By a riverside in the Land of Rivers.
Aoi Rokushō was eating breakfast when he suddenly set down his rice ball and grabbed the ninja umbrella at his side.
"Come out!" he stood, voice cold. "I've already found you!"
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
A massive fireball hurtled toward him from not far away. Aoi Rokushō leapt aside, dodging the blaze as his umbrella spun in his hand.
A torrent of senbon blasted out like a rainstorm.
Sasuke dropped from the tree at once. The needles peppered the trunk, and in a heartbeat the bark looked hideous—wilting and withering.
Aoi Rokushō blinked. What the hell?
A six- or seven-year-old kid daring to ambush a jōnin—tired of living?
He looked the boy up and down, then narrowed his eyes.
"Kid, are you from the Uchiha clan?"
He stopped moving, glanced around, and asked. Sasuke wasn't wearing a Konoha forehead protector, but his clothes bore the Uchiha fan. Normally no one would pretend to be Uchiha—Sharingan can't be faked. And a kid that age wouldn't be out alone; there had to be a teacher and teammates nearby. Aoi Rokushō didn't rush him precisely because he was wary of traps along the approach.
Sasuke didn't answer. He surged forward instead, drew his ninjatō, and slashed for Aoi Rokushō.
Angered, Aoi Rokushō knocked the blade aside with the umbrella and lashed out with a kick. Sasuke was booted away—then burst into smoke midair.
"A shadow clone?" Aoi Rokushō's heart skipped. A kid that small already knows Shadow Clone? Short adult? No—the baby face screamed actual child. The whole thing felt absurd.
He thought for a beat and gave chase anyway. Getting worked over by a grade-schooler was beyond humiliating.
The instant he entered the copse, his face changed and he sprang backward at top speed.
Boom!
Explosive tags went off in the brush. Fire spread fast, and soon the grove was a sea of flame. Aoi Rokushō had retreated in time and was unhurt.
A howling wind hit his ears. He reflexively turned and saw, from across the river, a storm front rolling in.
Wind Style that strong… the squad's teacher?
He snapped the umbrella open. Chakra poured into the frame, hardening it. The gale roared past; he stood firm, unmoving.
"Looks like their handler's only an elite chūnin," he judged with a breath of relief. Flashy, but the power was mid. Not jōnin level.
A slicing whistle—Sasuke appeared behind him, both hands on the hilt, cutting upward.
"Hmph."
With the teacher's level pegged, Aoi Rokushō stopped holding back. Lightning flickered—he drew the Sword of the Thunder God. Chakra surged into the empty hilt and a pale yellow blade sprang forth.
Unlike normal weapons, the Thunder God has only a grip; the blade is pure chakra—a "lightsaber" of sorts. In the original story it's called one of the sharpest ninja tools because its strength scales with the user's chakra.
Aoi Rokushō's chakra control clearly wasn't top-tier. In the original he even had this sword broken by Sasuke and Naruto.
"Out of my way!" He slashed. The force blew Sasuke back several steps, rattled.
"Genius or not, you're still a brat. Die afraid." He pressed the attack, blade swinging for Sasuke's neck.
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!
An invisible palm blast slapped at him from afar. Aoi Rokushō reacted in a flash, turning the Thunder God to meet it. Lightning flared and carved the pressure apart.
"You think sniping from the—what the hell?" He cut himself off, pupils tightening.
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
"Dynamic Entry!"
"Leaf Double Whirlwind!"
A swarm of Narutos charged him from every direction.
Aoi Rokushō's worldview took a direct hit. He'd never seen this many shadow clones at once—and they all looked six or seven.
Weird didn't begin to cover today.
He didn't have time to ponder it. The umbrella whirled open and a sheet of senbon scythed out. Clones popped and smoked away one after another. He exhaled; they looked scary but weren't much up close.
He turned—and Sasuke had vanished. He frowned. There were clearly three enemies: the wind-user chūnin, presumably the teacher; the Uchiha kid who'd used Great Fireball and Konoha-Style swordplay; and the blond runt with Multiple Shadow Clone and taijutsu. As for the Vacuum Palm, he mistakenly chalked it up to Naruto.
Mind racing, he barreled forward, the Thunder God blade tearing through clones around him. In short order, he'd wiped out more than half.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. A hundred more Narutos popped into being nearby.
