Another Boring Uchiha Power Fantasy.

The road back home was quiet.

The sky was overcast but dry, the trees lining the trail thick with late-season leaves, and the path was wide enough for all four of them to walk side by side.

Mikoto broke the silence first.

”I want to say something. About the village.” Mikoto said.

The boys looked at her. She kept her eyes on the road.

”What happened there was my fault. Not yours. I’m the leader. The decision to follow Shuji was mine. I should have seen through his act. I should have questioned it, checked the cave before walking my team inside, something. I didn’t. I was careless and I was trusting and people died because of it.”

”Sensei… Y-” Inoichi started.

”Let me finish.” She took a breath. ”The eleven people who died in that village are on me. Not on you three. You did everything right. You split up, you protected the clients, you fought and you bled. That’s exactly what I trained you to do. The failure was mine. A chunin shouldn’t be deceived that easily. One of the core things taught to us at the academy was being able to see underneath the underneath. I didn’t realize that was meant for all aspects of shinobi life, not just combat.”

The road was quiet again for a few steps.

Inoichi spoke first. ”I didn’t trust him.”

Mikoto glanced at him.

”The chief’s son. He was too friendly. Too eager. Nobody’s that helpful without wanting something.” He shrugged. ”I should’ve said something.”

Mikoto looked at him. He wasn’t meeting her eyes. His hands were in his pockets. He was lying. He hadn’t suspected Shuji at all. None of them had. He was trying to help her feel less bad.

”I noticed it too. He asked too many questions. Like he was trying to get information.” Chōza said quickly.

Also lying. Chōza was a terrible liar. His ears were red.

”I had a weird feeling about him from the start.” Shikaku added.

Mikoto looked at the road ahead. Three boys, all trying to carry something that wasn’t theirs to carry, because they cared about their captain.

A small smile formed on her face.

”You’re all terrible liars.” she said.

Chōza’s ears went redder. Shikaku clicked his tongue. Inoichi had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

”But thank you. I appreciate it.” she said.

She was the captain. She couldn’t let her team carry what was hers to carry. Putting on a confident face was part of the job, even when she didn’t feel it.

They walked in silence for another minute but it was a better silence than before.

”Oh,” Mikoto said, as if she’d just remembered something. ”I have a gift.”

She reached into her pouch and pulled out two objects. Trench knife style weapons, designed to be worn like brass knuckles, with zigzag-shaped blades that gave them serrated teeth. The metal caught the light with a faint bluish sheen.

”Chakra blades. Made from special chakra-conducting metal. They can be imbued with the user’s chakra nature to-” She started.

Inoichi snatched them out of her hands.

”WHOA!” He turned them over, slid his fingers through the grips, and started shadow boxing the air. Left jab, right hook, uppercut. The blades sliced through the air as he moved. ”These are incredible! They’re so light! Mikoto-sensei, these are amazing!”

Shikaku stared at his own empty hands, then at Inoichi, then at Mikoto.

”I didn’t even get to look at them.”

”You snooze, you lose, sucker.” Inoichi said, throwing a combination at nothing.

”I wasn’t snoozing. She was still freaking talking, man.”

”Should’ve been faster.”

Mikoto ruffled Shikaku’s hair. ”I’ll find something for you too. Don’t worry.”

He ducked away from her hand but didn’t actually move far enough to escape it. ”Where did you even get those?”

”I put in an order for them. They’re expensive. Special chakra-conducting metal.” Mikoto said.

Inoichi stopped shadow boxing. ”How expensive?”

”Very.”

”Oooh, special metal? Is it special because it can take our chakra nature?” Chōza said, leaning in to look at the blades.

”That’s right, watch.” Mikoto pulled a kunai from her pouch.

She held the kunai up. Water chakra flowed from her hand into the blade and it shimmered with a thin wet sheen. Then the water vanished and lightning crackled along the edge, sparks jumping between the teeth. Then the lightning died and flames licked up the metal, the kunai burning like a torch in her hand.

She let the fire go out and tucked the kunai away.

Three pairs of eyes stared at her.

”Is that kunai made of the special metal?” Shikaku asked.

Mikoto shook her head with a smile. ”No. I’ve just progressed far enough in my nature training to do it with regular metal. With chakra-conducting metal like those blades, it’s much easier. Less drain on your chakra too.”

Shikaku nodded slowly. Thinking about how long it would take for him to reach that stage.

Inoichi looked at the blades in his hands. He looked at Mikoto. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

”Thank you, Mikoto-sensei. Really. These are...” He shifted on his feet. For a second it looked like he was going to hug her. Then he seemed to remember that she was a girl and he was a boy and they were close in age and that would be weird, so he just rubbed the back of his head and said, ”Thank you.”

”You’re welcome. I’ll help you learn to fight with them alongside our regular training.”

