Several of the older Uzumaki Clan children looked excited. They were old enough to understand what was happening.
Children in the Shinobi World seemed to grow up faster. Many went to war at seven or eight, and a country was the foundation of a clan.
The Land of Whirlpools had been these children's home. Now it was gone. Fugaku had provided people and resources to help them train, and he had given them a chance to rebuild their country.
That enormous kindness, combined with the hypnotic effect of his Mangekyo Sharingan, had won the complete trust of the children who were old enough to grasp what he had done.
Beneath the Land of Whirlpools, a giant snake sped through the earth with the group close behind.
The snake did not surface until it reached the edge of the island. Any farther, and it might have broken into the sea. If seawater flooded the tunnel, the Uzumaki Clan children would have no chance of surviving.
The Land of Whirlpools was a small island, but boats were plentiful. When the Allied Forces invaded, many fleeing civilians took boats to escape. Even with the Allied Forces' seagoing ships blockading the island, they could not stop everyone.
Fugaku quickly found a boat large enough to hold the group and had the people from the Land of Whirlpools board it. He and Orochimaru guarded either side for now, ready to stop any Allied Forces shinobi who attacked.
The moment they appeared on the water, the Cloud-Mist Allied Forces spotted them.
"They're Konoha shinobi! Stop them! Those kids must belong to the leaders of the Land of Whirlpools. Don't let a single one survive!"
A Cloud shinobi shouted from a large ship. Three ships lay directly ahead of Fugaku's group, and figures leaped from their decks