After leaving the clan hall and walking along the flagstone path, Katsuki found himself thinking of the Great Elder's aged yet fierce expression.
The Uzumaki Clan's fiery tempers were as famous as their powerful Fuinjutsu. He could tell that the Great Elder had already prepared himself for death, and his heart grew heavier as he gained a clearer understanding of this chaotic age.
"Katsuki, what do you think Konoha is like? I asked that White Fang guy, but he only said it was a lively place! How boring..." Kushina looked terribly dejected. Leaving the homeland where she had grown up for an unfamiliar land she had never visited before, the girl could not help feeling anxious and uneasy.
"It'll be fine, Sister. I'll protect you. No matter where we go, I'll stay by your side," Katsuki vowed, the girl's smiling face reflected in his dark eyes.
Kushina smiled happily and reached out to ruffle Katsuki's hair. "You're quite the sweet talker. Too bad there's no reward."
But after that interruption, the girl's mood brightened considerably. The Uzumaki Clan's thick nerves seemed to be inherited through their bloodline; their sorrow came quickly and went just as quickly.
Katsuki, however, was deeply worried. Although they were about to leave the village for Konoha, he could not shake the feeling that things would not go so smoothly.
An unforeseeable future was not truly frightening. What was frightening was knowing the future, knowing that a great disaster would strike, yet not knowing when—especially when that future concerned one's very survival.
They were about to leave the village. In just a few hours, he and his sister would depart for Konoha under the protection of Konoha's ninja. Those few hours suddenly became agonizingly long.
Boom!
A muffled thunder-like blast came from the eastern sky. Yet when he looked up, the heavens were blue and clear as glass, while unknown seabirds beat their wings and traced elegant arcs through the air.
Boom! Boom...
The dull tremors rang out again. This time, Katsuki was certain it was not thunder, but the sound of Explosive Tags detonating. When the siblings had trained in throwing Shuriken, they had also learned how to use these killing tools, so the deafening sound was not unfamiliar to them.
"Katsuki, hurry! We need to find the Great Elder." Kushina reacted even faster than Katsuki. Her sense of responsibility as the older sister drove her into action. She grabbed the packed bundle, seized Katsuki's hand, and rushed out the door toward the clan hall.
Kushina's face was full of anxiety. The intermittent booming blasts made her increasingly nervous. In contrast, Katsuki was much calmer. Compared to the terror of an executioner's blade hanging overhead, never knowing when it would fall, he felt far more composed when it truly came down.
The siblings sprinted down the road.
Inside the clan hall, the Great Elder detected the Mist Ninja invasion at once. The Uzumaki Clan's sensory abilities were likewise among the best in the ninja world.
"It has finally begun..."
The Great Elder removed his loose, bulky robe, revealing a neatly worn black combat uniform beneath it. A short blade hung at his waist. During this period, he had been ready for battle at any moment.
Crack!
The sound of breaking bone rang out. The Great Elder's short blade pinned a Mist Ninja who had emerged from underground, prying open the unlucky man's skull. His cranium was sliced clean off, and red-and-white brain matter came spilling out.
It was not that the Uzumaki Clan had been unprepared. He simply had not expected the Mist Ninja, who excelled in naval warfare, to use Earth Release to infiltrate the island. Shouts of battle instantly rose from every corner of Uzushio Village. Explosive Tags erupted, crimson fire blooming as thick black smoke twisted through the sky like giant serpents.
"Old bastard, die!"
Two more Mist Ninja burst through the door, roaring as they charged forward with long swords raised, their momentum savage.
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Mist Ninja were the most brutal. The Land of Water, a great nation spread across island chains, differed from the other four nations. They had never been interested in ninja wars and were more enthusiastic about internal strife, leaving them with no time for diplomacy.
Through slaughter after slaughter, the Land of Water had produced the fiercest, cruelest, and most cold-blooded ninja, whose individual combat strength surpassed that of the other Five Great Nations.
The Uzumaki Clan understood the Mist Ninja's brutality all too well. These cold-blooded butchers from the islands did not know fear in battle. When their bloodlust rose, they would even cut down their own allies. That madness had been etched deep into every Mist Ninja's bones.
At least, every Mist Ninja the Great Elder had seen in his life had been a butcher who treated killing as entertainment. For people like them, the old man believed the best solution was to send them back into their mothers' wombs to be remade. Taking a deep breath, he raised his short blade and met the two Mist Ninja head-on.
The flower of slaughter bloomed amid bloodshed!
The Mist Ninja's surprise attack had not only caught the Uzumaki Clan off guard; Konoha's ninja were also stunned. Since when had these cold-blooded butchers started burrowing underground like the moles in the north?
Silver-white blade light flashed, followed by a crackling peal of thunder. Sakumo chopped off the Mist Ninja's heads as easily as slaughtering chickens. They rolled across the ground like coconuts falling from a tree.
"What are you standing around for? Go find those two Uzumaki siblings!"
Sakumo's good temper was reserved only for his own people. Once he stepped onto the battlefield, he became his enemies' nightmare. Every enemy of Konoha trembled at the mention of the White Fang!
Leading his two squads, Sakumo raced out in burning urgency. Fortunately, one of his subordinates was an elite from the Yamanaka Clan, with exceptionally powerful long-range sensory abilities. He located Kushina and Katsuki, so they did not have to run around like headless flies.
On a gravel path, Kushina and Katsuki stood back-to-back, tightly gripping their cold kunai as they warily watched the five sinister Mist Ninja before and behind them.
Katsuki silently groaned. What terrible luck. They had not gotten far before these Mist Ninja who had burst out of the ground blocked their way. Looking at these cold-blooded butchers, his heart kept sinking. Cries of battle rang out everywhere across the island, clearly showing that there were far more than just these five invading Mist Ninja.
"Sis, stall for as long as possible. Wait for the Great Elder and Konoha's ninja to get here." Katsuki lowered his voice. Kushina tilted her head back slightly and bumped the back of her head against his, signaling that she understood.
But before he could say anything else, the Mist Ninja attacked.
All five Mist Ninja were elites, tempered through countless trials of blood and fire. They were not comparable to rookies like Katsuki, who had never seen a battlefield. However, the Mist Ninja did not strike to kill. At least they remembered their mission: to abduct Uzumaki Clan children and bring them back to their village.
In other words, they had to take them alive.
The scar-faced Mist Ninja snorted coldly. He hated this damned mission of capturing people alive, but since it was an order personally issued by Lord Mizukage, he would bring these two little brats back.
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