Chapter 50

Xunjing could no longer stay angry after hearing her words. He pushed away the hand pinching his cheek and sighed helplessly.

Somehow, Mikoto's expression and tone just now had struck him as almost motherly in their tenderness.

It left him utterly speechless.

In the end, being so young still put him at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile.

Uchiha Chisato rushed to the Senju Clan Grounds as fast as she could. After her arrival was announced, she soon met Uzumaki Mito.

"Jiri, why have you come to see me in such a hurry? What happened?" Uzumaki Mito clearly hadn't received the latest news yet, and her face showed her confusion.

Uchiha Chisato chuckled. "Heh, it seems the Senju's intelligence network is a little slow. I wonder whether the village has received the news."

After that teasing remark, her expression turned serious. "Let's get to the point. We Uchiha have just received intelligence from the various villages and the Land of Whirlpools..."

She quickly explained the situation in detail.

Then she gave her assessment. "So I suspect that, apart from the Sand Shinobi Village, the other Three Great Ninja Villages have already sent elite troops to the Land of Whirlpools. They're probably about to strike."

"What?" Uzumaki Mito's expression changed dramatically, and she sprang to her feet.

After a moment's thought, she said gravely, "Your assessment is correct."

"I'll gather our clan's elite immediately. We'll leave in half an hour."

"You should assemble your people as quickly as possible too."

There's no time to lose!

Anger simmered inside her.

Not only was her clan's intelligence network utterly useless, but the village's was no better.

She even suspected that the village might already have received the news, only for Hiruzen Sarutobi and his people to deliberately keep it from her.

That was entirely possible.

For a moment, Uzumaki Mito's resentment toward the Third Generation and his faction deepened further.

She wanted nothing more than to kill them outright.

But she knew very well that this was no time to settle those scores.

"You don't need to worry about that. I've already made preparations. Our troops should have finished assembling by now. They can leave at any time." Uchiha Chisato waved a hand, her tone calm.

Uzumaki Mito froze for a moment.

But she quickly understood-the Uchiha's Elite Police Force must have come in handy.

Uzumaki Mito thanked her, then turned and walked out.

She quickly summoned a Senju clan member stationed nearby.

"Go gather everyone in the clan who can fight, immediately! Something terrible has happened to the Uzumaki Clan!"

Uzumaki Mito had already made preparations within the clan beforehand, and the participants had long since been selected.

As a result, it only took about ten minutes for everyone to arrive.

Even Tsunade was called up.

These remaining Senju elites numbered only forty-three in total.

Seven Elite Jonin, six ordinary Jonin, and the rest were all Chunin.

That accounted for roughly ninety percent of the Senju's fighting strength.

More than half of them had long since left the clan and blended into the civilian population. They could no longer be considered purely Senju clan members.

Most had merely been staying temporarily at the Senju Clan Grounds lately, ready to be called upon at any time.

Otherwise, they couldn't have gathered so quickly.

Compared to the Uchiha, their forces were pitifully meager.

"Let's go."

Once everyone had arrived, Uzumaki Mito spoke to Uchiha Chisato.

"All right."

The group soon set off, leaving the Senju Clan Grounds and heading toward the village gates.

Uchiha Chisato created a Shadow Clone and sent it back to the Uchiha Clan Compound first, instructing the clan members waiting to deploy to gather at the compound's gates.

That location lay right along the route out of the village, making it convenient for the two groups to join up.

She hadn't brought her people out to wait earlier because she wanted to avoid misunderstandings.

But such large movements from the Senju and Uchiha still alerted the Anbu and Root.

The news was delivered to the Third Generation and Danzo immediately.

As the Senju elites headed toward the village gates, members of quite a few ninja clans spotted them along the way.

For a time, many clans speculated about what could possibly have happened to make the Senju commit everything they had, with even Uzumaki Mito personally taking the field.

Inside the Hokage's office.

