Itachi was still covered in blood, blood from Konoha ninjas.
The scene felt familiar yet unreal, making it hard to believe that ninjas from the same village, a ninja clan from the same village, could kill each other without hesitation.
But in this world, it was all normal, perfectly normal.
The Uchiha Clan was once again at odds with many other ninja clans, but this time, not because of hate.
"History is always like this, war never stops."
Kisame dragged his big sword as he walked over. His clothes were torn and tattered, and even Samehada looked much weaker.
"Too bad, the Uchiha Clan's old enemy, the Senju clan, is gone."
Kisame looked at the messy battlefield, not sure if he was sighing or what.
The battlefield was full of bodies, ninjas, Marines, and even some familiar faces to Itachi.
"Let's go."
Itachi said deeply.
The war had just begun, and they would have more battles to come, and the battles would become more intense.
Unlike others, they had no teammates.
Just like Shisui said at the start, Itachi was completely here to atone for his sins, he could only fight alone.
As for Kisame, he was a bit out of place.
After this battle, the Konoha Allied Forces became more careful. When everyone gathered again, the faces of the important people from several families clearly showed a lack of the ease they had at the beginning.
The realization of any ambition requires a price, and the Konoha families all knew this, but the cost of this payment made them all silent.
"The Inuzuka family... more than one hundred dead or hurt."
An old man said softly. He was one of the Inuzuka family elders, and he had been out of touch with the world for many years.
But with the arrival of the new age and the emergence of the Sage Age and the World Government, the families also dug out all the power they could use.
And these elders were not willing to die like this.
But this time the losses were a bit too great.
Simply put, the loss of over a hundred people doesn't seem like a big deal.
But if those one hundred Inuzuka clan ninjas were described differently, it would be like over one hundred Marine officers being dead or hurt.
And this was just a part of the loss.
"Our Aburame clan also has over twenty dead or hurt."
Aburame Shibi said, he was the Aburame clan leader, and even he felt the pain of such losses.
"The Hyuga clan has over thirty dead or hurt..."
Hyuga Hiashi's face wasn't looking good either. He didn't expect the Uchiha Clan's battle power to be so strong, and he didn't expect to be attacked by pirates.
"The Nara clan, Yamanaka clan, and Akimichi clan have a total of over fifty dead or hurt..."
Shikaku also spoke. He didn't expect the Inuzuka family's losses to be so great; even the Inuzuka family leader had died.
They were all considered major Konoha families, but they couldn't handle this kind of sacrifice.
"Damn Uchiha Clan, those damned Uchiha."
"Just like in the Warring States Period, those people should have died in the Warring States Period."
Several old men were angry. No matter how much they practiced self-cultivation, they couldn't accept such a blow, losing so many younger members in an instant.
"The Uchiha Clan still can't be changed..."
"Enough."
Shikaku stood out, his eyes looking unkindly at the elders of the families.
"The family leaders stay, everyone else, leave!"
Shikaku didn't leave any face for the others when he said this; you could even say he didn't take those elders seriously at all.
"Shikaku, you..."
"The Nara family, what a big mouth!"
"Kid, this old man is older than the Third Hokage, you can't compare to me in terms of experience and contributions to the village."
"..."
Seeing that Shikaku wasn't giving them any face, the elders of the families stood up as well.
Even the elders of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio looked at Shikaku with some unkindness.
The family leader is not the only person in charge of the family; Shikaku's words were too disrespectful to others.
And to be honest, the reason why the families came here was for their families, right? When did it become the family leader's sole decision?
"Since you elders have made so many contributions and lived for so long, I'd also like to ask, how much Sage blood have you stained your hands with?"
"I hope you understand the purpose of coming here, and I hope you can understand the matter between ninjas and Sages. Everything requires a price. Now that the families have chosen a direction, don't talk nonsense here. Everything we do doesn't need any whitewashing, everything we do is for ourselves, and there's no great justice involved. As for the final result, you just need to know..."
"Shikaku, enough!"
Aburame Shibi spoke at this time. The Aburame clan, which had always been silent, spoke up at this time, stopping Shikaku from continuing.
