Gacha System in Naruto

---Third POV---

Fugaku, though shocked in his heart, still didn't forget to speak up to help Sho out of his predicament.

"Shiori, let Sho go for now. He's already learned his lesson."

No matter what, the priority was to get Sho out of trouble. Otherwise, as members of the Police Force, the Uchiha would be knowingly breaking the law by engaging in a group fight, how improper would that be?

Bang!

With a kick, he was sent flying out of the Naka Shrine.

Shiori couldn't be bothered to deal with the clan members around her who lacked strength but knew how to yell. With a cold snort, she strode away from the gathering. This time, no one was foolish enough to provoke her again, after all, the last one who tried, Sho, was still embedded in the outer wall.

Not someone you could afford to mess with.

---

Two days later, at the tail end of summer, Ryouma set off on his journey to the Land of Hot Water. Leading a force of two thousand ninja, Ryouma had no choice but to travel on foot, step by step.

Fortunately, he could occasionally chat with Shisui and Shiori along the way. Otherwise, the journey would've been unbearably dull.

"You know, I can't help but feel like the Uchiha in our unit are giving me weird looks," Ryouma said with a puzzled tone.

Shisui had actually heard a bit about this from Fugaku. Hearing his question, he immediately responded. "Apparently, during a clan gathering a couple of days ago, someone spoke rudely about you, and then Shiori…"

At that point, Shiori coughed lightly, cutting Shisui off mid-sentence. "I just gave a minor lesson to a few fools who didn't know their place, that's all."

So someone had stood up for him. Although he wasn't someone who particularly cared about others' opinions, it still made him genuinely happy to know a good friend had defended him.

He was never the type to kill the mood.

"Thanks, Shiori."

Between good friends, emotional appreciation must be expressed sincerely. Never neglect these little things just because you're close, that was a piece of wisdom he had learned from living two lifetimes.

"I just can't stand the weak, that's all," Shiori said, flicking her long hair and turning her gaze away.

"I get it~"

Ninjas travel quickly. In less than two days, Ryouma's reinforcement unit arrived at the front lines of the Land of Hot Water. The geography of the Land of Hot Water was quite unique. It lay at the intersection of the vast plains of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.

The terrain here was split almost down the middle, half was steep, towering mountains, and the other half was flat, expansive plains.

Thanks to volcanic mountain ranges, the Land of Hot Water was home to many natural hot springs. In times of peace, people from all over the shinobi world would often come to this country to enjoy its hot springs.

Even now, during this special period of conflict between Konoha and Kumo, many nobles and officials from across the shinobi world still came here to enjoy the hot springs and various services.

The Land of Hot Water had its own ninja village, Yu, which was officially an ally of Konoha. Thanks to the country's strong economy, Yu's strength was fairly decent among the small villages. But that was in the present tense.

Ryouma knew that after the Third Great Ninja War ended, the shinobi world had entered a long period of relative peace. During that time, Yu's combat capabilities declined rapidly, like a rock rolling down a mountain.

It even earned the nickname "the village that forgot war." For a ninja village, that was certainly not a flattering title.

However, nestled between two powerhouses, Yu's deliberate display of weakness might actually be a kind of survival tactic.

Walking along the streets of Yu, there were welcoming voices from various hot spring inns all around, along with distinctive local foods.

"Whoa! There are hot spring vents right on the main road?"

He squatted by the roadside, marveling at a hot spring vent bubbling away in front of him.

"Amazing," he said in awe.

Shiori also peeked over curiously.

Shisui, on the other hand, seemed to have done his homework beforehand. Recalling what he had read in the reports, he quickly warned them:

"Be careful, that's—"

Before Shisui could finish his sentence, the small hot spring vent suddenly pressurized and shot out a strong burst of hot water and steam.

Naturally, with Ryouma's reflexes, he wasn't going to get hit by something that slow. With just a slight tilt of his head, he dodged it effortlessly.

"Whoa there, this little spring vent is trying to ambush me?"

Shiori, intrigued by the scene, asked, "Why does the hot water shoot out from the ground like that?"

