Three days after the duel, news suddenly arrived from the front lines: the Senju Clan was massing its main forces in large numbers.
According to the intelligence, a figure believed to be Senju Butsuma had appeared on the main battlefield.
After confirming the news, Uchiha Tajima made his decision on the spot and resolved to risk going to the battlefield himself.
Of course, he wouldn't go alone.
Sensing that a decisive battle was imminent, Tajima directly mobilized most of the clan's remaining forces.
During the Warring States Period, the prosperity of the various clans far surpassed what it would be in the era of the villages.
Take the Uchiha Clan at present, for example. It had established four major legions, each responsible for dealing with enemies in a different direction.
The clan alone had more than 800 resident ninja, while each of its major legions had over a thousand ninja.
Kyosuke made a rough estimate. The clan had at least five thousand ninja in total.
They couldn't compare to the great Ninja Villages of later generations, which could bring tens of thousands of ninja into a war at the drop of a hat. Still, they could easily wipe out an average small country.
However, the Senju Clan wasn't the only problem.
News came from the Southern Legion that the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans were frantically gathering their forces, seemingly determined to fight the Uchiha to the death.
Uchiha Rei, the Legion Commander, sent a letter asking for help and requesting reinforcements from the clan. Tajima simply ignored it.
"We don't have men to spare. If you can't hold them back, then give your life to make sure the enemy dies with you."
When Uchiha Rei received the reply, he tore it to shreds in front of everyone and cursed Uchiha Tajima as a brainless fool.
The news was highly confidential. Kyosuke had only learned of it through casual conversation with Izuna.
Looking at the empty street, he couldn't help sighing.
After three days of hard work, Kyosuke had more or less mastered the Body Flicker Technique. The price was a body aching all over, with extensive bruising appearing in certain places.
During that time, Uchiha Madara had sternly warned him that forcing himself to use the Body Flicker Technique before his body was strong enough was tantamount to slow suicide.
What he meant was that Kyosuke should stop studying it.
But Kyosuke had shot back with a single sentence: "On the battlefield, it's kill or be killed. If I can't use it when it matters, I'm afraid I won't live long enough to die a slow death."
Faced with little Kyosuke's sharp tongue, the taciturn Uchiha Madara had no way to respond.
In his anger, Madara hadn't shown his face to Kyosuke for three days.
"Like a little kid," Kyosuke had remarked.
Tajima was unwilling to concern himself with the Southern Battlefield, but Uchiha Rei was no ordinary man. He was the ruthless opponent who had once contended with Tajima for the position of Clan Head.
Not long after the second letter arrived, news came that the legion stationed there had gone into battle without authorization.
When Tajima learned what had happened, he cursed and shouted in front of everyone.
The problem was, Uchiha Rei could do little about him, and Tajima was just as powerless against that white-haired old man.
With so many members of the legion entering the war, the clan's defenses had grown increasingly thin.
"If an enemy attacks, the history of the Shinobi World might end up being rewritten."
It had started as a joke, but the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
A year ago, their squad had successfully infiltrated the enemy's rear and killed the heirs of the Three Clans while they were being evacuated.
It had been an extremely successful strike that wiped out their bloodlines.
No one could possibly believe the enemy wouldn't hate them for it.
Besides, the decisive battle between the Uchiha and Senju shouldn't have happened at this point.
Uchiha Madara was about to turn eleven. It wouldn't be long before he met Senju Hashirama.
Madara should have been on the battlefield at that time, and the fighting didn't seem to have reached an irreconcilable point yet.
In other words, the two clans shouldn't have been engaging in large-scale conflict at this time.
"Suppose the Senju are only pretending to make preparations. Then their real goal..." Looking at the empty street, Kyosuke seemed to understand.
The Senju weren't trying to force a decisive battle. They wanted to lure Uchiha Tajima to the battlefield.
The Southern Legion and the Three Clans had almost simultaneously made their move. Though there was no concrete evidence, his instincts told him that the two events had to be connected.
"The Senju are setting a trap..."
"The Three Clans are gathering their forces..."
"The Senju and Nara are launching a surprise attack..."
This was bad!
Kyosuke rose with a grim expression and headed straight for the clan's estate.
Whether his suspicions were right or not, they had to make preparations.
If his worst fears came true, it would be too late to react.
"I hope I'm just overthinking this."
At the southern entrance to the Uchiha Clan Compound,
one truck after another was parked by the roadside, undergoing inspection by the guards.
"Thanks for your hard work." The head of the convoy had been transporting goods for decades and was a familiar face. The guards didn't give him a hard time and let him pass.
"Wait!" Suddenly, the guard captain called out to the convoy.
"Orders from above. Tighten up the inspections." The captain seemed rather helpless as he said this.
He had no idea what had gotten into the Young Clan Head. The boy had insisted that enemies might sneak into the compound.
Sneak into the Uchiha Clan Compound?
In all the centuries of its existence, no one had ever managed such a feat.
As far as he was concerned, the kid was just trying to throw his weight around. Unfortunately, they, the low-ranking guards, were the ones who always had to suffer.
Just as the captain was about to say something, a powerful sense of dread suddenly rose from deep within him.
Before he could react, he realized that he had lost control of his body.
"Well, they're regular customers. If we had a problem with them, we'd starve, wouldn't we?" The guard captain smiled and waved, telling his subordinates to let the convoy through at once.
"No, there's something wrong with them!!!" Watching his body move against his will, he was seized by the urge to kill himself.
Unfortunately, he was now like a spectator, unable to control his own body.
All he could do was watch helplessly as the suspicious convoy rolled into the compound.
"This feeling... There's no mistake. It's the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique!"
"What are they trying to do?!"
The poor guard captain "personally" escorted the convoy westward. Judging by the direction they were heading, they were going toward one of the clan's most densely populated residential areas.
Most of the ninja had gone to the battlefield. Only a group of elderly people, women, and children remained in the residential district. Even he could understand what the invaders were after.
"Damn it! Move, body, move!" The guard captain shouted with all his might, but against the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique, his resistance was as laughably feeble as a child's.
Soon, the convoy had made its way deep into the clan's territory.
As he watched the children playing happily along the street, it felt as if his heart were bleeding.
"Almost there." Suddenly, a low murmur filled with killing intent came from behind him.
Just ahead was the Uchiha's generations-old academy for young children.
If they wanted to wipe out their targets completely, that was the best place to start.
"Damn Uchiha! Today, you'll pay for what you've done."
As the invaders listened to the children laughing nearby, they dropped their disguises and stormed into the old-fashioned Uchiha Academy as one.
But instead of their targets, they were met by a crowd of vivid, lifelike clones—and...
Explosive Tags covered the entire academy, blazing fiercely.
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