Disclaimer: Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own anything related to the Naruto universe. This story is protected by Title 17 of the United States Code, under the fair use doctrine.

"There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others."

-Niccolo Machiavelli

I landed in front of the obscure building that served as the headquarters of Anbu and Root in the middle of the night. Flanking me were two Root members, Deer and Sloth. Both of them were assigned to my team and we had just returned to Konoha from a mission. The mission was a regular patrol mission that our team carried out to ensure that the defenses and outposts on the borders were active and secured. Thankfully, this patrol mission was finished without any troubles and we returned to Konoha without a scratch on us.

I knocked on the door lightly and a voice whispered from the other side, "Yes?"

"The rainfall in Konoha is blocking out the moon"

The sky was completely clear, but the code phrase was a reference to Amegakure. For our recent mission, we patrolled the Ame-Konoha border as the Hidden Rain Village bordered two villages that were hostile to us.

"How heavy is the rain?"

"A light shower."

After I answered, the door opened quickly and we rushed inside to come face to face with the sentry, "Good work, Danzo-sama is expecting the three of you. Head to his office."

We all bowed politely and moved down numerous corridors and hallways to reach our destination. The headquarters was designed like a maze to slow down any hostile shinobi and confuse them. However, I knew the place like the back of my hand and with my team in tow, I arrived in front of Danzo's personal room.

I took a shallow breath and knocked steadily. A voice, presumably Danzo, called out to me, "Come in."

My team and I entered the room in an orderly fashion, standing shoulder to shoulder in front of Danzo's desk. Danzo's office was spartan and contained very little furniture or trophies, with the room only containing his desk and a set of battle armor hanging from the walls. The man in question was leaning forward on his desk with his hands folded in front of him. Upon seeing us, he gave us a ghastly smile, "Root Team One, what was the result of your mission?"

"A success, Danzo-sama," I replied on behalf of my team, "All the fourteen outposts were accounted for and we verified the identity of the shinobi stationed in every one of them. Additionally, the traps and the seals on the borders are fully active and functional."

"Good, as expected of my most successful and reliable team," Danzo nodded, "Now usually, I would allow you to take the rest of the week off from missions so that you may focus on your training and rest. Unfortunately, I have been alerted of a most urgent matter that I need your team to deal with."

The other two members of my team stiffened, while I also straightened my posture. An "urgent matter" usually entailed a dangerous or risky mission. The last time my team was assigned to an "urgent matter" mission, it turned out to be a rescue mission to save a genin team from Iwa infiltrators near the Ame border.

Danzo continued without hearing a response from me or the others, "As you know, the situation between Konoha and Iwa is worsening. Iwa is looking for any excuse to reignite the war and Suna is supposedly eager to join in on the fray. Due to this, our border with the Land of Rivers has been seeing a number of Suna scouts surveying our defenses. Usually, that would not be a problem as our forces stationed on the border can deal with them. But recently, we have received word that a very powerful shinobi has been wiping out several of our border patrols. A shinobi that uses gold dust, to be exact."

I stirred internally as I realized that I knew the identity of that person. That person was the future father of one of Naruto's best friends, but also a dangerous man that would even betray an alliance with the Leaf to strengthen his village.

Rasa.

Outwardly, I did not show any sign of recognizing the identity of the gold dust user and remained silent as Danzo spoke, "Therefore, in three days time, Team One of Root will be sent to the border between Konoha and Tani. Your mission will be to discover the identity of this individual and subdue him if possible. I have been told that even one of our jonin teams has been bested by him, so you are not required to defeat him. Gather as much intelligence about him as you can and withdraw back to Konoha once you have sufficient information about his techniques, jutsu, and motive for the attacks."

"Do we have any names or information about this man, other than his gold dust Danzo-sama?" I asked neutrally.

"No. It seems as though Suna has kept this shinobi a well-kept secret from us. The only reason why we know he uses gold dust is because we recovered the gold dust from the dead bodies the shinobi left behind. This is a B-rank mission and you will receive further information shortly before the mission begins. I expect the three of you to prepare accordingly until then. For now, dismissed."

With that, we bowed to the head of Root and proceeded to leave. However, before I stepped out of the room, Danzo called me back into the office, "Dog, stay behind for a moment."

My two teammates looked at me worriedly, but I whispered for them to wait for me outside. As they left the room, I walked towards the Anbu head's desk and folded my hands behind my back, "You called for me, Danzo-sama?"

Danzo maintained a neutral expression as he stared into my mask, "You have done an excellent job since your promotion to captain, Dog."

"I am merely carrying out my duties as a shinobi of the Leaf, Danzo-sama."I knew how to play Danzo's game. While he wasn't an egomaniac (or wasn't based on what I saw) and was fairly reasonable, he was still very loyal to the village and worked tirelessly to keep it safe. He hated arrogant shinobi and preferred shinobi that were humble and loyal.

"Good. You are very close to entering Anbu itself, due to your excellent performance and skills. Usually, I would have assigned this mission to a more senior Anbu team, but most of them are preoccupied with other missions outside the village and I believe your team is capable enough to carry out this mission."

I nodded understandingly. The Anbu/Root headquarters was fairly empty these days, as most of the Anbu and Root teams were carrying out missions elsewhere. Konoha had a long, continuous border with many villages and because of this, the Konoha shinobi forces itself was overextended to protect the Land of Fire from intruders. It didn't help that most of the villages were hostile, or lukewarm at best towards Konoha.

"Therefore, I believe it is now the appropriate time for you to receive this," Danzo pulled out a scroll from his desk and handed it to me, "You have been in Root for nearly a year now and carried out over a dozen successful missions. I believe this is sufficient for a reward. A bonus, if you will."

I accepted the scroll graciously, but I peered at the door as I received it, "What about my teammates, Danzo-sama?"

"Who says that they have not received their own rewards either?" Danzo replied with a small smirk, "Know this. I reward all those that serve Konoha faithfully. I do not play favorites, nor do I attempt to weaken those in our shinobi forces. Our village can only stand proudly if all our shinobi are powerful enough to match any enemy shinobi."

With that, he waved dismissively and I walked out of the headquarters with the scroll in my hand. I hopped over several nearby buildings before finally coming to a stop to the roof of a nearby grocery store. My two teammates were waiting for me on the roof patiently and they waved at me as I arrived.

Mikoto, also known as "Deer," pointed to the scroll, "What's that?"

"Not out in the open. Let's go back to my apartment," I answered.

The three of us ran quickly to the Uchiha Compound and entered my apartment through the window. Once we were inside and I closed the curtain as a safety precaution, we all took off our masks and began to take off our shinobi equipment in the living room.

