Iroh did not know what to expect in death, but it certainly wasn't this. He had always expected to inhabit the spirit realm or to simply cease to exist. Never the less, he was happy to be given another chance at life, and he would not waste it. In this life he seemed to have been born into a well off family, if a little cold. Ultimately, that was nothing new and so Iroh took it in stride, smiling at everyone he saw, much to his parents confusion. His name, as it turned out, was still Iroh but his last name was now Uchiha and he belonged to a large family or clan as it was called here. They all seemed to have similar looks and constitutions but what interested him most about his new family was their occupation. They all seemed to be some type of mercenaries and the entire clan was centered around the mercenary way of life, as well as the fact that many of the people he knew as family were often missing or appeared injured. However, what really tipped Iroh off to their profession was the way they all carried themselves. Like only the finest trained imperial guards of the fire nation, there seemed to always be a deadly grace in the way they moved. It seemed, however, that Iroh's parents were not warriors, but instead provided support for the rest of the clan by making weapons. This was fine with Iroh, but apparently to others in the clan this made his family second class citizens. More than once Iroh had heard disparaging comments being made about his parents profession. That, and his warm brown eyes, so different from the coal black of his clan.

As Iroh grew, it became clear to both his parents and the clan that he was highly intelligent for his age, though oddly friendly for an Uchiha. Nonetheless, by the time Iroh was 5, tensions between the hidden villages were beginning to rise once again, and all promising children were rushed into the academy in preparation for the war. For Iroh the academy provided a wealth of information about this new world he had been born into. He lived in the village of Konoha, ironically located in the land of fire, but perhaps most importantly, in this world every living thing possessed an innate energy called chakra. In his nightly meditations Iroh had become aware of some kind of energy, more malleable than firebending, living within him.

He had elected not to experiment with his chakra before this point, as he was sure that those wiser and more experienced in its use would eventually explain it more fully than he could divine by himself. The idea that everyone could control multiple elements was entirely foreign to Iroh, and he was unsure that he could ever bring himself to use any element except for fire. Instead of focusing too much on chakra, Iroh decided to concentrate his efforts on taijutsu. In this discipline Iroh felt quite comfortable, and he immediately began to focus on building a strong base of taijutsu, having decided that he would aim to become a master of the discipline so that he could feasibly say that he had invented firebending.

Oh yes, Iroh was determined to find a way to use firebending. He was sure it was possible. After all, chakra could already be used to make fire; all he would need to do was hold on to that fire instead of forming it into a jutsu. To make that happen though, Iroh would first have to make himself out to be a taijutsu prodigy capable of creating his own style. He quickly mastered the academy basic style and moved on to learning the Uchiha clan taijutsu, earning quite a bit of attention for his mastery. Despite his lack of the Sharingan, many of his Senseis were saying Iroh was ready to graduate by the end of his first year. Instead, Iroh elected to stay in the academy, wishing to learn more basic knowledge of this new world. However, halfway through his second year in the academy, the second great shinobi war was declared. Iroh knew there was no way that the village would allow his talent to be wasted in the academy when he was capable of fighting. So at the age of 7 Iroh found himself with a Konoha head band and a team.

Iroh was sent out to the frontline of the second shinobi war with his genin team after half a year of lighter missions within the land of fire to prepare themselves for combat. His sensei was a distinguished Kunochi named Koharu Utatane, and his teammates were a pair of civilian twins who had larger than average chakra reserves. Their squad had been designed as a heavy hitting frontline team, with two Ninjutsu specialists and a Taijutsu specialist. The Hokage could no longer afford to keep such a team, genin or not, off the frontline. They were rotated on to a base on the border of the land of frost that needed reinforcement.

The first two months were full of intense fighting with Kumo shinobi, but manageable, as their sensei was there to cover for any mistakes they made in battle. Unfortunately, Koharu sensei was required elsewhere for a mission and her team was left alone at the border. It was only two weeks after that, that both of Iroh's teammates were killed in one of the countless skirmishes by a lightning Jutsu. Iroh was quietly furious to lose the two boys who he had come to care for, but he tempered his rage and made sure it did not control him. instead, he inflicted his ire on his opponents with ruthless efficiency. The other shinobi at the base had some sympathy for the young Uchiha but could do little more than provide a comforting word whenever they had the chance. When Koharu sensei returned, they held a small funeral together to mourn their teammates' death before moving on and focusing on surviving the battles to come.