First of all, this is my first time writing a Naruto fanfiction, so there might be some issues. Brothers, feel free to tell me directly; I will read the comments and make changes.
Secondly, if there are brothers who are very fond of certain original characters, you can leave now. I might not spare Shisui, Itachi, or even Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku.
Next, the timeline. To be honest, if you brought the old dog Kishimoto himself here, he wouldn't be able to explain the Naruto timeline clearly.
For example, it's said Uchiha Itachi was born in the 47th year of Konoha, but it's also said Fugaku took him to the battlefield when Itachi was three years old.
However, the Hidden Mist launched an invasion against Konoha in the 48th year of Konoha.
And by the 50th year of Konoha, the Third War was basically over!
I almost fried my CPU trying to figure out this timeline.
So please, give me a break regarding the timeline!
Then there's Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto; both were born in the same year. But Minato Namikaze took office in the 50th year and died less than a year later, yet official sources say Sasuke was born in July of the 48th year of Konoha and Naruto was born in October.
So if there are problems with the timeline, don't curse at me. Even if you brought that old dog Kishimoto here, he couldn't straighten it out.
Third: Many readers have reported that the beginning of this book feels a bit frustrating. I explained the reason in Chapter 66. A major reason is that Uchiha Madara isn't dead yet, so the protagonist didn't dare to be too reckless.
But I myself felt a bit poisoned by it too. However, since the early parts are already written, there's not much I can do. So, from Chapter 66 onwards, I've started rewriting the subsequent plot.
If brothers really find it too frustrating, you can skip to around Chapter 66 after finishing the first two chapters.
In the 48th year of Konoha, the smoke of the eastern battlefield was like a giant grey net, tightly blanketing the continuous forest.
Broken ninja tools were embedded in charred tree trunks, and dark red bloodstains spread among the fallen leaves, mixing with the damp scent of humus to invade the nostrils of every survivor.
A black-clad figure streaked through the woods like an arrow from a bow. Uchiha Xia Yin's cloak flapped loudly in the rushing wind. Beneath his jet-black short hair, though his Sharingan was not yet active, he had already taken the surrounding movements into his perception.
As one of the rare Elite Jōnin of the Uchiha Clan, he had just completed a reconnaissance mission against Iwagakure and was rushing back to camp at full speed.
Suddenly, his ears twitched—it wasn't the sound of wind or birds, but the subtle fluctuations unique to Chakra flow, brushing past his neck like a venomous snake's tongue.
Xia Yin's toes slammed onto a protruding root on the ground, and his figure suddenly froze. His cloak billowed forward with inertia before falling heavily, concealing his hand which was tightly gripping a Kunai.
"Come out!" His voice was as cold as a blade's edge. Before the last syllable fell, his right hand had already thrown out three Kunai like a flash of lightning, flying in a triangular formation toward a thicket thirty feet to the left. The sharp whistle of the Kunai piercing the air shattered the silence of the forest.
"Whoosh—" A figure leaped out from a tree trunk, his soles lightly crushing the rough bark to stabilize himself. He looked down at him with a nonchalant smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.
"Oh my, Lord Xia Yin's alertness is still as high as ever. Truly worthy of being an Uchiha Genius."
Xia Yin's pupils constricted slightly, and his grip on the Kunai loosened by half, yet he still didn't drop his guard: "Sarutobi Koga? Why are you here? The Anbu's mission range shouldn't cover the eastern front."
The person before him wore an ordinary Jōnin uniform, but the forehead protector on his brow subtly gleamed with the matte texture unique to the Anbu. That was a detail he had noted during the three missions he had collaborated on with the man.
Sarutobi Koga scratched the back of his head and jumped down from the tree trunk, approaching a few steps with a light gait, his smile carrying a deliberately crafted familiarity: "It's a classified mission, we have to detour to the rear of Kumogakure to cause some trouble. It's quite a coincidence to bump into you here—after all, we've only collaborated a few times, so we're not exactly close."
These words were like a fine needle, pricking into Xia Yin's suspicion.
They were indeed not close—close enough that he remembered whether the other used Lightning Release or Fire Release, yet they had never had any private interactions.
He instinctively thought of his younger cousin, Shisui—that child was deeply trusted by the Sandaime. Perhaps Shisui had mentioned him to the Sarutobi Clan?
