Hokage Office Building—outside the Hokage Office window
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Li Yu's rapidly retreating figure below.
"Danzo came up with the idea and secretly contacted the various clans to put pressure on me. They want me to give them an answer."
"Teacher Tobirama, I'm sorry. Although I opposed it strongly at the time, for Konoha, for the village, and for peace, there are sacrifices that have to be made. Sigh."
Back at the Senju Clan compound
The area around the compound was a hive of activity. I'd wanted to use the Wood Release jutsu from the original story, Yamato's "Wood Release: Pillar House Technique," but unfortunately, as a Wood Release Clone, I had limited chakra and couldn't waste it on something like that. I'd have to wait until my real body came back.
As soon as I entered, I saw Uzuki Yugao in the courtyard, her purple hair tied in a pretty bow and fluttering in the breeze.
"Brother-in-law, you're back. My sister's been waiting at home and getting worried."
"Yugao, you've been working hard on your training. Good. You still need to practice the Flying Raijin Jutsu more, and keep training the Rasengan the way I taught you."
I went to the inner room and found Yuying preparing lunch, like a gentle young wife waiting for her husband to return from a business trip.
"Yuying, put aside what you're doing and come with me."
"Okay."
I opened the hidden door and led her to the laboratory. Then I asked what had happened to the Senju Clan over the past three days.
"Elder Sister Tsunade took quite a few clan members with her. Ten people from the Senju Clan's Medical Unit, and two-thirds of our ninja."
Li Yu's expression turned grave as he listened.
"My sister really knows how to make trouble for me. I spent so much time and money training those ninjas, and she took so many of them all at once."
"Elder Sister Tsunade did it for the village. The village couldn't spare many ninjas, either."
Uzuki Yuying didn't know the plot of Naruto, but since Konoha won, the village must have been able to send people. Li Yu didn't want to explain too much, so he let it go.
"Since things have come this far, we can only look for a chance to make up for it."
He wrote down everything that had happened recently, along with what he wanted to say, on a ninjutsu scroll and handed it to Uzuki Yuying.
"Yuying, use the permanent Flying Raijin Mark on your upper right to send this to my real body. Let him decide what we should do next."
"Okay."
On the other side of the Naruto World, in the Land of Grass
Li Yu's real body had been lying low in one spot for days. He had tracked Uchiha Madara to his hideout and was waiting for an opportunity to capture him in one fell swoop.
White Zetsu patrolled in large numbers around the base. Li Yu couldn't get too close. He had found the general area, but it would take time to locate Madara's exact position.
Sensing something, Li Yu immediately found a safe hollow in a tree, bit his finger, and formed hand seals.
"Summoning Technique!"
A puff of white smoke went poof.
A palm-sized Katsuyu appeared, holding a scroll in her mouth. She handed it to Li Yu and said, "It's urgent. Uzuki Yuying sent this over."
"Got it. Wait a moment."
He opened the scroll and quickly read its contents. Li Yu couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"Plans never keep up with changes. That old Third Hokage really knows how to stir things up."
"No wonder he's been Third Hokage for so many years. His little schemes are impressive—killing two birds with one stone."
"Wait, something doesn't seem right. Is the Third Hokage really this devious? This sounds more like Danzo's style."
"Danzo's already dead, and there's no sign of him in the village. I heard one of his subordinates took over Root."
Li Yu shook his head, putting those tangled thoughts aside. None of that mattered. What mattered was dealing with the situation at hand.
He had only changed a little of the story. He'd thought he could keep the whole Naruto world under his control while slowly building a power of his own. He hadn't expected to underestimate the people in this world. They were living, breathing people, not puppets who could be shaped in an instant.
After thinking it over, Li Yu suddenly grumbled, "This really is a tough problem. Forget it. I don't want to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan by sacrificing someone close to me."
"I'll be as careful as I can from now on and follow the story as much as possible. I have to keep the road ahead, which I know so well, from turning into a vague, bumpy mess."
He pulled out a scroll, quickly wrote down his instructions, and handed it to Katsuyu.
"Take this back for me. Sorry for the trouble."
"No problem. I'm off."
After Katsuyu vanished in a puff of white smoke, Li Yu formed hand seals and created a Wood Clone, leaving it there to continue monitoring the area and searching for Uchiha Madara.
"Lord Madara, I'll leave the Mangekyō Sharingan with you for a while. I'll come back for it when I have time."
Li Yu picked a direction and hurried away, heading straight for the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure.
Back in Konoha, Li Yu's Wood Clone received the message and instructions from his real body. He packed his things, slung a scroll over his shoulder, and swaggered out of the village, bound for the battlefield in the Land of Lightning.
"It's only been a few days since they left. The main force will be moving slowly, so I should be able to catch up with Tsunade."
Li Yu, the Wood Release Clone, hurried after the troops. He followed the obvious trail they'd left behind and, after half a day, spotted a Konoha patrol squad and a large number of tents where the troops were camped in the distance.
Li Yu couldn't be bothered to pass through layers of messengers. He sensed Tsunade's location, burrowed into the ground, and went straight into her tent.
The conversation in the tent stopped as soon as Li Yu emerged from the ground.
"Clan head, what are you doing here?"
"Clan head!"
"Nawaki, what are you doing here?"
Li Yu emerged with a long, miserable face. "Sis, my dear sister, how could I not come? The Senju Clan is already small, and we're barely getting by."
"What, you think your sister can't be trusted?"
The mood shifted at once. Li Yu cut himself off, worried Tsunade was about to blow up, and changed the subject.
"How are things at the front? Is there anything I need to do?"
"The first wave of the Land of Lightning's forces has already reached the border with the Land of Fire. They've launched several probing attacks. We need to get to the battlefield as soon as possible to reinforce them."
"This meeting is to decide who will lead the first group to provide support. The main force is too large, and with so many supplies, we can't move quickly."
Li Yu glanced around the tent at the many Senju Clan jonin and quietly assessed his chakra. He still had sixty percent left. He'd used up forty percent in the Land of Wind last time, but he'd have to risk it for an advantage on the battlefield this time.
"Looks like I got here just in time. I'll lead the group."
Seeing Li Yu volunteer, the jonin in the tent turned their eyes toward Tsunade, who was at the head of the gathering. As one of the Sannin and the commander of this war, she still commanded great respect.
Tsunade gave Li Yu's Wood Release Clone a teasing look. He was capable enough, and besides, it wasn't his real body. He couldn't die.
"Nawaki, since you volunteered, it's settled."
"Senju Rika, Senju Qijian, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Inabi, and Uchiha Tekka, each of you take some subordinates and go with Nawaki to provide support."
As he left the tent, Li Yu watched the three Uchiha members walk away and couldn't help reflecting. "I didn't notice when I first came in, but the Uchiha Clan has been sent to the battlefield in the Land of Lightning too. Looks like the people in the village don't like them either. I wonder if Uchiha Itachi and Shisui Uchiha are here. In the original story, they did go to the battlefield."
After gathering some elite Chunin from the Senju Clan, Li Yu met up with the Uchiha at the assembly point and studied their group. It seemed Uchiha Itachi really wasn't there.
"Did I remember wrong?"