"So, Danzo-sama gave you a scroll too?" Shikaku, "Sloth," said as he took off his mask. His Root training slipped into his speech, as we were all used to calling Danzo "Danzo-sama" whenever we saw him. Our forms of speech were a bit stiffer too, due to the constant need to remain "professional" during missions.

"Yeah, and he said both of you got them too?" I raised an eyebrow at both of them.

The two of them whistled and pretended to be ignorant about the subject as they excused themselves to change. The apartment had a bedroom, a study room, a spacious living room, a moderate-sized kitchen, and a simple bathroom. It was large and comfortable. Since it was almost always available, my place of residence was a rendezvous point for our team and both Mikoto and Shikaku left their stuff behind in my apartment whenever we left on missions.

It had been over a year since my first mission with Root and I was much more skilled than before. While I couldn't' call myself a perfect leader, I was good at reading the situation and efficient in terms of finishing my missions. Of course, I made sure to value my life as much as I valued the life of my comrades, avoiding any unnecessary suicidal risks. Shikaku was officially added to my team after I became a Root captain, a rank I obtained nearly half a year after my showdown against the Mud Release user.

We were all ten years old, but our skills were at least that of an experienced chunin. Our days were hectic, but we put them to good use. On weekday mornings, we would go to the Academy and attend classes like ordinary students. We held back while we were at the Academy but still maintained the top ranks consistently. There were other notably talented students, such as Minato, but none of them (at least to my knowledge) had the same type of training and experience as us. And while we were way ahead of the Academy's curriculum, the classes were good for refreshing our memories on various topics and subjects. The days we were missing were excused as "extracurricular activities" involving our respective clans, with my excuse being private training with the Uchiha clan.

During the afternoon, we were training with either Dan, by ourselves, or with Root. Dan dipped out of Konoha for missions more consistently as the tensions rose between the Great Villages, but he made sure to make his time with us worthwhile when he was in the village. We learned the Shunshin (Body Flicker Jutsu) from him, along with additional elemental jutsu (or in my case, helping me learn some weaker Katon [Fire] jutsu). He also worked on our taijutsu closely and continuously drilled us with chakra control exercises.

With Root, we usually trained the same thing as Dan did, but went a step further. I was actually taught more Raiton (Lightning) jutsu and worked tirelessly on my taijutsu and speed. My taijutsu form was finally somewhat complete and was a mix of Muay Thai and Taekwondo. The form was defensive, yet utilized all points on my body to go on the offensive relentlessly.

I never really trained with Mikoto's father, as he was busy with his duties as a clan head, but he did occasionally call me over to inspect my progress and give me tips to improve my abilities.

"You're still going to have to tell me about the scroll, so might as well come out now and fess up!" I said loudly enough for them to hear. I had a few neighbors, but most of them were civilians or older shinobi. Apparently, being given a sponsorship by the Uchiha clan was a big deal and rarely any shinobi, never mind children, were given sponsorships by the clan.

My two close friends/teammates stepped back into the living room dressed in their usual everyday attire. As the Nara heir spoke, he slumped into my sofa while Mikoto leaned on the kitchen counter, "You don't need to be so troublesome... He gave me the scroll before we left for our mission a week ago. He said to avoid using it except in missions, but I haven't really needed it during any of our missions so..."

I understood immediately, "What's in the scroll?"

"It's probably different for each of us, so you should open up yours to find out what's inside of yours."

Shikaku yawned and closed his eyes, but I knew that he was also interested in what was inside of my scroll. Despite his eyes being closed, he kept his ears perked and leaned towards me. Mikoto also noticed and grinned, "We'll share what was in our scrolls after you share yours. We're not going to keep it a secret from you, Hiro. It's just... better not to reveal our cards early, right?"

I mockingly sighed at her words, "Mikoto, lecturing me about how to be a proper shinobi? I must be dreaming."

Mikoto playfully tossed her weapons pouch at me as I opened up my scroll. The scroll contained only a few lines of writing, but they were extremely interesting to read. The text within the scrolled was the instructions to perform a B-class Raiton (Lightning) jutsu. The jutsu, called Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Pure Lightning Kunai Technique), was a rather advanced jutsu worthy of its B-rank. In order to carry out this jutsu, the user needed to create kunai out of the lightning chakra itself. The jutsu required high levels of chakra control to manipulate the lightning chakra into a shape similar to that of a kunai. The lightning kunai was able to cut objects just as effective as a kunai, was able to be thrown like a real kunai, and was also able to melt metals due to its extremely high temperature. It also induced electrical shocks to anyone that was struck by it.

Unknowingly, Danzo gave me a crucial first step towards building the Chidori: manipulating chakra directly in my hands and forming a certain shape with it.

Part of me believed that Danzo gave me this jutsu just before the next mission so that I could somehow utilize it against Rasa. The part about the lightning kunai being able to melt metals was definitely a giveaway, as our opponent utilized gold dust. I was definitely thankful that I had another jutsu to my arsenal in case our mission turned awry. At the same time, I cursed the man for withholding information about the jutsu until the last minute.

Of course, there were probably reasons why Danzo gave me the jutsu now instead of before. It was a very complicated and complex jutsu, one of the first steps in creating powerful elemental jutsu such as the Chidori. The Chidori was difficult to replicate and I expected this jutsu, which I saw as a precursor to the famous assassination technique, was difficult to learn as well.

But for the moment, my enthusiasm to learn the jutsu took over my mind.

Eagerly, I tried to follow the steps and produce a lightning kunai in my hand directly. My hand crackled with electricity and then exploded in a loud bang. Miraculously, I was unhurt, but it seemed like in my excitement, I focused too much chakra into my right hand.

Mikoto slapped me in the back of the head, "Test it at the training area tomorrow, not here! I don't want to explain to father that you destroyed the apartment because you tried a new, dangerous jutsu in it!"

"Troublesome..." Shikaku scratched his head, "Well before Hiro blows up the apartment, might as well show you what I got."

He pulled out a set of strings and a scroll. When Mikoto and I stared at him expectingly, he sighed and explained, "Indestructible ninja wire, made from some chakra threads from Kiri. It's for me to expand the range of my Shadow Possession jutsu during fights. As for the scroll... there's an advanced Earth jutsu inside. It's a defensive jutsu that can buy me time so that I can use my Shadow Possession jutsu while I'm under attack."

The Uchiha heiress smiled broadly and motioned for Shikaku to move out of the way, "As for me, I got these!"

She held up a pair of brass knuckles. The brass knuckles were as black as night and seemed to heat up as Mikoto brandished them, "Brass knuckles made of chara steel! If I channel a bit of chakra into them, they heat up a lot and I can punch my way through anything! I was thinking of testing them out tomorrow at the training ground. Maybe I'll try it on a tree first then test them during a spar..."

