Naruto rebirth! Born again with a system.

Chapter 26: When Death Comes Calling...

The next morning came all too quickly for team 15, with all three of them feeling like they had barley slept, but they knew the risk that this mission entailed, knowing they would have to be at their best to make it back to the village.

The medical convoy moved through the pre-dawn darkness like a funeral procession, the wounded shinobi secured in specially modified stretchers that minimized movement while allowing for rapid evacuation if necessary. Team 15 maintained a protective formation around the eight injured Leaf nin, their senses heightened by the knowledge that they carried the most vulnerable cargo possible.

Kōzaru padded silently alongside the lead stretcher, where a chunin lay unconscious, his chakra network severely damaged from overuse of high-level techniques.

So this is what happens when you overuse your chakra... Kōzaru thought, looking at the man.

Yuki and Riku moved like shadows beside him, their enhanced senses probing the forest for any sign of pursuit. The scent trails they started to detect told a story that made Kōzaru's blood run cold—Stone forces were mobilizing in unprecedented numbers around the area.

"Sensei," he whispered, barely audible over the soft sounds of their movement. "They're out there. Many of them. More than we've faced before."

Shibi's insects stirred restlessly within his clothing, their agitation confirming what Kōzaru's nose was telling him. "Confirmed. Large force. Elite signatures."

Behind them, Tatsuma helped steady a stretcher carrying a kunoichi whose left arm had been completely severed during her last mission. Her remaining hand occasionally twitched, muscle memory still trying to form hand signs that would never again be completed. The sight filled him with a cold determination—these people had sacrificed everything for the village. They deserved to make it home.

"How are we looking, time-wise?" he asked quietly.

"Six hours to the village if we maintain current pace," Aotaka replied from his position at the rear. His hand rested on his sword hilt as he prepared for what seemed increasingly inevitable. "But they're not going to let us maintain current pace."

The medical nin accompanying them—a older woman named Satomi—checked on her patients with practiced efficiency. "These three can't handle extended combat stress," she reported grimly. "The chakra exhaustion cases will go into cardiac arrest if exposed to high-level chakra discharge. The psychological trauma cases could suffer complete breaks if they witness more violence."

It was a nightmare scenario. They were protecting people who couldn't be moved quickly and who could be killed by the very combat necessary to defend them.

"Then we don't let combat reach them," Shibi said simply, though his tone carried the weight of an order that might prove impossible to follow.

The first hour passed in tense silence, broken only by the soft sounds of breathing and the occasional moan from the wounded. The forest around them seemed to press closer with each step, shadows taking on threatening shapes as paranoia and genuine danger merged into a constant state of alertness.

Suddenly Yuki barked, her nose picking up a large amount of chakra.

Her hackles rose so suddenly that it was like watching a transformation jutsu in reverse—from relaxed companion to predatory threat assessment in the span of a heartbeat. Riku mirrored her posture, both dogs detecting something that made them bare their teeth in silent warning.

"Enemy ninja," Kōzaru breathed, his enhanced senses confirming what his partners had detected. "Multiple signatures. High-level chakra. They're surrounding us." He said, not liking the looks of the situation.

The attack came with the precision of a coordinated military operation with no mercy, no hesitation—just overwhelming force applied with surgical efficiency.

"Look out!" Kōzaru yelled, warning the others to give them time to react.

Five shinobi emerged from concealment simultaneously: three chunin and two jōnin, their coordinated assault designed to eliminate the escort and capture the wounded for interrogation. These weren't the desperate scouts or standard strike teams they had faced before. These were elite operatives, specialists in guerilla tactics and intelligence gathering.

"Defensive formation Omega!" Shibi commanded, his insects already beginning to emerge in massive clouds. "Protect the wounded at all costs!"

The lead jōnin—a massive man whose earth-style chakra signature was like standing next to a landslide—targeted Shibi directly. "Earth Style: Mountain Crusher Technique!"

The very ground beneath them began to buckle and heave as massive stone formations erupted from below, designed to scatter the convoy and leave the wounded exposed. Shibi's insects formed a protective barrier, but the sheer scale of the attack was beyond anything Team 15 had witnessed.

"Secondary targets—eliminate the genin," the second jōnin ordered coldly, her water-style chakra already beginning to form deadly techniques. "Leave no witnesses."

What followed was not a battle—it was a massacre in the making.

Kōzaru's Perspective:

The chunin that targeted him moved with speed that made their previous encounters look like academy sparring matches. Before Kōzaru could even activate his jutsu, a fist wreathed in earth-style chakra slammed into his ribs with the force of a sledgehammer.

