Weak
Issei Uzumaki was weak.
From a young age he'd known this, he had never possessed his clans vast chakra reserves, an unwelcome byproduct of his premature birth, and he had no innate understanding of Fuinjutsu. Still his clan loved, and cared for him without judgement of his skills, even as an orphan with no direct guardian.
For the unconditional support he was given, he loved his clan, and quietly offered what skills he could. He devoted all of his time to improving his physical state, as while Issei was missing many of the classic traits of an Uzumaki, he still retained their monstrous stamina.
He also recognized that due to their large chakra reserves, there were very few Uzumaki that could be sent on stealth focused missions, and due to his smaller than average Chakra reserves he was uniquely suited for such tasks.
Issei wasn't stupid, he knew what kinds of missions he would get if he focused on stealth heavy missions, but he had always been more concerned with being useful to his clan than his own physical health. So in his mind the decision was already made.
His Kage, Uzumaki Kenji met with the boy, more than once to see if Issei truly wished to pursue such a career, but the meetings only made Issei more resolute, and the Uzukage could hardly turn down such an uncommon asset, especially with the second Shinobi war beginning escalate.
To this end, Issei was transferred at the age of 16 into the ANBU division of Konoha to gain the skills he couldn't be taught by the Uzumaki clan.
For the next two years Issei split his time between Konoha, and Uzushiogakure in a taxing cycle of assassination and espionage missions. Not that issei minded. Little else mattered to him besides becoming stronger for the sake of his village, and he was finally confident that he had a road that led to becoming a powerful Shinobi.
The missions he took had made him somewhat infamous, and respected in certain circles of Uzushio. Issei knew he still had a long way to go, but he felt that he was finally becoming strong.
That was how he felt, right up until he woke one night to the invasion alarms of Uzushio being sounded.
The next few hours cruelly reminded Issei of how weak he truly was, as he helplessly witnessed the Uzumaki defenses being steamrolled by hundreds of enemy Shinobi.
After a day of fighting he was tired and demoralized. He had sewed and witnessed more death in the last 24 hours than he thought possible, and he knew it was all for naught, this attack had been meticulously play and for all their power, he was already positive Uzushio would fall.
Still his life had been built on the pursuit of being useful to the clan, of being strong. So even before the invasion of his homeland had begun, he had readied himself to fight to the death, shoulder to shoulder with those he loved.
only to be summoned by his Kage in this hour of direst need, and be ordered to flee.