Ryouma shrugged.

Shisui took the initiative to explain. "Locals call that a geyser. Unlike regular hot springs that release water steadily, these ones erupt suddenly like you just saw. But as long as you're careful, even ordinary people can dodge them in time."

Although this was his first time seeing one in person, his preparation didn't stop him from sharing a little knowledge with Ryouma and Shiori.

Just as he was explaining, a sudden scream came from up ahead.

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts so much! My eyes! Waaaah~"

Hearing that familiar voice, Ryouma quickly looked over, and sure enough, it was Obito. He was rolling around on the ground, and judging by his cries, he definitely wasn't faking it.

Yeah... it probably did hurt.

Kakashi stared down at Obito with his dead-fish eyes and said dryly, "Idiot. How many times is this now? Getting hit by those geysers again? No, wait, even an idiot would know to avoid them by now. Don't tell me you did it on purpose?"

Kakashi had already told himself not to expect anything from this moron, but even so, he hadn't imagined anyone could be this hopeless.

"Get up. We still have a mission from Minato-sensei to complete."

He took a few steps forward, intending to help Obito up, when a familiar voice called out behind him.

"Kakashi! Obito!"

In a flash, Ryouma appeared beside them. Obito squinted and asked uncertainly, "Ryouma? Is that you?"

"Idiot." Shiori also walked up and, upon seeing Obito, didn't hold back her blunt judgment.

After a short commotion, things settled down.

Kakashi and Obito were promoted to guides.

Minato had assigned them the task of meeting up with Ryouma's group and escorting them to Konoha's new frontline base in the Land of Hot Water.

On the way, Ryouma asked Kakashi, "I heard the situation here isn't looking great. Is there someone tricky on Kumo's side?"

In his original plan, Minato was supposed to be the one completely overwhelming the enemy.

So how did it turn into a disadvantage?

Just as Kakashi was about to explain the current difficulties at the front lines in response to Ryouma's question, Obito cut in before he could speak. "It's all because Kumo is too cunning. They won't engage us head-on. They just have that Eight-Tails jinchūriki stay on top of a mountain and keep launching Tailed Beast Balls."

Kakashi shot Obito a look for interrupting, then added, "Minato-sensei's chakra is limited. At most, he can teleport away three Tailed Beast Balls. But the other side has a perfect jinchūriki, during one battle, he can fire over a dozen of them."

Shisui pondered and said, "So is that why the camp was relocated?"

Kakashi looked at him in slight surprise. "Oh? How did you know?"

Shisui smiled and said, "Just a guess. When faced with an unavoidable long-range Tailed Beast Ball attack, keeping the camp near Yu would clearly be unwise. I believe someone as smart as Lord Minato wouldn't make that kind of mistake."

Ryouma agreed, "Indeed. If it were Captain Minato, he would've placed the camp on the plains south of Yu."

On that kind of open plain, if Kumo tried to attack the Konoha camp, they'd also be exposing themselves to counterattacks from Konoha.

Then they'd have to seriously consider whether Minato might launch a surprise attack on the Eight-Tails jinchūriki's actual body.

To Ryouma's right, Shiori frowned as she listened to the conversation and suddenly asked:

"Why bother moving the camp? Wouldn't it be simpler to just find a way to kill the Eight-Tails jinchūriki?"

…

Yep, that was very in line with Shiori's usual style.

Obito vented bitterly, "If only it were that simple. You don't get it—this Eight-Tails jinchūriki can fully transform into the Tailed Beast. Once he's up on that mountain, it's like dealing with a final boss."

Shiori raised her head proudly and scoffed coldly, "That just means you're useless."

What a group of problem children.

Ryouma couldn't help but silently complain in his heart. Then he stepped in to smooth things over.

"Alright, that's enough. No more arguing. Now that I'm here, I'll handle the Eight-Tails jinchūriki."

As the two suddenly quieted down, Shisui couldn't help but glance at Ryouma with admiration.

