Elsewhere—
Izuna Uchiha, having learned that his elder brother had been captured, was racing urgently toward the Senju clan's stronghold.
His figure darted swiftly through the forest, followed by a large number of Uchiha clansmen.
The sound of air splitting echoed continuously as they sped through the woods. Concerned for his brother's safety, Izuna had mobilized nearly one-third of the clan's total fighting strength to ensure success in this rescue mission.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
As they sped onward, several ninja crows suddenly descended from the sky above.
These birds—seen as ominous by ordinary people—were actually highly intelligent creatures, capable of flight and communication, and second only to hawks as the Uchiha clan's preferred messengers.
After letting out several sharp caws, they circled in the air before spotting Izuna below. The leading crow quickly dove down toward him.
Izuna, in turn, noticed the birds approaching. Through his sharp perception, he could clearly see the Sharingan patterns gleaming in the lead crow's eyes.
"To think they've even dispatched the fastest ninja crows… something must have happened."
He landed lightly on a tree branch and raised his hand. Instantly, the Uchiha behind him dispersed silently, hiding with military precision.
The crows screeched as they descended, circling him before the lead bird perched on his arm.
Izuna gently stroked its head, then retrieved a small feed pellet from his pouch—Heaven's Crow Pill, specially made for ninja crows.
The crow tilted its head before swallowing it without hesitation.
Only then did Izuna untie the small bamboo tube strapped to the bird's leg and extract the message within.
When he unfolded it, his expression froze.
It read:
Lord Izuna, the Nine-Tails has gone berserk within the compound. It is now rampaging through the village. The clan has suffered heavy casualties. Please make your decision immediately!
"How… how can this be?!"
Even as Izuna stared in disbelief, a violent tremor rippled through the ground behind him.
He turned sharply—his Mangekyō vision piercing across the vast distance—and saw it: a colossal mushroom cloud rising into the sky. Within the swirling smoke and flame, red chakra flared wildly.
The report was real.
At that moment, one of the Uchiha jōnin responsible for intelligence gathering rushed to his side, his face pale.
"Clan Chief Izuna—what should we do?!"
What should they do…?
In a moment of crisis, true leadership is tested.
Having once fought side by side with Madara to lead the Uchiha across the shinobi world, Izuna was far from inexperienced.
He instantly sensed something was wrong.
Too coincidental—far too coincidental.
Just as his brother was captured… just as he himself was preparing to lead a rescue… the Nine-Tails suddenly went berserk?
If someone wasn't behind this, Izuna would never believe it.
Only my brother and I possess the Mangekyō Sharingan capable of suppressing the Nine-Tails. No one else in the clan has eyes strong enough.
And if the Senju have captured my brother, unless they've resolved to go to war with the Uchiha outright, his life should not be in immediate danger.
Izuna's thoughts raced, weighing every possibility. Then he spoke decisively to one of the shinobi at his side.
"Take the Third, Fourth, and Seventh squads and go to the Senju compound. Try to negotiate—stall for time. I'll return to the compound first and handle things there before joining you."
"What about you, Lord Izuna?"
"I must return home."
After releasing the crow from his arm, Izuna quickly formed a sequence of hand signs.
The hidden Uchiha around him immediately understood, dividing soundlessly into two groups—one continuing toward the Senju territory, the other following Izuna as he sped back toward the Uchiha compound.
When Izuna arrived, the Nine-Tails' enormous form was still rampaging through the ruins.
Kunai, shuriken, explosive tags—all manner of attacks bombarded its massive frame, yet they barely scratched it.
With a single swipe of its claws or lash of its tails, the beast unleashed shockwaves strong enough to level an entire street—sending those too slow to flee flying like leaves before a storm.
Before the rampaging calamity, the entire Uchiha compound had become a scene of devastation—corpses and the wounded littered the ground.
Amid the chaos, some were still fighting the Nine-Tails directly, while others were focused on rescuing the injured and recovering the dead.
This was no longer a mere disturbance—it was an all-out war.
Overseeing the rescue efforts was one of the clan's elders, Hayato Uchiha. Though the old man was usually stern and reserved, he cared deeply for his kin.
"Medical unit! Move faster—there are still two wounded over here!"
