Linton didn't expect that his short walk would end up lasting half a day. He hadn't seen a single person, let alone the Leaf Village base. He wasn't even sure if he was heading in the right direction since he couldn't tell north from south.
As dusk started to settle, Linton decided to look for a place to camp, when suddenly, he encountered people—and not just any people, he found himself surrounded.
Three people stood in front of Linton: an older man with a beard and two younger boys, who looked about ten years old. What made Linton feel relieved was that all three of them clearly had the Leaf Village symbol on their clothing—they were Leaf shinobi. Judging by the situation, the bearded man was likely the squad leader, while the two younger ones were his subordinates.
The moment Linton saw them, he activated his Sharingan. He wanted to assess their strength and, at the same time, reveal his own identity. He also pulled out a kunai, taking a defensive stance—just like he'd seen a Uchiha do before. After all, even if these people appeared to be from the Leaf, he couldn't be too sure.
Noticing Linton's Sharingan, the three shinobi, who had been wary, relaxed and stepped out from their hiding spots. While wearing Uchiha clan attire wasn't uncommon, having the Sharingan was a significant marker, so they quickly recognized him as one of their own.
"Are you from the Uchiha clan? What's going on?" the bearded man asked, keeping a bit of distance from Linton.
"And who are you?" Linton asked back, still staying alert.
"Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Tokubetsu Jōnin," the man replied.
"Oh, a Sarutobi Jōnin?" Linton pretended to recognize the name. In reality, he only vaguely remembered it. Sarutobi was the name of the Third Hokage's family, so this guy must be related to the Hokage. Now that Linton thought about it, the man did look familiar—he resembled Asuma, especially with that beard.
Feigning some relief, Linton slightly lowered his guard. "Uchiha Linton," he introduced himself.
"What happened?" Sarutobi Shinnosuke asked, stepping a bit closer. His two students also emerged from their cover, clearly accepting Linton as a fellow Uchiha.
"We were ambushed. I'm the only survivor from my squad," Linton said.
"I see," Shinnosuke nodded, not showing any doubt. After all, his own squad had been attacked too—there were originally three of them, but now only two remained. "How many enemies were there in the attack? Any critical information?"
Now Linton really had a headache—how was he supposed to make this up? He didn't even know who the Leaf's enemies were at the moment.
Linton had spent some time analyzing the situation. He figured this must be years before the main storyline began, as by then, the Uchiha clan had been wiped out, with only Sasuke, Itachi, and a few bosses remaining. That random Uchiha grunt he killed earlier definitely wouldn't have been alive by then. From what he could tell, the Leaf was at war with other ninja villages, but Linton didn't know which war this was, or who the enemy was. The Leaf fought several wars against multiple villages.
He couldn't just say he didn't know anything. If they pressed him for more details, he'd be in big trouble. Wartime security was tight, and the fact that they hadn't asked him for a password or code yet was already lucky.
Fortunately, just as Linton was struggling to come up with an answer, someone saved him. Suddenly, a series of whistling sounds filled the air, and Sarutobi Shinnosuke's face changed instantly as he shouted, "Scatter!"
"Hostile target detected. Engaging in automatic combat mode."
In a split second, Linton's body moved on its own, rolling to the side and hiding behind a nearby tree. Shinnosuke and his two subordinates also evaded the attack. A few shuriken and kunai landed where they had been standing—a clear ambush.
Linton quickly scanned the area with his Sharingan and saw four enemies. He didn't recognize any of them, but the good news was he did recognize the headbands—they were shinobi from the Sand Village.
The one leading the attack was a Jōnin from the Sand Village named Renji. His squad had nearly wiped out an Uchiha team earlier. However, in the chaos of battle, that Uchiha had managed to escape. Renji's team got held up by the remaining members of the squad, so they hadn't been able to pursue. After the fight, Renji had no intention of leaving any survivors and had set out to hunt them down.
