"Ahem, ahem. Since we agreed, we should get the mission done as soon as possible. Dingbao, can we move tonight?"
With his thoughts exposed, Nara Rokken felt sickened too, as though a ghost had possessed him.
That very day, the Senju Clan's ninja stationed in the Land of Lightning were ambushed. Their attackers had no intention of killing them; they only wanted to drive them out of the Land of Lightning.
Since the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans acted covertly and wore none of their clans' identifying insignia, the Senju Clan had no idea who was behind it.
Thinking of the people who had been abducting their clan's ninja, they instinctively assumed those people's base was somewhere near the Land of Lightning.
They must have been driving them out for fear of being discovered.
Of course, some thought differently, believing the evil Uchiha had allied with other clans to force them out of the country together.
Three days and nights of fighting had long since forced both sides to reveal their trump cards.
"Ino-Shika-Cho Clans! You actually allied with the Uchiha!"
A cornered Senju ninja shouted. They had already reached the Land of Lightning's border. If they could hold out just a little longer, they would reach the Land of Fire, where their clansmen would meet them.
"Sorry. We only accepted a mission to drive you out of the Land of Lightning. We have no intention of making enemies of you."
A Nara ninja offered the explanation indifferently. Things had already reached this point, so it hardly mattered anymore. They would do whatever their employer asked. Everyone could just drop dead!
At that moment, Indra, who was giving Madara Uchiha an ideological education, abruptly sat up straight and extended his senses. His smile gradually turned sinister and malicious.
"Big brother, did I... answer something else wrong?"
A sheen of sweat broke out across Madara Uchiha's back. Yesterday, he had left out a single sentence and been trapped in a genjutsu, forced to watch his younger brother being killed by Senju ninja over and over. Even his mother's grave had been dug up by a white-haired Senju.
"Heh. The Senju are here. Time to test what you've learned these past few days." Indra picked up Madara Uchiha and walked out of the tent. Uchiha Naoto, who was watching the prisoners mine, saw him and shouted, "My lord, where are you going? Take me with you!"
"We're going to intercept and kill the Senju Clan's ninja. You have one minute to prepare."
Indra sensed nearly a hundred ninja approaching, but made no particular effort to distinguish which clans they belonged to.
The Uchiha sent the Shimura, Sarutobi, and the others to meet their ancestors, then immediately ran to Indra's side. Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue followed close behind.
The two of them clung to Madara's legs.
"Brother Jun Wuji, I'll leave the packing to you. We'll have another bout when we get back." Uchiha Naoto waved goodbye.
A purple barrier appeared beneath Indra's feet, carrying away more than a dozen people.
When they reappeared, they were already at the Uchiha encampment on the Tsukiumi Plains near the Land of Lightning's border.
"All Uchiha, follow me and wipe out every Senju ninja!"
Indra appeared in the Uchiha encampment with an arrogant expression and an overbearing tone. Having materialized out of nowhere, he swept a contemptuous gaze over everyone present.
Madara Uchiha had only taken one step forward and had yet to speak when Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue revealed their identities and began talking the Uchiha present into joining them.
Indra left the two behind and led his people away.
Seeing the Senju ninja swarming across the Land of Fire's border, Indra stood in their path and gave them a villainous smile.
"Asura, since you refuse to show yourself, don't blame me for slaughtering every last one of your descendants."
Indra grabbed Madara Uchiha and hurled him into the Senju ninja. Immediately afterward came the sounds of Uchiha Naoto and several other Uchiha charging into battle.
Madara Uchiha was surrounded by Senju ninja before he could react. Fortunately, his combat instincts still worked. He grabbed the nearest ninja, slapped an Explosive Tag on them, and hurled them away just as Indra had done.
With a boom, the explosion blasted a whole group into the air.
He drew the Tachi at his waist and began fighting.
When the ninja driving out the Senju Clan spotted the Uchiha, a Nara ninja immediately realized they had been tricked and shouted to the others, "It's a trap! Retreat!"
But this was no longer a battle between two sides. Several clans had been drawn into a chaotic melee.
The Senju thought the Ino-Shika-Cho had allied with the Uchiha and began attacking them in earnest.
The Uchiha arriving in waves behind Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue thought the Senju had allied with the Ino-Shika-Cho, so they drew their swords and started slashing.
The Ino-Shika-Cho, meanwhile, thought the Uchiha had teamed up with the Blood Pond Clan and were using them to take the brunt of the fighting.
The battlefield descended into utter chaos, leaving only the sounds of slaughter.
Indra darted through the melee without distinguishing friend from foe. He killed Senju, killed anyone blocking his path, and even killed Uchiha who lacked Uchiha blood if they got in the way of his taking a head.
His actions shocked everyone present. Even Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue were so frightened that they managed to awaken a pair of single-tomoe eyes between them.
Madara Uchiha fought the Senju while keeping an eye on his two younger brothers. He wanted to show his big brother what he could do and earn some praise, only to see his big brother cutting down their own clansmen.
Now the Senju, the Ino-Shika-Cho, the Uchiha, and even Aomatsu Blood Pond, who was watching from the shadows, had no idea whose side Indra was on.
Other Uchiha fought without regard for their own lives. This Uchiha, with his pair of three-tomoe eyes, was taking his own clansmen's lives.
Aomatsu Blood Pond had hoped to profit from the chaos, but that desire plummeted to nothing.
Their eyes were unmatched in genjutsu, on par with the Sharingan, and they could turn people into human bombs. But when faced with a madman, would he charge over and take you down with him? That was a lethal question.
Thinking back to how high and mighty he had felt issuing a mission as an employer, with all three Ino-Shika-Cho clan heads treating him like royalty, he wanted to experience it again.
It was easy to imagine just how little those nobles and daimyo thought of ninja like them.
"Clan head... should we charge in?" a Blood Pond ninja asked.
"I have a beautiful younger sister who isn't married yet. When we get back, I'll find her a good match. The Daimyo of the Land of Lightning would be perfect. A real man." Aomatsu Blood Pond slipped away with several clansmen before they ever joined the battle.
Only anguished cries and the clash of blades remained on the battlefield, which had descended into madness.
The chaos had reached the point where surrender was impossible.
No one even knew whom to surrender to.
There was only killing!
Only by killing the ninja in front of them could they survive.
As the fighting grew fiercer, nearby Senju came to reinforce them, keeping the battle going for an entire day.
Because they were so young, Uchiha Xing and Uchiha Yue exhausted themselves and lay down among the corpses to rest. They merely suffered a few broken ribs and arms from being trampled.
By the time the two crawled out, the battle was over.
When Madara Uchiha ran out of chakra and was nearly killed by an adult ninja, Indra pulled him out just in time, tossed him into a pile of corpses, and killed every Senju ninja present.
The only ones who escaped largely unscathed were the few Uchiha following Uchiha Naoto. Only one had suffered a serious injury: a broken leg.
Nearly sixty percent of the ninja who had come from the Uchiha encampment had died. Even after the fighting stopped, the survivors stared warily at Indra.
"Who are you? I saw you slaughtering our clansmen on the battlefield."
Before you continue