"Captain! Someone needs emergency treatment here too!"
Hayato's Sharingan had activated unconsciously as he scanned the ruins, desperately searching for signs of life among the debris.
When Izuna Uchiha arrived back at the compound, the first person he saw giving orders amidst the chaos was none other than his father—the former clan head, Tajima Uchiha.
"Father! What's the situation in the compound?"
Tajima's eyes were already blind. Three years ago, after passing the title of clan head to his two sons, his vision had completely faded.
Without his Mangekyō Sharingan, he was powerless against the Nine-Tails.
"Izuna, the state of the compound can wait. Right now, only you can suppress the Nine-Tails!"
Though age and blindness had taken their toll, Tajima still exuded the commanding aura and composed authority of a born leader.
But despite his efforts, the sudden attack had left the Uchiha territory in ruins.
Looking into his father's sightless eyes, Izuna straightened his back, his voice steady and resolute.
"I understand."
He turned sharply and issued his orders to the surrounding clansmen. "Assist Elder Hayato with rescuing the wounded. I'll handle the Nine-Tails."
With that, he formed a rapid sequence of hand signs and vanished in a flicker, heading straight toward the rampaging beast.
...
High above, Satsuki observed the unfolding events silently.
The system's voice broke the quiet. "Host, Izuna Uchiha chose to confront the Nine-Tails while still sending part of his forces toward the Senju. What do you think of that decision?"
"In his situation," Satsuki replied calmly, "that's probably the best he could do."
Her gaze followed the chaos below. "But if it were me, I would've used this Nine-Tails incident to my full advantage."
"You'd even find a way to use this?" the system asked, incredulous.
"That's only theoretical," Satsuki said lightly. "With me here, even if he had such thoughts, he wouldn't have the opportunity to act on them."
Brushing aside a strand of wind-blown hair from her ear, she added coolly, "The Nine-Tails' chakra is one of the key components for Kaguya's resurrection. I can't allow it to remain in the Uchiha clan's hands."
...
This wasn't the first time Izuna Uchiha had faced the Nine-Tails—
But it was the first time he had encountered it completely out of control, its feral nature fully unleashed.
When the Uchiha shinobi battling the beast saw their clan head arrive, they finally exhaled in relief. With the Mangekyō Sharingan, their leader's return meant there was now a chance to suppress the rampaging Nine-Tails with ocular power.
The moment Izuna returned to the battlefield, he immediately began assessing the situation.
The berserk Nine-Tails wasn't rampaging aimlessly—it was advancing in a straight line, tearing its way deeper into the Uchiha compound.
The clan's attacks weren't entirely ineffective; individual jutsu and scattered weapons simply lacked the concentrated force to make an impact. Against a creature of this size, their efforts couldn't inflict real harm—but they could stall its movements.
Whenever the Nine-Tails showed signs of forming a Tailed Beast Bomb, the Uchiha would immediately combine their chakra and launch a flurry of attacks to disrupt it.
The Uchiha were not known for vast chakra reserves, nor did they possess giant summons like some other clans. Against the Nine-Tails, their options were painfully limited.
Limited—but not nonexistent.
As one of the men who had led the Uchiha to dominance in the Warring States era, Izuna had long anticipated such possibilities.
"First Squad—attack the Nine-Tails' eyes with Lightning Release! Draw its attention—don't let its head face toward the inner compound!"
"Second Squad—observe carefully! If the Nine-Tails turns its head, immediately use Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld to restrict its movements!"
At his sharp commands, the chaos on the battlefield quickly began to shift.
Though the Nine-Tails' overwhelming power still made the earth quake with every movement, the Uchiha were no longer fighting blindly.
Over a dozen elite Uchiha jōnin—those skilled in Lightning Release—formed hand seals, their chakra surging.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Sphere!"
"Lightning Release: Micro Charge Detonation!"
"Lightning Release: Great Flash!"
...
Dazzling bursts of lightning filled the air, streaking toward the Nine-Tails. These techniques weren't particularly destructive, but they were bright—painfully bright.
Targeting the beast's eyes, the lightning jutsu caused little actual harm, but they made its vision flicker violently.
Several Uchiha grouped together, casting Great Flash in unison.
