"Yes."
Without the slightest hesitation, the faint ripple in Uchiha Hikari's eyes—stirred only moments ago by Zhi's gentleness—vanished, leaving them as still and lifeless as stagnant water.
Like a puppet whose strings were pulled by its master's command, she deftly froze the faint warmth of humanity she had just felt. Dragging her heavy Short Blade, she mechanically turned and walked toward the messenger.
Yue Uchiha gave a cold laugh, then casually reached out and shoved the now-empty food box back into Zhi's hands.
Then he, too, headed outside.
All that remained was Zhi Uchiha, standing where she was and watching the two figures—one large, one small—walk away. She let out a helpless, weary sigh.
Inside the Uchiha leadership's tent, the atmosphere was so heavy it seemed ready to drip.
"The Senju Clan and the Sarutobi Clan have joined forces."
The Great Elder slammed a bloodstained intelligence scroll onto the table, his face livid. "They've set up a massive Barrier in Falling Cherry Valley to the south, completely cutting off our frontline supply line! Kai Senju and Yu Senju are currently being held in check by the clan head on the main battlefield, but the Sarutobi Clan's elite and the Senju Clan's Sealing Squad are stationed at Falling Cherry Valley."
"It's a blatant trap."
The Second Elder gritted his teeth. "They cut off our supplies so brazenly because they know we can't spare troops from the main battlefield. We'll have no choice but to send our elite forces to break through. Those bastards have no telling how many people lying in wait at Falling Cherry Valley, just waiting for us to walk into their trap!"
In the family wars of the Warring States Period, there was no such thing as an absolute secret.
The Senju and Sarutobi dared to act so openly because they knew the Uchiha had no choice but to wade into this mess.
Stay away, and the frontline would run out of food and collapse.
Go, and they'd be throwing lives into a bottomless meat grinder.
"If it's a meat grinder, then send the sharpest blades to grind them to pieces."
The Great Elder abruptly raised his head, his cloudy eyes fixed on Yue and Hikari, who stood silently in the middle of the tent.
"Tool Hikari, Tool Yue! You absorbed plenty of the Spring of Returning Light yesterday. Your mission this time is to completely destroy the Barrier at Falling Cherry Valley and kill every Senju and Sarutobi inside! Even if you die, you'd better tear open that supply line first!"
"Understood." Hikari's voice was ice-cold, utterly devoid of emotion.
Yue, meanwhile, played along perfectly. He stuck out his tongue and licked his cracked lips, a bloodthirsty red glint bursting from his right eye.
"The Senju Clan... Heh heh heh, perfect! My blade's been thirsty for blood! Great Elder, if it's Senju you want dead, I'll tear apart anyone you tell me to!"
The Elders nodded with satisfaction at Yue's rabid, hatred-dazed expression.
Tools were supposed to know their place.
Two hours later, Falling Cherry Valley.
The picturesque gorge was now shrouded in a dense aura of bloodlust.
Explosive Tags specially made by the Sarutobi Clan and sealing runes covered the surrounding cliff faces in thick clusters. Dozens of elite Senju shinobi hid in the shadows, forming a massive, intricate chain formation.
This was the deadly trap laid specifically to counter the Uchiha Clan's "ultimate weapon," just as the original course of history had dictated.
The Senju Clan knew all too well that Uchiha Hikari's Mangekyo ocular technique, "Yachihoko," was practically invincible in group combat.
So they had no intention of meeting her head-on. Instead, they joined forces with the Sarutobi Clan, who excelled at the Five Basic Nature Transformations and Sealing Jutsu, and set up the "Four Violet Flames Sealing Array," designed specifically to suppress spiritual chakra and ocular power!
The moment Hikari stepped into the gorge, the array would activate. Countless sealing chains would pierce her limbs in an instant, completely seal away her ocular power, and leave her imprisoned in endless darkness.
As for Yue Uchiha, whose reputation had recently begun to soar, he was just a bonus.
Though he was strong, his influence on the battlefield was nowhere near as threatening as Hikari's.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two shadows dropped like specters at the entrance to the gorge.
"Enemy attack!! It's the Uchiha Clan's Twin Demons!!"
The Senju shinobi hiding in the shadows immediately let out a piercing whistle.
"Come on... Come and die!"
Yue Uchiha drew his katana and deliberately let out a wild laugh as he charged ahead into the outer reaches of the gorge.
Behind him, the scarlet Mangekyo bloomed in Uchiha Hikari's hollow black eyes. She fixed her gaze on the Sarutobi shinobi at the front.
"Yachihoko..."
Just as Hikari was about to use her ocular technique to seize control of the enemy by force—
"Now! Activate the array!!"
At the roar of a Senju jonin from deep within the gorge, the earth beneath the entire valley shuddered violently!
Rumble—!
Four violet pillars of light burst up from the gorge's four corners, instantly weaving together in midair to form a massive inverted Barrier that trapped Yue and Hikari inside!
At the same time, the ground erupted. Countless chakra chains engraved with densely packed black runes surged toward Hikari like snakes striking from their lairs!
"Ugh!"
The Mangekyo in Hikari's eyes had barely begun to glow before the tremendous sealing power radiating from the chains forced it back down.
With fiendishly precise movements, the chains instantly wrapped around Hikari's wrists, ankles, and slender neck, then yanked her into the air like a rag doll utterly incapable of resisting!
"Sealing chains? A jutsu designed specifically to counter ocular power..."
Suspended in midair, Hikari felt the sealing runes sear into her meridians like red-hot irons. Agonizing pain tore through her mind.
It seemed she wouldn't be able to complete her mission.
She didn't resist.
As far as she knew, a weapon being broken by the enemy, captured, and discarded was only to be expected. The clan wouldn't come to save her, and her teammates would retreat immediately to preserve their strength.
This was the ending that had been written for her from the moment she was born.
"So... I'm going to break here..." Hikari slowly closed her eyes, ready to face the eternal darkness.
"Yagokoro Omoikane!"
"The Four Violet Flames Sealing Array's success rate when perfectly coordinated is 0%."
Yue's left eye, which had only recently recovered, snapped open. The Star Array within it ground together like a set of frenzied gears, and blood burst from his eye!
"Hikari, you can't break in my squad. You have to stay in one piece and keep on living!"
As Yue activated the power of his left eye, Yagokoro Omoikane, the Four Violet Flames Sealing Array wavered for an instant. The Sarutobi shinobi reacted quickly—
But Yue was quicker.
"Amenominakanushi!"
"BOOM—!!!"
Following that moment of instability, a force of repulsion swept through like a landslide, instantly destroying the Barrier's four corner anchors. The moment their chakra supply vanished, the supposedly indestructible sealing chains twisted under the force of gravity and became a storm of iron fragments!
Before you continue