Chronicles of the Leaf

"War Across the Sea" - Sumida I

The creaking of the boat rocking side to side wasn't the only thing keeping me awake. It was the thought of fighting S-Rank rogue ninja in open combat. As I rested against the side of the ship which sported the Uchiha sigil on its sails. I breathed in deeply, closed my eyes and took in the clear air of the ocean whilst I tried to focus my ears on the soft harmony of the sea.

My meditation was abruptly interrupted by the loud footsteps of five Leaf Military Policemen approaching the sides of the ship, prepared to jump off. I opened my eyes in confusion before standing up and looking over to a temperate island made up of deep forests surrounded by a rough beach. I looked to my hands and saw that they were shaking. It seemed that all my efforts to calm myself were in vain.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRR

I suddenly heard the monstrous screaming of a horrific beast. The source of this roaring seemingly emerged out of nowhere in the form of a gigantic dragon that dived down towards our ship as fast as it rose from nothingness. My Uchiha comrades were quick to form hand seals and encase our ship in a huge spherical shield of mud, which protected us from whatever the hell we had just seen. I, on the other hand, was still frozen exactly were I had been meditating. My brain couldn't even process the scale of the battle I was just about to enter and for what? For the sake of the main branch family that I never met?

Then I heard another animal cry out but it was high-pitched, almost like a scream of fear. I looked up to the ceiling of the mud shield in the direction of all the noise and realised it had broke. Shards of the former ceiling came down like a rain of dirt as in its place was a giant elephant that also dropped down into the boat, forcing it to tip over and snap. I stumbled over the deck and attempted to hang on to the sides of the ship, instead slipping and plunging into the salty water. Everything became blurry but I began swimming through the water which was now filled with the broken pieces of the old ship and the mud sphere that failed to protect it.

Upon reaching the shore, I gasped for air and slicked back my black hair to try and see what was going on. It was a pitiful sight. Three shinobi in cloaks were taking on six teams of the Leaf Military Police and winning. One of them was cutting through Uchiha like butter, another seemed to be teleporting all over the place and forcing our ninja to slice at air whilst the oldest of them with a white cloak was summoning and desummoning creatures I had never seen before. If only I had the Sharingan, then maybe my brain could keep up with the speed these shinobi were obliterating us. I stood up and screamed out desperately, "WE CAN'T WIN! WE HAVE TO RETREAT!"

Afterwards I began running into the water, seeking something to help me float my way back to the Land of Fire. It might've been more miserable than the devastation taking place behind me. I heard the spilling of blood and clashing of swords come to an end before looking behind me to see the three shinobi glare down with bloodthirst burning in their eyes from the top of a dune. I splashed my way through the water but to no avail as one of the rogue ninja approached me. I got a closer look at his face. He was dark-skinned, had dark eyes but all I could think about was the devil-like grin on his face as he raised his sword.

Fortunately, a massive wave came hurtling towards the three of them, pushing them back into the forest. It was the reinforcements from the Land of Rivers, who had also been wronged by this group known infamously as the Kurayami. I had been given a second chance, to run. I climbed on the Land of Rivers ship and hid away in the hold for the rest of the fight.

When I finally mustered up the courage to even poke my head out the ship's window, I saw the true destruction caused by war. The entire island had been turned into a desert wasteland. Not a single tree had survived and craters took their place. In the distance were the fading visible storms of chakra belonging powerful shinobi that I had the luck of not running into. I slowly came to realise that I was the only living Uchiha on the island.