"Ahem... I think... we'd still be better off staying on friendly terms with some clans." After turning it over in his mind, Uchiha Takashi finally decided to stand by his opinion.
The first elder sighed deeply. "In that case, who do you think should represent us to reach agreements with the other clans?"
Uchiha Takashi was just about to suggest the first elder when the second elder said, "Don't even think about suggesting the first elder. He won't do.
"The clan leader sent him out to negotiate once before. They'd been making good progress on dividing the benefits, but he ruined the negotiations. After that, the clan leader never sent him out again."
Uchiha Takashi: "..." Didn't our clan have a single normal person suited to diplomacy? Was the entire, enormous Uchiha Clan made up of battle-hungry meatheads?
Could that saying really be true? The Uchiha had ten measures of brains between them, Izuna alone had eleven, and all the other Uchiha owed one.
Uchiha Takashi: The only fucking reason a clan this ridiculous hadn't died out in the Warring States era was that they were too good at fighting!
"I think I'd be fairly suitable. How about letting me try?" After much deliberation, Uchiha Takashi could only say, "Since the first elder can't do it, I'll have to."
Although Uchiha Takashi wasn't skilled at diplomacy either, he could at least discuss the division of benefits calmly and get people to reach an agreement through concessions.
He wasn't like the other Uchiha, whose approach was that taking their benefits was unacceptable, and that someone had to offer them benefits without harming their interests before they could become allies.
The first elder's eyes lit up. "Oh? Since the third elder has that in mind, come meet the Sarutobi Clan with me."
The first elder intended to test Uchiha Takashi's diplomatic abilities. If he really was highly capable at diplomacy, the Uchiha would no longer find themselves in diplomatic difficulties.
Of course, to prevent Uchiha Takashi from making a mess, the first elder decided to go along and keep an eye on him, lest they end up with another second elder.
"Mm..." Uchiha Takashi nodded and remained silent.
After the first and second elders discussed a few more inconsequential topics, the meeting finally ended. Uchiha Takashi walked out of the meeting room in a daze.
So this was a meeting of the leadership? Why did it feel so strange? Were even the Uchiha Clan's meetings this unique?
Just as the three stepped out of the meeting room, an Uchiha hurried up to the first elder. "First elder, word has come from the front. The front is under attack. The enemies are the Senju and Sarutobi."
"What?" The first elder immediately turned back into the meeting room and began working through the situation on the map.
"The news should be from a day ago. With the strength stationed at the front, they should be able to hold," the second elder said, also approaching the table.
Uchiha Takashi joined them. There were currently two major problems at the front.
One was the shortage of standing defensive forces. Although there had been friction with the Senju Clan recently, the clan had only assembled a large number of elite fighters and had yet to send them to the front.
Moreover, after two years at the front, their supplies were almost exhausted. The Uchiha Clan had planned to send new supplies along with the reinforcements.
But the situation seemed to have changed a little too quickly. This was already beyond their original expectations. The Senju Clan had actually joined forces with the Sarutobi Clan to attack the front ahead of time.
That meant all their previous plans had to be scrapped. They had to reinforce the front immediately! They absolutely had to secure the defensive line, or any further retreat would bring the enemy to the Uchiha's main base.
The first elder naturally knew the situation at the front. After scanning the map, he told the clansman beside him, "Pass on my orders. Send all the clansmen we've assembled to the front.
"As for supplies, send them along with the second group. For now, have the elite clansmen reinforce the front first and stabilize the line."
The first elder's approach followed conventional strategic thinking. They didn't know the current state of the battle, but by reasonable deduction, the defenders should be able to withstand the first few waves of attacks.
However, if the enemy kept attacking at high intensity, the front still wouldn't hold, so they needed to dispatch more manpower urgently.
But Uchiha Takashi's attention wasn't on manpower. It was on supplies. Most weapons at the front were worn out, and the new ones hadn't been delivered yet.
They also had little stock left of ranged tools such as kunai, explosive tags, and shuriken. If fighting truly broke out without those to support them, there was no telling how many people at the front would die.
That was why Uchiha Takashi placed particular importance on transporting supplies. But wouldn't it be a little too dangerous to rely solely on the second group of clansmen heading to the front to deliver them?
Uchiha Takashi cautioned, "First elder, if we rely solely on the second group heading to the front to escort the supplies, won't there be a risk of interception?"
The first elder gave Uchiha Takashi a somewhat surprised look, then bent down and studied the map carefully.
Uchiha Takashi continued, "And the Senju at the front actually abandoned a joint attack with the Uzumaki Clan in favor of joining forces with the Sarutobi. So where is the Uzumaki Clan?"
The first elder's expression grew increasingly grim at those words, because he had found several places on the map well suited to ambushes.
Although the Sharingan could easily detect danger in those places, that was hard to say if their opponents were the Uzumaki.
