"Well, Captain, did you find anything?" asked the shinobi who had delivered the "cargo."
The squad captain nodded, then shook his head. He replied,
"Our mission doesn't need to continue. The target is already dead."
And he died pretty stupidly... —though that last part he kept to himself.
Hearing the target was dead, the two Uchiha shinobi standing nearby each let out a breath of relief. None of them had any interest in continuing this meaningless mission.
"Then what's the problem? Don't tell me we're supposed to track down the one who killed him?"
The captain shook his head again.
"No need for that. The killer is dead too. However..."
"However, before the target died, someone claiming to be Uchiha Izuna showed up, trying to rescue him. That same so-called Izuna was the one who released the imprisoned shinobi here."
"Izuna? That's impossible. He's been on another mission this whole time," the younger Uchiha ninja immediately objected.
It wasn't an unfounded denial — Uchiha Izuna's is his little brother... and Uchiha Madara's as well.
At this point in time, Madara was probably already down a few brothers.
And soon enough, he'd only have one left — then none at all.
"The person had their face covered. Judging from their build and apparent age, they did resemble Izuna. But... it definitely wasn't him."
It wasn't entirely baseless that Genma had impersonated someone else. He was about the same age as Tobirama Senju, and Tobirama was close in age to Izuna Uchiha — so it made sense that Genma could pass himself off as Izuna.
The remaining Uchiha shinobi finally caught on and asked, "Someone impersonating an Uchiha?"
What do you do when someone's impersonating a member of the Uchiha clan?
The answer: absolutely nothing.
Unless they literally bumped into the impersonator mid-mission, the Uchiha didn't have the time or energy to bother with such trivial nonsense.
All three let out a sigh at the same time, their faces showing helpless resignation.
"Let's go. Our mission's over."
Hane Genma had no idea that just after he left the town, the Uchiha clan arrived — an unlucky or perhaps lucky coincidence that the two sides didn't cross paths.
At the time, he'd been so focused on the rescue mission that he completely forgot the post-battle routine of collecting loot. If he'd gotten caught up in that, who knows — he might've actually run into them.
Not that Genma particularly feared the Uchiha — as long as it wasn't one of those specific shinobi. The clan was known for its pride, to the point of arrogance. That arrogance often made them vulnerable to surprise attacks.
Taking them down was simple: wait for that moment when they thought, "Curse the fate of those born without the Sharingan," then let out a smug sneer. That's your cue — ambush them right then and there.
Next scene: one Uchiha laid out flat.
And Genma, at this point in his life, had become very good at ambushing people.
Even if he hadn't run into the Uchiha this time, it didn't matter. Sooner or later, fate would lead him back to them.
Back at camp.
Several days passed. Chihori had mostly recovered, and Genma decided it was time to move their group elsewhere.
But for some reason, every time he made a decision like this, something unexpected would always pop up and throw his plans off track.
And this time was no exception.
On the very day they finished packing and preparing to leave, everyone had done their part, and Genma was just about to call out "Let's go"—when the unexpected happened.
A strange and subtle sense of dissonance struck him, stopping the words in his throat.
How could he describe it?
It felt as if the reality in front of him had suddenly been split in two, and an extra frame of footage had been jammed into the middle.
Or like the usual flow of time had been disrupted—an extra second appearing where it didn't belong.
A temporal-spatial rupture. Genma's body tensed instantly — someone nearby was using a specialized jutsu.
Then—
A figure appeared mid-air.
"Wa—"
Boom.
Genma didn't even finish saying "Watch out" before the figure came crashing down hard onto the ground.
If anyone ever wanted a textbook example of what a true faceplant looked like, Genma would say this was it.
The figure hit the ground and tried to get up, limbs flailing slightly but failing each time.
With no other option, she raised her bloodied face toward Genma and the others and said hoarsely,
"Hey... could you guys... give me a hand...?"
The way she flopped and struggled looked almost comical — but when Genma finally saw her face clearly, a chill ran down his spine.
Not because he knew her, but because...
She had the Sharingan.
Not just the basic tomoe pattern either.
She had the Mangekyō Sharingan.
This Uchiha kunoichi had crash-landed, pleaded for help, and then promptly passed out.
So...
An Uchiha from the sky?
Well, fate didn't deliver it back there — so it made sure to do it here.
What was Genma thinking at that moment?
It certainly wasn't about harvesting body parts or anything. No, what came to his mind was Tobirama Senju.
He couldn't help but feel a little guilty toward Tobirama.
Because the target Tobirama had once been chasing... had really been hiding in Genma's camp all along.
He waved for everyone to back away, treating the fallen kunoichi as if she were radioactive — as though what had fallen from the sky wasn't a ninja, but an alien from another planet.
Genma himself cautiously approached, intending to check her condition.
She was already covered in wounds, bleeding from several areas. The impact from falling from midair had clearly worsened her condition. After struggling to ask for help, she'd slipped into unconsciousness.
Just to be sure, Genma stepped on her arm.
Crack.
Something fractured, maybe broke entirely. But she didn't even flinch. Genma relaxed slightly.
"Phew, really passed out."
Can't blame him for being overly cautious — it was his first time seeing Mangekyō Sharingan in person, and he wasn't about to take any chances.
"Captain, her eyes..." Hayasaka Ryunosuke came over and whispered.
Quite a few people had noticed something strange about her eyes when she'd looked up earlier.
"That's the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan. If I'm not wrong, she's probably the one Tobirama Senju was pursuing," Genma said.
The feud between the Senju and Uchiha was practically a law of nature in the shinobi world.
"But why show up now? It's been months," Ryunosuke asked again.
Genma found it odd too. It had been months since Tobirama came through, and now the pursued shows up, completely off from his timeline.
Then he remembered that very distinct sensation of space-time jutsu earlier and thought—could she be capable of using space-time ninjutsu?
It wasn't impossible.
Still, her injuries were clearly fresh. No way they were from months ago.
Genma opened his mouth but said nothing in the end... No one could say for certain what abilities an unknown Mangekyō Sharingan might possess.
"So... what now? Are we still relocating today?" Ryunosuke asked.
Genma gave him a strange look.
I just caught a wild Uchiha, and your first question isn't "Are we taking her eyes," but "Are we still moving out"?
That's some serious disrespect toward Mangekyō Sharingan.
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