Chōza was running numbers in his head. ”How much would it cost to get a bo staff made from that stuff?”

Mikoto thought about it. She had no idea what chakra metal actually cost. The system had just given them to her. But it had to be expensive given how useful it was.

”Several A-rank missions’ worth of pay.” she guessed.

Chōza hunched over in depression. “I’ll never be able to save that much money!”

“Especially with how much you spend at the mess hall for extras.” Inoichi added.

“Oi.” Chōza glared at him.

“What?! Am I lying?!” Inoichi raised his hands in peace.

“You might have to start hunting wild animals to save on money for your staff.” Shikaku smirked.

“Ooh… That actually isn’t a bad idea, Shikaku! With the body flicker technique, what animal could escape me!?” Chōza perked up.

“How are you even going to find them in the first place? It’s not like you’re a sensor or anything like me.” Inoichi brought that fact up.

“If I cover enough ground, I’d be able to find something.” Chōza balled his fist in determination. “If I find a pig or something, that’s like three meals from the mess hall!” His eyes started shining.

“Do you know how to prepare a wild animal even after catching it?” Mikoto asked curiously.

“No. But I have an amazing sensei who probably does!” Chōza smiled.

Mikoto smiled as well. “You’re lucky you’re so nice. But I won’t cook for free. You’ll be learning how to cook your own meals.”

“Yes ma’am!” Chōza saluted.

They walked on.

The farmland was rolling grassland dotted with fenced pastures and low stone walls. A farmer met them at the edge of his property and pointed northwest.

”They come from the hills at night. A pack of ‘em, big too. They’ve taken three cows and two horses in the last week. Tried to get into the house where my wife and kids sleep.”

”How big would you say they are?” Mikoto asked.

”Big as tigers. Maybe bigger. And fast. Never seen wolves like ’em before.”

”How many?”

”Hard to count in the dark. Eight, maybe ten.”

”Which direction did they come from?”

He pointed. The hills to the northwest rose in a series of wooded ridges. Perfect for wolves to hide and hunt.

They tracked the animals northwest. Chōza found the first signs within an hour: massive paw prints in the soft earth near a stream, each one the size of a dinner plate. Claw marks on tree trunks, higher than a man’s head. The remains of a cow, stripped to bone and sinew, scattered across a clearing.

”Those are big prints.” Inoichi admired them.

”The war probably drove them here. Battlefield destruction displaces wildlife. Jutsu reshaping the terrain, fires burning through forests, explosions collapsing dens. These wolves lost their territory and their normal prey. They migrated here where the food is easier or just more accessible.” Mikoto figured.

”Easier meaning livestock.” Chōza said.

”And people, if they get desperate enough.”

They followed the tracks into the hills. The forest thickened. The ground rose. The afternoon light filtered through the branches in pale shafts that made the undergrowth glow.

Shikaku stopped and pinched his nose. ”There’s fresh poop. We’re close to ‘em.”

Inoichi’s head came up sharply. ”Wolves. Around us. A lot of them.”

A howl split the air. Another howl answered from the left. Then another from behind.

”I think they know we’re here.” Inoichi chuckled. His hands went to the chakra blades at his waist that he’d owned for less than a day.

“And I think they’re hungry.” Choza added, pulling out his bo staff.

”Formation, back to back. Let them come to us.” Mikoto ordered.

They formed up. Mikoto, Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chōza in a tight square, facing outward. The forest was alive with movement. Shadows shifting between the trees. Yellow eyes catching the light in pairs.

The first wolf came from the right.

It was massive. Shoulders as high as Chōza’s chest, fur the color of smoke, with jaws that could close around a man’s thigh. It lunged from the undergrowth in a sprint.

Mikoto stepped forward and Shark Skin caught it mid-leap. The bandaged sword smashed the wolf into the ground, dead in one hit.

That opened the floodgates.

The pack surged from the trees. Eight wolves, all massive, all grey, a coordinated attack of predators who had been hunting together their whole lives. They hit from every direction at once.

”Go!” Mikoto shouted.

Shikaku dropped into Shadow Possession and caught the nearest wolf mid-stride. It froze, jaws open, one paw raised. Chōza was on it instantly, bo staff cracking across its skull. The wolf slumped over dead.

Two more came at Inoichi. He drew the chakra blades, slid his fingers through the grips, and channeled. Water chakra flowed into the metal, coating it. The blades shimmered with a thin layer of dense water.

The first wolf snapped at his left hand. Its teeth closed on the blade and skidded off the water coating, jaws sliding across the surface without latching. Inoichi twisted and drove the right blade into the wolf’s shoulder. The zigzag teeth bit deep. The wolf howled and thrashed and he pulled the blade free and kicked it away.

The second wolf circled. Inoichi tracked it, blades up, water coating the metal. It lunged. He sidestepped and slashed. The blade caught it across the muzzle. Not deep enough to kill but deep enough to make it reconsider. It backed off, snarling.

