Yumegawa Town, Konoha Forward Base
Uchiha Yuan sat bare-chested as a medical-nin carefully wrapped bandages around his torso.
Not long ago, his thirty-man squad had been ambushed by nearly fifty Kumo-nin while patrolling the defensive perimeter.
Among the attackers were six jōnin-level Kumo-nin, all of whom had focused their assault on him alone.
After a brutal battle, Uchiha Yuan managed to slay two of them and led just over a dozen of his men in a desperate breakout.
Looking at the deep, terrible wounds across Uchiha Yuan's body, Yamanaka Mokuno said gravely, "Captain, it seems the Kumo-nin hold you in very high regard. To think they'd send six jōnin just to take you down."
Uchiha Yuan grinned, pride glinting in his eyes. "That only proves how terrified they've become of me."
Yamanaka Mokuno silently sighed to himself. I used to think the Captain was arrogant beyond measure… but I was wrong. My own vision was too narrow. It's just a shame—being a Uchiha means the village will never truly rest easy around him.
Through their time together, Mokuno had come to completely respect the boy before him.
Beneath Uchiha Yuan's proud and unruly exterior, he could faintly sense remarkable intelligence, composure, and daring.
Over the next month, Uchiha Yuan clashed repeatedly with Kumo-nin. Each battle left several enemy jōnin dead by his hand.
Then, one day, an urgent distress message arrived.
It was from the Fourth Company, stationed several dozen miles northeast of Yumegawa Town.
They were under siege—surrounded by two full Kumo companies.
Just as Uchiha Yuan was about to mobilize a rescue squad, a Konoha messenger arrived with orders from Iwamoku Sumero, captain of the Fourth Battalion: he was to turn west immediately and link up with the Second Company.
The messenger also brought alarming news—
A Kumo force over a thousand strong was advancing toward the Second Company's defensive line.
After the messenger departed, Uchiha Yuan studied the map, his brows furrowed deeply.
At his side, Yamanaka Mokuno spoke grimly, "Captain, this isn't looking good. With Kumo's sudden surge in manpower, these small-scale skirmishes might erupt into a full-blown war."
He pointed at the marked location of the Fourth Company. "Right now, the Fourth Company's surrounded. This looks like part of a larger Kumo strategy—to systematically whittle down our forces."
Uchiha Yuan said, "Send your analysis to Captain Sumero and Headquarters at once.
We'll need reinforcements if our line is to hold."
Moments later, a hawk took flight, carrying their message toward base.
Yamanaka Mokuno turned back. "Captain, what do we do now?
If we follow the Battalion Commander's orders and move west to join the Second Company, the Fourth Company will be left to die."
Uchiha Yuan studied the map in silence. Then, turning sharply, he said with iron resolve, "The Fourth Company must be saved. I won't sit back and watch comrades die just because of an order."
He traced his finger across the map. "Send word to the Third Company. Tell them to move here. Once in position, we'll coordinate from both sides and strike back—encircle the two Kumo companies and wipe them out."
Yamanaka Mokuno blinked in surprise, then bent over the map.
A moment later, a smile tugged at his lips. "Brilliant. The plan's risky—but it might just work."
The squad leaders listening nearby, their faces grim just moments ago, began to show faint smiles as well.
Still, Mokuno voiced his concern. "There's one problem. The Third Company likely received the same orders from Captain Sumero. Captain Moonlight Ryūfū may not agree to your plan."
Uchiha Yuan frowned. "Yamanaka, you'll go to the Third Company yourself.
If Moonlight Ryūfū refuses—tell him this: I do not tolerate disobedience. If he defies me, I'll kill him myself."
"Captain!" Mokuno blurted out, alarmed. "You can't say that! It'll only provoke him—"
"Say it exactly as I told you."
In the deep forest, shadows flashed rapidly through the trees—Konoha shinobi darting from branch to branch.
They burst from the treeline onto a rough mountain trail winding through rolling peaks.
Uchiha Yuan leapt across the rocky slopes until he reached a high cliff.
From there, he looked ahead. On a distant ridge, a cluster of Konoha shinobi were entrenched on a high ground, desperately battling waves of Kumo-nin.
Explosions of ninjutsu lit the field, shaking the hill. The defensive barriers the Konoha had built were crumbling under the bombardment.
Even from afar, Uchiha Yuan could see the danger—they were being split apart, Kumo-nin trying to divide and destroy them in isolated pockets.
He turned toward the direction from which the Third Company should appear.
After waiting five long minutes, he muttered, voice cold and sharp, "No more waiting. We move—now."
Down below, the Fourth Company's formation was collapsing fast.
Some Konoha squads had already been isolated and were being slaughtered piecemeal.
Uchiha Yuan knew that if he delayed any longer, the Fourth Company would be wiped out completely.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
A chorus of rushing wind filled the air as Uchiha Yuan and his First Company descended behind enemy lines.
Midair, he reached into the pouches on his lower back and drew out two handfuls of shuriken.
His hands flickered—dozens of spinning stars poured down like a torrential storm.
"Gah!"
Cries of pain rang out. Every shuriken found its mark, several Kumo-nin taking half a dozen hits apiece, collapsing in blood.
In just a few seconds, Uchiha Yuan had emptied over a hundred shuriken from his pouches.
The surprise attack shattered Kumo's encirclement momentum.
"Another squad of Konoha scum? Kill them all!" shouted one Kumo-nin, and over a hundred warriors charged at once.
Uchiha Yuan sidestepped a blade strike, flicking a shuriken that buried itself in another attacker's throat.
Then, springing high into the air, he drew out a scroll and unfurled it.
Puff!
A burst of smoke erupted—and in his hands appeared several kunai.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The air filled with the shrill hiss of flying steel as his kunai rained down on the enemy.
One Kumo-nin smirked disdainfully and swung his sword to deflect—
but the kunai were faster than his eyes could follow. His blade sliced empty air, and the next instant, the weapons tore through his body.
Within moments, the whistling ceased. Uchiha Yuan had exhausted every kunai stored in the scroll.
The precision and ferocity of his barrage broke the Kumo advance completely—dozens fell in seconds.
On the hilltop, the Fourth Company's morale surged at the sight of reinforcements. Their counterattack blazed to life, fierce and unyielding.
For a time, the entire battlefield boiled over—
Kumo-nin and Konoha shinobi clashing in a storm of blood and steel.
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