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Chapter 26 mission and teammates
🕑 Added 2025-06-09 02:00:05 +0000 UTCReading the scroll was very insightful. It was a detailed explanation of the Clan’s deployment and the village's deployment as well, mostly because that was very connected with the Clan itself.
The more I read, the more I understood just how rough this war truly was and how bad the situation was.
The Hyūga Clan was deployed on all fronts, and there were plenty of those. Already now we were on guard against all the other four villages. While the current situation wasn’t all-out war, there had been plenty of major battles already.
The death count was in the tens of thousands across all forces.
And the worst was yet to come.
But for now, I had a mission.
I would be sent to the front against the sand village. Which was a dangerous mission for sure, but also an important one. The Byakugan was a great tool against the enemy, in particular against the puppet users.
Those were rather dangerous, for while an elite-level puppet user normally only had a few puppets on that level, they often had plenty of dangerous mass-produced warrior-level ones.
Particularly good puppet users could act as nearly immortal Chuunin-level fighters by sending an endless number of puppets to replace any lost, and using puppets didn’t consume much chakra.
If you couldn’t find the user, you should just flee, though it was dangerous, given that turning your back on an enemy was never a good idea, but neither was staying and fighting puppets, because there were always more.
So the Hyūga Clan was excellent to have around, as we could literally see where they were hiding. Forget seeing the chakra strings, just spot the chakra of the person hiding and go right for them.
In fact, the Byakugan was an immensely valuable tool on every frontline, a precious asset.
Against the sand to find the puppet users.
Against Stone? They had their assassination units, the feared demolition squads. Those who liked to tunnel under the ground, getting the jump on you, or planting explosives all over locations, taking entire camps down in an instant.
And since they moved underground, it was difficult to track them. Yet while the Inuzuka and Aburame clans struggled to find them, the Byakugan had no difficulty seeing through the ground.
Which meant the Iwa front also needed plenty of Hyūga Clan members.
The Kirigakure front was no different; they, too, liked to use assassination to deal with their opponents, using the hidden mist jutsu to gain an advantage. While it was possible to pump enough chakra into it to make it difficult for even the Byakugan to see through it, that was only effective up to a point.
Those skilled enough and powerful enough, or rather with a pure enough Byakugan could still track people inside the mists, which meant that those sent to that front often belonged to the main family.
Which is why Ao was able to get a single Byakugan, or so I assumed at least.
It was also interesting to see who else was assigned to what fronts. Like Kirigakure, they faced off against a large number of Uchiha Clan members.
Which stunk from far away. The Sharingan was a powerful Dojutsu, but against the Hidden Mist? It was heavily disadvantaged. It couldn’t see through the chakra-soaked mist, and while still better than no Dojutsu, it wasn’t by much.
Clearly, it wouldn’t be smart to send the Uchiha Clan to that front. Yet most of those sent there just happened to belong to that clan.
Yeah, that wasn’t suspicious at all.
No, this wasn’t just a tactical oversight. It was intentional. Someone had decided to send the Uchiha to the worst possible front, where their advantages would be minimized, and their casualties would be maximized.
While it was possible that whoever made this decision didn’t understand the Uchiha, it was just as likely that they understood them too well.
And it just so happened that there were plenty of reasons to suspect the worst case being the truth.
After all, Danzo hated the Uchiha with a passion. And he had plenty of power, not enough to pull this off himself, but if the Hokage was his best friend? And shared his view? Yeah, this was a conspiracy.
I had no real relationship with the Uchiha Clan, so I couldn’t gather information about them. I didn’t know if the Uchiha were aware of the situation.
I exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of the situation settling over me. This wasn’t just a war between nations. It was a war within the village itself, a quiet, bloody conflict fought not just with kunai and jutsu, but with deployments and attrition.
At least the Hyūga Clan was needed, far too valuable to be wasted like that. However, that wouldn’t stop the enemy from targeting us. After all, it was perfectly normal to target sensors and medics.
Even against Kumogakure, the Byakugan had its place, and it was another front on which the noble blood of Hamura flowed freely.
I set the scroll aside, rolling it back up with a precise flick of my wrists, and rose to my feet. I had three days to prepare, and I intended to use them well.
It wouldn’t be enough time to do much training. Instead, it was time I could use to prepare in other ways.
After all, the most important thing when going out on a mission like this was the mission itself, followed by who you did the mission with.
I knew the mission, now I needed to figure out who I would be doing it with.
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I settled onto the cool tatami mat of my room, a small stack of scrolls and documents spread out before me. The low, filtered light from the paper lantern beside me cast long shadows, making the pale ink on the parchment gleam with a faint, ghostly sheen.
If I were going to lead this team, I needed to know exactly who I would be working with. I couldn’t afford surprises on the battlefield.
Thankfully, the Hyūga Clan was able to gather the information I needed.
I unrolled the first scroll, my eyes scanning the neat, precise handwriting. It was a personnel file, recently compiled, listing my potential teammates and their respective skills.
I would be leading a four-man assassination squad, so we would have to work closely together. I was happy to see that the first person was someone I already knew.
Inuzuka Koji.