Mikoto grinned at me and Shikaku wickedly. Both of us paled at the sight and we found ourselves rooted to the floor. Before I could move, Shikaku rapidly packed up his stuff and moved towards the window, "I'll see you the two of you in class tomorrow then."

Immediately after he fled, Mikoto came up to me with a grin, "So, we'll be going on a trip together in three days then."

"Yep, a trip to find a deadly shinobi."

"You're too stiff, Hiro. As long as we're careful and stay together, we'll be fine. After all, you, me, and Shikaku are the ultimate team!" The black-haired girl hugged me for some time before detaching herself, "I'll see you tomorrow! Get ready to spar after class!"

After the girl left, I stripped off my clothes and went to sleep in my nightwear. I had much to prepare for.

I was the first one at the training ground after classes ended at the Academy. While I waited for the others, I tested the Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu quietly by myself. As I was practicing summoning visible chakra to my fingers, a hand slapped me in the back and made me flinch, "Whatcha doing Hiro?"

I didn't turn around as I knew who the voice belonged to, "Nothing much, Kushina. Just trying out a new jutsu that I received."

Kushina was still the same as ever, wearing her usual green dress, but with black leggings to cover her legs. Her hair was tied neatly into a ponytail and was now at waist length, as she refused to cut them any shorter. She looked much happier and brighter than when I first met her in Konoha and she had quickly joined our friend group without any difficulties.

Like my other friends, she was extremely hard working and naturally talented in the shinobi arts. Her taijutsu was similar to that of Mikoto, but she was far more aggressive when fighting and packed a harder punch. Her natural affinity was water, and while her ninjutsu lagged behind ours, Kushina's ninjutsu was fairly advanced compared to other kids her age as she received supplemental training in Uzu.

The Uzumaki wasn't a seal master or wasn't a seal master yet. But she was definitely well versed in fuinjutsu and was considered a Rank Five fuinjutsu practitioner by Uzu. There were twelve ranks in total and Rank Five was considered an intermediate level. The red-haired girl was able to write out all the basic seals, such as the Explosive Tag, and slightly more advanced ones as well. She was also able to identify more advanced seals but was unable to write them out perfectly for them to work.

I handed her a scroll and explained to her the basis of the jutsu. After reading a few sentences, Kushina scrunched up her eyebrows and sighed, "I can read seals and information about seals forever, but if I try to read anything else, I get bored instantly."

I laughed silently into my sleeve as she glared at me. The girl pouted and looked away, but turned her focus back to the scroll, "Where did you get this?"

"From work."

Kushina lowered her voice and inched closer to me, "When's your next mission?"

Technically, I wasn't allowed to reveal any information about my missions, but I usually warned her when I was leaving for them, "In two days. I don't know how long it'll take."

Kushina bit her lips and muttered under her breath, "I wish I could go with all of you too..."

I patted her head out of sympathy, "You're probably strong enough to join too, but you just recently came to Konoha from Uzu..."

"So I'm a foreigner and not trusted, yeah yeah," Kushina crossed her arms defiantly.

Before the conversation continued, my two other friends arrived in the training area. Mikoto glared at my hand, which was still patting Kushina's head and smiled coldly at me and Kushina, "Well, the two of you are here early."

"You did say you wanted to spar after class ended, so I rushed here to warm up," I replied weakly.

"Ah, so that's warming up then?" The Uchiha heiress pointed at my hand accusingly. I quickly lowered my hand from Kushina's hand, earning a frown from the redhead.

"He was just showing me his new jutsu, Mikoto," Kushina said as she placed her left arm in front of me.

Shikaku sighed and stepped in between all of us, stretching out his arms to block us from fighting, "Troublesome..."

The tension died down a bit after we settled in and Mikoto declared that she wanted to spar with Kushina. The two of them were good friends, but around me, their relationship became a bit frosty. They were never overtly hostile to each other, but both of them were a bit possessive over me when I was around, which always unsettled me. This was especially evident after missions, where Kushina always acted a bit more aggressive after not seeing me for some time.

While they sparred between themselves to cool off, I tested out my new jutsu with Shikaku. The instructions stated that I relaxed and focused my chakra directly into my hands, and then transferred them to my fingertips, as the instructions stated. The instructions also stated that I needed good chakra control, which I knew I had, so I sat next to one of the trees in the training area and tried to carry out the jutsu calmly.

Recalling Dan's lessons about balancing the physical and spiritual energies evenly, I focused on flowing my chakra into my hands intently. While I focused on forming the jutsu, I also made sure to take it slow and not rush the process. I slowly felt my chakra willing itself into electricity, a familiar feeling that I felt when using Lightning jutsu.

A natural affinity to a certain element meant it was easier to transform chakra into the element. This is why it was recommended for a shinobi to wait until he was a chunin rank to learn another element. Learning a new element required consistent and constant use of the element with bigger chakra drawbacks. Chakra was like a very complex muscle; a person's chakra reserve grew bigger with more constant use. The same could be said with chakra and elemental jutsu. If a shinobi constantly used their natural element, they were able to use that said element faster and with less chakra. Comparatively speaking, a genin fresh out of the Academy with a Lightning affinity would use more chakra and would have a slower time using a D-rank Raiton jutsu than a jonin would a Lightning affinity that had countless hours of practice.

In order to learn a new one, a shinobi had to manipulate their chakra into an element unfamiliar to their chakra system, which resulted in greater amounts of chakra used for even basic non-natural elemental jutsu. I wasn't an exception, as using and practicing Katon (Fire) jutsu wore me out rather quickly.

But for Raiton jutsu? I used Raiton jutsu constantly and knew how to control it fairly well. The process came naturally to me now and I utilized my natural affinity fully during spars and battles. Even so, morphing lightning directly into my hand and making sure it retained a certain shape was difficult.

Slowly, I felt lightning materialize out of my fingertips and into my hands. The instructions warned that placing too much chakra into this jutsu would result in failure, as I found out the hard way back in my apartment. After a few moments, I felt like I had enough chakra in my hands and slowly halted the flow of chakra to a trickle, maintaining just enough chakra flow to maintain the current amount. Afterward, I focused on forming it into the shape of a kunai.

After several frustrating minutes, I barely managed to form the lightning chakra into something that resembled a lopsided blade. The shape looked somewhat like a weapon, but when I tried to grip the "completed" jutsu, it crackled in my hand and faded away.

I groaned as I realized that I had neglected to maintain the constant trickle of chakra needed to keep the form of the jutsu. Shikaku, who was watching the entire affair, patted me on the back reassuringly, "It's a B-rank jutsu for a reason, Hiro. You'll get it eventually."

"Thanks, but I think I might need this for the mission."

"You figured it out too?" Shikaku slumped against a tree and placed his hands behind his head.

