The winds of the border region of Raiyue carried salty, pungent sand, causing the white banners at the peace conference venue to flutter wildly. The Second Raikage A, clad in a dark purple Raikage robe, with the Lightning Flame Sword at his waist, stood behind him. Kinkaku and Ginkaku carried the Bashōsen and the Bashōsen, their eyes filled with barely concealed malice. Behind them were tens of thousands of Raikage's troops. The Hokage Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō, and followed by over a thousand Senju Clan, marched against the wind, the Konoha insignia on his sleeves gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
"From this day forward, the Thunder and Fire Kingdoms shall be forever allies!" Ai pressed the bronze seal, inscribed Tobirama Senju the Land of Lightning's totem, heavily onto the parchment scroll. Tobirama Senju, having just finished writing the word " Senju " with his wolf-hair brush, was suddenly interrupted by a roar from Kinkaku: "Attack!" A hurricane stirred up by the Bashōsen swept up a cloud of yellow sand, Bashōsen wrapped around Ai's ankle like a living snake. Ginkaku's sword was already aimed at Raikage A's neck.
"Pfft!" Blood splattered from Ai's neck, and the mighty Raikage didn't even have a chance to react. Tobirama Senju Senju's pupils shrank sharply. He threw out Flying Thunder God Kunai with his left hand and retreated with his disciples. With his right hand, Water Release: Water Formation Wall rose up with a roar, blocking the overwhelming Lightning Release. In the distance, the army of the Land of Lightning surged in like a tide, densely surrounding the venue.
Yellow Sand Weeps Blood
"Clear the way for the Hokage and cover their retreat!" The Senju Clan men shouted until their voices were hoarse. The vanguard shield formation of three hundred men was blasted by Lightning Release, Mars flying everywhere. Blood seeped from the dense cracks on the bronze shields. The old ninja in the front row gritted his teeth and shoved his shield into the sand, directly using his chest to block the second wave of lightning strikes.
The Lightning Ninja army surged forward like a tide, their twenty thousand Kunai gleaming coldly in the blazing sun. A young girl from the Senju Clan, driven by rage, shoved Explosive Tag into an enemy's arms, sacrificing herself in the process. An old woman, leaning on a cane, shakily Hand Seals, using her last wisp of Chakra to unleash a water prison that trapped five pursuers. Blood mingled with yellow sand, staining the battlefield a dark red. Those who fell were not even left with intact corpses; they were all trampled into mincemeat by the Lightning Ninja charging forward, stepping over their bodies.
"Don't worry about me!" The Senju Clan, with a severed arm, shoved Kunai into the throat of a Rainin, then grabbed the man's collar to use as a human shield. "Run!" Seven lightning arrows were stuck in his body, yet he continued to laugh and shout until he was charred into a pile by Lightning Release, his face still bearing a ferocious grin.
The sand was littered with severed limbs, and the Senju Clan's white-patterned kimonos were stained with blood, yet they maintained their triangular formation. Some had their necks bound by the Bashōsen, and had bitten the rope in half; others had their skin peeled off by Lightning Release, yet they still brandished their blood-stained katana. Twenty thousand against one thousand, the lightning ninja advanced by stepping over corpses, each step costing ten lives.
As Tobirama Senju and his apprentice disappeared into the blue light of the Flying Thunder God Technique, the last three hundred clansmen formed a circle back to back. They knew they would never receive reinforcements, yet they still sang the Senju Clan's war song at the top of their lungs. The encirclement of the Lightning Ninja Army shrank smaller and smaller, the song mixed with wails and screams, until it was finally swallowed up by the overwhelming Lightning Release.
Tobirama Senju, with his six disciples, raced through the desert. Behind them, the roars of the Kinkaku Ginkaku mingled with the booming of Lightning Release, like the footsteps of Death God closing in.
"Master, the Lightning Release Kunai is catching up again!" Kagami Uchiha shouted as he swung his sword to cut the flying Kunai. The blade collided with the Lightning Release, and the sparks almost burned his eyebrows.
Tobirama Senju's brows furrowed. He counted the footsteps of the pursuers, estimating the Chakra consumption of his disciples. Of the six, Hiruzen Sarutobi had the best stamina, Shimura Danzō quick-witted, Kagami Uchiha was the youngest and most stable, and then there was Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Torifu Akimichi... Each one was a promising talent that Tobirama Senju had watched grow up, and he couldn't bear to give up any of them.
"Master, at this rate we'll be worn down sooner or later!" Shimura Danzō shouted, panting heavily.
Tobirama Senju didn't answer. Instead, he threw out Flying Thunder God Kunai, teleporting everyone to the edge of a forest. Hearing the approaching footsteps behind him, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at his six disciples.
Who is willing to cover the rear?
The woods were silent, save for the rustling of leaves in the breeze. The six young men looked at each other, their eyes filled with a resolute determination to face death.
"Teacher! I'll do it!" Hiruzen Sarutobi was the first to step forward, his voice strong and clear. "I'm the strongest among us, of course I'll do it!" He gripped his Kunai, his chest ramrod straight.
