With all my traps in place, i readied myself for whats to come. I had a gameplan. Keep my Sharingan off until i could use to it put one of them in a genjutsu and kill him. Preferably with my back to the others.
I crouched behind a jagged outcrop of rock, slowing my breathing.
Minutes passed.
Then I heard them.
They weren't trying to hide their approach.
Six figures crested the ridge ahead of me.
Their flak jackets were dusted with sand from running hard.
Three carried swords.
One had a massive wind fan strapped to his back.
Another had a pouch of scrolls tied across his chest.
The last one clearly the leader stepped forward a scar ran across the bridge of his nose.
Low jonin level.
Or close enough.
He scanned the area slowly.
"Only one," he said.
Another laughed.
"So the rest ran."
The shinobi with the fan stepped forward.
"Konoha really is a bunch of cowards"
"Doesn't matter. Six against one. He's dead."
They began spreading out.
Two left, Two right. Two straight ahead.
Trying to surround me.
I stayed perfectly still behind the rock.
The first trap triggered. Explosive tags buried beneath the sand ignited.
BOOM
Sand erupted into the air as two shinobi on the left were thrown backward stunned.
I moved. I flashed through hand signs.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive sphere of flame roared toward the center pair.
They reacted instantly.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
Closing the distance on the closest shinobi.
One of the Sword user. He drew fast. Steel flashed toward my neck.
I ducked under it, sliding forward across the sand.
He adjusted quickly, pivoting to stab downward.
Maybe high chunin.
I twisted, letting the blade pass my shoulder. Then drove my tanto upward. Straight under his ribs.
His eyes widened.
I ripped the blade free and kicked away his corpes
One down. Behind me Wind roared.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
The blast slammed into my back, throwing me forward across the sand.
I rolled and came up instantly.
Now with my Sharingan activated. The world slowed.
"So you are an Uchiha"
The fan user stepped forward again.
"Wind Style"
I moved before he finished. Kunai flew from my sleeve. He deflected it easily.
But that wasn't the real attack.
Wire snapped tight. The kunai behind him jerked upward. Explosive tag attached.
BOOM
The blast threw him sideways, blood spraying across the sand.
The two from the explosion trap were already rushing back in.
One launched shuriken. The other formed hand signs.
"Earth Style: Stone Bullets!"
Rocks fired toward me like arrows. My Sharingan tracked them. The world moved slower. But my body was still human.
One rock clipped my shoulder, sending pain down my arm.
I gritted my teeth.
The leader blurred forward. His fist came straight for my throat. I blocked with my forearm but the impact sent shock up my arm.
He followed with a knee. I barely twisted aside. His elbow slammed toward my temple. I leaned back just enough.
Three others closed in at the same time
I couldn't let them surround me.
I slammed my palm to the ground.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Multiple fireballs scattered outward.
They jumped back.
I flashed through another set of hand signs.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"
The flame shot like a spear toward the wounded fan user. He barely had time to scream before the fire swallowed him.
But the leader was already on me again. His kick came low. I jumped it. His punch followed immediately. I blocked.
Too slow.
His elbow slammed into my ribs. Air exploded from my lungs. I staggered back. Blood filled my mouth.
The other three rushed in.
Blades flashing.
I parried one.
Dodged another.
The third caught my thigh with a shallow slash.
My Sharingan spun faster. Reading every movement. Almost as if predicting the future.
But they were still overwhelming me.
A sword stabbed toward my chest.
I twisted. The blade grazed my side. Then I saw it.
An opening. Tiny.
One of the chunin overextended his step.
I locked eyes with him.
Genjutsu.
His body froze instantly.
I moved. Tanto across his throat. Blood sprayed across the sand.
The leader cursed.
"Don't look him in the eyes!"
The remaining three regrouped. Leader in front. Two behind.
The leader cracked his neck. "You're good, Uchiha."
He drew a short blade from his belt. "But you're still just one man."
They attacked together again. The leader's blade clashed against my tanto. The impact numbed my arm. Another shinobi kicked toward my back. I spun, barely blocking.
The third stabbed low. His blade cut across my calf. My leg buckled. The leader drove his shoulder into my chest.
I hit the ground hard. Sand filled my mouth. A blade came down toward my heart. I rolled just in time.
The sword buried itself in the sand. I kicked upward, catching the wielder in the jaw. He fell back. But the leader was already there.
His blade pierced straight through my shoulder. White pain exploded across my vision. I screamed and drove my head forward.
My forehead smashed into his nose. Blood poured out.
I ripped the blade from my shoulder. My vision blurred. Two tomoe spun wildly. Something inside my head was burning.
The last two shinobi rushed me again. I could see their movements. But my body too slow.
I remembered my old team. Dead. I remembered dying. The cold. The darkness.
No. Not again. Not like this.