Shisui's personality meant he had a hard time dealing with conflict between teammates. In fact, in the original timeline, he became trapped between the village and his clan's conflict, couldn't find a way out, and ultimately died an untimely death.

After passing through a small stretch of abandoned farmland, Ryouma and his group finally reached their destination: Konoha's front-line camp in the Land of Hot Water.

This camp seemed to have been built from a previously abandoned village, some of the dilapidated buildings had been patched up and repurposed. Villages like this were not uncommon in the shinobi world. The endless wars had long since made the suffering lower classes live in fear. Abandoning their homes to flee for their lives had become an unavoidable choice.

The actions of ninjas were always swift and efficient. Once Ryouma arrived at the camp, he casually instructed a few Uchiha clan members to go report their numbers to the logistics division.

This was standard procedure, definitely not a slight against those Uchiha, or some petty excuse to send them running errands.

"Where's Captain Minato?" Ryouma asked Kakashi.

"Still up ahead," Kakashi said, pointing to an old building not far away. "That's where he and the others are discussing tactics."

Shisui and Shiori sensibly didn't follow. After all, Hiruzen hadn't assigned them any specific roles on the front lines. With a creak, Obito opened the worn-out wooden door and called inside, "Minato-sensei, our mission is complete!"

"Oh, Ryouma's finally here?" Minato's cheerful voice came from within.

Ryouma stepped into the room in a few strides and gave it a quick once-over. The interior was tidy, with a large round table in the center and a detailed map of the Valley of Clouds and Lightning spread out on top.

There weren't many people in the room, aside from Minato, there was Inoichi, and Dōtō, currently the strongest of the Akimichi clan's younger generation.

"Long time no see, Inoichi-sensei, Captain Minato," Ryouma greeted with a smile. "You must be jonin Dōtō. Hello, I'm Ryouma."

Dōtō had a calm demeanor. He gave Ryouma a serious nod and replied, "Hello."

Inoichi, however, looked a little awkward and offered an embarrassed smile. "It's really been a while. I heard about your exploits on the Kiri battlefield. That was incredible."

After being promoted to jonin, the first genin squad he led included Ryouma and his teammates. But due to some circumstances, while he and the squad were executing separate missions, the other two team members were killed. He blamed himself deeply at the time and even considered giving up being a team leader altogether.

But Hiruzen had given him a heartfelt pep talk and continued to trust him, assigning the top two graduates of that year's Academy, Ryouma and his peers, to his next team.

When the new Team Inoichi was formed, he had resolved to protect his students no matter what. But in the end, when his students were fighting on the Kiri battlefield, he himself was deployed elsewhere.

He knew Ryouma was strong, much stronger than himself, but he was still just a child.

Unable to hold it back in the end, he said, "I'm sorry. I was supposed to be your jonin instructor, but I wasn't there with you."

Ryouma hadn't expected those to be Inoichi's first words after months apart. He froze for a moment, then replied with a wry smile, "Shiori, Heiji, and I have never blamed you. Besides, the fact that you trusted us enough to head to the Kumo battlefield yourself just proves that we were capable of standing on our own, doesn't it?"

Members of the Yamanaka clan were naturally sensitive and thoughtful, Inoichi had probably been worrying about them all this time on the Kumo battlefield.

He could understand that feeling well. Back when they were first deployed after graduating and being sorted into squads, he had also worried about Rin, Kakashi, and Obito.

Minato knew Inoichi's feelings, so every time he received intel from the Kiri front, he'd immediately come discuss it with Inoichi.

Seeing Inoichi finally let go of that burden, he was happy for his friend as well.

Dōtō even smiled slightly and said, "You've got some outstanding students. Stop treating them like little kids already."

Hearing Ryouma's reassurance, the guilt in Inoichi's eyes faded a bit. He instinctively reached out to pat Ryouma's head but stopped himself midway.

He really did have excellent students.

Minato, though reluctant to interrupt the heartwarming moment, knew this was still a battlefield. As the commander-in-chief, he had to bring the discussion back on track.

"Ryouma, I'm sorry to assign you a task the moment you arrive, but this is something only you can do."