War Begins

"Otoha, your house is huge!"

The four little kids stood outside the main gate, craning their heads to stare at the sprawling buildings and residences. Every brick and tile carried an ancient charm. One long street had only this single gate, meaning this place was home to Uchiha Otoha's family alone.

Filthy rich!

The three friends' eyes immediately gleamed as they looked at Uchiha Otoha as though he were a humanoid vault!

"What are you doing?"

Otoha rubbed his forehead helplessly. In such a short time, he had already developed the feeling that he had made friends with the wrong people. This pair of siblings was far too rowdy. They had not stopped all the way back, either bickering or chattering endlessly about nonsensical things...

Even Minato seemed to be getting led astray. At the very least, the old Minato would never have looked at him like that!

Though it did feel pretty nice!

Katsuki genuinely marveled at how rich this guy was. Though the Uzumaki Clan had also been a major shinobi clan, the Land of Whirlpools' economy could not compare to the Land of Fire's at all. Especially compared to the declining and now-destroyed Uzumaki Clan, the Uchiha Clan remained powerful even now, despite the heavy blow dealt to them by Madara Uchiha's incident.

Yet the Uchiha had relied on their solid foundations to weather wave after wave of storms. Even after the Senju Clan had declined, they still stood tall in the shinobi world.

Under his friends' fiery gazes, Otoha walked into his home.

Long corridors, courtyard after courtyard, ornamental rocks and artificial hills, flowing water and little bridges—of course, there was also the indispensable training ground.

"Mom, I brought some friends home."

After walking for quite a while, they finally reached their destination. The instant he stepped inside, Otoha called out.

"Oh my, Otoha, you actually brought friends home? Little ones, come in quickly." Otoha's mother was very kind, a faint smile on her face. Still wearing an apron, she warmly welcomed Katsuki and the others.

"Hello, Auntie!"

The three greeted her obediently in unison, then knelt before the low table under Otoha's guidance.

"Oh? Even a cockroach can make friends?" A cold, mocking voice drifted in from outside. A petite little girl in a black training outfit entered with long black hair flowing loose behind her. Her delicate face was like a work of art carved from stone.

"Otome, how can you talk about your brother like that?" Otoha's mother called out as she placed tea and snacks on the low table, scolding her younger daughter.

"Ah... Sorry, I misspoke." The little girl answered blandly, then abruptly changed her tune. "It should be a paramecium!"

"Hey, hey, isn't that even worse?" Otoha slapped the table in frustration and glared at her. "I'm your brother! You should respect your brother, got it?"

"Tch."

The little girl cocked her eyes upward, not even deigning to meet Otoha's gaze.

"Ah! Y-you just clicked your tongue at me, didn't you? I heard it. I heard it very clearly." Otoha had none of his usual cool, aloof demeanor from school. His hands were trembling from being scorned by his own sister.

Katsuki sat upright with his teacup in hand, feeling as though his horizons had been broadened. So this was what Otoha was like at home? He never would have imagined it. And he even had such a clever little sister—there had been no sign of it at all!

Minato and Kushina were equally astonished. Their looks made Otoha even more depressed, and regret surged through him. If he had known, he would not have specifically come home. Even taking a beating would have been better than this. He truly wanted to die right now.

"My name is Uchiha Otome. Please take care of my foolish and clumsy older brother." The little girl politely bowed to Katsuki and the others, leaving the three scrambling to return the gesture.

"You're Otome, right? You're so smart." Kushina reached out, pulled the little girl over, and hugged her. Otome was only a little shorter than Kushina, but her slender frame made her look much smaller.

As if she had found a treasure, Kushina held the little girl and rubbed against her again and again, her face full of bliss. The little girl did not seem particularly bothered. She simply widened her eyes and studied Minato and Katsuki beside her. As for Otoha... heh.

Otoha had already given up struggling. He had only one thought now: leave as soon as possible.

"Mom, I'm not eating dinner at home tonight. I might be back a little late. We only came back to tell you, so you don't need to prepare anything. We're leaving right away." Otoha sprang to his feet and spoke loudly, looking as though he could not bear to stay even one more minute.

"Is that so? Then go have fun. But come back early tonight, and be careful on the road." Otoha's mother was quite easygoing and agreed without fuss.

Otoha immediately perked up. Great, they could finally leave.

Katsuki and Minato both got to their feet, but Kushina hugged the little girl and dawdled, unwilling to move.

"Sis, hurry up. Don't we still need to buy vegetables at the market?" Katsuki looked at his older sister in confusion. Kushina, who was normally quick and decisive, rarely dragged her feet like this.

Kushina wrinkled her delicate nose slightly. Gritting her teeth, she called out, "Auntie, can I bring Otome to my house to play?"

In that instant, Otoha's face turned deathly pale. Especially when, moments later, he heard the words, "Of course," his eyes immediately rolled upward...

Life at the Ninja Academy was more enjoyable than Katsuki had expected. He had made two friends, Minato and Otoha, and met Otoha's genius little sister, Uchiha Otome. The shadow cast over the siblings' hearts by the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan had finally begun to fade a little. People had to learn to look forward. That was simply how life was.

The northwestern border of the Land of Fire.

Large and small hills rose and fell across the landscape, dense shrubs covering every inch of land. Another five or six hundred meters northwest lay the territory of the Land of Rain, a country shrouded in dark clouds year-round.

There was an outpost on one of the hills. Konoha's flag fluttered in the breeze, but... its red was far too vivid.

The outpost was as silent as a ghost domain. Thick bloodlust filled the air, drawing swarms of insects that greedily clung to the cold corpses and feasted on the rare delicacy.

The outpost was a complete mess. Corpses lay scattered in fragments throughout its interior and exterior—in the truest sense of the word "scattered." Heads had been severed, limbs torn apart. Most outrageous of all, one man's intestines had been dragged from outside the gate all the way into the outpost.

There were both Konoha shinobi and Rain Ninja among the bodies. Of the roughly thirty corpses, more than half belonged to Konoha shinobi. The precise casualties were difficult to count, because many had been shredded too thoroughly. Pools of bloody pulp had mixed together, making it truly hard to determine the number of dead.

"Captain, they left a long time ago. At least five or six hours." The ANBU wearing a fox mask calmly circled the pile of corpses twice, touching this one and checking that one before quickly giving his conclusion.

"Five or six hours?" Sakumo looked coldly at an eyeball by his foot. "Then the Rain Ninja should have clashed with our frontline forces already. Let's go. We'll hit their supply line."