You're evil and afraid of death, right?

By the time Seigetsu Senju hurried back to the camp, the battle had already ended.

Word was that the initial phase had gone smoothly; with both flanks pushing forward, they had nearly surrounded the Cloud Ninja. If Konoha had only been given a little more time, they could have wiped out the enemy entirely.

However, the Cloud Ninja deployed their jinchuriki, which immediately reversed the situation.

The commander-in-chief, Hatake Sakumo, repelled the Cloud Ninja, but the deputy commander, Ken Senju, was killed in action.

Seigetsu Senju stumbled over the perimeter wall, nearly losing her balance as she tripped.

A figure caught her in mid-air. Seigetsu Senju turned her head to see that it was Kawadera Uchiha.

Kawadera Uchiha had been kept behind by the squad leader, Kazu Hyuga, to participate in this battle.

She noticed a notch in Kawadera Uchiha's shoulder armor from a ninja blade; his clothes were torn, and he was covered in dirt, as if he had been rolling in the mud.

"Captain Seigetsu, let me take you away..."

When they reached the center of the camp, they saw rows of corpses covered in white sheets on the ground.

At the front of the crowd stood two lonely Senju ninja.

Seigetsu Senju saw her brother, Seiei Senju, and another jonin named Kiyo Senju.

Beyond them, there were no other clansmen left.

"Brother? Father, where is Father?"

Seiei Senju turned to see his sister. Meeting her gaze, his eyes filled with unbearable pain as he said:

"To protect us, Father stood in front of the Tailed Beast Bomb. Father... Father didn't even leave a body behind..."

At this moment, Kawadera Uchiha took out a fragment of armor and said, "Captain Seigetsu, I found this piece on the battlefield. I don't know if..."

Seiei Senju and Seigetsu Senju both looked at the familiar shoulder guard, bearing the familiar Senju clan crest.

Seiei Senju was dazed for a moment. Then, he stared at Kawadera Uchiha, surprised that this messenger ninja he had only met once on the battlefield had actually recovered his father's remains.

In this way, at least his father had not been left with nothing.

Seigetsu Senju did not cry out, but tears streamed down her face incessantly.

Kawadera Uchiha had been fighting near her father, yet she had gone in the wrong direction for a reconnaissance mission, missing her father's final battle.

In the depths of his consciousness, Kawadera Uchiha said to Tobirama Senju:

"Lord Second, out of 44 Senju ninja, 41 were sacrificed in a single battle.

As far as I know, the Senju clan now has over 800 ninja.

If there are 20 more battles like this, the Senju clan will be finished—completely finished.

And in the coming Great Ninja War, battles like this will happen far more than twenty times.

Should I find a way to pass on some of your warnings so the Senju clan doesn't throw their lives away like this?

The glory of founding the village has become a curse for the Senju clan."

"Shut your mouth, you naturally evil Uchiha! You don't understand the Will of Fire at all!"

"Fine, fine. My good intentions were wasted on a donkey's liver. I wish your entire clan success in upholding the Will of Fire!"

Kawadera Uchiha angrily closed off his consciousness, feeling he had only brought this upon himself.

After wiping away her tears, Seigetsu Senju took the members of her squad to find the commander-in-chief, Hatake Sakumo.

Hatake Sakumo had beads of sweat on his forehead, and his heart was far from calm.

He had not expected that in the very first battle, Konoha would lose so many ninja.

The Senju ninja, in particular, had suffered heavy losses.

All of Konoha knew that the Senju clan carried the glory of founding the village; for the sake of Konoha, they never allowed anyone to charge faster than they did.

Seeing Seigetsu Senju approach, Hatake Sakumo assumed she wanted to ask about the details of Ken Senju's final stand.

But he had been on the other side of the pincer attack, and he did not know why the jinchuriki from Kumogakure had appeared near Ken Senju.

"Commander-in-chief, I would like to request to join the communications squad to inform Lord Mitokado Homura, the commander-in-chief of the Land of Grass front, about the situation here.