"You're right. There are indeed some places along the route between our main base and the front where an ambush would be easy. And the Uzumaki Clan's sealing jutsu for concealing their presence would certainly be troublesome," the first elder said, stroking his chin.
"But the situation at the front is urgent. We have no choice but to send some manpower ahead. If the front falls, everything will be too late."
Uchiha Takashi said, "Perhaps we could divide the reinforcements into two groups. One would consist of our most elite troops, bringing a small amount of supplies to reinforce the front.
"The other would be the main force, following behind with the weapons and baggage, moving slowly to guard against an Uzumaki attack."
The second elder nodded as he listened. "You do have a point. In that case, we'll divide our clansmen into three groups.
"The first will do as you said, taking the bare minimum of supplies and rushing to reinforce them. Then most of our forces will escort the supplies to the front. Finally, we'll leave a group at the main base... to guard against a surprise attack."
Listening to the second elder, Uchiha Takashi understood why he wanted to leave a group behind.
As the saying went, once bitten, twice shy. The surprise attack four years ago was still vivid in their minds.
The Uchiha Clan soon responded. The second elder assembled several dozen elites with Mitsudomoe, along with more than twenty jonin with Futatsudomoe, and set out for the front.
Behind them followed over a hundred Uchiha clansmen escorting the supplies, slowly advancing toward the front.
The first elder and a small number of clansmen remained at the main base to defend it against raids by elite enemy squads.
As commander of the second group escorting the supplies, Uchiha Takashi brought Aka Uchiha and Homura Uchiha along as part of the main force heading to the front.
The main base was quite far from the front. To guard against ambushes, Uchiha Takashi had the main force stop and start throughout the journey, spending a considerable amount of time on the road.
But Uchiha Takashi's suspicions were indeed correct. As they passed through a canyon, members of the Uzumaki Clan were lying in wait.
"Barrier: Four Violet Flames Formation!" A shout rang out, and four pillars of light rose around them. Four violet barriers enclosed the Uchiha Clan's main force.
Countless red figures emerged on both sides of the canyon, charging down toward the Uchiha below.
"It's an Uzumaki ambush force! Everyone, prepare for battle! Watch out for kunai!" Uchiha Takashi reacted immediately, directing the main force's response.
Faced with kunai and shuriken filling the air, the Uchiha Clan refused to be outdone. They freely displayed their clan's throwing techniques, the first rank knocking the incoming kunai and shuriken away.
The second rank immediately stepped forward, throwing shuriken and kunai to suppress the Uzumaki Clan on the slopes in return.
The Uzumaki Clan seemed not to have expected the ambushed Uchiha to react so quickly, and the counterattack caught them off guard.
The kunai and shuriken threw them into some confusion.
Even so, the Uzumaki Clan were ultimately the attackers and had come prepared. After a brief period of confusion, they quickly regrouped and attacked the Uchiha again.
While they were regrouping, however, the Uchiha Clan's assault squads had already reached the slopes, and the two forces plunged into a melee.
Against the Uchiha Clan's refined taijutsu and ninjutsu, the Uzumaki Clan quickly fell into a disadvantage and were pinned down by the Uchiha's main force.
Just as Uchiha Takashi thought the battle would soon end, a cloud of dust suddenly rose in the distance. He immediately activated his Futatsudomoe and looked ahead.
Within the dust, a flag bearing the Senju emblem stood out sharply. "That's the Senju Clan! Why is the Senju Clan here?" Uchiha Takashi muttered in disbelief.
A bad feeling immediately rose in Uchiha Takashi's heart. Had the front already fallen? If the front had fallen, the Uchiha Clan would be in grave danger!
But he quickly dismissed that thought.
Although the Uchiha at the front would struggle to hold, they wouldn't collapse in such a short time and let the Senju Clan through.
In other words, this Senju force was, at most, a squad that had gotten lucky and bypassed the front.
Most likely, the Sarutobi and Senju main forces had tied down the Uchiha at the front, allowing this squad to slip through.
But even knowing that, this squad posed a very real and enormous threat. After all, this was deep within Uchiha territory.
The sudden appearance of enemies could very well cause morale to collapse, especially amid a melee like this. And their numbers weren't all that small.
They were already embroiled in a melee, and now a fresh force had suddenly joined in. It was hard to say whether they could win. In fact, their chances of losing were greater than their chances of winning.
But if they failed to hold, the front would soon be left completely without supplies and fall, while large numbers of elites would also perish there.
At that point, Uchiha Ichinyo would face a low unlike anything he had faced in over a hundred years.
No matter what, Uchiha Takashi and his force absolutely could not fail!
By then, quite a few Uchiha clansmen had also noticed the Senju Clan charging toward them from the direction of the front. Many began to panic, worried that the front had already fallen.
Noticing their condition, Uchiha Takashi immediately shouted, "Don't panic! At most, this is just a squad that bypassed the front! If the front had fallen, the Senju would never send so few people!"