I nodded. When I thought about the things that my team and I were given, I realized that they enhanced our strengths and were tooled to fight against Rasa. My Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu was hot enough to melt through metals, including gold. Mikoto's brass knuckles were made of chakra steel, which meant that Mikoto was able to flow her chakra into the blades much more easily than ordinary steel. This meant that she could use the brass knuckles for extended periods of time and utilize her natural affinity through them. While her Katon jutsu were unable to melt through metals like gold and required a sizeable, constant amount of chakra, the brass knuckles allowed her to utilize her strength in taijutsu with her elemental chakra acting as a boost. As for Shikaku, the ninja wire was able to increase his range significantly, useful for engaging a powerful shinobi from afar, and a Doton (Earth) jutsu to act as a shield.

Shikaku saw me deep in thought and interjected, "Maybe he wanted us to be prepared for anything for this mission. He's a fairly reasonable leader and knows the risks involved."

"Possibly, but he might be encouraging us to engage him and apprehend him by strengthening us."

The Nara heir was unaware of Danzo's history (or future?) and regarded the man as a respectable leader. As for me, well, I had insight and was on guard around the man. While he wasn't batshit insane at this time, Danzo kept me on my toes and I was constantly wary of the man's intentions.

While Shikaku walked away to get started on his own practice, I continued practicing the new jutsu for another hour. I finally managed to get some semblance of control over the jutsu, but I was still some time away from being able to use it in combat.

As I sat on the ground and took a break from training, Kushina and Mikoto walked over to my resting place after they finished up their spar. I eyed them nervously as they sat down next to me, with Kushina to my right and Mikoto to my left. Both of them looked battered but had huge smiles on their faces.

"I managed to beat her in one of the spars!" Kushina said gleefully.

Mikoto snorted, "Yeah, but I managed to beat you every other time."

The Uzumaki stood up and pumped her chest, "Next time, I'll beat you two times dattebane!"

I rolled my eyes at their boast competition, "It's not a contest guys. We're training to get better, remember?"

"Yeah, better than her!" Mikoto and Kushina both pointed at each other at the same time. After seeing the ridiculousness of the situation, they both started laughing together.

I smiled at their interaction and hopped back onto my feet to train again. The mission was coming up soon, and I had to be ready.

"You ready for the mission tomorrow?"

"The new jutsu I'm working on is... passable in an emergency," I shrugged as I took another piece of venison from the grill, "And I'm a bit more nervous than usual."

Shikaku chewed his food slowly and swallowed, "Can't be helped, especially since it involves a high-rank shinobi."

The two of us were eating lunch at the Nara estate by ourselves. Mikoto was receiving some extra training from her father and Shikaku's mother was out on a mission. As a result, we had the entire house to ourselves and we were enjoying some venison that was from the Nara clan's deer farms. I never tried venison during my time on Earth, but I found the firm and smooth feeling of the deer meat satisfying.

Once a week, the two of us shared a meal together alone to hang out and talk. Surprisingly, the Nara was more talkative when Mikoto wasn't around and was more receptive to my conversations during our "hang out" time.

Since the mission was tomorrow, we decided to enjoy some food and train together. Shikaku wasn't as physically capable as I was, but his keen insight helped me improve everything from my ninjutsu to taijutsu. In turn, I helped Shikaku improve his physical strength and acted as his test dummy for his Shadow Possession jutsu.

"I don't know, I just feel like something is going to go wrong," I admitted.

"I'm worried too and I wished we had more time to train, but we've prepared ourselves for the worst."

I picked at my food and nibbled on some rice, "It's just... he hasn't really given us many specific details about the mission. Like how are we going to approach our target and evaluate him?"

The Nara heir was silent as he placed a few more pieces of raw venison on the grill. We watched the grill wordlessly for a few moments before Shikaku finally spoke up, "I don't know, but I hope it's not what I'm thinking."

I sincerely hoped it wasn't what I was thinking either.

"You know the drill now," Rabbit handed over three scrolls to us without hesitation, "Do your best and come back safely. The last thing I want to do is train another recruit."

Rabbit went back to his usual self after our conversation in the hospital. That conversation in the hospital after my first mission was the only time I saw Rabbit wear his hearts on his sleeve. Afterward, he returned to his usual, harsh self. Even so, I was reassured that Rabbit did care for me, though he never admitted that out loud.

Once we grabbed the scrolls from him, he gave me a small pat on my shoulder and disappeared.

I opened the scroll cautiously and read the content within. The details of the mission were outlined in the scroll and I internally let out a sigh of relief. I almost believed that Danzo would use another Konoha shinobi team as bait to draw Rasa in, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Instead, we were to report to a Konoha jonin on the border and follow his lead to observe Rasa from a distance. I guessed that Danzo believed a single jonin would perish against Rasa instantly and opted for us to back him up just in case anything happened.

That still didn't rid the weight in my stomach. I felt like something was going to happen during this mission, and my gut feeling was saying it wasn't going to be a good thing.

Our group made its way west towards the border between Konoha and Tani. The journey took just a little over a day since the western border with Tani was much closer to Konoha itself than the eastern border with Uzu. We arrived at our designated meeting point early morning and while we waited, we took some time to train and prepare for the mission ahead of us.

For me, I mainly practiced the Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Pure Lightning Kunai Technique). Even with two days of relentless training, I had barely managed to form a small blade that I was able to sustain for five seconds. The level of chakra control needed to maintain the jutsu was incredibly high, even for my standards, and unfortunately, I only had two full days of practice before I was sent on this mission. Even so, I didn't specifically blame Danzo, since the mission was an urgent one and he did give me the jutsu "to be nice."

Unless he planned this out to test the speed of our growth.

After waiting for a few more hours, a single shinobi arrived at our designated spot. He remained in the shadows of a tree, but I managed to make out a Konoha headband on his forehead. I pulled out my kunai silently and edged away from the shinobi, "How much is the price of gold in Konoha?"

"About six ryos."

I relaxed slightly as I was given the right response. The "gold" was an obvious reference to our mission target and the "six ryos" was a reference to the six teams that were wiped out by the gold dust user so far, "We're ready for the mission."

"That's good because I feel like I'll need your team's help for this mission," The man emerged from the shadows and smiled, "Let's get going, shall we?"

White hair tied into a ponytail, a kind face, and an extremely tall stature even for a shinobi. I was pretty damn sure I knew who this person was.

"Before we get going, may I get your name?"

"Hatake Sakumo, jonin."

"It's an honor to work with you, Hatake-san."

The white-haired shinobi smiled, "You flatter me, but let's get moving. After all, we have a mission to complete."