"What did you say? The Uchiha are showing signs of assembling their elite forces, and Lady Mito urgently summoned dozens of Senju elites and headed toward the village entrance with Uchiha Chisato?"

The Third Generation's expression changed the moment he heard the report.

Suddenly realizing something, he turned and glared at Danzo.

Then he summoned the Anbu commander. "Mobilize two Anbu battalions immediately. Assemble at the village entrance and prepare to leave with me."

"Yes!"

The Anbu commander acknowledged the order, then turned and left.

Danzo also summoned a Root ninja waiting outside and ordered him to go to the Anbu base, find the dozens of Root elites who had already assembled, and deploy alongside the Anbu.

As the Third Hokage walked into the adjoining room and put on his combat gear, he turned and snapped at Danzo. "Danzo, this is all your doing. If you hadn't told me to suppress the news and hold off on informing Lady Mito, we wouldn't be in such a mess!"

"And now she's surely discovered these little tricks we've been playing behind her back."

"I'm afraid her opinion of us will only get worse."

In truth, the village had received the intelligence long ago.

Nearly half an hour before the Uchiha had.

The Third Generation had originally intended to inform Uzumaki Mito immediately.

But Danzo had stopped him.

Danzo had said there was no hurry. They should stall for a while first.

Ideally, by the time their main force reached the Land of Whirlpools, the fighting would already be nearly over. The Uzumaki Clan would have suffered devastating casualties and be on the verge of annihilation.

If they intervened then, they could swallow up the Uzumaki Clan's entire legacy while also cutting off one of the Senju's strongest sources of support.

That would leave the Senju unable to recover.

Otherwise, if they truly saved the Uzumaki Clan intact, then given Uzumaki Mito's temperament and the Senju's current circumstances, she would surely insist on bringing the entire Uzumaki Clan to Konoha.

Then, once the Senju and Uzumaki joined forces, they would be inseparable.

Their strength would certainly soar.

With the Uzumaki Clan backing them, the Senju would recover in the blink of an eye.

Neither Danzo nor the Third Generation wanted that to happen.

And so the Third Generation had once again been persuaded, making a decision completely contrary to his previous one.

That was how they had ended up in their current predicament.

"What good does saying that do now?" Danzo said darkly. "Didn't you agree to it yourself?"

"Enough talk. Hurry up and get going so we can stop Lady Mito!"

"I didn't expect her to move so quickly either. Those Senju definitely don't have an intelligence network like this anymore. The Uchiha must have tipped her off!"

"Didn't the report say the Uchiha were mobilizing too? And that Uchiha Chisato had been at Lady Mito's side the whole time?"

"Clearly, they reached a secret agreement right under our noses long ago. Lady Mito brought the Uchiha in to help rescue the Uzumaki Clan."

"Damn it!"

Danzo clenched his teeth, his face contorted with anger.

The Uchiha again.

With this interference, all their plans had been thrown into chaos.

"Yes." The Third Generation's expression darkened as well. "Who could have imagined that Lady Mito would secretly get involved with the Uchiha and arrange this joint operation?"

"She's completely lost faith in us. She would rather ally with the Uchiha, her clan's age-old enemies, than trust us again!"

"The question is what terms she agreed to with the Uchiha."

"Let's hope they aren't too terrible."

What he feared most was a genuine alliance between the Senju and Uchiha.

If that happened, his life would become much harder.

"Let's go!"

With that, the Third Generation rushed out of the Hokage's office. After meeting up with the Anbu and Root ninjas outside the Hokage Building, the group hurried straight toward the village gates.

Uzumaki Mito and Uchiha Chisato had only just led the two clans' elites out of the village when the Third Hokage blocked the gateway with Danzo and several Anbu members.

"Lady Mito, please wait! Where are you going with so many people?"

The Third Generation put on an expression of complete ignorance.

"Heh!"

Uchiha Chisato laughed outright.

He was still putting on an act at this point. Did he really take Uzumaki Mito for a fool?