The joy of his promotion to chunin was soon diluted by the combat missions that followed one after another.
Shinji Uchiha put on his dark blue chunin vest, feeling a weight on his shoulders unlike anything he had carried before.
Hatake Sakumo's squad had not been reorganized after Shinji's promotion. He remained the indispensable "spear" of this elite team.
The most immediate change his promotion brought was that Sakumo appeared less and less often on squad operations.
Freed from those duties, he roamed behind the Mist Ninja front lines, becoming a nightmare they could never shake.
On small- and medium-scale assault and elimination missions where the enemy's strength did not exceed jonin level, he now left command and the main attacking role entirely to Shinji, honing his independent judgment, leadership, and ability to handle things on his own.
After a string of missions, the three youngsters had grown completely accustomed to their teacher's disappearing act. Frontal combat,
raids behind enemy lines, intelligence gathering, escorting supplies-they handled all kinds of missions with ease.
Having just finished another round of border patrol, Shinji Uchiha dragged his somewhat weary body back to the private tent assigned to him (chunin did not actually qualify for one; this was a reward).
He removed the ninja blade from his back and carefully propped it to one side before letting out a long breath.
The tent was cramped but tidy. Compared with Hizashi and Miwako, who still had to share communal sleeping quarters with others, this was a rare privilege.
He poured himself a cup of water and was about to use this precious downtime to mentally review several signs of Kirigakure activity he had noticed during the patrol when a brisk set of footsteps stopped outside his tent.
"Shinji, are you in? There's a letter for