I nodded my head and followed the shinobi as he moved from tree to tree. I felt reassured the man was a capable shinobi if the canon series was anything to go by. He was famous in Konoha even now and was well regarded by the shinobi forces, even in Anbu and Root. However, I felt even more pressured than before to make sure the man remained alive. I recalled Kakashi and remembered how Sakumo's death affected him. It was entirely possible that this mission was the mission that resulted in Sakumo's demise, so I was on guard more than ever. I made a mental reminder to try and stay safe so that Sakumo didn't try to save me if I was in trouble and abandon the mission.

After traveling for about an hour, our group stopped in a wooded area that was near a large river. The river denoted the border between Tani and Konoha and there were two Konoha outposts nearby. This specific spot was a small gap between the outposts and usually had a patrol team roam nearby. Our group remained hidden while the jonin explained his plan, "I'm going to make three Shadow Clones act like the patrol team that was supposed to come by this area today. The gold dust user hits the patrol team in this area regularly, so he should make an appearance. If he does not appear today, then we will remain camped nearby and try it again tomorrow. The goal is to avoid incursion into the Land of the Rivers and draw him out to see his abilities. I will be able to see his abilities through the memories of my clones, but Once he does, we will assess his skills and make our way back to Konoha as fast as possible."

"What if he doesn't make an appearance at all?" Shikaku asked.

Sakumo grimaced, "Then we will need to resort to more aggressive actions, but let us hope it does not come to that."

I frowned deeply behind my mask and spoke up, "If you can see the memories of your clones and watch from afar alone, then is there a reason for us to be here."

The jonin gave us a weak smile, "At an absolute max, I can make four Shadow Clones. Making three will tire me out instantly and I will be unable to fight our target if he comes after me. Even with soldier pills, I will be unable to fight our target for long, if the reports about the target are accurate. Therefore, you three are here to evaluate alongside me and return to Konoha with information about the target should I fall. If he does come after us, I will hold him off as long as I can so you can flee safely."

It was easy to forget that the Shadow Clone jutsu drained the user's chakra reserves considerably, especially since Naruto spammed them in the main series. Even for an experienced jonin like Sakumo, the Shadow Clone jutsu was not something that could be used freely.

But what bothered me was his willingness to sacrifice himself so he can save us. It was a mistake that I made once and I didn't want anyone else to make the same mistake. I knew the man meant well, as he wanted to ensure our safety even though we had just met, but it didn't sit well with me. Especially since he had a child, or a potential child, waiting for him at home.

"We won't abandon you," Mikoto interjected, glancing at me for a moment before turning her attention back to the jonin. It was the first time she spoke during the entire mission, which was unusual since she usually tried to strike up a small conversation with me or Shikaku, "We'll make sure you return to Konoha safely."

The white-haired shinobi looked surprised but hesitantly nodded, "I'll make sure not to drag you all down then."

Three clouds of smoke appeared next to Sakumo and they all transformed into three plain-looking Konoha shinobi. They moved as a unit towards the river and patrolled the area like a normal patrol team. We waited in silence for several hours and only moved to keep the "patrol team" in our sights. During that time, we remained hidden in the nearby trees and watched our surroundings carefully. Strangely, during our wait, I had to snap Mikoto back to attention several times as her thoughts seemed to have been elsewhere. Occasionally, she looked mentally unfocused and looked to the distance distractedly.

When the sun fell, the clones hid and popped out of existence. Our wait was for naught.

"Well, it looks like he didn't take the bait today. I guess we'll have to wait till tomorrow to try again," Sakumo rubbed the back of his head, "It'll be harder to collect information about him while he's fighting in the dark, so we'll rest for the night and try again at dawn."

The four of us traveled some distance away from the border and made camp in a clearing near a town. The town had a sizeable garrison of shinobi forces within and was a place for communications between units on the border.

Sakumo went to town by himself in order to see if there were any sightings of the gold dust user on other parts of the border. While we waited for him, we set up a few camouflage nets and sleeping bags in the trees to retire for the night. We made sure to not start any fires to avoid being detected and ate a few ration bars in silence.

Shikaku went to sleep first or at least pretended to "sleep" first. Sometimes, I couldn't tell the difference due to his usual antics and behavior, but I was sure he was sleeping as he laid in the trees unmoving.

Meanwhile, Mikoto was training near our camp by herself. During the entire mission, she looked much tenser and quieter than usual, and I suspected that something was wrong. I decided to talk to her and walked over to where she was practicing. I made sure that no one else was around before talking to her, "Are you ok?"

"We're on a mission, Dog," She muttered under her breath as she struck a tree with her brass knuckles with brute force. When she removed her fists, I could see a large, glowing indent in the tree trunk.

"I'm talking to you as a mission leader, Deer. If you're not focused on the mission, then you might compromise us."

She sighed and punched the poor tree once again, "It's just... private matters. I'm fine, but thanks for checking up on me."

I knew she was not fine but decided not to press her on it, "We'll talk about it when we get back to the village. You don't have to shoulder everything alone, I'm here for you, and so is Sloth."

Mikoto stopped punching the tree and put away her brass knuckles, "Thanks. I'll make sure I'm focused, I promise. Stay safe during night watch"

The Uchiha heiress looked a bit more relaxed as she walked away from the tree, but I could tell she was still stressed as she walked up a tree and slipped into her sleeping bag. My eyebrows pressed together as I stared at the charred wood of the tree trunk and then back at Mikoto. I silently cursed myself as I realized that what I said sounded insensitive and made it seem like the mission was more important than her. But she didn't look like she wanted to talk at the moment, so I left her alone to dwell on her thoughts. The last thing I wanted was to start a fight or get into an argument during a mission. And while Mikoto was a close friend, I knew that she was fiercely independent and didn't need reassurance from me every minute.

I settled down and practiced my new jutsu while keeping an eye around camp. As usual, I was the first one to guard camp during the night and took the chance to practice a bit. The jutsu was still unrefined and I wanted to improve on my new jutsu to the best of my abilities, just in case we had to fight Rasa. I made sure to practice the jutsu near a tree and under a camouflage net, both to hide the jutsu as much as possible from wandering eyes and to avoid drawing any hostile shinobi to our location.

"Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu, eh?"

The jutsu in my hand nearly exploded as I quickly turned towards the source of the voice with a kunai in my hand. Even in the darkness of the night, I could make out Sakumo standing directly next to me. He stopped my strike and smiled patronizingly, "Six ryos."

He let go of my hand cautiously and allowed me to gather myself before speaking once again, "How long have you been practicing that jutsu?"

"Approximately three days now," I answered.

The jonin looked surprised for a moment before laughing, "You must either be very talented or have a good teacher. That jutsu is not an easy one to learn and even a jonin with a Lightning affinity can take up to a month to learn the jutsu. Yet from what I saw just now, your Lightning Kunai is about halfway to completion."

I blinked confusedly, "It can take up to a month to learn the jutsu?"

