The Second Rescue Team Arrived

Tap, tap, tap...!

Ito Miyuki and Abe Rō walked over. Yechen turned to look at them and saw that both were wounded and looked exhausted.

Fortunately, neither had suffered any serious injuries. A few minor wounds were nothing to worry about.

Compared to the severed limbs and the shinobi missing arms or legs on the battlefield, they were incredibly lucky just to be alive.

Yechen glanced around. Their force had probably lost a full half of its members, with Genin like them suffering the most casualties.

A single battle had left more than a hundred Genin dead or wounded. It was easy to imagine how terrifying war was.

Could those graduates who had carried dreams and the will of fire in their hearts still smile now?

The answer was yes!

But seeing former classmates and friends they had once played with die beside them would have weighed heavily on anyone.

"Yechen, do you think we'll die on the battlefield one day too?"

After a long silence, Ito Miyuki suddenly asked that question.

"No!" Abe Rō roared.

"If that day ever comes, I'll die before you do."

Looking at his serious expression, Ito Miyuki smiled, but it was a pale smile.

"No. I'll protect both of you."

Yechen had the confidence to say that, and naturally, he had his reasons.

Although the Third Shinobi World War was brutal, it was still in its early stages, and casualties had yet to reach their peak. Only after Konoha's forces suffered repeated defeats would things become truly horrific-and truly dangerous.

Not just Chunin, but even Jonin would die in droves. Only then would the Third Shinobi World War finally come to an end.

No hidden village could sustain such endless losses, which would also leave them short of successors later on.

So Yechen's plan was to lie low and develop, increasing his strength as much as possible. With his two bloodlines, protecting these two should not be difficult by then.

"All right, don't overthink it. We just need to do our best to stay alive..."

Both nodded. Having witnessed the cruelty of war, they no longer harbored any thoughts of overestimating themselves.

Even Abe Rō had now come to terms with his own position. Just as he had said earlier, all he wanted was to protect Miyuki. He did not want the girl he liked to end up among those corpses. That would drive him mad.

Five minutes passed, and the second rescue team arrived.

Medical Ninja accompanied them. As one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha trained its Medical Ninja far better than the other villages did.

With a medical team present, wounded and disabled shinobi had a much better chance of surviving the battlefield.

Just as now, the moment the Medical Ninja arrived, the situation was brought under control. Lightly wounded shinobi recovered most of the way almost instantly, while even those with severe injuries could be stabilized and taken back to recuperate slowly.

Abe Rō and Ito Miyuki were bandaged as well. Their bleeding had stopped, but their wounds still needed protection against infection.

That was what the Medical Ninja could do. Watching them made Yechen a little envious, and he wondered whether he should learn some Medical Ninjutsu in the future.

But after thinking it over, he decided against it. As his physique grew stronger, his body's ability to heal itself would improve too. By then, Medical Ninjutsu would not be of much use to him, so why waste the time?

"Yechen, you've really impressed me. You came through an entire battle completely unscathed."

After the Medical Ninja moved elsewhere, Nakagawa Ichirō appeared before the three of them.

"Teacher Nakagawa..."

The three greeted him respectfully.

As a Jonin, Nakagawa Ichirō carried a heavy burden and could not stay with them to protect them.

But he had kept an eye on his three students throughout, ready to come to their aid if necessary.

"Thank you for the praise, sir. My Taijutsu is just better than most people's."

"Mm..."

Nakagawa Ichirō did not expose him. Yechen's performance could not be explained by slightly superior Taijutsu alone. In particular, the moment he put on his sunglasses, Nakagawa Ichirō had suspected that he had already awakened his Sharingan.

As for why he was hiding it, Nakagawa Ichirō understood. After all, the Uchiha Clan was hardly a place for normal people.

He was very pleased with this student and would keep Yechen's secret.

"All of you did very well this time. Remember one thing: on the battlefield, your first priority is to survive. The mission comes second."

By telling them this, Nakagawa Ichirō had already brushed against the Hokage's ideals. But this was a battlefield, and what he wanted most was for all his students to make it out alive.

"Understood, sir."

Yechen had not expected Nakagawa Ichirō to say something like that, and his opinion of him improved. At the very least, he still cared about his students.

After a brief silence, Nakagawa Ichirō spoke again.

"Get some rest. We'll set off again in half an hour. Once we reach camp, you'll be able to rest properly."

With that, Nakagawa Ichirō vanished in a flash, clearly having other matters to attend to.

The three sat on the ground, back to back. As they looked out at this peculiar scene, their hearts were silent.

Yechen neither trained nor assigned points to his attributes. This was not a suitable place, and with Orochimaru here, he had no desire to cause too much of a stir.

"Yechen, have you awakened your Sharingan?"

After a long while, Ito Miyuki asked timidly.

Her voice was so quiet that only the three of them could hear her clearly.

Startled, Abe Rō turned toward Yechen on his right but said nothing. He understood how important this was too.

An Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan was on an entirely different level from one who had not.

He did not want to lose this companion!

Yechen had no intention of hiding it from them. It did not matter if they knew about his Sharingan; they would find out sooner or later anyway.

On future battlefields, he could not keep concealing his strength forever. As for the Byakugan, however, he could not let anyone know about that.

Unless his strength had already reached the pinnacle of this world, he would not dare reveal casually that he possessed the Byakugan.

Just as Yechen was about to explain, Ito Miyuki interrupted.

"Don't say anything else. It's enough that the three of us know. Abe Rō, especially you-don't tell anyone, understand?"

"Don't worry. I won't even tell Teacher Nakagawa."

Looking at his two companions making such solemn promises, Yechen did not know whether to laugh or cry. Anyone paying close attention had probably already noticed his Sharingan. Whether he hid it or not no longer mattered all that much.