Tonight, Troops Surrounded the Capital City

The Refugees were grunting as they rammed the gate when they noticed the light behind them change.

Hundreds of them stopped at once. They braced themselves against the gate and looked back, while the Palace Guard on the Palace Wall, poised to throw stones, poked their heads out too.

What the hell? Could someone explain how hundreds of fully armed Konoha shinobi had appeared out of nowhere on the frozen ground?

Boots struck the ground in unison. Hundreds of footsteps merged into a dull thud that made the earth tremble.

Then the armor matrices began to hum, and three hundred pairs of crimson Sharingan lit up at once within the black-clad formation.

The red glows joined into a single swath, hanging in the night and staring straight ahead.

The shouting outside the Daimyō Mansion stopped.

Hundreds of torches hung in midair. No one dared ram the gate again.

The Palace Guard ducked behind the battlements, showing only half their faces. Their fingers went numb around their swords.

No carts. No supply convoy. Hundreds of people had simply dropped in outside the Capital City.

The Refugees blocked the gate, and the guards crowded behind the wall. The two groups that had been raising hell moments ago fell as silent as a classroom when the teacher suddenly walked in during study hall.

"This is even worse than I expected."

Ye looked up and tucked both hands back into his pockets.

He glanced at the scattered lights inside the Capital City, then at the guards on the wall, who could barely stand.

Could they be any more useless?

Above the Palace Wall, space rippled in rings.

Obito, wearing an orange mask, sat sprawled at the edge of the glazed tiles. His legs dangled outside the wall, and he held a bright red apple.