That morning, Uchiha Yuan arrived at the meeting spot, ready to begin the day's training.
However, even though it was already 8 a.m., Hyuga Asana hadn't shown up. Asana was never late, which made Yuan feel something was off.
Yuan and Yamanaka Kagetsu waited for half an hour, but there was still no sign of her. Growing worried, the two decided to head toward the Hyuga clan's camp to check on her.
Halfway there, they happened to run into Asana jogging toward them.
Her clothes were covered in dust, and she had bruises on her face—clearly something had happened.
"Asana, what happened?" Kagetsu asked anxiously.
"Did someone from the Hyuga main family mess with you?" Yuan asked, his expression cold.
Asana quickly waved her hands and said, "No, you're misunderstanding. This isn't something we can talk about here. Let's go somewhere more private."
The three moved to a more secluded spot. Asana activated her Byakugan to confirm they were alone before explaining:
"This is what happened. On my way here this morning, I ran into one of Lord Orochimaru's Earth Clones."
"He must've been deliberately waiting for me on the path. Orochimaru said he wanted to test my strength and proceeded to fight me using his clone."
"I wasn't a match for him. Even when I used Rotation, it didn't help. He easily found its weakness and broke through it in one strike. That's how I got the bruise on my face."
"Orochimaru stopped you just to test your strength?" Yuan asked.
"Of course not. After defeating me, he said I now had the strength of an average chunin and was qualified to carry out a mission. Then he tossed me a mission scroll and dispelled the clone."
Yuan took the scroll from her and quickly scanned through it.
It explained that Orochimaru had received intel indicating that the Mist Ninja might attempt to sabotage the water sources near the Konoha camp.
The two main water sources were already guarded, but the smaller water points remained unwatched. Though they were minor, they were connected to the larger ones via rivers—poisoning them could eventually contaminate the entire supply.
To prevent this, Orochimaru had tasked their team with patrolling the surrounding water sources immediately.
The mission wasn't far from the camp, nor was it near the battlefield. The only real threat was potential encounters with Mist ninja.
Yuan and the others returned to camp to gear up, and they departed within half an hour.
There were six water sources near the Konoha camp. Two were already guarded, leaving the remaining four small ones for them to patrol.
Using a map, they reached the first water point after about twenty minutes. It was a small pool formed by spring water.
Asana took a water sample and crouched down to test for poison. She found nothing unusual.
"Asana, you can do that?" Kagetsu asked, surprised.
"I learned a bit of medical ninjutsu before. Poison detection was part of the training," she replied.
"You studied medical ninjutsu? Do you want to be a medical ninja?" he asked.
"Yes, I've dreamed of becoming a medical ninja since I was young—to save lives and help the wounded," Asana said solemnly (clearly making it up on the spot).
"So that's your dream. What about you, Yuan?"
"My dream... is just to stay alive," Yuan replied after thinking for a moment.
"That's such a simple dream."
Yuan smiled slightly. But to him, it wasn't simple at all. Right now, during the Third Great Ninja War, staying alive meant surviving not just this war, but the Nine-Tails attack and the Uchiha Massacre to come.
And even surviving wasn't enough. To truly live well, he had to eliminate certain people and threats—starting with the Konoha leadership.
"You've asked us, so what's your dream, Kagetsu?" Asana asked as she stood.
"My short-term dream is the same—survive this war. Longer-term? I want to lose some weight, get promoted to chunin, and find a beautiful, gentle, obedient wife. Then my life would be perfect."
"Wow, that's a tall order. You think a woman like that would go for you?" Yuan said, exasperated.
"If I can't marry a kunoichi, I'll marry a civilian. There are plenty who fit that description. Actually, Asana's not bad—pretty, graceful, from a great clan. Too bad the Hyuga can't marry outsiders."
"Also, Asana's too cold for me. I want someone more gentle."
"Sorry to disappoint you by not meeting your criteria," Asana replied expressionlessly.
Kagetsu instinctively shrank his neck in embarrassment. He'd gotten carried away and forgotten Asana was right there.
"Uh, Asana, I was just joking. I didn't mean anything by it. Please don't be mad."
"Don't worry—Asana's not that petty," Yuan said with a smile.
"Is that so? I'm actually quite mad right now. If we weren't in the middle of a mission, I'd really…"
"Someone's coming!" Kagetsu suddenly turned to the right.
Thanks to Yuan's constant genjutsu "training," Kagetsu's sensory range had increased to nearly 50 meters. Even during their chat, he kept his sensing active.
Yuan and Asana immediately activated Sharingan and Byakugan and looked in the same direction.
"Just two ordinary people—no chakra," Asana said.
"What are civilians doing here? This is close to the battlefield. You'd think they'd avoid it," Yuan said.
"You think they might be connected to the Mist ninja?" Asana asked.
"I don't know... but better safe than sorry." With that, Yuan sent a Water Clone toward them.
As he approached, he saw the two were quite young—about his age. The boy was taller, the girl shorter. They looked similar, likely siblings or at least related.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Yuan asked.
(Author's Note: Random real-life story during the free period—yesterday afternoon I went to buy medicine and saw a bizarre scene. An elderly lady, paying with her healthcare card, insisted she had ¥640 on it. She picked ¥600 worth of medicine. When it came time to pay, the pharmacy said she only had ¥330. She threw a fit, accused them of stealing her funds. Police were called, checked transaction records, and showed her a ¥300 purchase from November 19. She denied it. Surveillance showed she did buy it. Still, she cried and accused police and pharmacy of collusion. Finally, her son came and dragged her away. Moral of the story? Bad people do grow old too.)
(To Be Continued...)