chunk of the battlefield simply disappeared.
Vanished.
Shinobi, earth, stone, gone.
The surviving trees bent from the pressure wave. My ears rang.
Above the void, hovering calmly in the air…
A short, old man in white robes.
Pointed hat.
The Tsuchikage.
My blood froze, and my legs nearly buckled.
I heard screams behind me, someone shouting orders, but none of it mattered.
Because even from this distance, I could sense it
His chakra.
It felt like a cold mountain sitting on top of the world.
Then a command sliced through the chaos of the battlefield:
"RETREAT! RETREAT!"
Konoha's forces broke away instantly, survival instincts taking over.
Someone grabbed my sleeve and pulled. Shigure.
"Basara, MOVE!"
And so we ran.
All of us.
Every surviving shinobi sprinting back toward the treeline as the Stone's army and their Kage advanced behind us.
This is bad…