A Year

A year later.

Near the Land of Fire border.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Two balls of flame roared as they surged towards the enemy, exploding with a boom and engulfing everything around them.

The moment the enemy merged into the ground.

"Three meters underground, direction is 15 degrees east, moving very fast. Kakashi, make your move!"

Gen'ichi opened his eyes, the massive Radiation Cloud furiously permeating the ground, continuously interfering with the rapidly moving target.

Lightning Blade!

Amidst the surging lightning, Kakashi moved swiftly, his cold face showing nothing but boundless killing intent.

Tear!

Bursting with powerful thrusting ability, Kakashi aimed downwards and plunged his hand into the ground with a fierce strike. After a huge roar, the earth cracked open, dirt flew everywhere, accompanied by splattering blood.

"No, no way… I can't believe I ran into you guys… the genius ninja of the Minato Squad and Shibi's Team…"

An Iwa Ninja stared down at his pierced chest in disbelief, finally coughing up a large mouthful of blood before dying unwillingly.

"Alright, that's the last one."

Gen'ichi glanced at the scattered corpses around them and said calmly.

At his words, the tense nerves of the few people began to relax.

Rin Nohara quickly ran out, intending to use medical ninjutsu to heal the five of them. She first approached Gen'ichi.

"No need, Rin. Injuries like this are nothing to me."

Gen'ichi said with a faint smile, forming hand seals as he spoke.

Super Regeneration!

The wounds on his body were already healing rapidly. One wound, pierced by a kunai, was even making a faint, almost inaudible sizzling sound.

Although she had seen it many times before, every time Rin witnessed this terrifying regeneration ability firsthand, she still felt a jolt of fear.

"Gen—Gen'ichi, your body is just too powerful. This regeneration ability is practically an all-around Mystical Palm Technique…"

Rin Nohara looked at Gen'ichi with envy.

Such a body was simply too formidable. Combined with his astonishing Chakra reserves, it allowed Gen'ichi to quickly bounce back from any kind of injury.

It was… simply enviable to the point of turning purple, a body every medical ninja yearned to study.

"Rin, don't forget, he learned some basic medical ninjutsu from you before developing this regeneration technique!"

Obito came running back from a distance, grumbling that Rin's attention was being stolen by the annoying Gen'ichi.

"Heh, idiot, not everyone is Gen'ichi. You could study medical ninjutsu your whole life and still not develop a technique suitable for yourself." Kakashi sneered.

"Wha—what?! Damn Kakashi, don't underestimate me! Rin, teach me medical ninjutsu now, I can do it too!"

Obito instantly got defensive, shouting and rolling up his sleeves as he sped over, ready to settle the score with Kakashi.

This kind of thing had happened many times over the past year. Even though the six of them often worked together in combat, leading enemies to gather a lot of intelligence on them and placing them high on assassination lists, Obito and Kakashi were always arguing.

Just then.

Swish!

Gen'ichi suddenly pulled out a kunai and threw it hard, where it landed with a thud and stuck into the ground in front of Obito.

"Before you get closer, give the password. You were the furthest away when we attacked the enemy just now, it would be easy for an enemy to secretly take you out and replace you. If you're really Obito, you'll know our internal password."

Gen'ichi spoke before Obito could say anything, then, with a serious look, he recited the password.

"Eyes wide like copper bells, shooting out lightning-like light!"

Ah, this...

Obito's usually thick skin turned red for a rare moment: "Ah, ah, ah, ah, Black Cat Detective…"

Seriously, what kind of trash password is this!!

That annoying Gen'ichi always comes up with things that are hard to understand!

And every time they had to give the password, for some reason, there was always a strange sense of embarrassment, Black Cat Detective and all…

Damn it!

Beside them, Might Guy nodded with satisfaction: "Obito, our weakest member among the six of us, it's great that you're safe once again."

"Bastard! Guy, you want to fight too?!"

Obito felt offended and flew into a rage.

They bickered and argued; this was the daily life of the six-person team. With a guy like Obito around, things could never stay quiet.

Honestly, that idiot Obito, the cold-faced Kakashi, and the dense Guy… I feel like those three are a perfect match and should form a team together.

Ichie coughed, watching the scene. A long-absent smile appeared on her pale face.

Over the past year, it had been nothing but mission after mission. As the war grew increasingly tense, a large number of the new generation formally stepped onto the battlefield, where blood and corpses were the eternal main theme.

Every day, comrades died. Every day was spent on the path of either killing or being killed.

Only when she saw these few arguing individuals would Ichie occasionally feel that she wasn't a lifeless corpse.

While Rin healed Ichie with her medical ninjutsu, she spoke with worry, "Ichie, your complexion is getting worse and worse. Your skin is pale, which is a sign of a rapid decrease in red blood cells. You're coughing more and more frequently, too. I'm afraid there's a problem with your lungs and entire respiratory tract..."

"It's alright, Rin, I'm very aware of my physical condition," Ichie replied calmly, shifting her gaze towards Gen'ichi.

But Gen'ichi simply gazed calmly at the distant scenery.

Over this past year, they had all become famous. Following Minato and Shibi, the team had caused a stir in Konoha with their one hundred percent mission completion rate and were repeatedly used by the village for internal propaganda.

Uchiha Ichie's name also resounded, and she was regarded as one of the three strongest of the new generation, alongside Gen'ichi and Kakashi.

Outsiders only saw Ichie raising the banner for the new generation of the Uchiha Clan and once again promoting the Uchiha Clan's name, but only a handful knew that Ichie's life had entered a countdown.

"Although I don't know what illness you have, if you keep delaying... when you can no longer control your body, you will lose the qualifications to be a ninja."

Rin looked troubled at Ichie, who occasionally coughed.

The Uchiha Clan's strongest genius was almost becoming the second Gekko Hayate.

If her symptoms worsened...

"Alright, Rin, don't worry about this matter. And don't tell anyone, absolutely not, even if Lord Hokage asks you."

Gen'ichi finally spoke, saying this calmly.

Rin was startled, becoming even more conflicted. If Kakashi had said that to her, she, who was gentle on the outside but resolute on the inside, would not have backed down an inch and would have insisted on resolving the issue.

But the one speaking now was Gen'ichi, the top figure of the new generation, a person with wisdom, resolve, courage, who was highly regarded and praised by the Hokage, and was said to embody the Will of Fire to the extreme.

Since he said that, Gen'ichi and Ichie must have already figured out a plan.

"I understand..."

Rin sighed.