After leaving Jiraiya's command tent, a Chunin in charge of logistics led the three of them to the rest area.
The rain was still falling, and the paths between the tents were a sea of mud.
With the number of wounded at the front surging, accommodations were especially cramped. It was common to see several ninja squeezed into a single tiny tent.
"Um... Lord Fugaku."
The Chunin leading them stopped in front of a relatively spacious tent set on dry ground. His tone was respectful, even ingratiating. "This single-person tent was reserved especially for you. As for the other two Genin, there's still room in the communal tent up ahead..."
In Konoha, the Uchiha Clan was an influential family that controlled the Police Force and enjoyed certain privileges. Even at the front, nobody wanted to offend a clan full of red-eyed people.
Uchiha Fugaku stopped and glanced at the comfortable single-person tent. Then he turned to look at Namikaze Minato and Nishikawa Tetsu, both drenched, who were preparing to head quietly toward the communal tent.
"That's not necessary."
Uchiha Fugaku cut the Chunin off coldly, crossing his arms. "Save this tent for the seriously wounded. Find us a tent for three, or... we'll all squeeze into this one."
The Chunin froze. "Huh? But, sir, that's against regulations."
Uchiha Fugaku glared at him impatiently. "Those two rookies have no battlefield experience. If we're attacked in the middle of the night, they'll die without someone watching over them. I want to keep them close so I can supervise them."
"Y-yes! Understood!" Startled, the Chunin bobbed his head and hurried away.
Namikaze Minato looked at Uchiha Fugaku in surprise, then gave him his signature warm smile. "Senpai Fugaku, you really don't have to..."
"Shut up."
Uchiha Fugaku didn't give him a chance to praise him. He lifted the tent flap and went inside, his voice muffled. "Don't get the wrong idea. I just don't want our mission evaluation to suffer because a teammate got killed. Get in!"
The corner of Nishikawa Tetsu's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
He might be gruff, but he was a reliable teammate.
There wasn't much room inside the tent. Once the three of them had laid out their sleeping bags, it felt cramped.
The dim oil lamp swayed in the breeze, stretching and shrinking their shadows.
The mood grew a little somber. The only sound was rain pattering against the canvas outside.
"Now, let's review today's battle."
Uchiha Fugaku sat cross-legged at the far end of the tent, carefully maintaining a kunai with a cleaning cloth. His serious expression made it clear he was taking on the role of team leader.
"Namikaze Minato."
"Yes." Minato, who had been organizing his ninja tools, immediately sat up straight.
"You're fast, and your reflexes are top-notch, but you were too impulsive when you attacked that Stone Ninja Jonin." Uchiha Fugaku criticized him without holding back.
"Closing in without knowing what your opponent can do is asking to get killed."
"What if he hadn't just had Earth Spear, but also had an Explosive Tag stuck to his body?"
Namikaze Minato scratched his head, looking sincere. "You're right. When I saw Tetsu was in danger, my body moved before I could think. I'll be more careful next time."
"And you, Nishikawa Tetsu."
Uchiha Fugaku shifted his gaze to Nishikawa Tetsu, who was using an Alcohol Lamp to dry their "spoils."
"That science of yours is useful, no doubt. It saved our lives, but—"
Uchiha Fugaku's eyes sharpened. "In the end, it's just an external advantage. If we'd met the enemy in an open field, or if we hadn't had that enclosed earthen fort, would your little trick have helped? Your Chakra reserves are too low. That's a serious weakness for a ninja. If we get dragged into a battle of attrition, you'll be the biggest liability on the team."
It was true, and it was currently Nishikawa Tetsu's greatest weakness.
Nishikawa Tetsu stopped what he was doing, set the dried Stone Ninja Forehead Protector aside, and looked Uchiha Fugaku straight in the eye.
"Your criticism is fair, senpai. My Chakra reserves are a weakness, which is why I use science to make up for them."
Then Nishikawa Tetsu suddenly shifted gears, a spark in his eyes. "But since you brought up battles of attrition, there's something I'd like to ask you."
"Go ahead."
"That Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique you used in the canyon was impressive, but from the perspective of energy conversion, its waste rate was as high as forty percent."
The air in the tent froze.
Namikaze Minato's mouth fell open as he stared at Nishikawa Tetsu in disbelief.
Had this guy lost his mind?
He was questioning the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release? That was their specialty!
Sure enough, a vein bulged on Uchiha Fugaku's forehead. The cleaning cloth in his hand was crumpled tight.
"What did you say?"
Uchiha Fugaku's voice was terrifyingly low. His Sharingan nearly activated on its own. "You're a Genin who hasn't even mastered Chakra Nature Transformation, and you're telling the Uchiha how to use Fire Release?"
"I'm not giving you a lesson. I'm analyzing the data."
Nishikawa Tetsu didn't back down. He took a match from his bag and struck it.
An orange flame danced on his fingertip.
"Take a look, senpai. A flame this color is around eight hundred degrees. The Uchiha Clan's Great Fireball is usually a deep orange or red. That means the combustion is incomplete, with a lot of carbon particles—in other words, soot—mixed into the flame."
Nishikawa Tetsu blew out the match and continued:
"Although the flame looks large and impressive, its heat density is actually low."
"When you use the technique, you release too much Chakra in pursuit of a wider range, but you don't convert all of it into heat. Much of it simply evaporates as wasted fuel."
"If the combustion were complete..."
Nishikawa Tetsu took out a strip of magnesium left over from making a flash bomb and lit it.
"Fsssh!"
A blinding white light flared, accompanied by intense heat.
"Do you see? A blue or white flame means complete combustion. With the same amount of Chakra, if you compress the volume and increase the oxygen mixture, you can more than double the temperature and increase its penetrating power."
Nishikawa Tetsu looked at the stunned Uchiha Fugaku and summed up his point:
"To be precise, senpai, your Great Fireball is spewing fire, not burning."
"That's where the forty percent of wasted Chakra goes. If you can improve that, you could burn through that Stone Ninja's Earth Flow Wall even without activating your Sharingan."
Silence fell over the tent.
Uchiha Fugaku stared hard at Nishikawa Tetsu, but his mind was already turning over the feeling of using Fire Release.
The Uchiha had always been taught that more Chakra meant a bigger fireball, and a bigger fireball meant more power.
No one had ever told him that the color of a flame was related to its temperature.
If anyone else had said that, he would have kicked them across the tent.
But this boy had just killed a Jonin with a few bags of flour.
That absurd feat gave his theory a strange air of credibility.
"Compress the volume... increase the mixture..."
Uchiha Fugaku murmured to himself. As a genius, he had begun to grasp a glimmer of inspiration.
If Nishikawa Tetsu was right, didn't that mean he could raise the power of his ninjutsu to another level?
After a long silence, Uchiha Fugaku let out a deep breath. Some of his rigid pride faded, replaced by a complicated expression.
"Hmph. A load of nonsense."
He turned his back to them, lay down, and pulled up the blanket.
"We have to get up early for training tomorrow. If I try it and it doesn't work, you're in for a beating."
Watching this, Namikaze Minato couldn't resist giving Nishikawa Tetsu a discreet thumbs-up.
Getting the arrogant Uchiha to fall silent and even start doubting himself was more impressive than an S-rank technique.
Nishikawa Tetsu blew out the oil lamp.
In the dark, he lay on the hard camp bed, listening as the rain gradually died down outside.
The first step—earning their trust and gaining a voice—was done.
Next, he had to keep up with these two future powerhouses in the brutal war and survive alongside them.
Before you continue