Chapter 8: The Shinobi Code of Survival, Clouds and Thunder on the Horizon!
6:00 AM
Before the alarm could ring, Uchiha Ci slammed his palm down and shattered the clock that had annoyed him for a whole year.
By then, he was already fully geared up.
Forehead protector. Knee guards. Kunai leg straps. Gloves. Foot wraps. Scroll pouch on his right hip and a ninja tool bag strapped behind his waist.
He pulled on his high-collared black cloak embroidered with the Uchiha crest, stood before the mirror, lifted his bangs, tugged down his lower eyelid, and grinned wickedly.
"Now I can already see your death!"
After basking in his own brilliance for a few seconds, exactly at six, Uchiha Ci leapt out of the window—only to find another figure doing the exact same thing next door.
"Ci, you heading out on a mission too?"
Uchiha Ci nodded coolly, giving a casual reminder. "Don't be late again."
"Don't joke with me! I, Uchiha Obito, am going to be Hokage—whoa, whoa, whoa!"
Before he could finish, Obito thumped his chest confidently, stepped forward… and immediately plunged headfirst out of the second-floor window.
Ci merely shook his head. Typical of you, Obito.
Twisted ankle, bruised head—anyone who didn't know better would think he just returned from the Rain Country frontlines with a "battle damage deluxe package."
After a trip to Konoha Hospital, he'd probably reach Minato's team an hour late at least.
Ci was long used to this kind of scene. He didn't bother to help, only chuckled as he leapt away.
"Obito, next time I'll see you at the memorial stone. Don't forget to burn me some incense."
With that, he sprang across the rooftops, pushing off with the balls of his feet, his steps light and eager.
Each stride pulsed with excitement.
Uchiha Obito: "???"
---
Uchiha Clan Compound — Within the Great Estate
"That's everything, Fugaku-senpai."
Uchiha Shisui bowed respectfully to the man before him as he finished explaining.
"Uchiha Ci, huh?"
Fugaku's face was calm as still water. He nodded slightly, committing the name to memory.
"I believe he'll become a bridge between our clan and the village," Shisui said earnestly. "When you head for the Land of Hot Water, please look after my friend."
"I'd be most grateful!"
Arms crossed, Fugaku replied evenly, "Go on then, Shisui. I'll depart for the Land of Hot Water with Elder Setsuna in half a day. I'll keep an eye on your friend."
"However—once you arrive in the Land of Rain, contact our stationed clansmen immediately. Also, stay alert to a newly formed organization in that country."
"A new organization?" Shisui blinked, puzzled.
Fugaku frowned slightly.
"They call themselves Akatsuki. Their ideals are naive, but… you may try approaching them."
"After all, its three leaders are disciples of Jiraiya of the Sannin—naturally sympathetic to Konoha."
Shisui nodded thoughtfully, murmuring under his breath, "Akatsuki, huh…"
---
8:00 AM — Konoha's Main Gate
Two all-Uchiha teams assembled at the village entrance.
Elder Uchiha Setsuna glanced at the brightening sky, then at the assembled shinobi, and spoke coldly:
"Since everyone's here, the mission begins now. Once you reach your assigned destinations, the squad leaders will unseal the mission scrolls and issue the directives."
"That is all. Move out!"
With that, Uchiha Setsuna strode forward first, gesturing lightly to Ci and Uchiha Seiichiro, signaling them to follow.
Under such formal circumstances, there was no time for small talk.
Shisui gave Ci a brief smile, thumped his chest with a clenched fist, and then joined his team ahead.
Ci, confused, tilted his head slightly.
He shook it off. No point overthinking.
Although Shisui seemed to have misunderstood him somehow, their missions couldn't be more different.
One squad was heading northwest to the Land of Rain. The other—Ci's—was going straight east, across endless hills to the Land of Hot Water.
Ci smirked to himself.
What's Shisui gonna do, reach across the continent and stop me from dying?
This time, the biggest risk factor had been eliminated! The advantage is mine!
Uchiha Ci's squad moved swiftly after leaving the village, maintaining a steady but rapid pace toward their destination.
A ninja's speed was like a freight engine—covering the long stretch between Konoha and the Land of Hot Water within a single day.
None of the three were talkative types, so silence hung heavy as they traveled.
Once they left behind the lush lands of Fire Country, the scenery changed abruptly.
From the south, streams of refugees and displaced wanderers flowed from the Land of Hot Water. The vibrant green of spring soon gave way to bleak grays.
Barren branches. Bark-stripped trees.
And those hollow, lifeless eyes leaning against them.
That was the scenery that greeted Uchiha Ci again and again along the road.
And this was only halfway through the journey.
By now, traces of other shinobi were already visible—abandoned campfires, tripwire traps, and the occasional sharp, watchful gaze from the shadows.
The eve of the Third Great Ninja War had turned the minor nations between the great powers into the most chaotic battlegrounds on the map.
The Hidden Hot Water Village could no longer protect its own country.
Many of its shinobi, unable to bear the penalties of mission failures, deserted—disguising themselves among refugees escaping into the Land of Fire.
There, they often turned to banditry… and wound up on the bounty lists of the major villages.
---
As the sunlight dimmed and shadows lengthened across the land, dusk painted the sky red before the darkness crept in.
Uchiha Setsuna halted the squad.
Unfurling the mission scroll atop a boulder, he spoke in a voice as cold as steel.
"Gather around. It's time for mission brief."
Ci's expression tensed. The real show was about to start.
Whether or not he could complete his "die-outside-the-village" achievement depended on this.
"Our objective," Setsuna began, "is to reach the Hell Valley in the Land of Hot Water and support the Uchiha stationed there."
"Now, tell me—where do you believe the greatest danger lies?"
He glanced at the two genin before him, falling silent for a moment before posing the question.
Uchiha Seiichiro snorted. "Aside from what's written in the Shinobi Code of Survival, the main threat's obviously the retaliation from the Blood Pool Clan, right?"
"Those lunatics—each one's more dangerous than the last."
Ci said nothing but nodded in agreement. His thoughts aligned with Seiichiro's.
Except—he knew more than that.
Beyond those madmen… there was a monster.
The Blood Pool Castle Lord—Miyashiro Homura.
It was said that this man, an ancestor predating even Itachi's era, single-handedly slaughtered his entire clan in a berserk rampage, sparing only his daughter—and wiped the Blood Pool Clan from the shinobi world without any outside aid.
It was hard to imagine how far his Blood Dragon Eyes had evolved.
Compared to him, Blood Pool Chino from the later "Sasuke Shinden" arc wasn't even qualified to carry his sandals.
That was the real heavyweight.
Yet—
Uchiha Setsuna slowly shook his head. He sighed, closing his eyes, his tone heavy.
"You're wrong."
"The true danger does not lie within the Blood Pool…"
"…but above it."
"What?" Ci froze.
What the hell—there's someone stronger than the strongest?!