On the road, their squad was split into two roles: Minato and Jiwei were sensory-type shinobi, while Shane Mountain and Choza were classified as the power types.
In other words, unless a battle broke out, Shane and Choza didn't have much to do.
As they advanced, Shane's mind wandered to the tragedies he remembered from the Naruto world.
"Minato and Kushina those two are untouchable now that I'm here. With me around, the Nine Tails is nothing to worry about."
Of course, Shane planned to save Obito. Still, someone else would inevitably take up Madara Uchiha's mantle. The face might change, but fate had a habit of keeping the story alive.
Even so, the timeline was already beginning to shift. The next attempt to capture the Nine Tails wouldn't happen exactly as it did in the original story.
Not that it mattered. At his current strength, if he teamed up with Minato, even the real Madara wouldn't be able to take them down easily.
"Still, that's a problem for a decade from now," Shane muttered. "For now, I need to focus on the present."
He was living through the Second Great Ninja War. In another year or two, it would all be over. By then, Tsunade would lose her boyfriend Dan and her younger brother Nawaki, leaving her broken and disillusioned. That pain would drive her away from the village, leading her into a life of gambling and wandering.
Orochimaru, devastated by Nawaki's death, would once again reflect on the fragility of life and begin his obsession with forbidden jutsu eventually joining hands with Danzo to conduct human experiments, sealing his fate as a rogue ninja.
Jiraiya, unable to abandon his friend, would chase Orochimaru across the world. Konoha would lose three of its most promising Kage-level fighters.
And then, Sakumo Hatake the White Fang would fall victim to slander and take his own life, further weakening Konoha's power.
If it weren't for Minato's sudden rise his mastery of the Flying Raijin turning the tide in every battle the Third Great Ninja War would have been Konoha's ruin.
"So my first task… is to save Nawaki?" Shane sighed. "But he's with Orochimaru right now, fighting on the Earth Country front. There's no way I can reach him immediately."
He decided to postpone that mission. Once he met Tsunade, he could use Lady Mito's name as an excuse to summon Nawaki to the Wind Country front. That should be simple enough.
After sorting out Konoha's chain of tragedies, his thoughts drifted toward the others the "sister figures" of the ninja world.
The Queen of Rōran… Pakura of the Sand… Konan of the Rain…
"Looks like I've got quite a lot on my plate," Shane said with a smirk, his eyes glinting with amusement. "My mission just keeps getting heavier."
After five days of travel, their squad finally arrived at the Wind Country frontlines.
Inside the command tent, Tsunade looked up at them with a weary expression. "You're saying Lady Mito asked you to look after Nawaki?" she asked, rubbing her tired eyes as she looked from Minato to Shane. "But Nawaki's currently stationed under Orochimaru on the Earth front…"
The Wind front was extremely dangerous the Sand shinobi's poisons were deadly and unpredictable. If Nawaki were to be poisoned here, Tsunade would never forgive herself.
"Don't worry, Lady Tsunade!" Minato said firmly. "If Nawaki's with us, he'll be perfectly safe."
He didn't fully understand why Shane wanted Nawaki transferred here, but his trust in Shane was absolute.
Tsunade hesitated, then nodded. "Fine. I'll send word to Orochimaru and have Nawaki reassigned to this front."
"Thank you, Lady Tsunade," Minato said with a respectful bow.
As they left the tent, neither of them spoke. Minato didn't ask for an explanation, and Shane didn't offer one.
After all, how was he supposed to say it? "If Nawaki stays where he is, he's going to die"?
No one would believe that.
Still, things were going smoothly. With Minato's help and Mito's name, Nawaki would soon be safe.
"That should keep him from dying this time," Shane murmured to himself.
The next morning, their orders came in they were heading to the frontlines.
Before they left, Tsunade addressed them one last time. "You're young, but you're already chunin," she said sternly. "I won't treat you as children anymore. Remember this is war. Never underestimate your enemy, or you will die."
The warning might have sounded like something meant to scare rookies, but everyone in the tent understood her words were deadly serious.
This was no training exercise. This was war.
And in war, people die.
Survival depended on strength, skill, and, sometimes, sheer luck.
The team advanced with the main force toward the border between the two nations.
As soon as both sides caught sight of each other, the first barrage began. Kunai and shuriken whistled through the air, many laced with explosive tags that detonated before anyone could react.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions tore across the battlefield, flames and smoke rising high. Shinobi from both sides charged forward through the haze, blades clashing in a chaotic blur of steel and fire.
Shane's group was positioned toward the rear, far enough to avoid the initial blasts but close enough to see the horror unfold.
Konoha shinobi fell one after another, their screams echoing across the field. Minato's fists clenched, and without hesitation, he began throwing kunai, his golden hair catching the glint of the flames.
"Boom!" Another explosion erupted, sending several bodies flying.
"Damn it!"
"Brothers, charge!"
"Kill them all!"
"My arm! It's gone help me!"
"I can't feel my legs! Water Release: Surge Wave!"
The air was filled with cries, explosions, and the clash of jutsu.
Each sound cut deeper into Shane's nerves.
"These people…" he gritted his teeth, frustration burning in his chest.
He wasn't a stranger to death he had seen corpses before, dismembered limbs, the aftermath of war. But watching it happen in real time, seeing lives snuffed out in the blink of an eye… it was different.
Even with the memories of another world's "Doctor Shane," witnessing it firsthand was a whole new kind of horror.
"Time to move!"
Minato's voice broke through his thoughts. He dashed forward, a kunai flashing in his grip.
"Another brat? Die!" a Sand ninja sneered, lunging to kill him.
But Minato's form blurred, vanishing before the man's eyes. In the next instant, he appeared behind him silent, swift, precise.
A clean cut.
The enemy's throat opened in a thin red line.
"H-how… could I be killed by a child…" the man rasped, falling lifelessly to the ground.
But Minato didn't stop. He became a golden phantom, flickering from one enemy to the next, each strike leaving another corpse in his wake.
"Damn, Minato's unstoppable!" Choza shouted, his blood boiling with excitement. He tucked himself into a spinning ball and rolled forward like a massive boulder.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
He tore through the enemy line, scattering Sand shinobi like bowling pins.
Shane and Jiwei moved behind them, maintaining visual contact to cover their teammates' flanks and prevent ambushes.
Everywhere they looked, danger lurked.
"Front, back, sides attacks can come from anywhere," Shane muttered, tightening his grip on his kunai. "So this… is what real war feels like."
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