Hearing his words, the Uchiha clansmen also noticed that there weren't many enemies coming. Once they confirmed that it was only a squad, their faltering morale immediately rallied.
The Uchiha fighting the Uzumaki quickly detached a group to charge at the Senju in the distance.
In a close-range encounter like this, there was no longer any need for tactical direction. Now everything depended purely on the two sides' fighting strength.
It came down to which clan had the strength and morale to hold out until the end. All schemes were useless now. Only the most primal fighting remained.
Even Uchiha Takashi, the commander, had picked up his weapon and plunged into the crowd.
The sounds of fighting and screams echoed constantly in his ears. People wearing the attire of the Uzumaki Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Senju Clan kept falling to the ground.
Uchiha Takashi swung his blade over and over until he grew numb. He could no longer tell whether the liquid on his face was sweat or blood, and even his Two-Tomoe Sharingan ached.
He didn't know how much time had passed. When he swung his blade one last time, cheers rose around him. Exhausted, Uchiha Takashi raised his head and looked around.
Everyone still standing nearby belonged to the Uchiha Clan, while the ground was covered with Senju and Uzumaki corpses.
Uchiha Takashi stood numbly in place, looking around, somewhat at a loss.
He had no interest in whether the Uchiha had won this battle. What concerned him was whether he had survived, and whether his companions had survived.
But even as his vision began to double, he couldn't find those two familiar figures.
The longer Uchiha Takashi searched, the more anxious he became, his breathing growing heavier. "Impossible. How could that be? How could anything happen to those two?" His unease kept growing.
Everything had descended into complete chaos earlier. Formations and the like had ceased to exist. Everyone fought individually, divided only by clan. Whenever they saw someone who wasn't from their clan, they slashed at them.
This had separated Uchiha Takashi from Aka Uchiha and the others.
"Takashi!" Just as Uchiha Takashi's anxiety reached its peak, a familiar voice rang out.
Uchiha Takashi turned in delighted surprise and saw Homura Uchiha waving at him, his face covered in blood. He immediately stumbled over.
"Homura, you're all right. Thank goodness..." Uchiha Takashi said wearily, his uneasy heart settling somewhat.
He clearly didn't belong to this world, but perhaps because they had spent so much time together, he truly had come to regard Homura Uchiha and Aka Uchiha as companions, as real friends.
Homura Uchiha shook his head and panted, "I'm fine. The blood is all the enemy's. Have you seen Aka? I couldn't find him."
Hearing that, Uchiha Takashi's heart, which had just eased slightly, immediately rose into his throat again. His unease grew ever stronger.
"Hurry and look!" Uchiha Takashi shouted without caring how he looked. Disregarding everything else, he immediately searched among the surviving clansmen for that familiar figure.
The surrounding clansmen passed from the joy of victory into a heavy silence.
Dark clouds gradually filled the sky. With a muffled rumble, rain poured from the gloomy heavens, falling on everyone's heads.
"Rumble..." Fierce thunder resounded through the canyon, drowning out the heart-wrenching cries.
Homura Uchiha moved through the pouring rain and between the crowds, praying to catch sight of that familiar figure.
But... things did not go as he wished. He didn't find what he wanted. He saw only a corpse lying in a pool of blood.
He stumbled over and dropped to his knees beside the corpse with a thud.
Not far away, Uchiha Takashi, his hair already soaked by the rain, was still searching anxiously, until he saw Homura Uchiha kneeling beside Aka Uchiha's body.
At that moment, he felt his world fall silent.
The clamoring voices suddenly vanished. Only the sound of rain striking leaves remained, only the muffled thunder continually rumbling in the sky.
At that moment, it was as though the world had lost its color. Uchiha Takashi felt his heart being savagely clenched, as though a knife had plunged into it and then twisted madly.
Uchiha Takashi clutched his chest. One step, two steps... he slowly approached Aka Uchiha.
Time seemed to stop at that moment. All Uchiha Takashi could see was that body riddled with wounds.
Aka Uchiha lay quietly on the ground, his lifeless eyes gazing at the sky, as though complaining about the bad weather, making excuses for why he couldn't skip his stone far enough.
As though arguing that he hadn't come back empty-handed from fishing, describing the deliciousness of three-colored dango, recounting all the bustling sights in town...
Uchiha Takashi could no longer tell whether it was tears or rain on his face, or both. His pupils slowly dilated, and the crimson Sharingan gradually vanished from his eyes.
He raised his head toward the sky, where lightning kept streaking through the gloom.
Everyone said the sky was blue. But at that moment, the sky in Uchiha Takashi's eyes was blood-red, dyed with blood.
"Aah-" Who was screaming? It was a piercing, anguished scream.
Uchiha Takashi wanted to react, but he realized that the sound was coming from his own throat...
Raindrops continued to fall, landing on Uchiha Takashi's face, falling into his eyes.
Into his Sharingan, where pinwheel patterns kept spinning...