The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him tumbling across the forest floor, pain exploding through his chest as ribs cracked under the assault. Blood filled his mouth as he tried to breathe, each breath bringing fresh agony.

[HEALTH: 145/145 - 85/145]

Kōzaru could feel the pain spread through his body like a fire, and for the first time he watched as his HP decreased, flashing in the corner of his eyes.

Yuki lunged at his attacker, her jaws seeking the man's throat as he leapt to defend her master.

However, the chunin caught her mid-leap, his earth-enhanced grip crushing down on her neck as she struggled helplessly. "Stupid mutt. I'll snap its neck and make you watch."

Rage flooded through Kōzaru's system, overwhelming the pain as he forced his battered body to move. His chakra flared wildly, the All-Fours Jutsu activating with desperate intensity.

[CHAKRA: 137/137 → 107/137]

"Let her GO!" he roared, launching himself forward on all fours.

But his opponent was ready. A second earth-style technique caught Kōzaru mid-charge, stone hands erupting from the ground to seize his limbs and slam him back down. The chunin's foot pressed against his throat, cutting off his air supply as he gagged, clawing at the foot to try and move it in a desperate attempt.

"Watch your precious dog die first," the enemy said with casual cruelty.

Riku lauched himself at the Stone-nin, attacking his leg with all of the might that he could muster, sinking his teeth into the attackers leg. However, the Stone shinobi had covered himself in an earth style defence, proving too much for the young ninja hound to break through.

Kōzaru could only watch in horror as the man's grip tightened around Yuki's neck, her struggles growing weaker as consciousness began to fade. Riku's desperate attacks on the chunin's legs were ignored, the dog's teeth unable to penetrate earth-style defence, and Kōzaru could feel himself losing strength, unable to do a thing about it.

His vision began to darken as oxygen deprivation took hold. This was it. He was going to die watching his partners be murdered, unable to protect them or the wounded shinobi counting on his strength.

I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I wasn't strong enough...

Tatsuma's Perspective:

The water-style jōnin descended on him like a natural disaster given human form. Her techniques flowed together with seamless perfection, each attack flowing into the next without pause or mercy.

"Water Style: Crushing Current Technique!" she called out, massive torrents of water erupting around him.

Tatsuma created clones desperately, but each one was swept away by the overwhelming force of her assault. The feedback pain hit him in waves, each destroyed clone bringing fresh agony as he experienced their destruction first-hand.

[CHAKRA: 184/184 → 84/184]

His enhanced boxing footwork, which had served him so well against genin opponents, was useless against someone who could reshape the battlefield with every technique. She wasn't fighting him—she was playing with him, demonstrating the vast gulf between their abilities.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he gasped, creating his remaining clones in a desperate attempt to buy time.

"Pathetic," she said, her next technique destroying all three clones simultaneously. "Water Style: Drowning Prison Technique!"

Water erupted around him, forming a sphere that lifted him off the ground and began filling his lungs. He thrashed desperately, but the technique was designed to be inescapable. His vision began to tunnel as drowning took hold, his struggles growing weaker with each passing second.

Through the water, he could see his teammates fighting for their lives, each one losing badly against opponents far beyond their level. The wounded shinobi they were supposed to protect lay helpless nearby, some beginning to stir as the sounds of combat penetrated their unconsciousness.

This is it, he realized with horrible clarity. We're all going to die here. And those people... they're going to be captured and tortured because we weren't strong enough.

The water pressed in from all sides, cutting off his final scream as darkness closed around him.

Chapter 26: When Death Comes Calling

The medical convoy moved through the pre-dawn darkness like a funeral procession, the wounded shinobi secured in specially modified stretchers that minimized movement while allowing for rapid evacuation if necessary. Team 15 maintained a protective formation around the eight injured Leaf nin, their senses heightened by the knowledge that they carried the most vulnerable cargo possible.

Kōzaru padded silently alongside the lead stretcher, where a chunin lay unconscious, his chakra network severely damaged from overuse of high-level techniques. Yuki and Riku moved like shadows beside him, their enhanced senses probing the forest for any sign of pursuit. The scent trails they detected told a story that made Kōzaru's blood run cold—Stone forces were mobilizing in unprecedented numbers.

"Sensei," he whispered, barely audible over the soft sounds of their movement. "They're out there. Many of them. More than we've faced before."

Shibi's insects stirred restlessly within his clothing, their agitation confirming what Kōzaru's nose was telling him. "Confirmed. Large force. Elite signatures."

