Catching Up to the Team

Hokage Office Building - In front of the Hokage Office window.

Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the back of Li Yu as he quickly departed from the building below.

"Danzo came up with this idea and has been secretly contacting the major clans to pressure me into giving them a result."

"Tobirama-sensei, I am sorry. Although I strongly opposed it at the time, for the sake of Konoha, for the village, and for peace, necessary sacrifices must be made. Sigh."

Returning to the Senju Clan compound.

The area around the residence was a hive of activity. Li Yu had intended to use the "Wood Release: Pillar House Technique" from the original story, but as a Wood Clone, his chakra was limited and could not be wasted on such things; he would have to wait for his main body to return.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he saw Uzuki Yugao in the courtyard, her purple hair dancing with a beautiful bow tied in it.

"Brother-in-law, you're back! Sister has been waiting anxiously at home."

"Yugao, training so hard? Hmm, very good. You must continue to practice the Flying Raijin Jutsu, and keep training the Rasengan using the method I taught you."

He entered the inner room to find her preparing lunch, looking like a gentle young wife waiting for her husband to return from a business trip.

"Yuying, put down what you're doing and come with me for a moment."

"Mm."

Opening the secret door and entering the laboratory, Li Yu asked about what had happened to the Senju Clan over the past three days.

"Tsunade-sister took quite a few clan members with her. She took ten people from the Senju Clan's Medical Unit and two-thirds of the clan's ninjas."

Li Yu's face turned solemn upon hearing this.

"This sister of mine is really digging a hole for her brother. I spent so much energy and money cultivating these ninjas, and she took so many of them all at once."

"Tsunade-sister did it all for the village, and the village couldn't spare many ninjas anyway."

Uzuki Yuying did not know the plot of the Naruto World; since Konoha could win, they must have been able to spare the people. Li Yu, not wanting to explain too much, simply let it go.

"Since things have reached this point, I can only look for a chance to remedy the situation."

He wrote down all the recent events and what he wanted to say onto a ninjutsu scroll and handed it to Uzuki Yuying.

"Yuying, use the permanent Flying Raijin Mark on your right hand to send this to my main body and let him decide what to do next."

"Understood."

On the other side of the Naruto World - within the Land of Grass.

Li Yu's main body had been lurking for many days, tracking Uchiha Madara to his hideout, waiting for an opportunity to subdue him in one fell swoop.

With a large number of White Zetsu wandering around to guard the base, Li Yu could not get too close. He had found the general location, but it would still take time to pinpoint exactly where Madara was.

Suddenly sensing something, Li Yu immediately found a safe tree hollow, bit his finger, and formed hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Poof. A cloud of white smoke appeared.

He summoned a palm-sized Katsuyu, who held a scroll in her mouth and handed it to Li Yu.

"Emergency situation. Uzuki Yuying sent this over."

"Understood. Wait a moment."

Opening the scroll and quickly reading its contents, Li Yu couldn't help but click his tongue.

"Plans can't keep up with changes. That old man, the Third, really knows how to stir up trouble."

"As expected of someone who has been the Third Hokage for so many years; his little schemes are truly calculated. Killing two birds with one stone."

"Wait, something feels off. Is the Third really this sinister? This sounds more like Danzo's style."

"Danzo is already dead, and there is no news of him in the village. I heard the Root was taken over by one of Danzo's subordinates."

Li Yu shook his head and cast these complicated thoughts aside. These were not important; what mattered was solving the current situation.

He had only changed a small part of the plot, operating under the idea that he could keep the entire Naruto World under his control while slowly building his own power. He hadn't expected to underestimate these characters; they were living, breathing people, not puppets that could be manipulated at will.

After some thought, Li Yu began to grumble.

"This has really presented me with a difficult problem. Fine, fine. I don't want to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan by sacrificing those around me."

"In the future, I must be as careful as possible and try to follow the plot, avoiding turning a path I clearly understand into a blurry, pothole-ridden mess."

Taking out a scroll, Li Yu quickly wrote down his arrangements and handed it back to Katsuyu.

"Take this back. Sorry for the trouble."

"Small matter. I'm off."

After she vanished in a puff of white smoke, Li Yu formed seals to create a Wood Clone, leaving it there to continue monitoring and searching for traces of Uchiha Madara.

"Lord Madara, keep your Mangekyo Sharingan for a little while longer. I'll come to collect it when I have time."

Li Yu chose a direction and left quickly, turning directly toward the Land of Lightning to head for the Cloud Village.

Back in Konoha, Li Yu's Wood Clone received the instructions from the main body, packed his things, shouldered a scroll, and swaggered out of the village, heading toward the battlefield in the Land of Lightning.

"It's only been a few days since they departed. The main force is moving slowly, so I should be able to catch up to Tsunade."

Along the way, the Wood Clone Li Yu chased after the troops led by Tsunade at high speed. Following the obvious tracks left by the large force, he spotted the Konoha patrol squad and the many tents resting in the distance after only half a day.

Li Yu couldn't be bothered to relay messages layer by layer, so he simply sensed which tent Tsunade was in and dove directly into the ground to infiltrate it.

Seeing Li Yu emerge from the floor, the conversation in the tent came to an immediate halt.

"Clan Head, why are you here?"

"Clan Head."

"Nawaki, why have you come?"

Upon emerging, Li Yu wore a bitter expression. "Sister, my dear sister, how could I not come? The Senju Clan already has so few people; we're barely scraping by as it is."

"What, is your sister that unreliable to you?"

The atmosphere shifted the moment she finished speaking. Li Yu immediately cut the topic short, fearing Tsunade was about to lose her temper, and changed the subject.

"How is the situation on the front lines? Is there anything I need to do?"

"The first wave of the Land of Lightning's forces is already at the border of the Land of Fire. They've launched several probing attacks, and we need to rush to the battlefield to provide support as soon as possible."

"This meeting was to discuss who would lead the vanguard. The main force is too large, and with all the supplies, our movement speed is slow."

Li Yu glanced at the many Senju Clan jonin inside the tent and secretly calculated his chakra levels. He still had sixty percent remaining; he had consumed forty percent during the last mission in the Land of Wind, but for the sake of a battlefield advantage, he would go all out.

"It seems I've arrived at the perfect time. Let me lead the team, then."

Seeing Li Yu volunteer, the jonin in the tent couldn't help but cast their gazes toward Tsunade, who sat at the head. As the commander of this war and one of the Sannin, her prestige remained absolute.

Tsunade gave the Wood Release Clone of Li Yu a playful look. His strength was decent, and since it wasn't his real body anyway, he wouldn't die.

"Nawaki, since you've proposed it yourself, then it's decided."

"Rika, Qijian, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Inabi, and Uchiha Tekka, the five of you shall each select some subordinates to accompany Nawaki for support."

As he left the tent, Li Yu watched the backs of the three Uchiha as they departed and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. I didn't notice when I first walked in, but I didn't expect the Uchiha Clan to be sent to the Land of Lightning front as well. It seems they aren't well-liked by the village. I wonder if Uchiha Itachi and Shisui are here; they were on the battlefield in the original story.

After gathering some elite chunin from the Senju Clan and meeting up with the Uchiha contingent at the assembly point, Li Yu looked over the Uchiha team, but it seemed he really didn't see Uchiha Itachi.

Did I remember it wrong?