Revelry Before the Expedition, the Senju Clan's Dark Guards Assemble for the First Time

The night wind swept through the courtyard corridors, knocking several verdant leaves from the trees.

Mikoto leaned against Sosuke's broad chest, her breathing gradually becoming steady and deep. The Yang Release chakra of his perfected Sage Body flowed like a warm spring through their touching skin, endlessly nourishing her slightly fatigued meridians.

The instant Sosuke sensed that pure spark of life within Mikoto's lower abdomen, the long-absent, cold mechanical voice exploded in his mind.

[ Ding! Detected that A+-rank spouse Uchiha Mikoto has successfully conceived a child. Current condition: extremely healthy.]

[Child's bloodline fusion rate is extremely high. Aptitude evaluation in progress...]

[Congratulations, Host! On the day this child is born, you will unlock the ultimate reward—Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands (Fragment)!]

Sosuke's arm around Mikoto's slender waist abruptly tightened, and an enthralling green gleam burst from his dark eyes in the dim bedroom.

True Several Thousand Hands!

What terrifying power was that? It was the apocalyptic godlike technique that had ground the invincible Madara Uchiha and the Nine-Tails into the dirt, forcibly creating the Valley of the End! Once he mastered that power, the Hidden Leaf higher-ups' underhanded schemes and the Five Great Nations' combined attempts to crush him would all become laughable ants trying to topple a tree.

He would no longer need to cater to any Will of Fire. He himself would be the ninja world's only will!

"Hubby?" Mikoto noticed Sosuke's suddenly erratic breathing and raised her head uneasily.

"It's nothing. I just thought of something pleasant." Sosuke swiftly reined in his leaking aura, lowered his head, and kissed Mikoto's forehead. His voice was as gentle as a spring breeze. "Your task now is to rest and recover properly in the clan grounds. No matter how fierce the storms outside are, they won't reach the Senju Clan's main residence."

After soothing Mikoto to sleep, Sosuke threw back the brocade quilt and draped himself in a loose black cloak.

He pushed open a hidden door at the back of the bedroom and descended a spiral stone staircase into the Senju Clan's underground ancestral hall, sealed away for a century.

The farther down he went, the heavier the damp, chilling air became. Faint green eternal lamps flickered along the walls, stretching Sosuke's tall shadow until it wavered in and out of sight.

At the end of the stairs lay an immensely broad underground plaza. Directly ahead stood enormous stone statues of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

At that moment, fifty figures clad in fitted black uniforms knelt on one knee beneath the two statues.

Not a single one made a sound. Even their breathing fell into an astonishingly uniform rhythm. Though fifty people stood gathered there, they seemed like a single lifeless slab of iron, radiating a chilling, murderous aura.

Sosuke slowly stepped onto the platform and looked down upon this underground force that belonged to him alone.

Half a month ago, these men had still been crippled veterans abandoned as cannon fodder by the Hidden Leaf higher-ups—useless men with damaged meridians who struggled even to refine chakra. Yet after Sosuke had spared no expense in pouring the Yang Release essence of his perfected Sage Body into them, supplemented by the system's covertly converted resources, not only had their severed limbs regrown and hidden wounds healed, but their constitutions had undergone a complete transformation.

Toka, the captain of the dark guards, knelt at the very front. His left eye, once blinded by Rain ninja poison, remained tightly shut, but his right eye gleamed sharply. The chakra fluctuations within him were like a suppressed volcano. He had firmly reached the limits of an elite chunin and had even faintly touched upon the barrier of jonin.

And the forty-nine men behind him all possessed peak chunin-level strength!

This was unquestionably a terrifying force capable of overturning any small Hidden Leaf clan overnight.

"My lord!" Toka raised his head. His voice was low and hoarse, yet filled with fanatical devotion.

Sosuke did not form a single hand seal. He merely waved his hand casually. An overwhelming pressure of life, so immense it was suffocating, instantly swept across the underground plaza. Several withered wooden pillars at the edge of the platform sprouted tender green buds under the stimulation of that aura.

The fifty dark guards lowered their heads even further. This was absolute submission, born from the depths of their bloodlines, toward one above them.

"That old fox Hiruzen Sarutobi wants to use the Land of Wind's blade to bleed the last of the Senju Clan dry on the western front." Sosuke's voice echoed through the empty underground chamber, stripped of its daytime gentleness and sickly weakness. All that remained was an icy, tyrannical dominance.

"They think that once the Senju Clan's fangs have been pulled, we're sheep ready for slaughter."

