Who Are You!

Nagato Uzumaki wasn't withdrawn and introverted at this point. It seemed the hardships of being refugees, never knowing if they'd survive the next day, had changed young Nagato.

Uchiha Chonhua brushed aside young Nagato's bangs and looked into his ordinary eyes.

"That depends on how hard Nagato works."

He wondered if Uchiha Madara had set his sights on Nagato yet.

"Okay! I'll work hard!"

Young Nagato clenched his fists, his face set with determination. He knew they would be living in Konoha for good, but he didn't know how difficult it was to get into the Ninja Academy there.

"What's Konoha like, Chonhua? Can you tell us about it?"

Fuso Uzumaki felt uneasy. She was both apprehensive and eager about the life ahead of them. After all, Konoha was a village in one of the great nations of the Ninja World, so it had to be more prosperous than the Land of Whirlpools.

Fuso Uzumaki was conflicted, unsure whether Konoha would welcome outsiders like them.

Although Konoha and the Uzumaki Clan were allies, it was still an unfamiliar place, and it was only natural to worry.

At her words, the other members of the Uzumaki Clan perked up their ears. They wanted to hear what a local had to say about Konoha, too.

Uchiha Chonhua smiled and was just about to answer when he noticed Hizashi Hyuga making hand signals again.

More enemies!?

Uchiha Chonhua's gaze sharpened. He lowered his body slightly, ready to defend himself.

Seeing his stance, everyone else immediately fell silent and anxiously looked around.

Perhaps because they had already been attacked once, they weren't as tense as before.

Hizashi Hyuga made hand signals to pass on the message. This time, it wasn't the Mist Village—it was Cloud Village ninjas!

Whoosh!

The sound of objects cutting through the air rang out as Kunai and shuriken shot toward them from every direction.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

Seeing this, Ono's face changed. He quickly raised a wall of earth to block the attack.

Chakra surged through his body. He was preparing to release a large-scale Earth-Style Wall that could enclose everyone.

But Uchiha Chonhua moved faster.

He pushed off the ground and leapt into the air, raising his right hand. A storm gathered in his palm.

Wind Release chakra flowed into it.

"Wind Style: Big Ball Rasengan!"

The basketball-sized, blue-green Big Ball Rasengan churned with powerful gusts, tearing at the air around it.

The enemies' Kunai and shuriken wobbled from side to side, thrown off course by the swirling wind. The projectiles that had been aimed at them veered wildly away, then dropped limply to the ground.

"Huh!?"

Ono stared, dumbfounded, at the mass of chakra in Uchiha Chonhua's hand, which was like a typhoon.

What was that!?

Did Uchiha Chonhua have any more unusual techniques? The high-concentration Lightning Release from before hadn't been enough, and now he had another high-concentration Wind Release technique.

And hadn't Chonhua just done that without any Hand Seals?

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"

Seeing that their Kunai and shuriken had failed, the Cloud Village ninjas in the forest spat out a giant torrent of water.

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

Another Cloud Village ninja gathered lightning between both palms and sent it after the water, merging it into the torrent.

The water surged toward them, wrapped in lightning.

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

Uchiha Chonhua formed Hand Seals and exhaled an immense sea of flames. The lightning-wreathed torrent stood no chance against the vast blaze and was instantly reduced to steam.

The Cloud Village ninjas stared in horror at the surging wall of fire. Lightning crackled across their bodies as they hurriedly used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge.

Sss—

The flames scorched the forest, and billowing smoke rose into the air.

"Where are you looking?"

A calm question reached the Cloud Village ninja. He had just breathed a sigh of relief when his chest suddenly hurt. Stunned and in agony, he looked down.

Soundless lightning ravaged him, and a pair of indifferent eyes filled his vision.

Uchiha Chonhua pulled his right hand out of the Cloud Village ninja's chest. Blood stained his sleeve, but the lightning-wreathed hand remained clean and white.

The lightning had torn through the blood. The Cloud Village ninja's eyes dimmed. He lost consciousness and crumpled to the ground.

Uchiha Chonhua looked toward the other Cloud Village ninja and saw shock and grief in his eyes.

Uchiha Chonhua's lips curled into a haughty smile.

"You're next."

As he spoke, he was already standing in front of the Cloud Village ninja.

His right palm, wrapped in lightning, stabbed viciously toward the man's chest.

Chapter 37: Who Are You!

Ono stared blankly as Uchiha Chonhua took on the entire battlefield by himself, slaughtering his way through the enemy ranks.

He couldn't help wondering if there was anything left for a jonin leader like him to do.

"Chonhua, don't push yourself. We've been attacked twice in a row. Do you still have enough chakra?"

The ninjutsu he'd used all consumed a huge amount of chakra.

Uchiha Chonhua casually tossed aside the dead Cloud Village ninja in his hand and replied calmly, "I'm fine. I still have plenty of chakra."

He didn't have as much chakra as the Senju Clan or the Uzumaki Clan, but he was still a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths. His chakra was on a completely different level from an ordinary person's.

On top of that, he'd inherited chakra from Uchiha Itachi and a Mist Village nobody. He had enough chakra to support a few ninjutsu.

Besides, he always aimed to end fights quickly. As long as he could kill the enemy in a short time, using more chakra was worth it.

He hadn't encountered an enemy yet who could force him into a prolonged battle and make him carefully ration his chakra.

