(June, year 54 AK)
Yuta calmly replied to Shinji that he was fine and would be able to fight without a problem, and exhausted or not, his genjutsu skills won't be affected by it.
'And if I'm to be really distracted that much due to exhaustion, I could channel the Calm State to clear and sharpen my mind, that will be enough to use all of my genjutsus at a top performance despite the pain and exhaustion.' Yuta completed the sentence in his mind, 'I could've boasted here about my sound based genjutsu and about my two original genjutsu techniques as well, that might've impressed these three Chunins, but I don't like to brag, I rather prove my skills in action instead.'
"I really hope that's the case." Shinji replied with an unreadable look, "Well, since Shisui-senpai decided to bring you here, kid, that means that your skills should be decent enough. Since we have a bit of time, I would like to get to know a little about everyone's skills. I've heard that all three of you had graduated from the academy only after two years, that's quite impressive, and seeing that both of you, Itachi and Hikari, was able to keep up with us easily, both of you are quite strong for your age, you must be very talented and will become Chunins soon enough. And Yuta, if what you said is true, being proficient in genjutsu at your age is quite impressive as well."
'He talks too much...' Yuta thought, 'My first impression of Shinji was that he was not talkative and formal type, but now he is running his mouth non-stop all of a sudden... That must be because it's the first time we have some free time since we've met, before that it was constant running, so I guess I can understand why he is like that, he speaks in short work-related sentences during missions but also he speaks casually like that when there is time for it.'
...
'Now that I think about it, it reminds me of Shisui. Shinji probably was on a team with Shisui for a long time, and Shisui being his team leader, Shinji must've been influenced by Shisui's form of conduct. As for Yohei and Isao, they mostly keep quiet and follow Shinji's lead, Shinji had probably taken over the squad leadership position after Shisui left.'
"Well then, Itachi, why don't you go first and tell us what is your combat skills is like, so we would be able to cooperate better?" Shinji asked and Yuta noticed that Yohei and Isao were also listening attentively.
"I use Fire Style ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu at a distance, then closing in when there is an opening." Itachi explained briefly.
'Itachi's entire presence feels colder and heavier for some reason, or maybe I'm just imagining things... No, of course it's not just my imagination, Itachi did change a lot, his presence, the look in his eyes, his chakra... I wonder how exactly Shisui managed to do that during the two weeks of personal training... And why did Shisui had decided to do it now, Itachi is still just eight years old, why did Shisui decide to force things like that now...' Yuta thought as he observed the conversation.
...
'Maybe Shisui is becoming desperate? I mean, the situation with the clan is deteriorating by the day, and recently I told him about Obito, maybe that makes Shisui to hurry up and prepare Itachi for the worst, making him stronger like that...'
"My name is Hikari and I like direct close combat!" Hikari said next with some enthusiasm.
'Well, at least something never changes...' Yuta thought as he glanced at Hikari.
"My name is Yuta, and as I said earlier, I mostly use genjutsu at a distance and act as a support for my team, I avoid close combat." Yuta said next.
As Shinji and the others attentively listened everyone's introductions, Yuta thought, 'This whole situation feels so off to me. Here we are, four young adults and three eight years old kids, in the middle of the forest, and adults attentively listening to kids describing how exactly and with which skills the kids are best prepared to kill people in a fight to the death. And the said fight is expected to happen quite soon, maybe even today. And everyone is taking this situation as a norm, like a usual Tuesday.'
...
'How long have I spent in this world already? Six years? Seven years? I thought I had already assimilated into this world and its culture and norms, but apparently, I did not. This whole situation still feels so wrong to me... Sigh, whatever... It's not like I could even talk to someone about it, no one would even understand me, better to suck it up... I'm going into battle and I'm going to kill people, it's as simple as that. I had known this is going to happen from the moment I had read "Konohagakure" in the reincarnation destination option all the way back in the black void...'
As Yuta had introduced himself and his skillset, he had fallen deep into his own thoughts about the coming battle, and his attitude turned more serious and tense.