Tobirama Senju stared at his disciple, who was always the first to charge into battle. Looking at his young and resolute face, he suddenly remembered the first time he met him, when he was a little boy holding a large scroll and saying he wanted to be Hokage. He reached into his robes and pulled out the straw hat that symbolized the Hokage, gently placing it on Hiruzen Sarutobi's head.
"From this moment forward, you are the Third Hokage!" Tobirama Senju's voice was unusually gentle. "Lead everyone to live on. Remember, the fire of Konoha must never be extinguished."
Hiruzen Sarutobi froze, his hand trembling as he reached up to touch the straw hat on his head. Before he could even speak, Tobirama Senju had already unleashed Flying Thunder God Kunai. A dazzling blue light flashed, and only six stunned young men remained standing in the forest.
"Quick, after him! Tobirama Senju is alone!" The roars of Kinkaku and Ginkaku echoed from afar. Hiruzen Sarutobi clenched his fists and turned to shout to the other five, "Master has bought us time; we must get this message back to Konoha alive!"
Deep in the forest, Tobirama Senju leaned against a tree, watching the direction of the pursuers. He touched his empty chest, where his wife Orihi's photograph used to lie. Now, the photograph, along with his straw hat, had been given to his most trusted disciple.
"Come on, Kinkaku and Ginkaku!" He began Hand Seals, "Let me show you the power of a Hokage." Tobirama Senju released Ninjutsu as he fled, leading the Lightning Ninja army in another direction. He gradually disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Tobirama Senju's clothes were already stuck to his back with blood, and his Lightning Release Kunai, stuck in his shoulder, was sizzling and Mars. He had just used Flying Thunder God to dodge Ginkaku's Bashōsen when he turned around and saw Kinkaku Bashōsen with a whooshing sound, the wind carrying pebbles crashing down on him.
When Kinkaku Ginkaku led ten thousand Lightning Ninja to the edge of the cliff, they saw Tobirama Senju alone facing the ten thousand Lightning Ninja, looking down contemptuously at the army of the Land of Lightning: "With your strength, you can't kill me."
Before he finished speaking, his hands moved like phantoms, his fingertips pressing heavily onto the ground. " Impure World Reincarnation!" The earth cracked open, and the Senju elders, wrapped in white cloth, emerged from the ground, each with a dense array of Explosive Tag on their grayish-blue faces. Just as Kinkaku shouted "Scatter!", the entire sandy area exploded! Amidst the deafening explosion, the screams of Rainin mingled with the shattered limbs and torsos soared into the air, and bloody fragments slammed against the Bashōsen.
"Push them down!" Ginkaku lashed out his Bashōsen, binding a Impure World Reincarnation corpse. The corpse grinned, and its hands suddenly erupted with blinding white light. Tobirama Senju, riding the afterimage of the Flying Thunder God Technique, swept across the battlefield. His Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, crackling with lightning, crashed into the enemy ranks, sending lightning ninja flying like scarecrows. Kinkaku frantically shook his Bashōsen. The sand wall whipped up by the hurricane had barely blocked the water dragon when a chilling sensation suddenly came from behind— Tobirama Senju had appeared behind him without his noticing, Kunai grazing his earlobe!
"How come this old man's Chakra is inexhaustible?!" Ginkaku wiped the blood from his face and suddenly noticed that the surrounding air was beginning to distort. Tobirama Senju's pupils shrank sharply as a killing intent more terrifying than that of Kinkaku and Ginkaku combined came from behind him! He instinctively threw out his Flying Thunder God Kunai and teleported to a rock a hundred meters away, but when he turned around, he only saw empty sand!
Tobirama Senju gazed at the distant figures of Kinkaku Ginkaku Kinkaku, now clad in fox spirit robes, and then at the direction his disciples had disappeared in. He took out his last Flying Thunder God Kunai and threw it at Kinkaku. Kinkaku dodged it and was about to charge forward.
"Watch out behind you!" Ginkaku's shout came a step too late. Tobirama Senju instinctively activated the Flying Thunder God, grabbed the Flying Thunder God Kunai, and plunged it into the back of Kinkaku's head. But suddenly he felt as if his heart had been pierced by an invisible hand, and the intense pain made his throat taste blood. Ginkaku's longsword took the opportunity to pierce his chest, and in a daze, he saw a blurry Kageko flash by behind Kinkaku.
As Ginkaku wondered where the sudden attack came from, Madara Uchiha slowly sank into the ground from the Yin Shadow of the battlefield. The purple Rinnegan in his Rinnegan faded, returning to its deep black pupils, and ripples spread through the air—six Limbo: Border Jail clones, like distorted phantoms, were silently shrinking back into the void. Madara let out a hoarse, cold laugh, " Izuna, your revenge is complete." The wind and sand swept past the spot where he disappeared, leaving only a few faint wisps of Chakra, which were quickly completely masked by the Lightning Release.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi returned with reinforcements, he only saw Tobirama Senju's blood-stained straw hat stuck in the ground. Trembling, he picked up his teacher's gradually cooling body. In the distance, the Third Raikage held up a blood-stained peace pact and shouted, "The Pact of Lightning and Fire still stands!" But this blood-soaked pact made everyone understand that peace in the Shinobi World has always been built with bones and blood.