Arriving in Konoha

"Yikes, that's terrifying."

Hiding off to the side, Shin watched Tsunade punch a ninja to death, leaving him looking as though he'd been in a car crash. Shin couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.

Well, one sharp breath wasn't enough to express his shock. Shin decided to suck in another.

This woman's strength is terrifying. I absolutely must never— Bah, what was influencing him?

"Shin, what are you muttering to yourself?" Kushina nudged him and asked.

"Nothing. Kushina, don't you think she's really violent?"

Shin looked at the ninja's miserable state and figured that if he got punched, he probably wouldn't fare much better.

"Violent? I think she's fine." Kushina's eyes lit up, and there was clearly a trace of longing in her gaze.

At that moment, Shin instinctively wanted to move away from Kushina. Did she want to become that violent too?

Shin suddenly remembered that Kushina's temper wasn't exactly the best.

Shin turned his attention back to Tsunade. Her current strength should have been at the Elite Jonin level, but she had displayed power far beyond that of an ordinary Elite Jonin.

She could kill a ninja with a single punch. It was practically one punch per kid.

"Who sent these ninjas?"

Shin looked at the ninjas who had attacked them. At first, he'd assumed they were targeting the Uzumaki Clan members.

But now, it seemed they were after the Senju Clan.

Shin saw that the Chunin named Uzumaki Hikari had already been separated from the group protecting him. If they wanted to attack the Uzumaki Clan, they could have killed Hikari right then.

Shin's gaze turned strange. Perhaps these ninjas were from Konoha.

That wasn't impossible. For one thing, they were in the Land of Fire.

If more than twenty ninjas from another country had infiltrated the Land of Fire without Konoha, the greatest ninja village, knowing about it, that would be hard to explain.

"Honestly, I'm starting to think that heading to Konoha isn't all that safe either."

Perhaps Konoha had something to do with the Uzumaki Clan's troubles in the Land of Whirlpools too, Shin thought to himself.

When the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out, Konoha had sent only Tsunade and nine Senju Clan members to help.

It was fortunate that the invaders had already left. Otherwise, the forces Konoha had sent to help would have been little more than cannon fodder.

Now they'd run into enemies in the Land of Fire, and those enemies seemed to be targeting the Senju Clan. Thinking of how, in the future, no one from the Senju Clan would remain except Tsunade, Shin felt his guess was probably more or less right.

But even if he'd guessed correctly, Shin wasn't going to say anything. This was all just speculation, for one thing, and he had no evidence.

And even if he did, what then? Shin understood that trouble came from speaking carelessly. Some things were best kept to himself.

He didn't know whether these people belonged to the Third Hokage or Danzo. He suspected they were Danzo's subordinates.

Tsunade was Sarutobi Hiruzen's disciple. Although Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't a good man, he wasn't that bad either. He would never do something like attack his own disciple.

But Danzo was capable of anything.

He'd have to be careful of Danzo in Konoha. As long as he didn't draw too much attention, Danzo probably wouldn't notice him.

But when he'd just been helping Kushina dodge the Shuriken and Kunai, he'd burst into speed, and Tsunade seemed to have noticed. He hoped Tsunade wouldn't tell anyone.

"Damn it."

Tsunade suddenly noticed a powerful ninja attacking the Senju Clan members.

She estimated that he was an Elite Jonin. He might have been somewhat weaker than her, but compared to the others, he was far too strong.

In a short time, that man had joined forces with other ninjas and killed three Senju Clan Jonin.

Tsunade's eyes blazed with fury. She wanted to go kill the man, but she was being held back. The ones blocking her were only Chunin, yet they were willing to die to stop her.

"Get out of my way! Heavenly Foot!"

Tsunade stamped on the ground. Countless cracks spread across its surface, and the earth trembled. The ninjas trying to block her lost their footing and fell.

Some even got their legs caught in the widening cracks, leaving them unable to move.

Tsunade couldn't spare them a glance. She charged toward the Elite Jonin.

The Elite Jonin immediately retreated, shot Tsunade a cold look, and shouted, "Fall back!"

The attacking ninjas retreated at once, without the slightest hesitation. Tsunade watched them withdraw, but there was nothing she could do.

They'd finally managed to capture one alive,

but he had killed himself.

Shin led Kushina out and looked at Tsunade, whose eyes were red with fury. He silently shook his head. What a tragedy.

Three Senju Clan Jonin had died in this attack. Of the nine Jonin, only six remained, and several of them had been injured.

Jonin were the backbone of any major ninja village. In a clan, their status was even higher.

The Senju Clan was no longer the great clan it had once been. Aside from Tsunade, they had only nine Jonin in total, and now three more had died.

"Take their bodies. We're leaving."

Tsunade lowered her head and gave the others their orders.

They continued on to Konoha, but Tsunade was much quieter along the way, and the atmosphere throughout the group had turned somber.

After two days of travel, they finally reached Konoha, the greatest ninja village in the Shinobi World.

After the attack, the rest of the journey had been peaceful. They returned to Konoha without incident.

"You all go back and bury them. I'll take these people to see the Hokage," Tsunade told the other clan members.

The Senju Clan members nodded and headed back to the Senju Clan Grounds to bury their fallen comrades.

Tsunade, meanwhile, took Shin, Kushina, Uzumaki Akiko, Uzumaki Kai, and Uzumaki Hikari—the five surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan—to the Hokage Office.

When they reached the Hokage Office, Tsunade punched the door to pieces. Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been working, looked up. When he saw Tsunade, the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Tsunade, you're back. How is the Uzumaki Clan?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't make an issue of Tsunade smashing the door. It wasn't the first time she'd done it.

"The Uzumaki Clan is gone. They're the survivors," Tsunade said, her face dark.

"What? You mean the Uzumaki Clan is gone? How did that happen?" Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up and asked her.

"When I reached the Uzumaki Clan, it was already too late. The clan had been destroyed. They're the survivors."

As Tsunade said this, she clenched her fists. They'd received the news too late. If they'd learned about it sooner, perhaps the Uzumaki Clan wouldn't have been wiped out.

"I see."

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat down and looked at Shin and the others, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny.

Under Sarutobi Hiruzen's stare, Shin felt uncomfortable.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze was sharp. After all, he was still in his prime—not the old Third Hokage he would become later.

His sharp eyes seemed capable of seeing through every secret Shin had, and Shin felt uneasy under that gaze.