Before long, the third great shinobi was in full swing. And it wasn't pretty.
Compared to the wars before it, this one was many times more brutal.
And it would be long, very long. I wasn't sure about how long it would last, I can't remember if it was even mentioned in the anime, and even if it was, I had experienced more then a thousand years since then.
Chakra might help with the memory, but it had its limits, remembering unimportant details from that long ago was beyond even me.
But I still knew it would last long, because Minato would be key to ending it, and he would be around twenty, maybe a bit older, and he was currently around fifteen, so at least another five years of war.
Though it could be longer, as the world hadn't been at peace for the last few years, while war wasn't declared, at least formally, that might just be to keep morale up. It was entirely possible that history books would mention the war starting as much as three years ago.
As for myself?
I had fully skipped the Genin arc. But then again, the Hyūga Clan wasn't known for its Genin, or as we still called them, fighters.
The old ways still dominated the large clans, ranks such as Genin, Chuunin, and Jōnin were still just being adapted.
We still used the old names, Fighter for Genin, though who could fight, often too young to take to the field, but in an emergency, they could fight.
Warriors, the backbone of any clan, the Chuunin level force, they were the main fighters, the main warriors, hence their name. The Hyūga Clan in particular was famous for its massive number of warriors.
This was due to the Byakugan and Gentle Fist, which were overwhelmingly powerful at the early stage. Genin level people just didn't have the skill or Chakra to throw around ninjutsu at will.
This meant that people mostly used low-level genjutsu and taijutsu, both things the Hyūga Clan could deal with.
So the Hyūga Clan had the highest amount of warriors, while the Uchiha Clan had the most elites, or Jōnin. The elites, the true might of a clan.
Even the Hyūga Clan had a good amount of those, but using only taijutsu had its limitations when it came to the highest levels of power.
Even the number of those reaching the Elite Jōnin level within our clan was very limited, but honestly, those were rare. It was, after all, the level of a Clan Leader.
Even the Uchiha Clan and the Senju clan only have a few of those, and the Hyūga Clan even less, mostly just one or two at a time.
I wasn't at that level yet, though it was only a matter of time before I reached it. I had, after all, mastered the Gentle Fist to a high level, and that included the more powerful techniques normally only taught to the main family.
And while I knew these because I watched them be developed from within the moon, I could openly use them due to my being 'taught' them by the main family.
They honestly weren't too bad; the entire system, while oppressive, wasn't without hope. While none could escape the fate of being sealed, one could ensure that their children wouldn't be.
The only thing with Hiashi and his brother was… unfortunate.
The problem was that Hiashi would be the future leader of the clan, and because Hizashi is his identical twin, he couldn't be left unsealed, as that would open up the possibility of him killing his brother and replacing him.
It was unlikely, but the chance was there, so he was sealed. If not for that fact, he would have been left unsealed, after all, the main family didn't seal their children, not often.
As long as a member was strong enough or talented enough, they could ensure their children weren't sealed. This pushed the entire main family to train hard, ensuring that the main family was strong, mostly elites.
This was the reason they could hold power, other than the seal itself.
At times, someone wouldn't be able to protect their children, and they would be sealed and sent to the branch. This was the flow of blood.
The main family would take in the purest blood, the greatest talent from the branch family, like myself, and allow their weakest blood to enter the branch.
This maintained the purity to the max. Stopping the outflow of the Byakugan.
A certain level of loyalty was expected, and I did everything I could to project that, and it worked. I was treated like if I was main family.
Still, that didn't mean I didn't have the duties of the branch, I was expected to protect the main family members, to stop the loss of the Byakugan.
It was the one thing all members of the clan agreed on, main family or branch, under no circumstances could the Byakugan be stolen.
Yet, the main family couldn't hide away, and certainly not now, during this brutal war.
While it wasn't in the most brutal phase yet, when even fresh Genin would be sent out, it still required the clans to push themselves. Chuunin and Jōnin were desperately needed.
Which meant the main family had to step up, since the branch had plenty of warriors, but few elites.
So, I was given my own team; I was already considered an elite, or, as Konoha saw it, a Tokubetsu Jōnin. After all, I wasn't good at much else but taijutsu, or at least the world wasn't aware of any other skills.
Outside Konoha, near the land of bears, my team and I came to a stop. "Alright, let's rest here, we won't be able to reach the target even if we run all night, so let's rest while we still can."
"Hai!" x7
My team was a large eight-man team, mostly from the Hyūga Clan, but it also had a Nara, an Inuzuka, and an Aburame. It was a sensor team on a mission to aid the front with scouting.
The Nara, a young man named Shikato, was there to help analyse the information we gathered about enemy movements. While the Aburame clan was almost equally smart, the higher-ups still insisted on a proper analyst.
