Chapter 4: An Assessment of Uchiha Gin's Strength

The word "Eliminated" stamped three times in glaring red on the document was an eyesore. That Kawarama Senju, the son of Butsuma Senju, had been assassinated indicated that this war had reached a fever pitch. For Uchiha Gin, whose identity had not yet fully reconciled with his new reality, the idea of slaughtering a child under ten years old was something his conscience could not accept. Yet, given the current circumstances, he had no choice but to take things one step at a time.

"The Hagoromo clan has already finished off the third young master of the Senju clan; we need to step up our game!" Uchiha Fuuka said, deciding to boost the morale of the group as they pored over the documents.

"Is this really okay? Targeting a child so young?" Uchiha Gin, unable to keep his thoughts to himself, asked Uchiha Ryoichi in a low voice, earning a look of astonishment in return.

"Weren't you the most eager one during this mission? You kept charging forward and even dragged us into exposing our position, forcing us to engage the Senju in a long skirmish before we could break away," Ryoichi asked, confused.

Gin cursed to himself. Although he had received the predecessor’s memories, the shock and the short duration meant he had overlooked many of the man’s past actions. Most people would not project themselves into the roles of characters they had watched in movies, preferring to observe the plot from the perspective of a bystander. Seeing him do it is not the same as having done it himself.

Thinking this, Gin put on an embarrassed expression and pointed to his head, which was still wrapped in bandages. "I took a punch from a Senju clansman and hit my head against a rock. My recent memories have been a bit jumbled. I'm truly sorry."

Seeing the injury, Ryoichi seemed to understand. Given Gin’s skill level, the fact that he hadn't been killed instantly by a powerful strike from a Senju elite was already a blessing from their ancestors. Having successfully bluffed his way through, Gin took the chance to bury himself in the predecessor’s memories once more while pretending to read the documents.

The memories from a few years ago were fragmented, stuttering like a skipping old VCD, making them incredibly difficult to process. After a moment, Gin regained his focus, a subtle glint in his eyes as he finally found an explanation for his predecessor's reckless behavior.

Because of the war, Gin had lost his parents at the age of eight, and Tajima Uchiha, who had not yet become the clan head, had taken him in. Two years later, Tajima became the head of the clan, married, and had children. He had always treated Gin as his own. Gin was more like a son to Tajima than a nephew. As Tajima’s own children were born, the teenage Gin, acting as the "big brother," took on the duty of protecting the clan leader’s sons.

But war is cruel. The enemy's blade does not stop simply because you are a child; on the contrary, anyone who stands in their path, regardless of age or gender, is an enemy. During one battle, the Uchiha territory was raided. Because Tajima had taken all the young warriors to the front lines, only women and children were left behind. Gin, acting as the bodyguard for the leader's family, was left to protect Tajima's wife and three young children.

Outmatched, Gin was struck down in the first exchange. The cruel invaders forced his eyelids open and slaughtered Tajima’s wife and three young children right before his eyes.

"What a piece of trash. He didn't even awaken his eyes after that. A loser like this might as well be dead," the assailant laughed, mocking the pale, catatonic Gin.

The enemy slaughtered everyone in the territory, leaving only Gin, who had screamed until he was numb, behind. After all, someone like him would never pose a threat to them, no matter how much he grew. When the enemies finally left, the shell-shocked Gin knelt among the corpses for three days, not even noticing as the bodies began to rot and reek. When Tajima finally returned and saw the carnage, his Sharingan bled tears of blood.

The only stroke of luck was that his eldest son, Madara, and second son, Izuna, had reached the age to go to the front, and Tajima had taken them with him, sparing them from the massacre. Tajima never blamed Gin, the sole survivor. In his eyes, Gin had been broken by the trauma; he was as good as dead.

"Even though it makes sense, these memories feel strange—like they were scripted. It's all too conveniently tragic, isn't it?" Gin muttered to himself. In the predecessor's memories, the Uchiha clan had investigated the incident, but due to limited means and the fact that the enemy had clearly covered their tracks, the case went cold. There were no traces of ninjutsu at the scene; everyone died from physical trauma.

While the predecessor was an eyewitness, he had no understanding of the enemy's attack methods. He only saw someone pulling "weapons" out of their own body to kill, but because it was dark, he couldn't see exactly what it was.

As a transmigrator, Gin was different. Having read the entire *Naruto* series, he recognized at a glance that they were using their own bones as weapons. Looking at the entire story, the only ones capable of such a feat—other than the ancestor Kaguya Otsutsuki, who was sealed on the moon—were the Kaguya clan, whom the Uchiha and Senju had driven overseas.

With this realization, Gin’s imagination ran wild as he analyzed the truth behind the incident. "If the killers were the Kaguya clan, how did they infiltrate the Uchiha territory? There must have been a traitor among us! A guide like Obito?"

Although he knew the truth about the massacre, Gin felt no significant emotional fluctuation; after all, he was not the original Uchiha Gin. The most important thing now was to understand his own strength, as that was the foundation of his survival. After all, his predecessor was a character who couldn't even defeat a ten-year-old Madara Uchiha before the latter had awakened his eyes.

Worried about his standing, Gin used his memories to piece together the current hierarchy of power. Since the later titles of Genin, Chunin, and Jonin did not yet exist, power was categorized by leaders, elders, captains, and ordinary combatants.

Roughly, this could be mapped to: Leader (Kage-level), Elder (Pseudo-Kage-level), Captain-General (Elite Jonin), Captain (Jonin), Ordinary Combatant (Special Jonin/Chunin), and Fodder (Genin).

Tajima Uchiha, Butsuma Senju, Butsuma's peers like Ashina Uzumaki of the Uzumaki clan, and Yukimura Sarutobi of the Sarutobi clan were likely Kage-level. The deputies and elders of each clan were likely Pseudo-Kage, the type who could match a Kage’s power if they were willing to trade their lives.

His captain, Fuuka Uchiha, having awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, was likely between an Elite Jonin and a Jonin. Ryoichi and the others possessed Two-Tomoe Sharingan, placing them around Special Jonin or Chunin level.

As for his predecessor, the situation was dire. He was still in an unawakened state, his taijutsu was mediocre, his swordsmanship was barely passable, and his only ninjutsu seemed to be the harmless "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." The only thing he could actually boast about was his decent aim with shuriken.

Comprehensive evaluation: Fodder...

Utterly pathetic.