Chapter 10: March Toward Chaos

  Three months passed like fleeting clouds, but peace had long since vanished from Konoha’s skies.

  Thunder. Earth. Wind.

  The three great nations had finally made their move. Konoha, once a symbol of strength, now found itself surrounded—besieged on all fronts. The Second Shinobi War was no longer a rumor or distant thunder. It was here, raging at their borders like an unchained beast.

  Uchiha Ren stood in silence as the names were called. Genin, chunin, and even young tokubetsu jonin were being assigned to battalions and sent to the various fronts. His name was among them—called for the Thunder front.

  He expected it. No Uchiha could hide forever, especially not one of age and ability.

  He packed his gear without a word. His chakra was steady, his spirit firm. Inside, he had already accepted the war. What he didn’t expect… was the quiet sense of relief in his chest when Mikoto’s name wasn’t called.

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  She, an orphan of the main line, was under the protection of her grandfather—the Great Elder of the Uchiha Clan. She had not been selected for deployment.

  Ren didn’t smile, but something in his heart eased. In this storm, at least one precious person remained safe.

  Mikoto, however, didn’t share that calm.

  She found him before his departure, her expression tense beneath the morning sun. The chill of winter lingered, but her voice was warm with quiet desperation.

  “You’re really going…” she said, eyes lowered.

  Ren nodded. “The clan didn’t intervene. It was expected.”

  Silence stretched between them like a taut wire.

  Then she stepped forward, holding his hand gently—a rare moment of boldness from the usually composed Mikoto.

  “Come back,” she whispered. “No matter what happens, come back.”

  He blinked, caught off-guard.

  “I will,” he said simply, squeezing her hand once before letting go.

  She hesitated, then looked up with a faint flush. “And… when you do, I’ll give you something. A surprise. So don’t die, alright?”

  Ren gave a rare smile, soft and fleeting. “I’ll hold you to it.”

  Moments later, he disappeared with his unit, the weight of war settling on his shoulders. The thunder front awaited—a battlefield of chaos, blood, and legacy.

  But in his heart, amidst the noise of coming battle, a single voice echoed:

  Come back.

  And so he would.