"Say, you okay kid?" I couldn't help but ask him, given how he was panting like a dog… well even the literal dog in the team wasn't panting like him so…
Yeah, the guy was wiped out.
"I'm alright… just need a minute to catch my breath, damn, I can't believe you guys can handle such speed for so long." He gasped out, looking at the rest of us.
"Cheer up, bug boy is just as tired, but he is better at hiding it." I patted his shoulder to reassure him.
"I will be sending out my swarm to keep guard." The guy in question said, completely ignoring anything I said.
Yeah, they were quiet like that, rather anti-social. But then again, they were filled with bugs, even I kept my distance from him.
"Understood. Set your perimeter and report back if anything moves," I said.
The Aburame gave a short nod and slipped into the trees, a faint buzzing already filling the night air as his swarm spread outward.
I turned back to the others.
"Pairs of two," I said. "Rotate watch every two hours. We can't afford to be sluggish tomorrow."
The Inuzuka boy, a wiry kid with sharp eyes and a lazy grin, thumped his chest lightly. "Me and Kuro will take first watch."
His dog—a stocky black-furred thing that looked like it could bite through a log—gave a soft growl of agreement.
"Good," I said. "Shikato, you and I will take second shift. Get some sleep."
He gave a relieved exhale and flopped onto the nearest patch of grass without ceremony. Within seconds, he was snoring lightly.
I shook my head. But I knew more couldn't be expected, he was from a ninjutsu clan, it was no wonder that he struggled keeping up with taijutsu clans like Hyūga and Inuzuka.
The rest of the team moved smoothly, setting out minimal camps—no fires, no unnecessary noise. We had strict orders to avoid enemy detection until we reached the designated scouting point near the border.
I sat down near the base of a wide tree, rolling my shoulders out, letting my breathing even.
Tomorrow would be more dangerous.
The Land of Bears wasn't officially part of the war, but it was a known hotspot for ambushes and border skirmishes. I suspected we weren't the only ones running operations through this area.
Still, my team was a rarity, a full sensor team of this many people? No other village but Konoha could field something like this.
From what I knew, we could field one sensor for every ten shinobi we had. Which was miles ahead of the others, who might only be able to have one for every hundred. So great was Konoha's advantage when it came to sensors.
And was it any surprise? Three of the world's greatest sensor clans had all joined this one village.
Still, a group like this was rare, even among Konoha teams, more so because we had five members from the Hyūga Clan, including.
I turned my eyes over to where the other four members of my clan rested. There, in the middle of them, sat my true mission.
A young main house member, barely fifteen, dressed in practical traveling gear but wearing the unmistakable sash of status over his shoulder. His name didn't matter much—not to me, not to this mission. What mattered was that he carried the bloodline. His Byakugan was strong, his chakra well-developed, and the elders marked him as important.
Too important to risk losing to enemy hands.
He wasn't here because of his skill.
He was here because the main family needed him seasoned, needed him tested—and because the war demanded even the precious be thrown into the fire eventually.
And if anything happened to him?
It would be my head they demanded in repayment.
I watched as he adjusted his gloves, smoothing the fabric with careful, precise fingers. He caught me looking and gave a short nod—polite, acknowledging the pecking order without resentment.
Good.
It would make things easier if he didn't argue when I ordered him to duck or run.
A faint flicker at the edge of my vision drew my attention. The Aburame's insects returning, tiny flickers of chakra forming patterns I could only read with my Byakugan.
All clear.
For now.
I leaned back against the tree trunk, letting my muscles relax without fully dropping my guard.
Tomorrow, we would have to cross the last stretch of no-man's-land between us and the front. Scattered patrols. Bandits. Maybe even Iwa shinobi if we were unlucky.
Yet, it was my mission to ensure fighting was kept to a minimum, that we got past any and all enemies without them knowing we were even there.
All while we still got close enough to spot them before they spotted us.
Not particularly difficult, but it did carry risks, luck was sadly a major factor in this kind of mission.
After all, just because sensors were rare in the other villages didn't mean they didn't have any. And if our luck was really bad, we would run into one good enough to spot up as we spotted them.
Information was key in this kind of war, so it was key to stop the other side from gaining it. which was also why we were such a large group. Should we encounter other tracking units, we are meant to eliminate them.
However, precisely due to how precious sensors are to the enemy, they will be under heavy protection. Which means there would at least be one Jōnin in their team.
I was confident I could handle that, but should there be more than two? I would have to rely on my teammates, and that put the Byakugan at risk.
War… truly horrible.
Do you see this Hagoromo? Are you watching as the humans you entrusted Chakra to use it for this? Killing? War?
Do you regret turning against me?
(End of chapter)
So, our dear Yuki is growing up, getting a team of her own. A new mission, a more difficult one, a dangerous one.
Let's see where this take us no?