Year 46 of Konoha.
The Third Shinobi World War.
Frontline battlefield against Iwagakure, on the border of the Land of Fire.
Inside a hastily constructed field hospital, Aoba lay on a bed with a pale face, his body wrapped in bandages in several places.
After his third squad had been completely wiped out, he had at least managed to finish the mission—and barely escaped with his life.
"Uchiha Aoba."
"Fractured left arm, burn injuries on the right calf caused by an explosive tag detonation, and a blade wound stretching from the shoulder to the chest. Blood loss exceeds one liter… Hmm. Nothing too serious."
The medical jōnin spoke in a calm tone.
After all, what kind of scenes hadn't he seen before?
In comparison, injuries like these were minor.
Aoba's eyes shifted slightly. Gathering his strength, he tried moving his right hand and confirmed that it could still move normally.
"Senior, how long will it take for me to fully recover?"
"With my level of medical ninjutsu, about ten days—half a month at most."
The medical jōnin paused briefly before continuing.
"For now, focus on resting. After half a month, you can start taking missions again."
"Half a month?!"
Aoba's expression immediately darkened.
The medical jōnin sighed helplessly.
"The rest period is indeed a bit short, but there's nothing we can do. As you know, the Iwagakure front is severely short-handed right now. We can't afford to let you rest for too long."
At the moment, Konoha was being attacked from every direction.
On this battlefield alone, within the territory of the Land of Grass across the border, there were more than a thousand Iwagakure shinobi stationed.
Meanwhile, the Konoha ninja camp here had fewer than five hundred.
"That's too long!"
"…Hmm? What did you say?"
The medical jōnin blinked in confusion.
"I can't rest that long! Please help me recover faster. As soon as my injuries heal, I can immediately return to the battlefield and continue taking missions!"
"..."
Good grief.
Do you want to take another look at the injuries covering your body?
His medical ninjutsu could restore someone to full health eventually—but it wasn't resurrection magic.
The medical jōnin felt puzzled.
He had seen plenty of shinobi pretending their injuries hadn't healed just to avoid returning to the battlefield.
But someone who had just been severely wounded, lost their entire squad, and still wanted to rush back to the battlefield to die—
This was the first time he had seen that.
Yes, the Iwagakure front was short on manpower.
But it wasn't to the point that Konoha would treat its own shinobi like disposable tools.
Or… were members of the Uchiha clan really all this crazy?
After thinking for a moment, the medical jōnin asked another question.
"I heard that your squad encountered an enemy team led by an Iwagakure Special Jōnin this time. Yet in the end, you killed them all by yourself?"
"Just luck. My teammates contributed a lot as well."
Aoba shook his head.
"You're being modest. Judging from your talent, I'd say you're practically a prodigy on the same level as Hatake Kakashi."
The medical jōnin couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"…I'm nowhere near Kakashi."
This time, Aoba wasn't being modest at all.
No one understood better than him just how large the gap between his talent and Kakashi's truly was.
"Well, the difference shouldn't be that big."
Before leaving, the medical jōnin offered one last piece of advice.
"I'll do my best to speed up your recovery. But you should think carefully about this— even a genius needs time to grow. Proper rest ensures that you can perform at your best during the next mission."
Aoba lay flat on the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling.
He rubbed his eyes and couldn't help but sigh.
The current situation didn't allow him the luxury of patience.
The situation on the Iwagakure battlefield was extremely grim.
At any moment, Minato Namikaze's team might be dispatched to blow up the Kannabi Bridge.
Although in the original story the bridge demolition mission was carried out by Kakashi's team, Aoba remembered very clearly that while the Battle of Kannabi Bridge was happening, fierce battles were also raging across other parts of the Iwagakure front.
Including the battle where Minato Namikaze's legendary one-versus-fifty feat shook the entire shinobi world.
And in that particular battle, by the time Minato arrived, only four Konoha shinobi were still alive.
Aoba had no confidence that he could survive a battle with that kind of casualty rate.
He had to seize this final opportunity to increase his strength.
But the problem was… while he did have some talent, it wasn't much.
He had transmigrated into the world of ninja.
Not only that—he had been born into the Uchiha clan.
His parents had died at the start, and at the age of three he awakened memories from his previous life.
With Uchiha bloodline and decent talent, he once believed he had a bright future ahead.
When he first started learning ninjutsu, he easily mastered the Three Basic Techniques, and he had even felt quite proud of his talent.
But then, during the first year at the Ninja Academy, the teacher tested everyone's mastery of the Clone Technique.
Hatake Kakashi walked up—and casually performed a Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Not the basic Clone Technique.
Not even the regular Shadow Clone Technique.
It was the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Aoba had been completely stunned on the spot.
Was this even human?
That bastard was only five years old!
Later, Aoba even went back and begged the Uchiha clan's elder to let him try learning the technique.
After pestering him endlessly, he was finally allowed to attempt it.
The result?
He couldn't even use the Shadow Clone Technique.
His chakra simply hadn't reached the required threshold.
It perfectly proved a certain saying—
The gap between people can be even greater than the gap between a person and a dog.
After reality splashed a bucket of cold water over his head, Aoba didn't give up. He continued training diligently.
Then he watched as Kakashi graduated early at five years old… and became a chūnin at six.
Meanwhile, Aoba graduated normally at age nine alongside his peers.
After completing a few months of C-rank and D-rank missions, the Third Shinobi World War erupted.
And so began his career as a "frontline filler."
Until now.
After fighting for his life on the battlefield for two and a half years, he had awakened the Sharingan.
It had even evolved into the Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
His strength was now roughly comparable to that of a Special Jōnin.
But that was nowhere near enough.
"Forget the Mangekyō… at least let me reach three tomoe, okay?"
Aoba felt depressed.
After all these years, he had realized something—
He seemed to be missing something when it came to the Sharingan.
He wasn't crazy enough.
Everyone knew that among the Uchiha clan, the more unhinged someone's personality was, the stronger their Sharingan talent tended to be.
If you weren't insane, how could you awaken the Mangekyō?
But Aoba felt that his personality simply couldn't match those lunatics, monsters, and barely-human madmen.
And besides, there wasn't any suitably tragic "tool person" around him to trigger his awakening.
So there was only one path left.
Fight!
Fight for your life!
For the Uchiha clan, the Sharingan should awaken amidst life-and-death battles!
Both the awakening of his Sharingan and the evolution to two tomoe had happened that way.
But this time, he had failed.
He had once again survived a near-death experience…
Yet his Sharingan hadn't evolved.
"Sigh… If only I had a cheat ability."
Then he wouldn't have to keep risking his life again and again just to upgrade his eyes.
Well, whatever.
Even without a cheat, he could still survive the Third Shinobi World War!
Lying on the bed, Aoba prepared to practice one-handed hand seals with his still-functional right hand.
Suddenly
A voice echoed inside his mind.
[Future Loan System loading complete. Bind now?]
"???"
Aoba abruptly sat up.
After carefully confirming it several times, he was certain—
This wasn't genjutsu.
[Bind now?]
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Aoba immediately responded in his mind.
After all, while it wasn't impossible to survive without a cheat…
Having a golden finger certainly made the world a much wider place.
[Name: Uchiha Aoba]
[Age: 12]
[Bloodline: Sharingan (Two-Tomoe)]
[Chakra Attributes: Fire, Lightning]
[Stats:
Spirit 6
Body 7
Strength 5
Speed 8
Ninjutsu 7
Seals 6
Genjutsu 7
Wisdom 9]