Sakumo grinned, "The jutsu is difficult to learn because the user must constantly remain focused on the jutsu in order to use it. One wrong burst of chakra or a simple slip of concentration will result in the jutsu dissipating or exploding. But the problem is, it's hard to focus on it during a battle and even in practice. The jutsu requires a very fine balance of chakra control and chakra output, after all."

"You sound extremely knowledgeable about this, Hatake-san."

"It's because my natural affinity if Lightning," As if to prove his point, the man used the Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu in front of me without any difficulties. I stared as the lightning formed into a shape of a kunai and remained stable in his hand, "It took me approximately a week of constant practice to learn the jutsu, so don't feel discouraged because you're not getting the jutsu down right away."

Internally, I was conflicted. The man was clearly a skilled Lightning user and a powerful jonin to boot. While I already had Dan and Rabbit to help me out with my overall abilities, I didn't have anyone that was able to teach me Raiton jutsu. Lightning, like Wind, was fairly rare in Konoha and despite my best efforts, my search for a Raiton teacher came up short. Additionally, I was motivated to get close to the man so he didn't die like in the original series.

Even so, I was on a mission and I didn't want to build a personal relationship with the man while wearing a mask.

Sakumo seemingly was able to see through me and smiled warmly, "I can help you practice that jutsu if you would like."

"I apologize for troubling you, Hatake-san," I said with a bow.

He shook his head reassuringly, "It's fine. After all, it is rare to see a Konoha shinobi with a Lightning affinity and it's always my pleasure to help out any of my fellow shinobi in need."

I worked with him for several hours and when Shikaku woke up to replace me as the night watch, I fell asleep immediately.

"I sense someone coming," Sakumo muttered, "He seems to be closing in on the patrol team."

The man looked tired and weary, but remained on his feet and looked towards the decoys instinctively. It had been only several minutes since Sakumo sent out his clones, yet it seemed like our target was finally making an appearance.

Mikoto activated her Sharingan under her mask and confirmed the jonin's words, "I managed to see the chakra signatures of three shinobi on the move towards the clones. They all have large chakra reserves, but one of them has much more chakra than the other two. They disappeared out of sight shortly after I spotted them."

"Then let us get ready," The jonin stated, "Our target is most likely the one with the biggest reserves, but keep an eye on all three of them. Remember the plan."

We moved silently on the branches and watched the clones from a distance. After a few minutes, the clones came to a stop on their own and we waited for the unknown ninjas to appear.

Suddenly, a stream of golden dust appeared towards the clones. The clones dodged them skillfully and jumped into the branches of nearby trees. As they did, three people, two men and a woman, appeared in our sights. All three of them had Suna headbands on their foreheads. The young man in the middle had reddish hair and a large pouch strapped to his waist. And from the looks of it, the gold dust was shooting out of his pouch.

"That's our target, now let's hope my clones are able to dodge him long enough for us to assess him."

The four of us watched silently as the three Suna shinobi barely moved from their spots, with Mikoto activating her Sharingan to make note of anything unusual during the engage. If anything, they seemed amused as Sakumo's clones barely dodged the torrent of gold attacking them. I noticed that the clones were extremely fast, as they always moved away from the gold dust attacks with ease. It was a testament to Sakumo's own speed and abilities, as the clones were copies of the user.

Finally, one of the clones yelled out to the group of Suna shinobi while under attack, "Why are you attacking us? We're not at war!"

"Pathetic, even as you are under attack, you refuse to fight back," The gold dust user replied, avoiding the question, "Don't worry, I'll put you down soon enough. At least you will not be alive to see your village fall."

Suddenly, more gold dust erupted from the ground and surrounded the clones. The gold dust formed a dome over the clones and the shinobi with reddish hair stretched his hands out, "Jiton: Sakin Taiso (Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral)!"

The dome collapsed and crushed anything within instantly. When the dust cleared, the clones were gone.

Sakumo flinched and stood up, "Let's go."

We obeyed his command immediately and ran back towards Konoha. However, several seconds after we left our hiding spot, a torrent of wind rushed by us.

I looked towards Mikoto uneasily, "Deer, can you check behind us to see if they are following us?"

Mikoto nodded and turned her head back towards the border. "We have incoming!"

On cue, a flurry of shurikens sped towards us at impossible speeds. I used a nearby branch to swing away from the shurikens. I planted my feet onto a nearby tree trunk after I dodged and watched for the attackers. My friends made similar maneuvers to dodge the incoming shurikens while Sakumo deflected the ones that were coming towards him.

The three Suna shinobi from before appeared in front of us and eyed us like prey. The man I was sure was named Rasa strutted forward. Wordlessly, he crossed his arms and gold dust exploded out of his pouch. The gold dust shot towards each of us individually and I barely managed to dodge the strike aimed towards me.

"Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Beam Jutsu)!"

A beam of electricity shot out of my hands and went straight towards the Suna group. Before it could reach them, a wall of gold dust blocked my attack, though I did see that the attack managed to melt through a bit of his gold dust. The gold dust user looked infuriated and the gold dust shot forward towards me once again.

As I jumped out of the way, the dust tracked my movement and grazed my left arm. The gold dust felt like a knife slashing against my skin and I gritted my teeth as blood leaked from my arm. The wound wasn't deep, but it felt like the gold dust was constantly grinding on my wound, worsening the pain.

The others were struggling just as much as I was against the waves of gold dust. I noticed that the amount of gold dust hitting each of us was reduced than the amount of gold dust that struck the individual clones previously. This most likely meant that Rasa had a limit for the amount of gold dust he could use during an engagement.

I summoned two Lightning clones with an average amount of chakra and had them move in sync with me towards the Suna team. It was at this moment Sakumo called out an order, "Formation Four!"

Formation Four was a pincer movement to strike the enemy from three sides. The person that called out the formation would act as the "spearhead" towards the enemy while the remaining members of the team struck from the sides. It was a standard Konoha formation and the numbers were rotated weekly. I assumed that Sakumo made the same assumption I did, as he called for a formation that attacked the enemy from multiple angles.

Mikoto and Shikaku moved as I pressed forward. I dispersed my clones to move some distance away from me, in order to split up the gold dust. My two teammates moved out of sight and into the trees to time their strikes. When Sakumo got close enough, we all converged on the Suna team at once, from six different points including my clones. The gold dust shot out towards us like before, but with the amount of gold dust we each faced was most definitely less than before.

One of my clones was struck by the gold dust and dissipated, but the other clone pressed forward with the others. I rapidly formed several hand seals and unleashed a jutsu. I was grazed on my waist this time, but I still shoved forward despite the pain, "Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Bolt)!"