As everyone was seating and resting, Shisui returned after his brief scouting of the surrounding area, he sat beside everyone and said, "We will move out in ten minutes, first we will meet with the border patrol squad that had encountered intruders and decide on our next moves after that. We should be able to reach the area where the border patrol operates in about an hour or so."
Shinji simply nodded and no one asked any questions.
Shisui and the three Chunins were calm and collected, Itachi was calm as well, Hikari was visibly excited, as if she was not about to go into battle but about to receive her birthday presents or something.
And as much as Yuta would've liked to be perfectly calm in this situation, for some reason that wasn't exactly the case. Yuta's heartbeat was hastened, his breathing was a bit hastened as well, and he was starting to feel nervous.
'What is wrong with me?' Yuta thought, 'I have faced deadly and dangerous situations multiple times by now, much more dangerous than this. I had almost died when I had submerged for the first time into the waters of the River of Time, although as it turned out, it was safe thanks to my Time Control ability, but I didn't know that at a time. I had myself kidnapped by the Root and almost got myself recruited into the Root, that was scarry as well. I was captured and almost killed by Obito, that was the most dangerous situation so far, if not for me discovering new things about my Calm State back then, it might've been over for me.'
...
'And yet, I'm feeling uneasy right now despite that there is not much danger for me here, since with my time-travel I can save myself from almost any situation...'
"Hey, Yuta." Hikari said suddenly with a playful smirk, "Are you feeling afraid? Don't worry, stick close to me and big sis will protect you!"
Yuta raised his head and met Hikari's smirk with a deadpan look, after staring at her for a couple seconds, he sighed and said thoughtfully, as he reflected on his own feelings, "It's not like I'm afraid of getting hurt or killed, but I'm still feeling uneasy for some reason." As Yuta said that, he thought about the upcoming battle and tried to find out what exactly makes him uneasy about it, and after a few seconds of silence he said, "It will be my first real battle, I guess I'm just worried about if I will be able to do what needs to be done without hesitation."
As Yuta finally managed to turn into words the things that were bothering him, he finally fully understood why he was feeling this way.
'Now that I had put it into words and said it out loud, I can see it now. It's not like I'm afraid for my life or about making mistakes during mission, since with my time-travel all of that is not a problem. The thing that makes me uneasy is that I might have to take a life in the upcoming battle. With logic I understand that it has to be done and I have to accept that, I even had told myself that I accept that and I'm at peace with that, but the logic is the one thing and the feelings is the other, I guess...'
...
'After all, I had lived in a relatively peaceful world where the idea of killing people were ingrained in me as a something repulsive and prohibited. I only had lived in this ninja world for a couple years and a lot of my mind is still wired the old way, so the situation of upcoming battle feels deeply and viscerally wrong to me.'
...
'I have to fix that. In the upcoming battle I should take a life and be done with it. When you find yourself in Rome, you should do as Romans do...'
As Yuta came to that conclusion, he was able to relax and calm down. There is some resolve that could be seen in his eyes now, and the significant amount of uneasiness had gradually faded away.
"So, you weren't afraid?" Hikari said as her playful smirk only grew bigger, "If you were to turn out to be a coward, I would've beat you up half dead after this mission."
"Don't joke like that!" Yuta blurted out with a little shudder.
"Your genjutsu better to turn out useful, or I might still follow up on that idea of beating you up." Hikari said menacingly.
"Beating up your teammates is wrong!" Yuta said.
"It's not beating up teammates, I'll call it a teamwork exercise!"
"Sigh, what a drag..." Yuta said as he looked away from Hikari's irritating smirk.
That little banter was able to ease up the uneasiness that was left in him, and Yuta felt much better now, ready for whatever happens next.
Yuta glanced one more time at his teammates, Itachi and Hikari.
'I can understand why Itachi is so calm, he already killed someone when he was four, back when his father took him into the battlefield. But Hikari, how she is taking everything even better than me? I have the Time Control and the experience of my past life, and I'm still struggle a bit with situations like this, but her, she is just an eight-years-old girl, how her mind works is a mystery to me...'
--- AN ---
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