Mission

The next morning, after some simple training, Uchiha Kei headed towards the assembly point.

In wartime, any ninja was a resource for combat. Even prominent clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga had to fight to protect the village.

Of course, there were policies from above that were reflected below. For example, the Hyuga clan primarily sent branch family members to battle.

Protected by the Caged Bird, they didn't need to worry about their Byakugan being stolen. This was especially true after an incident where a branch family member died facing a Mist Ninja and had one of their Byakugan gouged out.

The Uchiha weren't foolish either. While they did send ninjas with activated Sharingan, they were dispatched to 'relatively safe' areas.

Members without activated Sharingan would fully obey the village's orders and go wherever the village needed them.

Uchiha Kei was the type to obey village orders. The main reason was that Uchiha Kei had never revealed his Sharingan to anyone.

Before he felt secure enough, Uchiha Kei preferred to lie low. While war was dangerous, it was better than being on Konoha's 'blacklist'.

This approach had its pros and cons. The con was that Uchiha Kei was in considerable danger. The pro was that his Jonin instructor would be someone 'trusted by Konoha'.

Just like Obito, a 'good-for-nothing' from the Uchiha clan, had a Jonin mentor like Namikaze Minato.

Uchiha Kei and Uchiha Obito were in the same graduating class, but Uchiha Kei's luck wasn't as good as Obito's.

His Jonin instructor wasn't a famous figure, nor was he one of the Ino-Shika-Cho.

He was just a Jonin completely loyal to the Hokage faction, named Fukuhisa Kouhei.

Furthermore, he wasn't Uchiha Kei's originally assigned Jonin. His first Jonin instructor had already died heroically during a mission while covering his teammates.

As for Uchiha Kei's teammates, they were a bunch of extras. There was no Might Guy, no Kurenai, nor anyone like Asuma or Shiranui Genma.

One of his teammates was a civilian ninja named Imai Kenta. He was a ninja with formidable taijutsu skills and a very intelligent mind, having survived since the war began.

The other was even more interesting, named Hyuga Aya. Just like her name suggested, she was a member of the Hyuga clan's branch family.

She was also very intelligent, even arguably a woman with a lot of schemes.

Uchiha Kei's relationship with his teammates was average. They weren't particularly close, but there wasn't much animosity either. Their team had been formed through constant replacements.

They had also undertaken quite a few missions together, and it was precisely these missions that allowed Uchiha Kei to perceive their cunning and hidden intentions.

Ninja casualties were high during wartime. Even Uchiha Kei had lost several teammates, and the situation was the same for his current teammates.

To put it bluntly, all three of them were old foxes, otherwise, they wouldn't have survived this long.

"Why are you so slow? Are all Uchiha like this?" When Uchiha Kei reached the assembly point, he found that everyone else was already there. Hyuga Aya frowned as she looked at him: "We're going on a mission."

"A mission?" Uchiha Kei calmly nodded, but then he looked around curiously: "Where's Fukuhisa Kouhei? Why are there only the three of us?"

Imai Kenta, who was sitting nearby cleaning his blade, looked up and said: "The captain left half an hour ago with other Jonin to the front lines. The Iwa Ninja's offensive is very fierce, and we have a separate mission."

The Kikyo Pass Battle was incredibly brutal, especially since Konoha had just dealt with the Sand Ninja and had no time to rest.

For every ten thousand enemies killed, three thousand of their own were lost. Konoha's strength was severely depleted. The Land of Earth's intervention at this time was clearly an attempt to take advantage of their weakness.

However, perhaps because they harbored such intentions, they also attacked the Raikage. It seemed Konoha might not be able to hold on.

Although the official explanation stated that Minato's Squad destroyed the Kannabi Bridge, completely cutting off the enemy's supply lines.

Uchiha Kei felt that facing enemies on two fronts was also a reason the Iwa Ninja couldn't sustain themselves. After all, they had to face Konoha head-on and Kumogakure from behind. Anyone would find that unbearable.

"What is our mission?" Uchiha Kei nodded. "Also, who is the captain?"

"It's you." Hyuga Aya seemed a little displeased, but she said seriously, "Our mission is to cover Jonin Namikaze Minato's Squad and allow them to complete their mission."

During the great war, ninjas from all countries were highly militarized. Their quality was much better than in the manga.

However, Hyuga Aya's words made Uchiha Kei frown. This mission was clearly using them as bait.

They weren't told the mission of Minato's Squad, only that they had to cover it. Although Imai Kenta and Hyuga Aya knew it was a bait mission, they had no idea what Minato's Squad was actually doing.

But Uchiha Kei knew. This squad's mission was to blow up the Kannabi Bridge!

This meant the three of them were essentially going to their deaths to attract enemy fire!

Thinking back to the original work, Kakashi and the others didn't encounter many enemies. Why would such an important strategic location not be heavily guarded?

Even if Kakashi and the others were only meant to infiltrate, it couldn't have been just one or two people, right?

So, it was clear that others had attracted their attention, allowing Kakashi and the others to infiltrate smoothly.

Thinking of this, Uchiha Kei's brow furrowed. This was not a good mission. He remembered that after Obito died, a large number of Iwa Ninja appeared. Didn't that mean those who attracted the enemy basically perished?

Especially since Uchiha Kei remembered that Obito was taken away by Uchiha Madara for this mission. This meant that near the Kannabi Bridge, there was actually a stronghold of that old immortal Uchiha.

However, Uchiha Kei didn't think he had the ability to refuse this mission. Deserting during wartime was no better than losing one's life on the battlefield, perhaps even worse.

"There are several other squads cooperating with them on this mission." Uchiha Kei pondered and asked, "How deep do we need to go?"

"There are six other squads cooperating with their mission." Hyuga Aya quickly replied. "As for how deep, I don't know. Our job is to attract the enemy and tie them down."

What a troublesome mission!

Uchiha Kei cursed inwardly, but he quickly cheered up. Since there were six other groups, they still had a chance overall.

Although it was entirely a matter of luck, Uchiha Kei, who had been hiding his abilities, felt that he wasn't without a way to survive.

With so many experiences, Uchiha Kei felt that as long as he was careful enough, he wasn't without opportunities.

"Then, let's go."

With that thought, Uchiha Kei waved his hand and dashed out of the gate. Since it was a mission, he couldn't delay.

Imai Kenta and Hyuga Aya quickly followed. They didn't have much time and had to speed up.

However, just as they were about to leave the village, they happened to see Namikaze Minato's team. They also seemed to be preparing to leave the village.