I threw the sizeable lightning bolt towards Rasa and threw three Explosive Tags for good measure. My other teammates used their respective elemental jutsu as well while Sakumo moved forward with only a kunai at hand. I thought that we had them as the gold dust was still collecting itself to block our attacks, but my hopes were dashed when the woman next to Rasa pulled out a small fan from her sleeves and waved it at us, "Futon: Taifuikka (Wind Release: Passing Typhoon)!"

All our attacks immediately disappeared from the powerful gust of wind that emitted from her fan. The wind jutsu knocked us backward and even made my clone disappear upon contact. Sakumo was the only one standing after the attack, yet even he looked pushed back from the wind.

"Dog-chan, do you think you can maintain your jutsu for longer than ten seconds?" Sakumo asked as I got up from the ground.

My left arm and waist were stinging and bleeding, but I was still on my feet, "I might be able to do, Hatake-san."

"Good, then we can make this gamble. That jutsu will be able to cut through his gold dust. Have your teammate with the brass knuckle join us, and have your other teammate distract that wind user while we get close. Let us hope this works, or we might not come out of this fight alive."

It was then I noticed that he was breathing harder than usual and that he was bleeding from a wound on his right shoulder. I motioned for Mikoto to come over and signaled to Shikaku to provide us with cover from the trees. Both followed through immediately and once Mikoto landed next to us, we moved forward. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Shikaku use his Shadow Possession jutsu on the woman with the fan from afar. Once I saw her trying to fight the jutsu, I turned my eyes back to the front.

In one swift move, the jonin pulled out a scroll and a sheathed sword puffed into existence. Sakumo pulled out the sword with his left hand and formed a hand seal with his right hand, "Raiton: Raiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Fang)!"

The sword sparked and emitted arcs of lightning violently, glowing brightly in a deadly blue light. Without looking at me, the jonin shouted, "Now!"

"Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Pure Lightning Kunai Technique)!"

Lightning formed in my right hand and I desperately prayed for the jutsu to work as intended. I pushed forward and focused on the jutsu in my hand, forming a blade of lightning in my hand. I recalled the jonin's words of advice the night before.

The jutsu is difficult to use if you attempt to make a kunai from the start. The kunai shape is meant to be easier to throw, but that comes after learning the basics of the jutsu itself. The trick is to focus on making a blade that you can use for close combat first, before attempting to form the lightning into a more complex shape like a kunai.

I focused on making a short blade that was similar to a blade on a dagger. I had successfully managed to use the jutsu last night, but I was unsure how it would hold up in a real fight. Regardless, I had to try. Or else we were dead.

Thankfully, the blade came into existence just a moment later. The lightning blade was about ten centimeters in length and when I grabbed it, it felt somewhat physical. When a wave of sand appeared towards me, I narrowly dodged the attack and used my blade to cut the gold dust.

The blade managed to cut through the gold dust slightly, but it was enough to make some of the gold dust fall to the ground lifelessly. As I parried another attack that was coming towards me, Sakumo moved forward ahead of me and sliced an arc of electricity towards Rasa. The reddish haired man's male teammate moved forward to intercept the attack with a wind jutsu of his own and fought Sakumo head-on.

Which left me and Mikoto to face the gold dust user.

Several precious seconds had passed since I activated my jutsu, but I was close to the man than before. When I got within range, I pushed my blade forward to stab him in his chest. The man seemed unfazed as a wall of gold dust was erected in front of me. Regardless, I slammed into his gold dust wall with my blade and began to slice the wall with the lightning blade. The blade managed to knock some of the gold dust loose and created a small opening. Eagerly, I pushed forward even further and prepared a Rasengan with my free hand.

Before I could attack, gold dust exploded out of the ground and surrounded me fast. I cursed as the dome started to close above me and tried to use my blade to cut my way through. However, before the lightning blade could even touch the gold dust, it faded away.

I mentally panicked as I tried to use the jutsu once again. Unfortunately, my attempt at forming the jutsu exploded in failure and the gold dust closed in on me. In a desperate attempt to escape, I used a jutsu to create an opening, "Rasengan!"

Shockingly, the gold dust rotated along with my Rasengan to negate the effects of the powerful chakra sphere. I didn't know how Rasa was manging this, but I continued to push with the Rasengan to escape, adding more power to it to bring down the walls. However, as I saw some cracks in the dome, the gold dust collapsed on me quickly. As I reflexively placed my arms above my head to protect myself, something struck the gold dust and literally sliced the dome in half. Seeing my opportunity to escape, I leaped through the gap created towards the top and landed safely outside.

When I looked up, I saw Sakumo holding his sword in a slashing motion towards the collapsed dome. The body of the gold dust user's teammate was on the ground and the white-haired jonin readied his sword once again to face the gold dust user. However, Rasa let out a small tsk before collapsing into a pile of gold dust.

And before I could react, the Konoha jonin collapsed onto the ground, the sound of his sword dropping being the only sound echoing through the forest.

Two days later, our group arrived back at Konoha with three bodies in tow. Two of them were unconscious Suna shinobi, while the third body was the worn-out and unconscious body of one Hatake Sakumo. Thankfully, the jonin wasn't dead but suffered from chakra exhaustion. His impressive display with the sword and his Raiton jutsu stretched his body to the breaking point.

We managed to locate an Anbu team that was returning to Konoha to help us bring the Suna shinobi back to Konoha and the Anbu agents kept the two Suna shinobi unconscious throughout the entire trip. During the trip, my teammates and I completed a detailed report on what we saw during our engagement, including the abilities of the gold dust user and his teammates. When we arrived at the village, we dropped the jonin off in the hospital and reported back to Danzo at the Anbu headquarters. The bodies of the Suna shinobi were transported away to a private cell within the headquarters.

"Ah, Root Team One and Anbu Team Nine. I see that you have returned together. I assume both of your missions were a success?" The head of Anbu stated expectingly.

I and one of the Anbu members nodded. The man looked pleased as he eyed the two teams, "Good. Rat, I'll listen to your debriefing first. Root Team One, please wait outside until I am finished."

Mikoto, Shikaku, and I bowed and walked out of the office. We remained in the hallways silently, thinking over the events of the mission. I recalled that I nearly died yet again due to the gold dust, but it wasn't due to any mistakes on my part. The gold dust user was beyond my skill level and he was definitely stronger than the Atasuke clan member I faced during my first mission. My speed had gotten faster over the past year, yet the gold dust user still grazed me twice and trapped me in his dome towards the end. It was only due to a series of dumb luck that I managed to stay alive. Sakumo managed to defeat his opponent just in time to free me from my prison, Shikaku discreetly managed to trap the Suna kunoichi using his Shadow Possession jutsu with his ninja wire to prevent her from retaliating against us, and Mikoto managed to hold Rasa's attention just long enough for Sakumo to rescue me. A shinobi's life was a fickle thing and even the easiest mission reminded me this constantly. And no matter how advanced I was for my age, there was always a shinobi that was going to be better than me. At least for now.

