A Genin's life is as short as a blink of an eye

Character status and overall date of the events are all written on the Author's note.

Chapter 2: A Genin's life is as short as a blink of an eye

Tsuna's eyes swept the field.

The fire was burning most of the trees, the black smoke rising up had made it difficult to see more than a dozen meters ahead.

"Listen here, everyone!" A man behind him called.

All members of the squad turned their heads towards him to listen.

"Hagoromo and Yamanaka's clan have been fighting for almost two days now, our last piece of intel suggests that there has been internal strife within the Uchiha chain of command so it isn't likely that they'll come out of their village to help Hagoromo clan's with this large-scale battle of them.

"Our target is the eldest son of Hagoromo's clan head, Iwao Hagoromo. Based on the information the Daimyo sent to Patriarch Ashina, he shouldn't be stronger than a Tokebetsu Jonin, your job is to drawn his guards away while I and Michi sneak through their camp and kill him. We are all Shinobi and I don't have to tell you the importance of this mission!"

Michi who was standing next to Shou nodded and said as his eyes swept the crowd with both children who had just recently graduated and teenagers who had been honed by the battlefield.

"The mission is the most important thing, we have to complete it no matter what! If we succeeded the Land of Fire's Lord will pay us enough to boost the development of our clan for at least ten more years! Many of you will die today, but your sacrifice will ensure the lives of our brothers and sisters!"

Hearing his words, the teenager all nodded with cold eyes, they had been through this sort of situation more than once, and they were all willing to sacrifice themselves for the cause, such was the will of an Uzumaki. Like the whirlpool crest that represents their clan, they were all bound together and with fierce determination, they would crush all and everyone that dared to enter their boundaries.

The kids, however, had looks of hesitance in their eyes. They were shaking and trembling just from hearing captain Michi's words.

"But... my mother is sick... who will take care of her if I die..."

"No- I can't die here! I have to protect my brother!"

"W-what!? But I don't want to lose my brother here!"

Tsuna could feel the atmosphere getting heavier and heavier by the second.

The mission assignment was similar in every clan across the globe. The elders would rank them based on their importance and assign a captain with a level between Chunin and Jonin to it, depending on the estimated level of difficulty, they were then granted permission to draft between 5 to 20 swords to their squads, and in some exceptional circumstances, even a 100 swords could be called if it meant that it was a direct threat for the clan.

The thing is that due to the chaotic state of constant war, surveillance and battles, there wasn't any detailed work on individuals information, kids who had just graduated from the training grounds, as well as thirty years old veterans who were close to becoming elders, would all be picked like cabbages and just thrown into battle without consideration for the individual strength.

There was no time to make a precise assessment of the Shinobi specific level of power because missions had to be completed as soon as possible, and it was because of this that all clans had to resort to quantity over quality, the drawbacks of such decisions was the high amount of casualties.

Sighing Tsuna stood up and walked towards those three who were trembling with fear, no matter what, even in such situations they were still putting their loved ones ahead of them, proving that they were just as praise-worthy as any other Uzumaki.

He patted their shoulders making them turn to look at him.

"Stick close to me, no matter what, we will complete this mission and survive this tempest as a family!"

As those words reached everyone's ears, Shou and Michi couldn't help but take another look towards this lackluster member of their clan, they didn't know his name since he wasn't famous nor anything, however, his words were capable of moving not only their hearts but the hearts of the veterans as well.

His words might have been childish and naive, but it was always a blessing to have someone with such thoughts in the squad, it helped boost their morale, and increased their strength for what was about to come.

Seeing how he was willing to say such words, even though they might turn back to haunt in the future, Michi smiled and made sure to remember his face, if this kid died, he would at least make sure that his body was retrieved so that he could have a proper Uzumaki funeral.

"Alright everyone, you all know what to do!" Michi lifted his hand with a sign and everyone nodded.

Michi and Shou separated from the main group and climbed the trees, they would be moving from above and the others would serve as a distraction while working with the Yamanaka to fend off the attacks of the Hagoromo clan.

As they moved in the shadows behind bushes to avoid being noticed too soon, one of the kids turned to Tsuna and whispered.

"T-thank you for saying those kind words. My name is S-saki."

Tsuna frowned hearing his words, such a sweet voice didn't fit this boy's face which was covered with dirt. Looking up close he couldn't help but wonder if this person was truly a boy, still, he smiled and said to the boy who had mentioned his sick mother before.

"Saki Uzumaki, is it? My name is Tsunayoshi, but you can call me Tsuna, also, don't worry too much, just stay calm and you'll survive this."

Hearing his words, the other two kids, both of which were younger than Saki and Tsuna gulped and said.

"Older brother Tsuna, thank you!"

Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle as he heard the two speaking at the same time.

"You two are twins?"

"Yes... my name is Kichiro, and my brother is Nao." Seeing how one of them answered while the other flushed slightly as he bowed his head, Tsuna nodded and smiled for them as well.

No matter what, he would do his best to keep those three alive today. After all, even if he was an Uzumaki and was grateful for the treatment he received over those years, he didn't think that this administrative failure of the clan was acceptable, no matter what, children shouldn't be sent to such a difficult mission.