Sosuke sneered and sharply tore open his black cloak, revealing the battle robe beneath it, embroidered with the Senju Clan crest. "But they've forgotten: the Senju Clan has never been a sheep pen. We are a forest that devours everything!"

"This time, when you go to the western front, I want you to remove your Hidden Leaf forehead protectors and become true shadows. You need not obey the orders of any command center. Your only mission is to hide in the dark."

Sosuke's gaze swept across every grim face as he said, word by word, "Kill the Hidden Sand puppet masters. Kill the Hidden Leaf higher-ups' spies who intend to stab us in the back as well. As for the Uchiha Police Force elites Uchiha Fugaku is bringing..."

A cruel curve rose at Sosuke's lips. "If they fall into an encirclement, stand by and watch. I will use Uchiha corpses to raise the steps of the Senju Revival!"

Clang!

All fifty dark guards drew the short blades from their backs in unison, their sharp edges slicing through their palms without hesitation. Crimson blood dripped onto the bluestone floor, pooling into glaring patches of red.

There were no slogans—only an absolute oath sealed in blood.

The following morning, a cold drizzle shrouded Hidden Leaf Village.

At the gates, the atmosphere was so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

Sosuke had changed into a thin white haori, his face carrying a sickly pallor. He stood beside the carriage, occasionally covering his mouth and coughing violently, as though a gust of autumn wind could blow him over.

Tsunade held an oil-paper umbrella, her brows tightly furrowed as she pulled his collar closer around him. "I'm keeping the hospital under control. There won't be any shortage of supplies. Once you reach the front line, don't try to be brave. If you encounter danger, fall back. When the sky falls, there are taller people to hold it up!"

"Don't worry, Sis." Sosuke gave a weak smile, though a nearly imperceptible glint of cunning flashed in his eyes. "I brought the best guards with me."

Following Sosuke's gaze, Uchiha Fugaku sat atop a tall horse not far away, his expression dark enough to drip water.

Behind him, fifty fully armed Uchiha Police Force elites stood in neat formation. The clan head of the Hidden Leaf's foremost noble clan was now forced to serve as a personal bodyguard to a sickly cripple with ruined meridians. The proud Uchiha clansmen felt humiliation unlike anything they had ever known.

The eyes many Uchiha clansmen turned toward Sosuke openly held icy killing intent.

Fugaku squeezed his horse's flanks and rode forward, looking down at Sosuke with mocking contempt. "Advisor Sosuke, blades have no eyes on the front lines. With your frail body, you'd best sit tight in that carriage. If the road jostles you into any trouble, Lady Tsunade may very well tear our Uchiha clan apart."

Sosuke wiped the corner of his mouth with a brocade handkerchief and slowly looked up. "With Clan Head Fugaku personally guarding me, naturally I have nothing to worry about. After all... the Uchiha clan excels most at protecting their comrades from 'behind,' don't they?"

The words struck directly at Fugaku's nerves, reminding him of how this sickly wretch had verbally humiliated him by the Naka River.

Fugaku clenched his teeth, gave a cold snort, and yanked hard on the reins. "The army moves out!"

Heavy wooden wheels crushed across the muddy ground with dull creaks. The convoy slowly passed through Hidden Leaf's gates and set off toward the Land of Wind border.

The moment Sosuke lowered the carriage curtain, all weakness and sickliness vanished from his face.

He lazily reclined against a soft brocade cushion, turning a sharp kunai between his fingers. The sensory ability of his perfected Sage Body spread soundlessly like an invisible net.

Deep within the forests surrounding the convoy, fifty Senju Clan dark guards had already become ghosts, perfectly blending into their surroundings. Like fifty poisoned daggers, they hung above everyone's heads.

The convoy raced westward, soon leaving the heartland of the Land of Fire and entering the treacherous border forests.

The rain grew heavier. Bean-sized drops hammered against the leaves, creating a dense white noise that thoroughly concealed every scent and trace nearby.

Fugaku rode on horseback, his brow faintly furrowed. His Sharingan instincts made him feel inexplicably restless.

Just as the convoy was about to pass through a long, narrow gorge—

Sosuke, who had been resting with his eyes closed inside the carriage, suddenly opened them.

Amid the deafening rain, his hearing, far beyond that of an ordinary person, caught an exceedingly faint, hard sound of wooden mechanisms scraping together. It was not coming from the ground, but from above the steep cliff walls on both sides of the gorge.

Sosuke's fingers abruptly stopped spinning the kunai, and a bloodthirsty curve slowly formed at his lips. Hidden Sand Village's welcoming ceremony had arrived even sooner than he expected.