Time passed without much notice.
For about a year, Team 10 chained one mission after another. Escorts, reconnaissance, elimination of small enemy squads, recovery of supplies.
Fortunately, they didn't suffer a second ambush, and the rest of their involvement in the war was fairly smooth compared to that day.
It was at the end of this period that they arrived at an open battlefield.
There were no formations or banners left standing. Only bodies. Thousands of corpses scattered without any order, mixed together without clear distinction of villages, clans, or sides.
The team stopped.
Fugaku was the first to react. His eyes silently swept across the field, pausing here and there. His breathing became slightly uneven. He had seen death before, but never on this scale. Never so impersonal. Something tightened inside him, a confusing mix of fear, rage, and a determination he didn't yet fully understand.
Suddenly, a subtle shift occurred in his gaze.
Kagami noticed it instantly. The flow of chakra in Fugaku changed, and when his eyes refocused, they had turned red, and a single tomoe had appeared in each pupil.
Kagami said nothing, but a quiet satisfaction crossed his mind. Another Uchiha had awakened his eyes. In the midst of war, it was a small victory.
After that day, Team 10 stopped going out on missions.
Kagami was summoned directly by Tobirama for a secret mission, and without a jonin in command, there was no way for the three genin to continue operating in the midst of a full-scale war.
So Noah returned home along with his comrades.
After spending an entire year deployed on the front lines, returning to the village felt strange.
As he walked, a memory came to mind.
Noah recalled that in canon, the Second Hokage died during the First Shinobi War, on a diplomatic mission that went wrong. Given the timing and the context, it was very likely that the mission Kagami had been called for was precisely that one.
The time he had spent on the front lines hadn't been wasted; on the contrary, he had gained a lot of experience in real combat.
—Speaking of experience… —he thought—. It's about time to do that.
With a new idea in mind, Noah headed once more to the shinobi academy.
Tsunade's Team 6, like Noah's Team 10, had also returned to Konoha.
Their instructor, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had also been summoned by Tobirama to join the elite squad.
Thus, their group, like the others, had to return from the front lines.
Orochimaru walked in silence, hands tucked into his sleeves, eyes fixed ahead. Jiraiya walked beside him, looking as carefree as ever… though something in his expression betrayed his irritation.
And Tsunade kept staring at him.
She glanced at him sidelong again and again. Each time she did, her lips tightened, as if she were trying to hold something back. Her shoulders kept shaking, and finally, with an outburst of laughter, she could no longer restrain herself.
—HAHAHAHAHA!
Tsunade doubled over slightly, clutching her stomach as she laughed without any shame.
—I can't believe you fell for such a basic genjutsu! —she said between laughs—. And that you ended up kissing a frog!
Jiraiya stopped dead in his tracks.
—Shut your big mouth! —he growled—. That frog had more curves than you anyway!
The ground creaked beneath Tsunade's feet as she stepped forward.
—Say that again —she said, flashing a dangerous smile—. Go ahead, you perverted pig.
Orochimaru sighed, not bothering to intervene.
—You always blow everything out of proportion! —Jiraiya protested—. The genjutsu was well done!
—You kissed a frog —she shot back—. With tongue!
—THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
—We saw it.
—You're lying!
Orochimaru sighed again, not even deigning to look at them.
The argument continued until they reached the fork that separated them toward their respective districts. Without any elaborate goodbyes, each went their own way.
Tsunade, still in a bad mood, went straight to the Senju clan residence.
Upon entering, she found Mito alone.
—Hasn't Nawaki come back yet? —she asked, slipping off her sandals—. I thought he'd return today.
Mito shook her head.
—He's already back —she replied calmly—. But right now, he's in the Forest of Death.
Tsunade was taken aback.
—The Forest of Death? —she repeated—. What's he doing there?
—After returning, he applied to take the chunin exam. He's already passed the written test… and now he's in the survival phase in the Forest of Death.
—EEEEH!?
Back to Noah.
At his feet lay a small group of unconscious genin.
The survival test wasn't really that mysterious.
Upon entering the Forest of Death, each participant was given a Heaven or Earth scroll. Their goal was to obtain the opposite scroll from the one they had and bring both to the tower at the center of the Forest of Death within five days.
Noah's strategy was quite simple.
He simply walked with his Heaven scroll openly in hand, visible to the naked eye.
Those who had the same scroll avoided him, while those with the opposite scroll were drawn to attack him.
Noah crouched down, checked the belongings of the group, and quickly found what he was looking for.
An Earth scroll.
He stored it together with his Heaven scroll and swiftly slipped into the branches, moving through the treetops and disappearing from sight.
He had no intention of fighting further. With both scrolls in his possession, any further confrontation was an unnecessary waste of time and chakra.
The central tower finally appeared through the thicket.
Noah adjusted his trajectory and descended silently.
Once inside the tower, he opened both scrolls and dropped them to the floor.
The seal printed on them activated, and thick smoke rose from both scrolls before condensing and taking human form. When it dissipated, a chunin appeared in the middle of the room, still somewhat disoriented.
—Huh? —he blinked—. So fast…? But it's only been four hours since the test started.
He pulled out a pocket watch, opened it, closed it, and looked at it again as if expecting a mistake.
—Ahem… Congratulations. This marks the end of the test. From this moment, you are officially a chunin.
Unlike the chunin exams in Naruto, there was no third phase here.
There were no public matches or elimination rounds. Unlike future exams, there were no other villages participating, nor any need to reduce numbers. All participants were from Konoha, and the war left no room for reducing the number of potential soldiers.
Now only the formal validation by the examiners and the delivery of the diploma remained.
A couple of hours later, Noah returned home, walking calmly, dressed in his new chunin vest, tailored to his small frame. In one hand he carried the promotion diploma certifying his advancement.
Noah didn't look particularly excited, but in the village, it became the talk of the day.
Once again, his name began to spread from mouth to mouth. Another record broken. The first chunin at just six years of age.
And Noah, as always, went on his way as if none of it mattered much.