”The water works as armor!” he shouted to the others. ”They can’t bite through it! These blades are freaking awesome!”

”Nice to know, Inoichi!” Chōza yelled back. He was fending off two wolves with his staff, swinging in wide arcs that kept them at bay. One lunged low. Chōza brought the staff down on its spine. The crack echoed through the trees.

Mikoto moved through the pack like a shadow. A dash to the wolf flanking Shikaku, Shark Skin smashing it into a tree. A leap backward to the one circling behind Chōza, a rising slash that sent it flying into the air. The sword wanted to feast but Mikoto coated the bandages in chakra, stopping Shark Skin from shredding these beasts and revealing itself to her boys.

In thirty seconds, five wolves were down. Three remained, circling the group at a distance, snarling.

Then the alpha appeared.

It came through the trees without sound. Bigger than the others by half again, its fur darker, nearly black, with scars across its face and one milky eye. It was the size of a small horse, its head level with Mikoto’s chest. When it opened its mouth, the teeth were as long as kunai.

It looked at its dead pack mates. It looked at the four humans standing in the middle of them. Its remaining eye, bright yellow, fixed on Mikoto.

It howled.

The three remaining wolves charged.

”I’ve got the small ones!” Mikoto said. ”Take the alpha!”

She rushed into the three charging wolves and Shark Skin went to work. The boys turned to face the alpha.

It came at them like a landslide.

Shikaku planted his feet. ”Shadow Possession Jutsu!”

His shadow surged across the forest floor and caught the alpha’s. The massive wolf froze mid-charge, its claws digging furrows in the dirt, its muscles straining against the bind. Shikaku’s teeth clenched. This thing was strong.

”HURRY!” he shouted.

Inoichi rushed in from the left, chakra blades drawn. He leapt and drove both blades into the side of the alpha’s neck. The zigzag teeth sank in. Halfway. The muscle was too thick, the hide too dense. The blades stuck.

”Dammit!” He hung from the blades, feet off the ground, trying to force them deeper. The alpha’s neck was too massive. The blades wouldn’t go through.

A shadow fell over both of them.

Chōza was in the air. Expansion Jutsu, his body swollen to three times its size, tucked into a ball. Human Boulder. He’d launched himself off a tree trunk and was coming down directly on top of the alpha’s head.

”MOVE, INOICHI!”

“DUDE! GIVE ME A WARNING BEFOREHAND!!!” Inoichi ripped the blades free and threw himself sideways.

Chōza hit the alpha like a wrecking ball dropped from the sky. The impact was sickening. The wolf’s body flattened under the weight, bones cracking, organs rupturing, blood spraying outward in a burst that painted the forest floor red. And Inoichi, who hadn’t gotten quite far enough away, caught the spray full in the face.

He stood there. Dripping.

Red from his hair to his waist. Wolf blood in his eyes, on his lips, soaking through his jacket.

Chōza untucked from the Human Boulder and landed on his feet. He looked at Inoichi. A grin spread across his face so wide it nearly split it.

”Red looks good on you, Inoichi.”

Inoichi’s mouth opened. His eye twitched. Anger was visible on his face.

He stood there, drenched in wolf blood, vibrating with indignation, thinking of several curse words to unleash onto his best friend. He didn’t let them loose. He exhaled through his nose.

”Okay, fine. I’ll let you have this one. I’ll be the bigger person, this freaking time!”

”Bigger person? This is just fair.” Chōza clapped him on the back. Blood splattered from the impact.

Shikaku was holding his stomach laughing with watery eyes.

Mikoto stood over three dead wolves with Shark Skin in her hand and she was laughing too.

Inoichi wiped wolf blood from his eyes and looked at all three of them laughing at him. ”I hate this team…” He couldn’t hide the small smile at the corner of his lips.

Mikoto sealed the wolf carcasses in scrolls for the mission report. Mikoto cleaned Inoichi off with a water jutsu, which he accepted gratefully. Chōza as well.

The walk back was nice. Chōza recounted the Human Boulder drop in detail, complete with sound effects. Shikaku pointed out that technically his Shadow Possession was the reason the alpha couldn’t dodge. Inoichi maintained that he had it, the blades were halfway through, another second and he would’ve cut its head off.

”Halfway isn’t finished.” Chōza said.

”It’s closer to finished than not started.”

”It’s also closer to not started than finished.”

”Shut up.”

”You shut up.”

Mikoto listened to them argue happily.

They reached camp before sunset. Mikoto filed the mission report. All targets eliminated. No casualties. No property damage. Mission success.

Takeda read it, nodded once, and signed off.

”Better. Keep it up.” he said.

“Will do.”Mikoto bowed. 

The genin bowed.

They left together.