The Land of Lightning front.
Thunder rumbled high overhead, and dark clouds loomed, as though heaven and earth were trembling at the coming war.
The ground quivered faintly, the mountain forests fell silent, and all living things seemed to hold their breath-war was about to ignite on the Land of Lightning battlefield.
Although the Four Great Shinobi Villages had joined forces to press against the border, the Land of Lightning front remained surprisingly quiet under Konoha's deployment.
As Konoha Frontline Commander, Uchiha Shinichi had yet to appear.
He neither appeared at the defensive front nor made a grand entrance among the assembled troops. Instead, he quietly vanished from everyone's sight.
No one knew where he had gone-except a select few among the leadership.
Shinichi left the war zone alone, scouring the borders and dense forests of the Five Great Nations, crossing wastelands and snowfields in pursuit of the ultimate shadow lurking behind history-Madara Uchiha's secret base.
Ever since the battle at Uzushio Village, Shinichi had known that Madara was the true mastermind behind this war.
Unless Madara is removed, the war will never end. Unless Madara is destroyed, Konoha will never know peace.
He had no shinobi accompanying him and carried no written orders. He simply pressed on alone, in silence.
Amid the silent forests and wastelands, his figure moved with the resolve of an unshakable obsession, like a lone wolf pursuing his ultimate confrontation with fate.
-This was his battlefield, his mission.
Meanwhile, the Land of Lightning front remained nominally under Uchiha Shinichi's "command," but Uchiha Raishin had actually assumed temporary control.
Facing the elite assault force led by Kumogakure's Raikage A, Raishin swiftly devised a strategy of defense and guerrilla warfare, avoiding direct clashes, breaking his forces into small units, and waging a prolonged war of attrition.