At the very moment his thoughts drifted, the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end!
That was the warning of approaching death!
Xia Yin didn't have time to look back. His hands had already formed the 'Tiger' seal in front of his chest, and Chakra instantly surged to his feet—
"Pfft!" The sound of a ninja blade slicing through flesh erupted behind him, and warm liquid splashed onto his cloak.
Xia Yin's figure vanished in a puff of white smoke, revealing it to be the Substitution Jutsu.
Simultaneously, his true body appeared on a branch five meters to the right, his tachi swinging out in a horizontal slash, precisely blocking another sneak-attacking ninja blade.
"Clang!" The sparks from the metal collision illuminated the fox mask on the attacker's face, as well as Xia Yin's suddenly darkened expression.
What made his heart sink even further was that six more figures leaped out from the surrounding bushes one after another, all wearing identical animal masks. Cold Chakra surrounded him like a tide. And Sarutobi Koga, who had been smiling playfully just a moment ago, now had a curve at the corner of his mouth that had turned into a venomous chill.
"Why?" Xia Yin's voice was wrapped in frost. His tachi pointed diagonally toward the ground. The blood dripping from the tip wasn't his own, but the droplets from the attacker he had just wounded.
Sarutobi Koga sneered, twirling a Kunai on his fingertip, his gaze as contemptuous as if he were looking at a lamb waiting to be slaughtered: "What do you mean 'why'? If you want to blame something, blame the fact that your surname is Uchiha."
Before his voice faded, seven attacks struck simultaneously!
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!" Compressed wind blades fell like an invisible net of knives;
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" A crimson fire dragon lunged forward with bared fangs;
Even more insidious was the shadow extending along the ground, noiselessly coiling toward his ankles—that was the Shadow Imitation Technique of the Nara Clan!
"Body Flicker Technique!" Chakra erupted beneath Xia Yin's feet. His figure turned into an afterimage to avoid the fire dragon and wind blades, yet his calf was still grazed by the shadow.
The moment the sharp pain arrived, he spun around fiercely. His crimson Sharingan suddenly opened, and three pitch-black tomoe spun rapidly within his pupils.
The attacker behind him hadn't even withdrawn his ninja blade before he met those crimson eyes.
The moment the tomoe spun, he felt a wave of dizziness in his brain. By the time he reacted, his vision had already begun to spin—Xia Yin's tachi had already sliced across his neck, and hot blood sprayed onto the mask, flowing down through the gaps.
"A Three-Tomoe? How interesting." Sarutobi Koga's voice carried a cruel laugh.
Xia Yin's peripheral vision swept over the surroundings, and his heart sank heavily: Sarutobi Koga was an Elite Jōnin, three others had Jōnin-level Chakra fluctuations, and the remaining three, though slightly weaker, were also Elite Chunin.
Such a configuration was intended to put him to death!
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!" Xia Yin did not hesitate for a second. The speed of his hand seals was so fast it left afterimages.
A surging wave of fire erupted from his mouth, sweeping forward like a burst of lava, dyeing half the forest crimson.
This was the signature Fire Release of the Uchiha Clan; its range was wide and its temperature high, enough to repel most Ninjutsu.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" Sarutobi Koga slammed both hands onto the ground. A giant wall of water rose from the earth, colliding violently with the wave of fire.
"Sizzle—" Amidst the ear-piercing sound of vaporization, white steam spread like a thick fog, completely blanketing the battlefield.
This was exactly what Xia Yin wanted! In the thick fog, the Sharingan could capture the flow of Chakra, seeing more accurately than the naked eye.
He pushed off with his toes, his figure darting like a ghost toward the densest part of the steam—there was a single, weakest Chakra fluctuation there, that Elite Chunin!
"Who?!" Just as the Chunin's startled cry rang out, Xia Yin had already appeared before him, his crimson Sharingan locking onto the other's pupils, "Genjutsu: Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!"
The Chunin's body suddenly stiffened, his pupils dilating—in the Genjutsu, he saw himself locked by invisible shackles, unable to move.
The tachi in Xia Yin's hand pierced into the other's heart without hesitation. As he withdrew the blade, the blood droplets it carried were enveloped by the steam, making a faint sound as they hit the ground.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Three Wind Releases erupted simultaneously, blowing away the steam like giant fans...
Advance chapter available on pãtrêon Got1808