The Uchiha Hawk Never Walks Alone

Three senbon grazed Uchiha Aoba's temple and embedded into the tree trunk. Gritting her teeth against the searing pain, she spun and hurled three kunai wrapped with Exploding Tags.

In the dust kicked up by the blast, her Sharingan clearly caught seven Senju ninjas encircling her from different directions. They didn't even bother to conceal the clan emblem on their arms, only tying their black hair into short knots for easier combat.

"Water Style: Mist Technique!"

Thick fog instantly swallowed the entire forest. Uchiha Aoba's Scarlet Sharingan carved two eerie crimson trails through the mist.

She kicked off a tree knot and leaped. The chakra threads from the infant's swaddling tightened gradually as she moved at high speed.

Uchiha Kosuke heard the sound of blades tearing through flesh. Only when warm liquid splattered across his face did he realize it was the enemy's blood.

Thanks to three months of observing chakra flow, he could judge enemy positions through the subtle tremors in the surrounding environment.

"Waa—ah!" Uchiha Kosuke suddenly let out a sharp infant cry as a warning.

Uchiha Aoba's pupils contracted sharply, a storm surging in her heart, but her hands never paused.

Sub—Tiger—Dog—Ox—Rabbit—Tiger!

Fire Style Hand Seal formed instantly at her fingertips.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Eight fireballs pierced the fog with precision, turning the Senju ninjas lurking in the bushes into screaming human torches.

But before Uchiha Aoba could catch her breath, more footsteps surged from all directions.

Uchiha Kosuke sensed at least twenty chakra sources rapidly approaching—they had fallen into a carefully laid encirclement!

"The chance Gen bought with his life..."

Uchiha Aoba suddenly halted. The Three Tomoe spun wildly in her eyes.

Through the thinning mist, she saw seven Senju ninjas forming some kind of large-scale combined Water Style. The man at the lead bore a centipede-like scar on his forehead—Senju Butsuma's Personal Guard captain.

The infant's tiny hand suddenly grabbed his mother's collar, letting out an "ah-ah" with all his might.

In his past life's Naruto anime, he had seen many Senju Clan Water Styles.

If these seven released it, the area within a hundred-meter radius would become a death zone.

At this moment, Uchiha Aoba's chakra was nearly depleted. She looked down at Kosuke in her arms, then reached back to touch Mina behind her.

Moonlight filtered through the tree shadows, dappling Uchiha Kosuke and Mina's faces. Yet in Kosuke's pitch-black pupils, a faint red glow akin to the Sharingan flickered.

This discovery sent a violent tremor through Uchiha Aoba.

Feeling the warmth from the bodies against her chest and back, a power transcending life and death suddenly erupted from the depths of her bloodline.

"Kosuke, Mina, hold tight!"

She bit her thumb and quickly formed an ancient hand seal—a forbidden technique the Uchiha Clan was strictly prohibited from using—Izanagi.

At the cost of permanent blindness in one eye, it granted a brief power to reverse reality.

As the first water dragon spiral tore through the air, Uchiha Aoba's left Three Tomoe began spinning at breakneck speed, nearly forming a ring.

She whispered the true name of the forbidden art: "Izanagi: Altered!"

The moment seven water dragons converged to strike, Uchiha Aoba's left eye instantly lost its luster, turning a lifeless gray.

But the impossible happened. All the water dragons, in the instant before impact, eerily reversed direction and struck the Senju ninjas who had cast them.

Mixed with the dojutsu of the Sharingan, the water dragons exploded with a roar amid screams.

When the blood mist cleared, all six hand-seal users had been rebounded by their own Water Style. Uchiha Aoba staggered backward, her left eye completely blind, blood slowly trickling from the socket.

"As expected of the previous Uchiha Clan Head's surviving daughter," the Senju Captain said, stepping over his comrade's corpse. His ninja sword dragged across the ground with a piercing screech. "But to fight this far while burdened with baggage—should I praise your great maternal love?"

