You Cured My Fear of Konoha

"Are you Xingyue's boyfriend?"

Kawadera Uchiha was waiting at the camp entrance when a little head peeked out beside him, topped with two playful pigtails.

Curiosity was written all over Kanzuki Senju's face as she stared at him with wide eyes.

Kawadera Uchiha saw that the others were still far away. "Why do you say that?"

"I know everything!" Kanzuki Senju said.

"Everyone says teammates are bound to grow close. Ken Aburame is full of bugs, and the Aburame Clan only marries within the clan. So it has to be you!"

Kawadera Uchiha only smiled without answering, so Kanzuki Senju went on:

"She visits you every day and spends half an hour repairing your muscles. Surely that proves it?"

Kawadera Uchiha lowered his head and whispered, "All right, you figured it out, my little sister-in-law. Keep it secret for me. Don't tell anyone else!"

Kanzuki Senju nodded repeatedly, looking as though she'd known it all along.

"I understand! I won't tell a soul!

"The Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan are sworn enemies, with far more hatred than love between them. The world and your families would never bless your relationship, so nobody can ever find out!"

Kawadera Uchiha froze. She had only graduated this year. How was she already so precocious and so fond of gossip?

While the two whispered together, more than two thousand ninja waited at the front line in solemn silence for their orders.

Kawadera Uchiha looked ahead and spotted Tsunade and Orochimaru at the very front.

More than thirty Senju Clan ninja stood behind Tsunade.

It seemed the Senju Clan would lead the charge again.

Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen. At this critical moment, he had stayed in the Land of Rain to raise the mysterious Child of Prophecy.

Nagato wasn't the Child of Prophecy. At most, he was a guide for Asura's reincarnation—a pawn whose life was a tragedy, a pitiful man who lost every relative he had.

Mount Myoboku played a deep role in shaping the world. It wouldn't even leave the Child of Prophecy's guide alone.

Compared with Jiraiya, Orochimaru had been far more helpful to Tsunade—and far more reliable.

"I have to go!" Kanzuki Senju said. "Brother-in-law, I need to find my squad!"

Like Seigetsu Senju's squad, Kanzuki Senju's squad belonged to the Medical Guard Battalion.

Kawadera Uchiha watched her pigtails bounce away, then went to find his own squad.

The force set out from camp toward the Land of Earth.

The medical unit traveled at the rear, giving Kawadera Uchiha a view of the troops ahead.

Wind swept across the grassland, sending waves through the grass as the Konoha Ninja advanced at speed.

The more than two thousand ninja were spread out by squad in a long, narrow column that stretched beyond sight. It was an impressive sight.

After more than three hours of marching and occasional stops, Kawadera Uchiha suddenly halted.

Kureya Inuzuka and Ken Aburame stopped too. Everyone else was still hurrying along, unsure what Kawadera Uchiha was doing.

Their squad leader, Seigetsu Senju, was with the medical unit, so for now they had to follow Kawadera Uchiha, a Special Jonin.

Kawadera Uchiha frowned.

His eyesight was excellent. Far across the grassland, the formation at the head of the column had begun to change.

They weren't slowing gradually to rest. They were accelerating and shifting from a long column into a spread-out fan formation.

Had the scouts found the enemy?

Seconds later, a Ninja Hawk flew back from the front.

Mei Senju, commander of the medical unit, saw the way it circled and immediately shouted:

"Earth Release ninja! Dig defensive pits, now!"

The vast grassland stretched to the horizon without a scrap of cover. There was nowhere to hide.

The Earth Release ninja in the Medical Guard Battalion formed Hand Seals and cast a combined jutsu.

A square section of ground sank more than three meters.

Kawadera Uchiha and the others shrugged off their packs and quickly raised three tents, completing their squad's assigned task.

They were still assembling the tent poles when the medical ninja gathered outside and began deciding whether each tent would serve as an operating room or a ward.

Once the tents were up, Kawadera Uchiha and the other two climbed out of the pit onto the grass and stood guard.

Not a cloud marked the distant blue sky. A black speck hovered high above, flying toward the Konoha force.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki!

Ōnoki hovered so high that he could look down at Konoha's troops without a care.

"Hm? Hiruzen Sarutobi?" Ōnoki's large nose twitched a few times.

"I didn't expect you on the front line too, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Konoha really must be at the end of its rope."

Hiruzen Sarutobi threw off his Hokage Haori, revealing black combat clothes beneath.

He held the Adamantine Enma Staff across his arms and shouted up at him:

"Ōnoki! Konoha has never been weak. You think you can prey on us while we're vulnerable, but you'll pay dearly for trying!"

Ōnoki smiled and bellowed across the battlefield:

"Hiruzen Sarutobi! You cured my fear of Konoha!

"You're the trash Tobirama Senju chose because he was blind! Come on!

"You've proved it time and again, and you're about to prove it once more: Tobirama Senju was blind!"

Kawadera Uchiha let Tobirama Senju hear Ōnoki's taunts.

He said inwardly, Second, that was vicious.

No wonder Madara Uchiha scared Ōnoki out of his wits. That trash talk has a touch of Madara Uchiha's style!

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned. He had no good way to deal with a flying Ōnoki, let alone stop him from spewing insults.

The Adamantine Enma Staff shot upward, extending toward Ōnoki.

It could stretch hundreds of meters.

Ōnoki dipped down with ease and avoided it.

Remarkable as the staff was, it did not extend fast enough. Ōnoki had plenty of time to dodge.

Ōnoki's Atomic Dismantling Jutsu, on the other hand, would be far harder to evade.

Ōnoki brought his hands together. A cone-shaped white barrier appeared before them.

The barrier expanded in an instant, becoming a pillar of light that shot toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi dodged aside, and the Dust Release barrier pulverized the grass beneath him.

"Damn it!"

The Dust Release barrier chased Hiruzen Sarutobi. He dodged, then watched helplessly as it swept toward the Konoha Ninja beside him.

Every Konoha Ninja it struck crumbled into dust. In that instant, more than a dozen died to Dust Release.

Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly formed Hand Seals, created four Shadow Clones, and unleashed the Five Release Great Combo Technique, hoping the wide-area jutsu would kill Ōnoki.

Ōnoki had anticipated it and flew higher into the sky.

The Five Release Great Combo Technique blazed with dazzling colors and thundered across the battlefield. But by the time the attacks reached that height, they had lost their force.

Ōnoki and Hiruzen Sarutobi traded attacks.

Worse, each time Ōnoki used his Dust Release barrier, he could casually kill the Konoha Ninja near Hiruzen Sarutobi. Nothing Hiruzen Sarutobi tried worked against him.

In the distance, Kawadera Uchiha asked Tobirama Senju in his Sea of Consciousness, "Lord Second, have you ever studied Dust Release?"

"No. Dust Release is a closely guarded secret of the Land of Earth. Only a handful of people possess it, and I couldn't get their bodies or any intelligence on it," Tobirama Senju said.

"Obtaining the Kekkei Tōta Dust Release would qualify as an S-rank mission.

"Don't refuse yet. This is a long-term mission.

"I know your nature. You'll never become a powerhouse of the Shinobi World. For years—perhaps decades—you'll skulk like a rat, too afraid to show yourself before Ōnoki."

"Hold on. He insulted you and your student, calling one blind and the other trash. Why drag me into it?"

Ōnoki rampaged through the sky above the battlefield. No matter how fierce the fighting elsewhere became, nothing could overshadow him.

Before long, Ōnoki noticed the Medical Department at the rear of Konoha's force!

In war, the Medical Department was a priority target.

Kawadera Uchiha saw Ōnoki flying straight toward them!