The Uzumaki Clan

After an entire day of tense, dangerous reconnaissance, capturing shinobi from several hidden villages along the way,

the Blue Bird squad, to which Hyuga Tianyi belonged, along with several other squads that had infiltrated ahead of the main force,

pooled their scattered intelligence and reached a conclusion far graver than Konoha High Command had initially anticipated.

The entire Land of Whirlpools had already been thoroughly infiltrated and carved up by shinobi forces from the four great nations of Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water.

These invaders had clear objectives and operated efficiently. Whenever they spotted anyone with conspicuous red hair,

whether a shinobi suspected of belonging to the Uzumaki Clan or even a civilian who merely showed signs of chakra,

multiple enemy shinobi would converge to attack and capture them.

Across the rest of the Land of Whirlpools, there were virtually no signs of organized Uzumaki shinobi activity left.

The remaining resistance forces and the vast majority of the Uzumaki clanspeople

seemed to have withdrawn to their final stronghold, the hidden village where the Uzumaki Clan had lived for generations.

Counting the Leaf Village ANBU who had just arrived in secret and remained undiscovered, the forces of all Five Great Nations had gathered in this unexpected way.

After the compiled intelligence was delivered to Commander Elephant,

that night, beneath a moon obscured by thick clouds, all the elite ANBU of the Fourth Battalion who had infiltrated the Land of Whirlpools

arrived silently on the outskirts of Uzushiogakure, led by Elephant himself.

At the village barrier, Commander Elephant took out a scroll containing a secret message, bearing the Hokage's seal and a special chakra mark,

and passed it through a fissure in the barrier.

Before long, an opening appeared in the barrier, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

The