One arm cradling her chest, Uchiha Aoba stumbled back. Her heel hit the hard surface of a barrier, and despair flooded her heart.

Just as the moment of crisis peaked, a familiar bird call rang out from afar—the Uchiha Clan's unique signal!

A sharp whistle split the air.

Seventeen kunai wrapped with Exploding Tags fell like a meteor shower. The blast's shockwave forced the Senju Captain back several steps.

Uchiha Tajima's reinforcements descended from the sky. The black-and-red clan emblem, like a ping-pong paddle, gleamed with cold metallic light under the moon.

"The Uchiha Hawk never flies alone."

The bandages wrapped around Uchiha Tajima's arm fluttered in the night wind. The Three Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes looked in different directions simultaneously.

Uchiha Aoba let out a breath, nearly collapsing, but she forced her spine straight, shielding Kosuke in her arms and Mina on her back.

The ninjas who followed quickly surrounded her, the cold gleam of shuriken weaving a net of death.

At that moment, the Senju Captain, having steadied himself, suddenly blew a bone whistle. Twenty ninjas lurking in the shadows emerged, encircling the Uchiha in turn.

Uchiha Tajima saw the Spiral Curse Mark tattooed on their foreheads and instantly understood—this was the Senju Suicide Squad. These ninjas had long been stripped of pain by the filthy Senju Clan's secret drugs.

"Take Aoba and go!"

Uchiha Tajima flung his Ninja Sickle, precisely severing the Barrier Talisman behind her.

Two Medical Ninjas rushed forward, quickly supporting the faltering Uchiha Aoba.

"Aoba-sama, your injuries need treatment. The clan's medical-nin are waiting at the safe point."

Uchiha Aoba nodded, cast one last look toward the battlefield, and asked softly, "Gen, he..."

A moment of silence passed. Uchiha Tajima turned his gaze to the distance. "I'll arrange a search afterward. For now, take the child and return safely."

Uchiha Aoba closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, and when she opened them again, her usual resolve had returned. "Tajima-niisan, I understand. I'm counting on you—please find him."

"Charge! We must kill him, avenge the former Clan Head!!"

As he finished speaking, Uchiha Tajima, who had been staring intently at him, lunged forward with a fierce charge, his hand seals blurring into afterimages: "Fire Style: Dust Hidden Technique!"

A mass of searing flame and scorching dust rapidly expanded outward in all directions.

"Take Aoba and go!!"

"Stop them and kill them all!!"

Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!

Facing the onslaught of high-temperature flames and blazing dust, the Senju Captain's hands flew through seals.

He summoned water from thin air, spiraling upward like a tornado.

In an instant, the rapidly spinning column of water spread out like a waterfall, crashing down onto the flames and dust, finally forming a river beneath the Senju Captain's feet.

A thick haze of mist spread, and from within came the sharp clang of metal—clang, clang, clang.

Moments later, Uchiha Tajima emerged from the mist, dragging the lifeless Senju Captain by the leg. He tossed the body aside carelessly, splashing mud.

"Clan Head, Uchiha Aoba has returned safely to the clan."

A guard suddenly appeared, kneeling in the muddy ground, reporting to Uchiha Tajima, whose face was dark with anger.

"Clan Head, all twenty Death Warriors of the Senju Clan have been slain!"

Before Uchiha Tajima could speak, another guard flashed in to report.

Uchiha Tajima's expression was cold and stern. "Bring their bodies back to the clan and hand them over to the Intelligence Division!"

"Yes, Clan Head!"

Before the guards could respond, Uchiha Tajima's figure vanished from the spot.

"Clan Head."

"Clan Head."

"Clan Head."

Returning to the clan ahead of the others, Uchiha Tajima walked straight toward the Council Hall.

Every clansman he passed bowed respectfully, but his expression remained stern and unsmiling.

As soon as he took his seat at the head, Uchiha Tajima addressed the empty hall: "Summon the elders for a council."

"Yes, Clan Head."

A voice answered from the shadows, then fell silent once more.