Burning Senju

"Since it was a misunderstanding, there was no need to inform the clan. Take this old man to the medical station first and make sure no hidden complications remain."

"Understood, Lady Aoba."

The guard bent down, helped the craftsman up, and turned to leave.

Only after the two figures disappeared into the courtyard did Aoba turn to Kosuke, who looked guilty.

"Little Kosuke, don't do this again. If you hadn't explained yourself in time, I almost would have agreed."

Aoba crouched down and lightly tapped Kosuke's forehead with her fingertip, her tone carrying a rare seriousness.

Did everyone in the Uchiha clan have a habit of poking people's foreheads?

"I understand, Mother."

Kosuke answered aloud, though his mind was on something else.

Seeing this, Aoba could only fondly rub the top of Kosuke's head before standing up.

"Little Kosuke, get some proper rest."

With that, she turned and returned to her room.

Watching his mother leave, Kosuke stepped forward to close the door, then returned to his bed and lay down.

He habitually rested an arm beneath his head and closed his eyes, his thoughts a tangled mess.

I was really scared back then.

This wasn't entirely my fault either. Who told Han...

Year after year, the flowers looked the same; year after year, the people changed.

The plum tree in Kosuke's courtyard had silently blossomed and shed its flowers five times.

Pink-and-white petals drifted down year after year, while the height marks Aoba had carved into the trunk for Kosuke remained faintly visible.

The war between the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki had ended when Uchiha Tajima personally led elite ninja in a nighttime raid, causing the Senju camp's granary to explode violently.

Towering waves of fire erupted with a roar. The dry grass and grain stored inside the granary ignited in an instant, dyeing the entire battlefield crimson. Even the stars in the night sky seemed to warp in the heat.

Senju Butsuma and Uzumaki Kazuma rushed over upon receiving the news. As they watched the towering inferno roll and devour the granary before them, their faces darkened.

The Water Release techniques desperately unleashed by the ninja were little more than a drop in the bucket against the raging flames. The explosions of water and fire mingled with the crackling of splitting timber, sounding especially harsh amid the searing heat.

Veins bulged on Butsuma's forehead, and his knuckles turned white from how tightly he clenched his fists.

In the end, he let out a deep sigh. His gaze passed through the dancing flames and fell upon the Uchiha formation across the battlefield, where figures shifted in the distance.

Tajima stood on high ground with the Uchiha Gunbai in hand. His Sharingan glimmered with a scarlet chill in the firelight, and a sinister curve touched his lips.

I hope you like Uchiha's return gift!

After a long silence, Butsuma turned to look at the granary, where the blaze still showed no sign of weakening.

Amid the billowing smoke, he sighed in defeat. "Withdraw the troops, Elder Kazuma. If Uchiha could discover our granary, then perhaps our supply routes are also under their watch."

"Damn it!"

Though unwillingness churned in his heart, Kazuma could only nod heavily as he stared at the granary ruins gradually being reduced to scorched earth.

The provisions had already been burned into charcoal by the flames.

Was the war they had planned against the Uchiha clan for so long really going to end so hastily?

He narrowed his eyes and looked toward the faintly visible War Fan emblem within the Uchiha formation across from him. A complicated glint flashed through his eyes.

At dawn the next day.

The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

"Clan Head! The Senju and Uzumaki allied forces withdrew from the battlefield last night!"

"Clan Head! The Uchiha clan withdrew from the battlefield last night!"

The two urgent reports rang out beside Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima almost simultaneously.

Butsuma's expression turned incomparably grim, his knuckles whitening with force. "Damn it! Their plan must have succeeded, which is why Uchiha lashed out in desperation last night!"

Tajima, however, lightly tapped the War Fan at his waist, a cold smile of expectation curling across his lips. "Heh. Did you like Uchiha's return gift, Butsuma?"

Upon hearing the scout's report, the surrounding Uchiha Clan Elders erupted into triumphant mockery. "Hahahaha! Clan Head, so what if Senju and Uzumaki joined forces? Other than sneaking an attack on our rear, they're useless!"

"That's right! One fire sent them running away with their tails between their legs. As expected of the Ninja World's two biggest rats! Hahahaha!"

"Pass down the order!" Tajima raised a hand, and the clamor ceased at once. His Scarlet Sharingan swept across the crowd. "The entire army will accelerate its return. That old fox Senju Butsuma has suffered such a heavy loss; he will surely bear a grudge."

He paused, a faint light flowing through his eyes. "Raise vigilance along the route to the highest level. Guard against him lashing out in desperation and attacking the Clan grounds again!"

"Yes!"

Everyone answered in unison and swiftly sprang into action.

"Evil Senju and Uzumaki, you will surely pay for your stupidity!"

Five days later, just as the morning light began to wash over the Uchiha Clan grounds, Uchiha Izuna led twenty Elite Jonin to the edge of the clan grounds.

"Alert!!"

Following a sharp cry, several crows flapped their wings as they swept across the sky.

After the attack, the remaining guards had set up many warning lines around the edge of the clan grounds under Aoba's guidance.

Thus, the instant Uchiha Izuna's team approached, a piercing shout rang out from within the clan grounds, accompanied by a signal whistle shooting into the sky.

The next second, Uchiha Aoba and Uchiha Izuna appeared simultaneously at the entrance to the clan grounds.

The twenty Uchiha who had returned with him stood quietly outside the clan grounds like statues.

"It's Lord Izuna!"

Recognizing that a Clan Elder had returned with a team, the guard immediately turned and ran into the clan grounds, explaining the situation as he went. It was not an enemy attack.

Seeing that most of the clan's ninja were wrapped in bandages, Izuna suddenly waved behind him. The twenty standing ninja instantly took over the guards' patrol duties.

"The Clan Head and the main force still need several more days to return. Aoba, tell me about the clan's situation first."

Izuna walked through the clan streets with a dark expression. Every time he saw a clansman wrapped in bandages repairing the clan grounds, his brows furrowed tighter, and his hatred for Senju and Uzumaki deepened.

He stopped beneath the maple tree at the center of the clan grounds. Its crown was bare, with only a few dead leaves spinning in the morning breeze.

"Have the fallen clansmen been buried?"

"No. Everyone agreed to wait until you returned."

"Returned?" Izuna moved to the place where the clansmen's bodies had been frozen. His gaze swept over the corpses coated in frost. Their hands were still slightly clenched as they had been before death, as though they might fling Kunai at any moment. "Then we'll wait for them to return... and see them off one last time."

Several days later, when Tajima led the clansmen back to the clan grounds, he immediately went to the prepared cemetery.

The ninja who had gone to war stepped forward one after another to find their own family members, but even more simply stared blankly at the list of the fallen before them.

"Rites complete! Present the flowers!"

The clansmen held white chrysanthemums and slowly stepped forward in turn.

The elders solemnly placed their bouquets at the center of the gravestones, while the younger ones knelt on one knee and brushed the dust from the corners of the markers with their fingertips.

When the last chrysanthemum was offered, someone's sob suddenly pierced the heavy silence, only to be quickly suppressed into broken, stifled choking.

Mourning was always brief. The living still had to keep moving forward.