Once we finished debriefing, I was going to return home, rest for the day, and then immediately go back to training.

The three of us were unusually silent while we waited. Shikaku rested on the ground while Mikoto leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Both of them seemed to be in their own world for the moment and they only reacted after Danzo called us back into the office. After we walked in, we debriefed him on the mission and handed him a detailed report of our findings.

"It's a shame that the gold dust user escaped, but you three managed to net us two Suna shinobi and valuable information about the gold dust user. You have made the Leaf safer by successfully carrying out this mission," Danzo smiled as he inspected each of us individually, "Your pay will be with your instructor at your next training lesson with them. For now, you will be given a two-week break from missions to improve upon your training and rest. However, you may be called to my office anytime this week, so be on alert. Dismissed."

We left the headquarters and arrived back at my apartment. When we arrived, Mikoto rushed to my bedroom and returned wearing her standard attire, "That was too close, Hiro-chan."

I didn't know what to say as I changed into my normal clothing behind the sofa. The Uchiha heiress bit her lips as she glared at me, "I know it wasn't your fault, but still, it was too close."

I knew exactly what she was talking about as I turned to look at her directly, "It was a mission, Mikoto. We were forced to fight and I did."

"He's right. There wasn't a choice there," Shikaku mumbled as he excused himself to change.

When Shikaku disappeared into the bathroom, Mikoto moved towards me and clung onto me, "Maybe we should quit Root."

I was speechless as I registered what she said, "But I thought you enjoyed improving your abilities and liked going outside the village for missions?"

"I know," Mikoto said quietly, "But you nearly died that time and I don't want to lose you."

"We'll have to do this when we're shinobi anyways, Mikoto. It's better to get better now then wait till later," I said gently as I gave her a half-hug. "Did something happen before you left for the mission? You've been acting strangely."

The Uchiha scowled and looked down at the ground, "Father wants me to get married."

I nearly swore in English before regaining control of myself, "But you're ten!"

"Yeah, but since I've been showing a lot of progress as a kunoichi, the elders want me to find someone suitable to lead the clan with when my father places me as the head," Mikoto's scowled deepened, "And they paired me with that boring, stupid Fugaku! To make it worse, he agreed! They didn't even want to hear what I had to say. My father tried to oppose them, but the elders threatened to remove him and place Fugaku's father as the new clean head, so he was forced to agree. I was distracted during the mission because I got into a fight with father and the marriage thing."

"Is there any way to get around the arranged marriage?"

For the first time since we returned to the village, Mikoto smiled, "Just one, unless I find someone suitable to replace him."

Oh dear lord. She didn't mean...

"Yes, I'm looking at you Hiro-chan!"

"Well, this is awkward."

Shikaku emerged from the bathroom with an amused expression, "That was pretty bold of you, Mikoto. Confessing with a marriage proposal."

Mikoto pouted at our Nara friend, "Well I didn't really have a choice!"

"I mean, what about Shikaku?" I pointed out casually.

"He's a friend, but not the one I really like!" Mikoto declared.

I sweated nervously as I backed away from the girl slowly. Mikoto and I were both ten years old, but I was mentally an adult. Not to mention, I didn't even have any thoughts of having a regular romantic relationship with Mikoto until this moment, "Maybe you should calm down a bit and think this through..."

"No."

Mikoto clung onto me and I was unable to shake her off, "I'm not moving till you say "yes," Hiro-chan."

I sighed deeply as I felt a headache pounding my head from the situation, "How do you know I'm better than Fugaku?"

"Because you are!" Mikoto declared confidently, "We don't need to get married right away! You just need to beat him in a match spectated by the elders and we can get married later on!"

How the hell did it come to this?

"I'll beat him in a fight but for the marriage issue... Let's discuss that after we've grown up a bit," I answered desperately, trying to delay the issue as much as I could.

Thankfully, the raven-haired girl seemed satisfied by my answer and let go, "Deal!"

Even as I went to sleep, my thoughts were plagued by the issue with Mikoto.

Three days after I returned to Konoha, peace in the Elemental Nations was shattered as Suna invaded Konoha through Tani. Their reason for war was because Konoha "invaded" Suna territory and killed two Suna shinobi. Two days after Suna's declaration of war, Iwa followed suit with their own declaration of war. Uzu came to Konoha's defense while Kumo and Kiri remained neutral... for the time being.

Unfortunately for me, I was stuck right in the middle of it. And if I didn't change anything, people I knew would start dying... Starting with my blue-haired teacher.

AN: And that wraps up this chapter.

A lot of rewriting happened, which is why the update was a bit delayed, but I hope you enjoy it.

Remember, all forms of criticism and comments are welcome! If you enjoyed something or hated something, make sure to review the chapter down below!

Now to the reviews...

1) It may be a Mikoto-Hiro pairing. It may be a Mikoto-Kushina-Hiro pairing... You will need to read to find out. But it will not be a harem and Shikaku will not be paired with Hiro.

2) How powerful is Rasa? He's currently a mid-level jonin. He's not as powerful as he was in the original series, but he's definitely strong. He'll play a critical role in the Second Shinobi War.

3) I meant that guns can lead to other technologies being invented. After all, in the Boruto series, technology seems awfully close to our own Earth's current-day technology, minus modern weapons. This is why I mentioned in the last chapter that I will not be implementing any firearms or gunpowder into this story.

4) Minato would be around an average genin right now. As for Hiro and his crew, their skill level is around mid/experienced chunin levels, with experience to boost. And yes, in a straight-up fight, Hiro will definitely be able to beat the current Minato without breaking a sweat. In this story, Minato will be more of a book smart genius with great speed. He won't reach his full potential until he becomes a genin under Jiraya, as he's an orphan with no real connections to the shinobi forces (unlike our MC). He will get powerful later on in the story, but he'll lag behind our MC and Mikoto/Shikaku for a while.

5) Chidori was made by Kakashi because he couldn't infuse Lightning into the Rasengan. Hiro might attempt it later on... but he's trying to imitate the Chidori first. Keep in mind, Hiro is smart and talented, but he's not a prodigy or genius. He's punching above his weight, but he will need a lot of time and practice to learn advanced jutsu, as seen in this chapter.

6) Kiri is not at war with Konoha, neither is Kumo. Kumo, like the original series, will remain neutral until they see a winning side (and join the winning side). As for Kiri... I have plans for Kiri.

7) I also have plans for Uzu and I have a plausible reason in mind for why some of the Great Villages wanted them destroyed... One of the reviewers mentioned a seal printing press, and the reason will be something akin to that matter.

Till next time!