Was that something a human would say?

Ono glanced at Uchiha Chonhua helplessly, envious of his abundant chakra.

The next moment, his expression turned serious. "Something's not right. The enemy is attacking us too often."

They'd expected to run into plenty of enemies along the way, but it hadn't been long since they'd dealt with the Mist Village ninjas, and now the Cloud Village ninjas had appeared.

It wasn't normal.

Hatake Sakumo had led the main force in holding back the enemy army. Even if a few ninja squads had slipped through, they shouldn't have run into them so frequently and so soon.

After all, Uchiha Chonhua and the others weren't the only ones. Other ninja squads were also escorting the Uzumaki Clan.

The enemy squads that had slipped through should have been spread out among them. In theory, they shouldn't have run into another group so quickly.

"More enemies are coming!"

Hizashi Hyuga's expression changed again. He looked in one direction and hurriedly reported what he'd seen.

Ono and Uchiha Chonhua exchanged a glance, both frowning.

It was strange—far too strange. When things got this bizarre, there had to be something going on!

After fending off yet another group of enemies, the sun sank in the west, and the moon bounded playfully into the sky.

Night had fallen.

Uchiha Chonhua and the others took a brief rest beneath a large tree in the forest.

The members of the Uzumaki Clan were still shaken. The day's constant tension had left them looking exhausted.

Hizashi Hyuga looked grim. His left arm had been cut, and blood had soaked into his sleeve.

Uchiha Chonhua crouched beside him, holding both hands out flat. Chakra that represented the nature transformation of Yang Release glowed a vibrant green.

Hizashi Hyuga's expression eased somewhat. He thanked him. "Thanks for the trouble, Chonhua."

"I didn't know you could use Medical Ninjutsu, too." Leaning against the tree, Ono watched Uchiha Chonhua use Medical Ninjutsu with surprise. Then he quickly understood. "Your teacher is Lady Tsunade. She's best known for Medical Ninjutsu, so it's no surprise you can use it."

Uchiha Mikoto ate a dry biscuit, grimacing at how dry and tasteless it was. At Ono's words, she said proudly, "Chonhua took Medical Class as an elective at the Ninja Academy. He did very well—he was top of the class."

Ono shook his head with a laugh. That was his mistake; he hadn't gathered enough information about Uchiha Chonhua.

Uchiha Chonhua kept surprising him more and more. He was practically giving him a fright now.

He looked up at the starry sky and sighed. "I didn't expect we'd still be so far from the coast after a whole day on the road. The enemy just won't let up."

The Land of Whirlpools wasn't large. If they traveled nonstop for a day, they should have been near the coast by now.

But they were still in the forest.

Ono said gloomily, "And they're only targeting us. It's as if the enemy has given up on everyone else and is focusing on making trouble for our group."

"What's so special about us that the enemy keeps coming after us?"

Ono couldn't figure it out. They'd encountered enemies far too often that day, and in large numbers, too.

And how could the enemy know their location so precisely?

They'd tried to lie low and avoid their enemies, but every time, it was as if the other side had Byakugan. They always found them with pinpoint accuracy.

This had left Hizashi Hyuga in their group utterly frustrated.

Which side had the Hyuga Clan and the Byakugan, anyway? How could the ones without Byakugan keep finding those who had it—and evade them at the same time? Who could he complain to about that?

Fortunately, the Cloud Village and Mist Village ninja who'd attacked them hadn't been very strong. There hadn't been a single jonin among them.

And their squad was strong... Ono glanced at Uchiha Chonhua.

More accurately, Uchiha Chonhua was strong. Over the course of the day, Ono had rarely needed to fight. He'd mainly focused on protecting the Uzumaki Clan, leaving all the killing to Uchiha Chonhua.

Thanks to Chonhua, they'd made it this far without incident.

Only Hizashi Hyuga had been unlucky enough to get his left arm cut and draw blood.

Uchiha Chonhua finished treating him. Hizashi Hyuga swung his left arm; it was as good as new, without even a scar.

Uchiha Chonhua let out a soft breath. Uchiha Mikoto handed him a towel. "Wipe off your sweat."

Uchiha Chonhua took it and wiped his sweat, then swallowed a Military Ration Pill to replenish his strength.

After a full day, even with all his chakra and how quickly he'd dispatched the enemies, he was starting to feel stretched thin.

He leaned against the boulder beside the tree and closed his eyes to rest. In truth, he was thinking about the strange frequency of the attacks.

The enemies had come wave after wave. They'd killed one group after another, and it seemed never-ending.

This was obviously abnormal. They couldn't avoid being found, no matter what they did. Was the other side's sensory ability really that strong?

Or had a traitor from the Uzumaki Clan used the Mind's Eye of the Kagura to guide the enemies?

Even if that were true, why would they target only his route? Were they ignoring the others?

No matter how he looked at it, the whole thing seemed full of holes.

"Um..." Fuso Uzumaki approached awkwardly, looking embarrassed. "I need to use the bathroom."

Uchiha Mikoto stood up. "I'll go with you."

Fuso Uzumaki nodded. After entrusting her son, Nagato Uzumaki, to a clan member she knew, she followed Uchiha Mikoto away from the group and into a dark corner beyond the reach of the moonlight.

Before long, Uchiha Mikoto and Fuso Uzumaki returned.

"Nagato, come here."