Fifteen years earlier · Early in the Third Ninja World War
With negotiations between Konoha and the Sand Village breaking down, war between the two had become inevitable.
But the Sand Village had originally planned only a small-scale conflict with Konoha, meant to divert attention from the internal strife caused by the Third Kazekage's disappearance.
Instead, led by Kumogakure, the other Three Great Shinobi Villages joined the war against Konoha one after another, each pursuing its own objectives.
The Third Ninja World War had already reached a fever pitch.
Swept up in the tide of war, civilians too weak to defend themselves and shinobi wielding extraordinary powers were all little more than boats at sea, carried wherever the currents took them.
Even the Uchiha elite were no exception...
Land of Wind · Border.
Moonlight shone over the boundless desert that night. A wind blew in from afar, carrying a faint chill.
But compared to the scene before him, that chill seemed insignificant.
Heaps of corpses lay silent beneath the moonlight.
Some lay on their backs, their eyes still open in death, the cold moon reflected in their pupils.
Others lay facedown, half their bodies buried in shifting sand, exposing only the sword wounds across their backs.
The corpses wore uniforms from different shinobi villages: the brownish yellow of the Sand Village and Konoha's green flak jackets.
Now, those who had been fighting to the death only a short while ago lay quietly on the same stretch of sand, as though they had finally escaped this hell on earth.
"Whew, looks like... I made it out alive."
Kou leaned against a dead tree, gripping Firebirth in one hand while the other held a bandage, wrapping it around the wound at his waist that was still seeping blood.
He had set Inazuma