The Arrogant Uchiha

The rain kept falling.

Four hours had passed since leaving Konoha, and the sky remained a oppressive leaden gray. The forest paths were muddy and treacherous, with slippery moss and tangled roots forming a natural obstacle course.

"Too slow."

At the front of the group, Uchiha Fugaku's figure halted on a thick branch. He didn't turn around, but the disdain in his voice carried clearly through the rain.

"If this were a regular unit, at this marching speed, we'd already be corpses in a rock ninja ambush."

About twenty meters behind him, two figures followed closely.

Namikaze Minato's face was neither flushed nor breathless; though his golden hair was soaked, his blue eyes remained sharp. His chakra absorption was steady, each leap like a precisely calculated trajectory.

Behind him, Nishikawa Tetsu's breathing was somewhat rapid but not disordered.

Without close observation, it was hard to notice that Nishikawa Tetsu's movement style was unusual. Instead of using large bursts of chakra like traditional ninja, he utilized gravitational potential energy, performing a "swinging" motion between tree trunks to conserve stamina as much as possible.

"Sorry, Fugaku-senpai, we'll pick up the pace." Namikaze Minato smiled as he smoothed things over, slowing slightly to wait for his teammate.

Uchiha Fugaku glanced at Nishikawa Tetsu catching up, his brow furrowing deeper.

"Hmph, wasting the whole team's stamina to coddle a deadweight is the stupidest move, Namikaze Minato."

He turned, his crimson Sharingan flashing briefly, his cold gaze sweeping over Tetsu: "Hey, you. If you can't keep up, say it now. I'll dump you at the nearest outpost so I don't have to bother retrieving your corpse from the Land of Rain."

Nishikawa Tetsu wiped the rain from his face and adjusted his breathing rhythm.

According to his calculations, their current pace was about 40 kilometers per hour.

Easy for a Jonin like Uchiha Fugaku, somewhat taxing for a genius like Namikaze Minato, but for him with only mid-to-low chakra reserves, it was already high-intensity operation.

"No need for your concern, senpai." Nishikawa Tetsu's voice was steady and calm.

Uchiha Fugaku snorted, turned, and accelerated again. "I'll give you another hour. If we don't reach the planned point, we're sleeping in a mud pit tonight."

By evening, the rain had lightened.

The three finally reached a dry hollow beneath a cliff face before dark.

Sheltered from the wind with a clear view, it was an ideal temporary camp.

"Rest here for ten minutes, then we move on. We'll cross the Land of Fire border under cover of night."

After giving the order, Uchiha Fugaku leaped onto a large boulder above, sat cross-legged, and began keeping watch with his back to the two.

Despite his harsh words, he had clearly left the safest resting spot for the two genin.

Namikaze Minato took out rations from his ninja tool pouch and handed them to Nishikawa Tetsu: "Here, replenish your energy. Fugaku-senpai may have a sharp tongue, but he's actually a good person."

"Typical power-oriented personality, with mild obsessive-compulsive and tsundere traits." Nishikawa Tetsu bit into a hard ration pill and gave a precise psychological profile. "Hard to get along with, but as a teammate, very reliable."

Namikaze Minato blinked, then smiled wryly. "You always use such unique words to describe people."

Just then, instead of sitting down to rest, Nishikawa Tetsu stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff near some bushes.

He crouched down and began rummaging through a pile of weeds.

Uchiha Fugaku's ears twitched from above. He turned his head and saw Nishikawa Tetsu carefully digging up a plant with purple veins using a kunai, then wrapping it in cloth and stuffing it into a pouch at his waist.

"What are you doing?"

Uchiha Fugaku's voice carried disbelief. "That's just weeds, isn't it? Instead of recovering chakra, you're playing in the mud?"

"This isn't a weed, Fugaku-senpai."

Nishikawa Tetsu patted the dirt off his hands, his expression calm. "This is a variant of aconite. Its roots contain a high concentration of alkaloids. After refinement, just 3 milligrams can paralyze an adult male's nervous system for about 15 seconds."

Uchiha Fugaku paused, then let out a dismissive snort. "Pointless tricks. In the face of absolute power and the Sharingan, such low-grade poison has no chance to be used."

"In this world, there are no useless tools, only people who don't know how to use them." Nishikawa Tetsu stood up. "Besides, refining it is free. An Explosive Tag costs nearly three hundred ryo, but poison is a gift from nature."

"Cheapskate."

Uchiha Fugaku gave a two-word verdict and turned away.

Yet, just a few seconds later, Nishikawa Tetsu's actions caught his attention again.

Nishikawa Tetsu pulled out a handful of strange metal powder from his backpack and began sprinkling it along an inconspicuous depression around the camp's perimeter.

"What's that now... forget it, I won't ask." Uchiha Fugaku watched the gray-white powder, his brow twitching.

The Uchiha Clan's combat aesthetic was flashy fire release, precise shurikenjutsu, and the invincible Sharingan. This rat-like behavior of fiddling with the ground instinctively disgusted him.

"This is a mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide powder." Nishikawa Tetsu muttered to himself as he sprinkled, as if performing a ritual. "As long as a little high temperature ignites it, the instant heat can reach over 2500 degrees. Though it's a bit damp in this rain, as long as I combine it with that..."

His gaze swept over a nearby piece of phosphorus ore, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

Namikaze Minato curiously leaned in: "Is this also science?"

"This is art." Nishikawa Tetsu dusted off his hands. "Art is an explosion."

"Tch." Uchiha Fugaku heard this from above and couldn't help but retort, "Playing with fire? Mentioning the art of fire in front of an Uchiha is like showing off before an expert."

He stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and leaped down.

"Rest time's over. The next stretch is the real danger zone. Especially you, Nishikawa Tetsu."

Uchiha Fugaku walked up to Nishikawa Tetsu, his black eyes fixed intently on him.

His tone was still stiff, but it carried less of the earlier contempt and more of a stern warning: "If those little tricks of yours can kill the enemy, I have no objection. But if messing around with these things causes you to fall behind..."

He extended a finger and tapped on Nishikawa Tetsu's forehead protector:

"Even if it's Lord Jiraiya's order, I won't turn back to save you. Understood?"

Nishikawa Tetsu looked up, meeting the eyes of the future Uchiha clan leader.

"Understood. If I fall behind, by all means, don't look back."

Because by then, the traps I've left behind might blow up anyone who turns around, Nishikawa Tetsu silently added in his mind.

"Move out!"

With a low shout from Uchiha Fugaku, the three of them once again vanished into the rain-soaked forest.