To the Nine-Tails, it was as if blinding suns were dancing chaotically before its eyes.
Driven purely by instinct and fury, the beast reacted like a puppet pulled by invisible strings, charging toward the flickering lights that provoked it.
"Damn insects!"
The Nine-Tails roared, its nine massive tails whipping around like colossal serpentine whips, lashing straight at the lightning users.
But the Uchiha had kept their distance, and with their Sharingan's heightened perception, they could read the beast's movements.
The Nine-Tails' attacks were powerful but uncoordinated—wild flailing without rhythm or synergy. The sheer scope of its power made its strikes devastating, yet their effectiveness minimal.
And thanks to the Great Flash technique blinding its vision, it couldn't accurately target them.
Seeing the creature's head turned away, Izuna immediately gave the next command.
"Second Squad, prepare to move!"
"Yes, sir!" the twelve shinobi responded in unison.
While the Nine-Tails' attention was fixed forward, another group of Uchiha stealthily maneuvered around the battlefield, using debris and ruins as cover to close in.
Within moments, they reached the beast's flank and began forming hand seals.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
Twelve voices spoke as one.
Earth Release was not a specialty of the Uchiha. Most of their shinobi wielded Fire and Lightning natures, and using a different element consumed more chakra while reducing potency.
However, when multiple users performed the same technique simultaneously, their chakra flows resonated—creating a phenomenon known as Resonance.
Resonance was, in essence, a unity of will.
Satsuki had once pondered a question: why did most shinobi require hand seals to use jutsu, while others could simplify—or even completely bypass—them?
After much contemplation, Satsuki had come to a conclusion: the essence of hand seals was to refine and control chakra with precision—but they were merely a support mechanism, not the true source of power.
It was intent that held dominion. That was why some shinobi needed to perform complex hand seals to cast a jutsu, while others could simply clap their hands and summon their power instantly.
A ninja's will directed chakra of specific attributes; through hand seals, they symbolically guided that will, shaping the chakra's nature and flow, and combining it into a coherent technique.
Thus, when multiple shinobi performed the same jutsu within the same area, their intentions resonated with one another, amplifying their combined chakra output—producing results far greater than the sum of their parts.
Even though few among them actually possessed Earth-nature chakra, the shared focus of their wills created a massive Swamp of the Underworld.
By the time the once-arrogant Nine-Tails realized what was happening, a third of its colossal body had already been swallowed by the churning mire beneath its feet.
Its furious roar shook the heavens.
And in its rage, the beast showed no restraint.
Its jaws opened wide as a vast concentration of chakra surged to its mouth, condensing rapidly into a second Tailed Beast Bomb.
Its target—none other than the Uchiha First Squad, who had kept its attention with their persistent lightning attacks.
But the squad's captain reacted instantly, barking an order for everyone to scatter.
After all, forming a Tailed Beast Bomb wasn't an instantaneous act. Even the Nine-Tails—possessing near-limitless chakra—required a brief charge-up to complete it.
In other words, it wasn't a jutsu that could be unleashed in an instant.
That short window was more than enough for elite Uchiha jōnin to evade.
Unless their luck turned abysmally poor, the odds of being hit were slim.
In truth, a Tailed Beast Bomb was most effective against stationary targets—such as the Uchiha compound itself.
But with its attention fully fixated on the opposite direction, the Nine-Tails failed to realize it had fallen into a calculated trap.
Though the second explosion tore through the battlefield with apocalyptic force, it lacked the devastating impact of the first blast that had nearly obliterated a quarter of the Uchiha territory.
Seeing their strategy working, the Uchiha's morale surged.
"Retsu! Hiko! Kenichi!" Izuna shouted. "Prepare a composite jutsu—give me an opening!"
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"Got it!"
The three Uchiha—peers of Izuna and among the clan's most talented after Madara and himself—moved swiftly into position. Their hand seals blurred in rapid succession, chakra surging in synchronization.
Two of them unleashed their strongest Fire Release techniques:
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song!"
"Fire Release: Great Dust Obscuration!"
The third formed his final seal—辰 (Tatsu). A jutsu ending with that sign could only mean one thing.
"Wind Release: Raging Tempest Net!"