Hagoromo Shogatsu

Setsuna had tracked the six Senju ninja alone all the way to the Cliff Stronghold. After discovering that it had fallen, he was about to return and report when a hand settled on his shoulder from behind.

Setsuna thrust backward on reflex.

A hand clamped around his wrist, and a man's voice came from above his head:

"Easy, Uchiha boy. It's me, Hagoromo Shogatsu."

Setsuna looked up.

The young man standing behind him looked to be in his early twenties. Tall and slender, he wore a plain gray-blue robe with the Hagoromo Clan's crest embroidered on the collar.

His refined features made him look less like a ninja than the son of some noble family.

His forehead was bare, without a tattoo, which meant he had no Heavenly Eye.

Setsuna remembered what the Old Clan Leader had personally said before the evacuation of the clan grounds-the First Settlement would replace the clan grounds as command headquarters, with Hagoromo Shogatsu serving as acting clan leader and assuming full command of frontline operations.

And this was Hagoromo Shogatsu.

"What are you doing here?" Setsuna asked in a low voice.

"The Senju have been moving personnel around on the main battlefield." Shogatsu released Setsuna's wrist and straightened his clothes. "As battlefield commander, if I couldn't even spot a change like that, I'd be failing the trust the Clan Head placed in me."

He turned his gaze across the cliff.

The Senju ninja were stepping onto the rope spanning the abyss, one after another.

Shogatsu narrowed his eyes, his gaze settling on the foremost of the three Senju ninja guarding the rope on the opposite side.

"Senju Shuto, commander of the Flank Guard Battalion on the Third Battlefield, is leading the rope guard here. He was transferred out during active fighting and hasn't appeared on any other front. There are signs of personnel being pulled from every front. That's highly unusual."

Setsuna asked, "How do you know they've been pulling personnel?"

Shogatsu withdrew his gaze and glanced at Setsuna.

"I had every clan member fighting the Senju record their opponents' appearance, techniques, dominant hand, and chakra nature in our files."

"Starting five days ago, several familiar faces on the Third Battlefield disappeared from the front, one after another. One could be a routine rotation. Two could be a tactical adjustment. Four or five, happening across multiple fronts at once-that's no adjustment."

"From what I know of Tobirama Senju, the smaller the personnel transfers, the bigger the move he's planning."

Setsuna stared at him for a moment.

"The Cliff Stronghold occupies a strategic position and connects to Hagoromo territory," Shogatsu continued without waiting for Setsuna to ask. "But its garrison was small: only two Hagoromo who had awakened their eyes and thirteen ordinary ninja who hadn't. So I ordered them to send a report by Ninja Hawk every four hours."

His gaze swept over the broad patches of dark blood soaking into the ground inside the outpost.

"No report meant something had happened."

Setsuna fell silent.

He suddenly understood why the Old Clan Leader had entrusted this man with the position of acting clan leader.

The Hagoromo messenger had said Shogatsu hadn't awakened the Heavenly Eye.

In the ninja clans of the Warring States era, where bloodline abilities were paramount, a ninja without a kekkei genkai was practically invisible.

But this man held every detail of the entire battlefield in his head.

From Senju personnel transfers to the intervals between reports from the Cliff Stronghold, from the rhythm of attacks and defenses on the main front to the rate at which supplies were consumed-every piece of information seemed neatly categorized, ready to be retrieved at any moment.

That kind of command ability was more valuable than the Heavenly Eye.

Shogatsu looked away from the opposite cliff and lowered his head toward Setsuna.

"What about you? What's a little Uchiha child doing here?"

Setsuna held nothing back. "I was with the retreating column when I came across six Senju ninja stealing grain. Something felt wrong-even if the Senju allied with the Fuma or Blood Horse, they couldn't possibly have entered the interior so easily."

"They've already gone in to scout?"

"Yes."

"What a slap in the face." Shogatsu narrowed his eyes and gave a quiet snort. "Fortunately, Tobirama Senju isn't leading them. These fools haven't even secured the outpost, yet they dared to steal grain during reconnaissance and expose their intentions."

He looked at the rope spanning the abyss, a cold smile curling his lips.

"Once that rope snaps, they'll be a lone boat in the ocean, rats in a trap."

"How many people did you bring? Are you sure you can wipe them all out?" Setsuna asked.

"Ten."

Setsuna's brow furrowed deeply.

The visible Senju force alone numbered fifteen, primarily Jonin with Chunin mixed in, and there was no telling whether more were hiding out of sight.

Not enough.

"How many in your team have the Heavenly Eye?"

An almost imperceptible trace of embarrassment crossed Shogatsu's face.

"...Gengetsu does."

Setsuna froze for a moment.

One? Only one Hagoromo capable of controlling the battlefield?

He quickly reassessed the situation.

As an acting clan leader who had not awakened his kekkei genkai, Shogatsu was indeed in an awkward position. Ninja with bloodline abilities naturally preferred taking orders from superiors who possessed them too.

Shogatsu had limited forces at his disposal. Bringing nine people and one Heavenly Eye user was already the limit of his authority.

Watching the ninja repairing the Hagoromo outpost, Setsuna spoke:

"What's your plan?"

"Gengetsu will contain them within his domain. Five of our ninja will use Yellow Spring Swamp to immobilize them, then we'll surround and kill them," Hagoromo Shogatsu answered.

After hearing him out, Setsuna quickly ran through the plan in his mind.

There was nothing wrong with the tactics themselves. Trap them, immobilize them, then kill them-a standard encirclement and annihilation.

But... there was a flaw.

The Senju Clan primarily used Water Release and Earth Release. Yellow Spring Swamp was an Earth Release technique. It worked well against ordinary ninja, but against the Senju...

Setsuna shook his head.

The Senju Clan primarily used Water Release and Earth Release. They knew the earth chakra nature far too well and naturally had ways to counter it.

The Senju on the opposite cliff could provide support with ranged weapons, immediately giving covering fire to their trapped comrades in Yellow Spring Swamp.

Then they might not only escape annihilation but break out altogether.

He needed a technique that could catch every enemy in one sweep.

If there were a second Hagoromo, one could contain the space while the other helped him distort it. Then he could use Blast Wave Wild Dance to burn the entire outpost, ninja and rope included, to ashes in one go.

But there was only Gengetsu.

Damn it.

Setsuna stared at the rope, and a thought flashed through his mind.

If Tobirama Senju could mix Shuriken into his Water Release...

Why couldn't I mix Explosive Tags into my Fire Release?

Tobirama Senju, your schemes really do give me endless inspiration.

He turned to Hagoromo Shogatsu:

"Do you have any Wind Release ninja on your team?"

Shogatsu chuckled. "Wind Release and Earth Release are the Hagoromo Clan's specialties."

A spark of excitement flashed in Setsuna's eyes.

Wind, earth, fire. Ninja with all three natures were present.

He thought of Dust Release-a kekkei tōta formed by combining wind, earth, and fire, powerful enough to break its targets down into molecules. But it also required an extraordinarily precise ratio of nature fusion, something a five-and-a-half-year-old novice like him couldn't manage.

But he didn't have to aim for decomposition on that microscopic level.

What if I only aimed for roughly the same effect on a larger scale?

Use Earth Release to pulverize rocks and grind the clods of earth into the finest possible powder.

Use Wind Release to control the dust concentration, spreading it evenly over the entire outpost while hiding Explosive Tags in the dust and carrying them over too.

Once the concentration reached the critical point-

Ignite it with Fire Release, and the dust explosion would blow the entire outpost sky-high.

A smile appeared on Setsuna's face:

"Do you know what a dust explosion is?"