I am not a deserter. Father entrusted me with a mission, and I apologize that I cannot tell you what it is for now."

"Seigetsu, with the surname Senju, no one will ever think you are a deserter. Go. I will have the staff officer write the mission scroll immediately. You may remain on the Land of Grass front to complete the mission your father gave you."

Seigetsu Senju's eyes were bloodshot, her eyelids red and swollen. She followed a staff officer away in silence.

Hatake Sakumo continued to look at the white sheets and the corpses covering the ground, thinking to himself that these were the purest of Konoha ninja. A true Konoha ninja would always sacrifice themselves for their comrades without hesitation.

After receiving the mission scroll, Seigetsu Senju went to say goodbye to her brother.

The bodies of the Konoha ninja had been sealed into scrolls, and a squadron would be responsible for transporting them back to the village.

Seiei Senju had just finished instructing the squadron leader on the necessary precautions.

Turning around to see Seigetsu, Seiei Senju learned that she was heading to the Land of Grass front.

"I..." Seiei Senju hesitated before saying:

"I was going to say that I hoped you would stay here, so that I could look after you, at least."

But after Father sacrificed himself, I needed to shoulder the banner of the Senju Clan here.

"I will be fighting in the most dangerous places, and when that time comes, I won't be able to protect you."

Seigetsu Senju shook his head and said, "Brother, I am already an adult. I am a Special Jonin of Konoha; I don't need anyone to protect me. On the contrary, it is Konoha that needs me to protect it."

Upon hearing this, a trace of pain appeared in Seiei Senju's eyes.

The glory of the clan that founded the village had truly become a curse, causing the Senju Clan to suffer heavy casualties in recent years.

In times of peace, the Senju Clan carried out the most dangerous missions.

In times of war, the Senju Clan charged at the very front of the battle lines.

He suddenly felt a strong urge to tell his younger sister to slow down on the road.

Spending more time on the journey was always safer than arriving at the battlefield.

If it were himself, he would have rushed to the Land of Grass battlefield without hesitation, but as for his sister...

Seiei Senju looked at his sister's three teammates, Kureya Inuzuka and Ken Aburame; these two could be absolutely trusted, but there was still an Uchiha in the squad.

"I need to have a word with that Uchiha alone."

Seigetsu Senju was puzzled, wondering why her brother needed to speak with Kawadera alone.

Leading Kawadera Uchiha to the side, Seiei Senju said, "You are an Uchiha, right?"

Kawadera Uchiha tilted his head to look at the fan crest on his upper arm and said, "That is quite obvious."

"And you are evil and cowardly, right?"

"This..." Kawadera Uchiha felt a bitter pang in his heart. Are the Senju so accurate at reading people?

Is it that obvious? Is the word "rogue" written on my face?

"It's not that evil, nor am I that cowardly."

"During the wars between the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan, you feared extinction and surrendered to us, which shows you are very cowardly.

After surrendering, you remained half-hearted, not only holding back from Konoha but also harboring ulterior motives.

Your arrogance makes you disdainful of hiding your ill intentions, which shows you are very evil."

Hearing Seiei Senju's analysis, Kawadera Uchiha felt much better.

So it wasn't just him; this was a matter of genetics, a matter of bloodline.

Seiei Senju suddenly leaned in close and whispered, "If you are afraid of death, you can create some incidents on the road to slow things down."

"Do I... really need to be that afraid of death?"

"Don't you?"

"If you need me to be, I suppose I can be afraid of death."

Kawadera Uchiha looked past Seiei Senju's shoulder at Seigetsu Senju, then said, "If it is for your sister's sake, I can certainly be afraid of death."

Seiei Senju patted Kawadera Uchiha on the shoulder and said:

"I admit I had some prejudices before; an evil and cowardly Uchiha is still somewhat useful in certain special circumstances."

"I am truly grateful for such high praise."