Behind them, Tatsuma helped steady a stretcher carrying a kunoichi whose left arm had been completely severed during her last mission. Her remaining hand occasionally twitched, muscle memory still trying to form hand signs that would never again be completed. The sight filled him with a cold determination—these people had sacrificed everything for the village. They deserved to make it home.

"How are we looking, time-wise?" he asked quietly.

"Six hours to the village if we maintain current pace," Aotaka replied from his position at the rear. His hand rested on his sword hilt, lightning chakra already beginning to gather as he prepared for what seemed increasingly inevitable. "But they're not going to let us maintain current pace."

The medical nin accompanying them—a older woman named Satomi—checked on her patients with practiced efficiency. "These three can't handle extended combat stress," she reported grimly. "The chakra exhaustion cases will go into cardiac arrest if exposed to high-level chakra discharge. The psychological trauma cases could suffer complete breaks if they witness more violence."

It was a nightmare scenario. They were protecting people who couldn't be moved quickly and who could be killed by the very combat necessary to defend them.

"Then we don't let combat reach them," Shibi said simply, though his tone carried the weight of an order that might prove impossible to follow.

The first hour passed in tense silence, broken only by the soft sounds of breathing and the occasional moan from one of the wounded. The forest around them seemed to press closer with each step, shadows taking on threatening shapes as paranoia and genuine danger merged into a constant state of alertness.

Then Yuki froze.

Her hackles rose so suddenly that it was like watching a transformation jutsu in reverse—from relaxed companion to predatory threat assessment in the span of a heartbeat. Riku mirrored her posture, both dogs detecting something that made them bare their teeth in silent warning.

"Contact," Kōzaru breathed, his enhanced senses confirming what his partners had detected. "Multiple signatures. High-level chakra. They're surrounding us."

The attack came with the precision of a coordinated military operation. No dramatic announcements, no mercy, no hesitation—just overwhelming force applied with surgical efficiency.

Five shinobi emerged from concealment simultaneously: three chunin and two jōnin, their coordinated assault designed to eliminate the escort and capture the wounded for interrogation. These weren't the desperate scouts or standard strike teams they had faced before. These were elite operatives, specialists in convoy destruction and intelligence gathering.

"Defensive formation Omega!" Shibi commanded, his insects already beginning to emerge in massive clouds. "Protect the wounded at all costs!"

The lead jōnin—a massive man whose earth-style chakra signature was like standing next to a landslide—targeted Shibi directly. "Earth Style: Mountain Crusher Technique!"

The very ground beneath them began to buckle and heave as massive stone formations erupted from below, designed to scatter the convoy and leave the wounded exposed. Shibi's insects formed a protective barrier, but the sheer scale of the attack was beyond anything Team 15 had witnessed.

"Secondary targets—eliminate the genin," the second jōnin ordered coldly, her water-style chakra already beginning to form deadly techniques. "Leave no witnesses."

What followed was not a battle—it was a massacre in the making.

Kōzaru's Perspective:

The chunin that targeted him moved with speed that made their previous encounters look like academy sparring matches. Before Kōzaru could even activate his jutsu, a fist wreathed in earth-style chakra slammed into his ribs with the force of a sledgehammer.

The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him tumbling across the forest floor, pain exploding through his chest as ribs cracked under the assault. Blood filled his mouth as he tried to breathe, each breath bringing fresh agony.

"Kōzaru!" Yuki lunged at his attacker, her jaws seeking the man's throat.

The chunin caught her mid-leap, his earth-enhanced grip crushing down on her neck as she struggled helplessly. "Stupid mutt. I'll snap her neck and make you watch."

Rage flooded through Kōzaru's system, overwhelming the pain as he forced his battered body to move. His chakra flared wildly, the All-Fours Jutsu activating with desperate intensity.

[CHAKRA: 137/137 → 87/137]

"Let her GO!" he roared, launching himself forward on all fours.

But his opponent was ready. A second earth-style technique caught Kōzaru mid-charge, stone hands erupting from the ground to seize his limbs and slam him back down. The chunin's foot pressed against his throat, cutting off his air supply.

"Watch your precious dogs die first," the enemy said with casual cruelty.

Kōzaru could only watch in horror as the man's grip tightened around Yuki's neck, her struggles growing weaker as consciousness began to fade. Riku's desperate attacks on the chunin's legs were ignored, the dog's teeth unable to penetrate earth-style defense.

His vision began to darken as oxygen deprivation took hold. This was it. He was going to die watching his partners be murdered, unable to protect them or the wounded shinobi counting on his strength.