I had to admit, I hadn’t considered his age before, but he was older than me by a year, which made him the same as a Hiashi. But compared to the prim and proper Hyūga heir, Koji acted more his age.
He wasn’t bad for his age, likely one of the best outside of the future clan leader, Kiba’s mother… I couldn’t remember her name at the top of my head, but it hardly mattered.
Koji did.
Exceptional sense of smell, high-speed taijutsu, coordination with his ninken, Kuro. Capable of rapid, unpredictable attacks and relentless pursuit.
Given the nature of our mission, I could also tell where he fit in. His role would be to find our enemies and catch their scent. Over a large area, the Byakugan was of little use. I could just see chakra, and sure, I could see it from a great distance away, but I couldn't do anything once we passed that limit.
Koji would be different. He could pick up scent trails from where they had passed or on the wind. He could help us get close enough for my Byakugan to shine.
It didn’t hurt that he was from one of our closest allies and someone I could trust.
But this file had a lot more than that; I was really impressed by the depth of the information.
Notable Traits: Fiercely loyal, high stamina, known for his aggressive fighting style. Somewhat reckless, but adapts quickly under pressure.
Yet, that sounded about right. He was loyal, had even higher stamina than me, and wasn’t afraid of going in hard and fast…
I shook my head, groaning. “Damn hormones,” I muttered as my mind suddenly wondered off topic.
Personal Notes: Strong-willed, prideful, and not one to back down from a challenge. His loyalty to his clan is absolute, and he has a fierce protective instinct.
I assumed that protective instinct might come in handy, and might even be why he was assigned to my team, the clan’s way of protecting me as best it could.
I set Koma’s file aside, letting out a slow breath as I reached for the next scroll. If the rest of my team had as much potential as Koji, this mission might actually be manageable.
The next scroll felt a bit heavier in my hands, the parchment thicker and more densely packed with ink. I unfurled it carefully, my eyes quickly scanning the first few lines.
Hoshino Haruto, age 25, so older than both Koji and me.
What followed was a long list of ninjutsu.
Mostly earth and water release, and mostly defensive in nature.
Earth walls, earth domes, water walls—it was strange to see someone so focused on defence in this world of high speed and offense.
It clearly wasn’t normal, as he was listed as a rare defensive Ninjutsu specialist.
Though sadly, despite having the name, he wasn’t part of the Hoshino clan. It would have been useful, but few members of the clan who had swift release remained in Konoha. And those who did, rarely had this kind of mission.
I continued to read his file, reaching the final section.
Personal Notes: A bit of a lone wolf despite his protective instincts. Known for being slow to retreat even when outnumbered, and has a habit of prioritizing defense over offense, which can be both a strength and a weakness.
Well, as long as he was quick to get in there, then I didn’t care how quickly he got out. His job would be to stop any of the dangerous puppet attacks from reaching us as we took down the puppet users.
And to allow us to do that…
I put down his scroll and leaned over, picking up the last one. Or rather, the second to last, the clan also had one for me, which might be a fun read as well. But first.
Hagane Arata.
Age? 27.
His role here?
Long-Range Takedown Specialist.
That made sense. This team was well put together, likely due to this being somewhat early in the war still, while they could afford to make proper teams.
Honestly, it was hard to even begin to imagine how bad it would get.
Sending Kakashi’s team on such an important mission, like the bridge one.
But here, we had a good, proper team.
Someone to lead us to the targets.
Someone to spot said target.
Someone to defend us from the target.
And finally, someone to deal with the target.
Arata was a good pick for that last one if his file was to be believed.
Skilled in lightning release. Knowing some high-precision sniping techniques. I had seen a few of those over the years. It was kind of like a rail gun.
Because yes, that idea was already a thing here. But they weren’t all that strong. The range was limited to what you could see. And while the projectile was fast, they weren’t as deadly as one might expect.
It was just hard to fire large enough projectiles at fast enough speeds to truly get dangerous.
Still, they had their place, and Arata seemed skilled in them.
Looking through the notes, he seemed to be sharp-eyed, precise, and calm. Analytical in his approach? Really? I would expect someone like that to go with a better lightning ninjutsu to master, but if it suited him.
Known for his exceptional chakra control and accuracy. Yeah, those would be important for someone like him.
“Let’s see… Highly disciplined, serious, and a known perfectionist? Yikes, that could be annoying.” I could only hope that they would follow orders. Perfectionists tend to think they know best.
So if orders came from someone younger than them… well, worst come to worst, I would just have to beat him into submission.
Still, the team was excellent. It had potential. Real potential.
I carefully rolled the scroll back up, setting it aside with the others before reaching for the final, slimmer scroll. My own profile.
I hesitated for a moment, my fingers lingering on the smooth, cool surface of the parchment. I hadn’t originally planned to read it, but curiosity got the better of me.
I unrolled the final scroll, my eyes quickly catching the neat, precise handwriting of the main family member who had clearly been tasked with compiling my record.
(End of chapter)
So, about the death count, tens of thousands. We know the villages have tens of thousands of men ready to fight about a decade from now, and that at some battles, saw as many as one thousand die.
And the war was bad enough that even fresh Genin had to go, so many must have died, which is why yeah, the number is so damn high, because war is brutal.