"So you're the original," Aoi Rokushō said, surprised by Naruto's chakra pool but not easing his hand. Chakra flared under his feet as he lunged, blade driving straight in.
A "clone" rushed from his left. Without looking, Aoi Rokushō swung the umbrella to that side to block—kill the original and the clones go poof.
But that wasn't Naruto.
Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!
Neji, disguised as a Naruto clone, dropped into a squat and slipped under the umbrella's rim. His palms hammered in a flurry, targeting Aoi Rokushō's thighs.
Something was wrong—chakra in his leg seized up. His body slowed. He abandoned Naruto instantly and stabbed the Thunder God at Neji. Neji had to spring back to avoid it—
"Violent — Leaf Adamantine-Strength Whirlwind!"
Naruto seized the opening and whipped a kick in. Aoi Rokushō steadied, umbrella flaring wide to block the spinning strike, while the Thunder God recoiled and thrust toward Naruto—
"Samehada!"
Naruto yelled—and the greatsword Samehada erupted from the ground. Its maw opened and snapped at Aoi Rokushō's arm.
"What?!" Startled, Aoi Rokushō jumped back, only to be swarmed again by clones. The umbrella spun; a hail of senbon bought him space.
He stared at Naruto and Neji, deeply irritated. A jōnin getting worked by three brats? Unacceptable.
"Fine," he laughed angrily. "You really are begging to die."
He raised the Thunder God high.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
The clones didn't care and rushed him anyway. Aoi Rokushō's eyes went cold. The Thunder God blazed, and from the blade's core a flood of lightning burst outward.
Screams—clones caught by the surge vanished in smoke. As the wave rolled toward Neji and Naruto, Samehada loomed in front of them. It inhaled hard—and gulped the lightning down to the last spark.
"…What is that?" Aoi Rokushō's heart lurched. The weapon looked familiar, but he dismissed the thought. No way a kid could wield that sword.
"Go to the final plan!" Neji shouted.
"A Hyuga brat," Aoi Rokushō snapped, sight locking on him. Neji dropped the Transformation Technique and returned to his true form. He also now knew the two strikes to his thighs had been Gentle Fist.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto didn't hesitate—another dense wave of clones. The moment they appeared, they pelted Aoi Rokushō with kunai and shuriken. His eyes hardened. The umbrella spun madly, batting everything aside.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
Heat rolled in. Aoi Rokushō turned and split the incoming fireball with the Thunder God—only for Sasuke's blade to follow right behind it.
"Konoha-Style swordplay? In front of me?" He parried the ninjatō, then retracted and drove the Thunder God straight for Sasuke's heart. He watched Sasuke, lips curling. Now.
Their eyes met—and Sasuke's jolted. A two-tomoe Sharingan spun to life.
"Sharingan?" Aoi Rokushō lost focus for an instant. He hadn't guarded against it—first, the kid was too young; unlocking Sharingan that early was nearly impossible. Second, Sasuke hadn't shown it once until now.
The sudden two-tomoe caught him flat-footed; a genjutsu slipped in. He was still a jōnin, though, and snapped out of it in an instant.
"Playing dirty?" He grasped the setup at once and, furious, chopped at Sasuke—
"Rasengan!" Naruto's shout cut in. Aoi Rokushō wheeled—and stared at a tightly compressed orb of chakra. His gut sank. Even without feeling it, he knew it hit hard.
He reflexively tried to open the umbrella—
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!
Neji's strike slammed the frame, making it shudder. That brief hitch was all Naruto needed. The Rasengan smashed into Aoi Rokushō's waist.
"Aaagh!"
Blood and flesh sprayed; pain exploded through him and he screamed. Instinctively he hacked at Naruto—but his forearm spun away in midair.
Sasuke, moving on instinct, had cut through the limb—and the Thunder God along with it.
Naruto grabbed Samehada like a brick and hurled it. He didn't know swordsmanship, so he went with brute force. Luckily, Samehada had a will of its own and played along.
Aoi Rokushō screamed again as the blade's barbs ripped into him and drank—his chakra drained almost in an instant.
Leaf Style: Willow!
Sasuke's blade wavered. Aoi Rokushō froze where he stood, eyes filled with swaying steel, unable to tell real from feint.
Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!
Neji flashed in front of him and unleashed thirty-two rapid strikes. Aoi Rokushō had intended to break the Leaf Style: Willow illusion, but after the barrage, half his chakra points were sealed. With Samehada's drain on top, a crushing weakness hit him; the world tilted.
Sasuke stepped in and ran him through.
Aoi Rokushō glanced at the blade lodged in his chest and coughed blood. He toppled backward, face full of disbelief. Dying to three brats—he'd never imagined it.
Sasuke gave him a look, then stumbled off to the side, nauseated. Neji and Naruto were pale, but faring better—they'd been accomplices. Sasuke had delivered the killing blow.
"As shinobi, killing comes with the job," Kitazawa said as he stepped out, tossing a white cloth over Aoi Rokushō's body. "You three did great."
He wasn't just being polite. He genuinely hadn't expected such clean teamwork.
First wave: an ambush to draw Aoi Rokushō into explosive tags. Second wave: Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clones for cover while Neji infiltrated disguised as a clone for a surprise strike. Third wave: Sasuke flashing the Sharingan to throw Aoi Rokushō off with genjutsu, followed by Naruto's Rasengan—then all three finishing the job.
Put simply—Aoi Rokushō didn't die unjustly. One, he was a very average jōnin—at best a special jōnin by Konoha standards. Two, he had zero intel on Sasuke, Naruto, and Neji. Multiple Shadow Clone, Rasengan, Samehada, Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms—none of that should have been in kids' hands. Get tagged by any of those and even a jōnin folds.
Most importantly, Neji's team had complete intel on him beforehand and built a plan and an ambush around it. Once again: shinobi battles are intelligence wars.
This was easier than in the original storyline, where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura fought Aoi Rokushō.
"Words don't do your three students justice," Kurenai murmured. At their age she hadn't even mastered the Three Basic Techniques, let alone Shadow Clone. These kids had just beaten a jōnin—the gap was absurd.
"Sasuke, you okay?" Kitazawa picked up the Thunder God and walked over. Without Aoi Rokushō's chakra, it had reverted to a bare hilt.
"I—I'm fine," Sasuke said, shaking his head. It was just the blood that had turned his stomach. Despite being Uchiha, he'd been sheltered. In terms of mental shock, he lagged behind Naruto and Neji—one shunned by villagers since childhood, the other burdened by the Hyuga main-house feud.
"Your reward," Kitazawa said, handing him the Thunder God.
"For me?" Sasuke stared. That was the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama's blade.
"You're a Lightning-Style shinobi. It suits you," Kitazawa smiled. "Don't overthink it. In a sense, it's your spoils."
"Thank you, Sensei." Sasuke gripped the hilt. After seeing it in action, he knew it fit a Lightning user perfectly. He'd been worried about Naruto's Samehada; with the Thunder God in hand, the gap in ninja tools felt a lot narrower.
"We really beat a jōnin?" Naruto blinked, surprised.
"There are levels among jōnin," Neji said, suppressing his excitement. "He's nowhere near Kitazawa-sensei." In Kitazawa's special training, no matter how hard he'd pushed, he'd never felt he could threaten his teacher. Aoi Rokushō didn't give that pressure. Still, a win was a win—even if Neji's nature kept him from showing it.
"You've earned a rest. Take thirty minutes, then we head back to Konoha," Kitazawa said, storing the body. The sword was the real prize, but Aoi Rokushō was a Konoha defector with an active bounty; bringing back the corpse would wrap the mission and pay out.
Sitting down, Sasuke examined the Thunder God. "Sensei gave you that?" Neji asked, a little envious—though not too much; the blade wasn't useful to him.
"Mm." Sasuke nodded and fed chakra into the hilt.
A soft hum—and the blade blossomed.
"Whoa, that's sick!" Naruto gaped at the chakra "lightsaber." Samehada, alarmed, hurried over to rub against his leg as if afraid of being replaced.
"When the Advanced Class graduates, I want to pick my own trio," Kurenai said with a smile, watching them.
"Deal," Kitazawa said at once. "I'll introduce three to you when the time comes." In the original, she'd led Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba—but Kitazawa was thinking of tweaking that lineup; those three were all a bit too slanted toward sensory roles.