The leader lunged for the killing blow. And something inside my eyes snapped. Pain exploded through my skull. My vision sharpened.
The world slowed even further.
The two tomoe shifted.
Spinning.
Changing.
Three tomoe.
The three-tomoe Sharingan awakened.
And suddenly…
I could see everything. Every muscle movement. Every twitch.
The leader's blade moving toward my throat. The other shinobi stepping in behind him.
A perfect opening.
I moved. The leader's blade slid past my throat by inches. My body twisted before my mind even finished the thought. My tanto flashed upward.
Steel met steel.
I knocked his blade aside and stepped inside his guard. My elbow slammed into his jaw.
Bone cracked.
The other shinobi was already behind me, sword cutting for my spine. I ducked. The blade passed over my head.
With the three tomoe spinning in my eyes the world felt different. Clearer. Like every movement had a trail before it even happened.
I stepped forward and drove my heel into the leader's knee. His leg bent the wrong way.
He grunted but didn't fall.
Behind me the other shinobi attacked again. I spun. His sword came in low. I kicked the flat of the blade, knocking it aside. Before he could recover I grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward.
Then I drove my tanto straight into his throat.
Blood sprayed across my arm.
I could feel it. My chakra is running low. The Sharingan is taking its toll.
The leader wiped blood from his nose and stared at me. He formed hand signs instantly.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blades!"
Invisible slices of wind screamed toward me. My Sharingan caught the distortion in the air. I jumped sideways.
One blade still caught my shoulder. It tore through cloth and skin like paper.
Pain exploded down my arm.
I landed hard, skidding across the sand.
The leader rushed me. His blade stabbed downward. I rolled. Sand sprayed into the air as his sword buried into the ground.
I kicked upward. My heel smashed into his ribs.bHe recovered instantly and came again. His blade flashed three times in quick succession.
I blocked the first. The second scraped across my forearm.
The third cut across my chest. Hot blood soaked my shirt.
I forced myself forward. If I backed off I was dead.
Our blades clashed again. Each strike sent shock up my arms. His shoulder twitched before every swing. His right foot shifted when he prepared a thrust. His breathing slowed when he planned a feint.
I waited.
One mistake. That was all I needed.
A straight thrust toward my heart. I stepped slightly to the side. His blade missed. For half a second he was open. I moved. My tanto plunged forward. Straight into his stomach.
The blade sank deep. His eyes widened.
But he didn't fall. Instead he grabbed my wrist.
"Got you."
My stomach dropped. Too late I saw the last shinobi rushing behind him. Sword raised.
A sacrifice play. The leader held me in place. His partner swung for my neck.
No time to dodge.
No time to block.
Only one option.
I locked eyes with the charging shinobi.
Genjutsu.
His body froze mid swing.
But only for a moment.
I ripped my blade free from the leader's stomach and twisted sideways. The frozen shinobi came out of the genjutsu just in time to see his own sword buried in the leader's back.
The leader coughed blood. Shock filled his eyes.
I stepped forward and drove my tanto into the last shinobi's chest.
He gasped. Then collapsed. The leader dropped to his knees. Blood poured from his mouth.
He looked up at me.
Then he fell forward into the sand. Silence returned to the desert.
For a moment I just stood there. My shoulder throbbed where the blade had pierced through. Blood dripped from half a dozen wounds.
I took two steps forward. My legs trembled.
TheSharingan had faded. The world started to blur.
My chakra was gone. The adrenaline faded. Pain rushed in all at once.
My legs finally gave out. I collapsed onto the sand.
Far away I heard footsteps.Then a voice.
"Shinji!"
Genma? I thought
Another voice followed.
"Over here!"
My vision was barely working now. I saw shapes rushing toward me.
Then Genma's face appeared above mine.
His eyes widened.
"Holy…"
He looked around at the bodies scattered across the battlefield.
Six sand shinobi.
All dead.
Goro whistled low.
"You fought all of them?"
Toboki knelt beside me quickly.
"You idiot…"
But he was smiling. Relieved.
Genma crouched down. "Still breathing."
I tried to speak. But my throat was dry. Blood filled my mouth.
Raido wasn't with them. That meant they got him somewhere safe.
Genma shook his head as he looked at the battlefield again.
"Six against one…"
Goro crouched beside one of the corpses.
"Mid chunin… maybe higher."
He looked back at me.
"…kid's insane."
Genma carefully lifted me onto his back.
Pain exploded through my body but I barely felt it now. Everything was fading.
Toboki walked beside us.
"You pushed too far."
Genma started moving.
Back toward camp.
But before the darkness took me completely I heard him say one last thing.
"…he awakened it."
Goro looked confused.
"What?"
Genma glanced back at my face.
"The Sharingan."
"Three tomoe."
He had to no way he fought them all off without it.
After that
Everything went black.