If necessary, he will abandon the mission and focus on surviving.

Soon they jumped out of the bushes right into the battlefield.

Seeing the characteristic red hair, a smile spread across Yoichi Yamanaka's face, he turned his head to the side and shouted.

"Father! The Uzumaki arrived! We are saved!"

An old man with wrinkles on his face nodded towards Yoichi and joined both of his hands in a jutsu seal.

Suddenly a burst of chakra crossed through him, it was so dense that people could see it with the naked eye.

"Everyone, our allies are here! Fear no more because victory is ahead of us!"

Every single member of the Yamanaka clan heard those words, their spirit ignited once more and the will to survive spread like embers in a forest.

To think that just when they thought that it would be the end of their clan, a helping hand arrived.

Seeing how the Uzumaki joined the battle without beating around the bushes and doing their best to help, the old man, Hitoshi Yamanaka, patriarch of the Yamanaka clan, smiled.

'Fortunately, we hired the Uzumaki, if it was the Hatake, Sarutobi or another clan, even if they accepted to help, they wouldn't send so many people, nor would they fight so seriously. They are indeed a bunch of fools that focus too much on friendship and bonds... Sigh... Hopefully, they will come with us to help the Nara and Akmichi as well... I should send a few gifts after this is over.'

Shaking his head, he started to rotate his chakra as he jumped into the battlefield.

Fireballs, beams of water, walls of earth, the chaos was such that it was difficult to know where an attack came from, every single person on the battlefield fought using the best of their abilities, but even then, cries of pain and despair were heard constantly all around as people died one after the other.

A few of the more talented individuals in this battle always ended up attracting more attention as well.

From time to time, a red-haired Shinobi would quickly form a set of handseals before rapidly slamming their hands on the ground, seals would then cover a large area before extending towards the enemies inside it, after that, a single infusion of chakra would then activate the seal and pull them so hard towards the ground that those entrapped would be rendered completely neutralized, either by being directed knocked out or simply by losing all ability to fight and defend themselves.

As for the Yamanaka, it was clear that there was some genius on their sides as well. From time to time, a member of the Hagoromo clan would suddenly start to attack their allies, making it look like he had turned against his clan, while he was, in fact, being controlled by the Yamanaka Hijutsu... the Mind Body Switch Technique.

Even then, it wasn't that easy of a fight, the members of the Hagoromo clan were in a certain way, very similar to the Senju, they had bodies that were above average in terms of physical prowess, they were all born with three and in rare occasions four chakra natures, they were also very well-rounded, being proficient in all sorts of techniques and styles.

They weren't as strong as the Senju or Uchiha, but their hundreds of years of accumulation of techniques made them a scary opponent.

Even Tsuna was surprised as he fought against a kid just a few years older than him from the Hagoromo clan.

The kid used white ancient robes, the kind that was put aside many years ago in favor of iron and bronze plates like the one's Tsuna and other members of the Uzumaki clan were using. The kid's eyebrows were also just small dots above his eyes, almost like he shaved 70% of it.

But what really made him surprised was his Kenjutsu, no matter how many blows he made and parried, the two were evenly matched!

Even though he was being limited by his physical strength, one had to remember that he had thousands of years of experience with all sorts of weapons, for someone to match him in a world where the average life-span was thirty years was proof of how talented this kid was!

Feeling the pressure increasing on him, he decided to up this game by using some of the hand-to-hand techniques from his previous life.

As soon as his sword crossed with the Hagoromo kid's, he quickly changed his center of gravity as he locked his arm with the kid's arm. Turning his body with all the strength he could muster from the muscles on his back, he lifted the kid in white robes and threw him on the ground, making his back hit the earth with such a strength that he spat blood.

Taking this chance, he quickly thrust his sword towards his neck and ended the kid's life.

This trick he just used was called Bull Lifting, a technique created by observing a wild beast from his previous life that used its horns to lift its enemies and throw them on the ground with enough strength to break their spines.

Just as he killed the kid, a shout came from his left, he turned his head quickly enough to watch the moment that one of the kids who graduated with him from the training ground was killed by an enemy's fireball.

Seeing this he couldn't help but sigh, in a world like this a Genin's life was as short as the blink of an eye, in less than ten minutes after joining the battle, this kid died without even noticing where the attack came from.

Gulping his senses became even more alert than before, he couldn't afford to die in such a place.

Looking around, he spotted Saki, he was facing another Genin by the looks of it, and someone was trying to sneak towards him. With a smirk on his face, Tsuna quickly approached the man as his body darted forward in extreme speed, with a slash of his swords combined with the Body Flicker Technique he slashed his neck without him realizing what was happening, and in a quick spinning jump to gather more momentum, he threw one of his kunais towards the genin facing Saki, piercing his eye and killing him in an instant.

Seeing this, Saki turned to look at Tsuna and was stunned for a moment.

"Thanks, older brother Tsuna!"

"Don't mention it!" Tsuna nodded and quickly left to help other members of the clan, leaving Saki with reinvigorated energy to keep fighting.