Ten years ago, they were the generation that most desired change, and at that time, they were the most trusted people around the Fourth Hokage.
They were also the strongest supporters of the Fourth Hokage.
But... so what? What could they do in the face of the power of the families?
"Elders, all of you, please leave!"
"How about giving the Fourth Hokage some face, and also giving the Uzumaki Clan some face?"
Aburame Shibi's face was terribly gloomy.
On that night more than ten years ago, none of the families took action, and even they were held back, unable to act.
In their view, Minato Namikaze was fully capable of resolving the Nine-Tails chaos, and they had absolute confidence in Minato's strength.
But it was this confidence that turned into self-blame.
Everyone is aware of some things, but under normal circumstances, no one would bring these things up.
But at this time, Aburame Shibi didn't give anyone face, didn't give anyone any face at all.
He completely exposed the ugly side hidden beneath the glamorous exterior of the families.
Even now, the major figures were still leaving themselves a way out, linking some people with Naruto.
The reason was simple: because Naruto was a member of the Uzumaki Clan, that's all.
But Aburame Shibi's words also reminded everyone that Naruto was not only a member of the Uzumaki Clan, but also the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
Shamelessness is okay, but this level of shamelessness is too much.
"This old man only hopes that my Inuzuka clan can survive well; that's enough."
The Inuzuka family elder stood up and slowly walked out.
The Inuzuka family was hurt too badly this time.
They had only just arrived on the Red Line before directly facing the powerful Uchiha Clan member, "Indra", who shone brightly on the East Sea battlefield: Uchiha Itachi.
As the Inuzuka family elder stood up, the elders of the other families were embarrassed to stay any longer.
Aburame Shibi's words really didn't leave any face at all.
Of course, for them, they more or less felt that the Uchiha Clan was crazy.
They were still fighting to the death at this time.
For the Konoha ninja clans, not to mention anything else, just the many secret technique research scrolls they got from the World Government had allowed their family Ninjutsu to improve in various ways.
Not to mention the power that the families now held in their hands, an ordinary ninja could become a Marine officer, and after that, they even had the hope of becoming high and mighty World Nobles and Sages.
As for the things hidden in the "Poneglyph" between ninjas and Sages, those were things of the past.
Besides, no history can really prove those things, so they wouldn't care.
On the other side, after the elders of the families left, the family leaders of the major ninja clans, led by Shikaku, sat down.
Shikaku's emotions were also complicated, but he still spoke.
"This time, the appearance of the Uchiha Clan is the biggest change."
"The Uchiha Clan now has two strong people: one is Uchiha Itachi, and the other is the famous Uchiha Shisui, the second-in-command of the Red Hair Pirates."
"But unlike the Warring States Period, this is a new era, and besides, the Uchiha Clan's old enemy, the Senju clan, is almost gone."
Shikaku looked at everyone.
The wheel of history had rolled back again.
But the arrogant Uchiha Clan that couldn't stand any ninja clan in the past was gone.
The current Uchiha Clan was more like the Senju clan of the past.
They didn't do anything, but pirates naturally gathered around them and became their companions.
And on this side, the Konoha families' allied forces were completely a group tied together by interests.
But... Shikaku had to do this.
He couldn't let his family's children become pirates.
The ninja clans needed a more stable future, and becoming World Nobles was the best and most stable path.
But seeing Aburame Shibi wearing sunglasses, Shikaku felt for the first time that he couldn't see through the person in front of him.
It seemed that the identity of a World Noble wasn't that important to the guy wearing sunglasses.
However, whether this path was right or wrong, they had to take it to find out.
"Next, prepare to deal with Uchiha Itachi's attack; also, wait for weapon support from the World Government."
"Minimize losses; also, the Devil Fruits left on the battlefield can be given to trustworthy Marines."
"There's no place better to improve combat power than the battlefield; keeping your own family's strength is the most important thing."
After Shikaku finished speaking, he revised the battle plan again, being more careful this time.
Soon after, the battle report from Konoha was sent back, but this was just a small incident on the Red Line.
Not that the Red Line was too big, but... the New World was too big. Compared to the disaster brought by Orochimaru, Konoha's incident was truly a small one.
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