After sheathing his blades, Gekkō Hoshiyomi turned and searched Monzaemon's headless corpse, finding the antidote hidden in a secret pocket of his clothes.
He pulled out the antidote and fed it to Uzumaki Masahiko. After a few moments, Masahiko began to recover. The resilience of the Uzumaki bloodline truly was astounding — ordinary people poisoned like this would need half a day of rest just to walk again.
But Masahiko was already on his feet within half an hour of taking the antidote. Seeing he could move again, Hoshiyomi glanced down at the time.
The battle with Monzaemon had already eaten up quite a bit of time, and now, with another half-hour spent helping Masahiko recover, it was nearly 5:10 PM, just as planned.
In the distance, the sudden sound of cheering erupted.
Hoshiyomi understood immediately — Tsunade's group must've made a move, and the Uzumaki survivors mistook it for the arrival of reinforcements. That was the cause of their joyous outcry.
Perfect timing.
Supporting Masahiko, Hoshiyomi swam a distance away. After ensuring neither of them would be caught in the explosion, Hoshiyomi checked the time again. It was exactly 5:10 PM.
He formed a hand seal and smirked with a trace of wicked glee.
"Art... is an explosion!"
The moment his voice fell, explosive tags hidden beneath the hulls of the four enemy ships turned bright red — and detonated with thunderous blasts, sending massive waves splashing into the air.
Neither Hoshiyomi nor Masahiko turned to look back.
After all — a real man never looks back at explosions.
The two exchanged a glance and began swimming fast toward Tsunade and the others.
The Land of Whirlpools was just a small island nation. To the Uzumaki clan, with their few thousand members, it felt spacious — but in truth, it was about the same size as Konohagakure.
After roughly half an hour of swimming, Hoshiyomi and Masahiko reached the location where Tsunade's group had landed. Without wasting time, they sprinted toward the Uzumaki Clan's ancestral shrine.
Let's rewind the clock back to 5:00 PM.
At the Great Shrine in Uzushiogakure.
The shrine in Uzushiogakure was the resting place of generations of ancestors, making it the most sacred and important location in the village. Thanks to continuous maintenance by the Uzumaki people, its defensive structures were far stronger than the nation's outer walls.
Even though the village's outer sealing formation had been broken the morning before, the Uzumaki still relied on their moderate strength and superior numbers to defend the shrine with everything they had.
"Clan Head Ashina, the front gates won't hold much longer! ore than half of our young and strong have been killed by incoming ninjutsu. I fear the gate won't hold for another half hour!
Ashina replied solemnly:
"Masahiko's gone to Konoha for help. Even moving fast, the round trip will take at least two and a half days. No matter what happens, we must hold until noon."
"We'll reassess then. If reinforcements still haven't come by evening, we'll evacuate the women and children first."
Ashina leapt up onto the battlements and called out:
"Everyone, just hold on a little longer! Reinforcements should arrive soon!"
His words were bold and spirited, but they had little effect. The air among the Uzumaki was heavy — they'd heard the same speech three or four times already, but no help had ever come. A quiet despair was settling in.
Another wave of ninjutsu slammed into the gates. The remaining defenders did all they could, but several more clan members were struck down screaming.
Even the shrine's sturdy front gate was beginning to crack. It wouldn't hold much longer.
Ashina's brow furrowed into a deep crease. Still no word from the advance team. Could it be… Konoha really had abandoned them?
He cursed himself for not listening to Mito. If only he'd moved the clan closer to the Land of Fire years ago. Even if they had lived under judgmental stares, it would've been better than this — facing total annihilation.
He thought to himself bitterly:
If I had one more chance, I would choose relocation without hesitation.
Just as he sank into regret, a clan member suddenly said:
"Hey… did you hear something in the distance?"
No one paid attention. Everyone was too exhausted — or assumed he was imagining things.
Ashina chuckled bitterly. Had the pressure grown so intense that his people were starting to hallucinate?
But then — he heard it too.
A rumbling. A low tremor echoing through the ground.
Wait… could that really be the sound of a large force approaching?
He dropped to the ground, no longer caring about appearances, and pressed his ear to the dirt.
There it was. A sound. Getting closer.
Ashina's eyes went wide.
Hope. Real hope. Reinforcements were coming!
"Everyone! Hold the line! Reinforcements are really on the way!"
This time, the words struck like lightning.
The despondent Uzumaki fighters lit up, shouting with renewed energy. Faced with incoming jutsu and kunai, their defense tightened with fierce determination.
Moments earlier, they were resigned to death. But now — with the sound of salvation behind them — they burned with the will to live.
Outside the Shrine, the allied shinobi forces heard the cheers from within the Uzumaki clan members, and their faces all changed.
Could Konoha's reinforcements truly have arrived?
The jōnin from each village turned to their own elders. Though they were technically allies, this was in name only. Each group had simply agreed not to attack one another while they fought the Uzumaki.
During the earlier clash over the Uzumaki's outer archive vault, they had already come to blows — nearly breaking the alliance right then and there. The only thing holding them together was the elders' discipline.
Since then, tensions had only worsened. Each village's shinobi kept to their own groups, launching attacks using a single element — no coordination, no teamwork.
Had they been as unified as in the Fourth Great Shinobi War, they would have already taken Land of Whirlpools by now.
But now — reality hit hard.
The Hidden Mist elder was most familiar with matters at sea. When he heard that Konoha's reinforcements were approaching from the distance, his face stiffened, and he quickly spoke:
"Send scouts to the shore—check on the ships. If something's happened to them… we're doomed!"
Hearing this, the Hidden Mist shinobi were startled. Many immediately ran towards the shore. The Hidden Mist elder then addressed the elders of the other three villages:
"You'd better send people too. If Konoha really sent a team to sabotage the ships, we're all screwed."
None of the other village elders dared take that lightly. They quickly ordered scouts of their own to check the situation.
With that, the siege on the shrine immediately weakened, as their forces split and shifted.
Less than ten minutes later, the scouts came back — their faces like they'd seen ghosts.
"Elder… the ships… the ships were all sunk by Konoha shinobi!"
The look in their eyes was pure despair.
Meanwhile, Tsunade's group finally arrived at the Uzumaki shrine, and began explaining everything to Ashina — how they'd infiltrated, the sabotage, and how reinforcements had been coordinated.