The Uchiha had used some basic ninja tactics during his escape, throwing Renji off the trail. However, Linton had no idea how to hide his tracks, so Renji easily found Linton's trail and followed him.
Renji had been trailing Linton for a while, but he found it odd—earlier, the Uchiha had known how to hide his movements, but now Linton was walking out in the open. Something didn't seem right. Sure enough, after a short time, Leaf Village shinobi appeared.
Seeing that it was just a small squad, Renji decided to attack. He launched an ambush, but the leader of the Leaf team spotted him in time. However, Renji wasn't about to let them go. Just as he was about to launch another attack, he noticed something strange—Linton looked different. This wasn't the Uchiha he had been chasing.
He had only seen Linton's back before, but now that Linton turned around, Renji realized this was a different person. What was going on?
"Did the Sand squad… follow us?" Sarutobi Shinnosuke muttered from behind a tree, observing the situation. "One Jōnin and three Chūnin—it's an elite squad. This could be trouble…"
"How did you—" Renji started to ask, confused, when suddenly there was a loud "bang," and Renji immediately lost consciousness, falling from the tree and crashing to the ground.
"What?" Everyone present was stunned, including Linton, who looked confused. What had just happened?
The next moment, Linton realized that everyone was staring at him. He had no idea why—what did this have to do with him? But when he turned his head, he noticed he was holding a gun, and the barrel was still smoking.
"Did I… shoot him?" Linton was utterly confused, but after thinking it through, he understood. His automatic combat mode must have triggered when he dodged, and while he was still analyzing the situation, his body had automatically acted. Since the enemy was far away, the system had decided to use the gun to eliminate the threat.
"Combat mode: disengaged."
"Wait a second—how can you just pull a gun out of my inventory like that?" Linton muttered. He had only gotten the gun as a last resort, keeping it in the system's inventory, and now his body had just taken it out and fired it. He hadn't wanted to reveal this trump card so early. It was meant for emergencies, and now it was exposed. This completely messed up his plan.
The system, of course, didn't respond to Linton. There was nothing he could do now. Glancing at the shocked Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Linton said, "Do you know the Uchiha clan motto?"
Shinnosuke shook his head, still in a daze.
"Hesitation leads to defeat."
"…" Shinnosuke was at a loss for words.
The awkward silence was finally broken when the remaining enemies realized what had happened. After exchanging glances, the three remaining Sand shinobi turned and fled.
Seeing them run, Sarutobi Shinnosuke didn't have time to question the gun any further and immediately ordered, "Pursue them!"
In an instant, Shinnosuke and his two subordinates used the Body Flicker Technique to chase after the fleeing enemies. But Linton found himself in an awkward position. The system hadn't activated combat mode for the other enemies since they hadn't directly attacked him, meaning he couldn't automatically lock onto them. Keeping up with them would be a hassle.
Shinnosuke and his team leaped through the trees with ease, but Linton didn't have that kind of skill. Not pursuing them would look suspicious though—why wouldn't he follow orders from a Jōnin? After a moment of thought, Linton opened the system store and quickly bought an item.
A web shooter—1500 points for one, and 800 points to refill the web fluid. It was more expensive than the gun, but it was useful right now. After strapping it to his hand, Linton aimed at a nearby tree and fired. Thanks to his Sharingan's precision, he hit his target on the first try, and with a tug of the web, he flew into the air.
Given Linton's high stats, his body reacted well to the new equipment. After a few swings, he quickly caught up with the others. By the time he reached them, Shinnosuke had already cornered the two remaining Sand shinobi.
Just as Shinnosuke was about to take down one of them, a figure came flying out of the trees behind him, performing a 360-degree spin in the air before landing between Shinnosuke
and the Sand ninja.
"Uh… I'm not great at landing. You guys can keep fighting—just pretend I'm not here," Linton said, looking awkwardly at the two of them.
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(End of Chapter)