I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, Dad. I wasn't strong enough...

Tatsuma's Perspective:

The water-style jōnin descended on him like a natural disaster given human form. Her techniques flowed together with seamless perfection, each attack flowing into the next without pause or mercy.

"Water Style: Crushing Current Technique!" she called out, massive torrents of water erupting around him.

Tatsuma created clones desperately, but each one was swept away by the overwhelming force of her assault. The feedback pain hit him in waves, each destroyed clone bringing fresh agony as he experienced their destruction firsthand.

[CHAKRA: 184/184 → 84/184]

His enhanced boxing footwork, which had served him so well against genin opponents, was useless against someone who could reshape the battlefield with every technique. She wasn't fighting him—she was playing with him, demonstrating the vast gulf between their abilities.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he gasped, creating his remaining clones in a desperate attempt to buy time.

"Pathetic," she said, her next technique destroying all three clones simultaneously. "Water Style: Drowning Prison Technique!"

Water erupted around him, forming a sphere that lifted him off the ground and began filling his lungs. He thrashed desperately, but the technique was designed to be inescapable. His vision began to tunnel as drowning took hold, his struggles growing weaker with each passing second.

Through the water, he could see his teammates fighting for their lives, each one losing badly against opponents far beyond their level. The wounded shinobi they were supposed to protect lay helpless nearby, some beginning to stir as the sounds of combat penetrated their unconsciousness.

This is it, he realized with horrible clarity. We're all going to die here. And those people... they're going to be captured and tortured because we weren't strong enough.

The water pressed in from all sides, cutting off his final scream as darkness closed around him.

Aotaka's Perspective:

His opponent was a chunin swordsman whose blade work spoke of decades of deadly experience. The man's sword—a katana that he moved with fluid precision, making Aotaka's own kenjutsu training look like a child's game.

"Nice blade, kid," the chunin said mockingly, his own weapon shining in the sunlight. "Let me show you how a real swordsman fights."

Their blades met in a shower of sparks. But where Aotaka's technique was raw and recently learned, his opponent's was refined through years of killing. The chunin's blade slid past Aotaka's guard with contemptuous ease, opening a deep gash across his chest in an instant.

[HEALTH: 183/183 - 120/183]

Blood soaked through his shirt as Aotaka staggered back, his breathing ragged. The chunin pressed his advantage relentlessly, each strike designed not just to wound but to demonstrate the vast gulf between their abilities.

"Pathetic," the enemy sneered, his next strike shattering Aotaka's defensive posture entirely. "You move like you learned how to fight yesterday."

[CHAKRA: 140/140 → 100/140]

Aotaka tried to counter, letting his lightning-enhanced chakra control flow through his blade as he went for the chunin's throat, however, his opponent casually deflected the strike and riposted with surgical precision. The enemy's sword punched through his left shoulder with a twist of the blade to rub it in.

Aotaka screamed, his sword arm going numb as the pain settled in. His katana slipped from fingers, clattering to the ground as he fell to his knees, clutching the wound in his shoulder.

[HEALTH: 120/183 - 75/183]

"And now you die like the amateur you are," the chunin said, raising his blade for a decapitating strike.

Through his pain, Aotaka could see his teammates dying. Kōzaru being strangled while his dogs were crushed, Tatsuma drowning in a sphere of water, Shibi overwhelmed by two jōnin working in perfect coordination. The wounded they were protecting began crying out in terror as they witnessed the massacre of their escort.

We weren't ready for this, Aotaka realized as the blade descended toward his neck. We thought we were strong, but we were still just children playing at being warriors.

The cold steel flashed downward, aimed directly at his exposed throat. In his final moment, he could only think of how he had failed everyone who had depended on his strength and wasted a second chance at life in this new world.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...

The Moment of Truth:

All three genin faced their deaths simultaneously, each one overwhelmed by opponents whose skill and power represented everything they had yet to become. The wounded shinobi they had sworn to protect watched in horror as their escort was systematically destroyed before their eyes.

Shibi himself was being pressed hard by two jōnin working in perfect coordination, his insects unable to establish dominance against opponents who were clearly experienced jōnin, knowing he would be unable to help the others while fighting two very real threats at the same time.

In that moment, as death closed in from all sides, Team 15 faced the ultimate test of everything they claimed to believe about being shinobi.

The question was no longer whether they were strong enough to win.

The question was whether they were strong enough to die protecting those who depended on them.

And in the darkness closing around each of them, that answer was about to be written in blood and sacrifice, one way or another as death came calling...