Even though most of Konoha's combat strength had been deployed to fight the Akatsuki, there were still many forces within the village that could not be ignored. Unlike the original timeline when Danzō was still alive and the major clans acted independently, the situation was very different now.
Thanks to the military merit system and various measures left behind by Hoshiyomi, once the invasion of Konoha began, all the major clans dispatched their elites to resist the foreign invaders.
On the one hand, there were rewards to be gained after the war. On the other, any clan that chose to stand by and watch would inevitably be held accountable afterward by Minato and the others. With Konoha's current overwhelming power, only someone completely out of their mind would dare to let the village fall into chaos.
The four great clans—the Hyūga, Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki—each sent out their core members to battle the rampaging giant summoning beasts. At the same time, the "Rookies" also took the initiative, spontaneously forming teams to either fight the summoning beasts or join medical squads to actively treat the wounded.
However, because the Animal Path was simply too adept at summoning, the situation still wasn't brought under control right away.
Just as many began to feel that the lack of a central figure was preventing proper coordination, two figures appeared almost simultaneously.
One raised a Adamantine Staff high and smashed it down hard onto a rampaging Giant Ox. The other delivered a simple yet brutal kick straight into the head of a Giant Centipede.
With two dull crashes, the enormous summoning beasts let out miserable cries and collapsed on the spot.
The sheer spectacle left everyone present momentarily stunned. After a brief pause, they finally recognized the identities of the two figures who had descended like divine soldiers.
Who else could they be but Tsunade and Hiruzen?
"Ah, so it's the old man. It must be hard on you to be out here swinging that stick at your age."
Flicking off the centipede's fluids splashed onto her calves with visible disgust, Tsunade called out to Hiruzen, who was panting slightly after knocking down the giant bull.
Seeing Tsunade's youthful appearance, Hiruzen couldn't help but give a wry smile.
"I really am getting old. I can't compare to you or Hoshiyomi anymore—just dealing with a beast like this already leaves me feeling drained."
Hearing that, Tsunade felt an inexplicable sense of nostalgia. But just then, Rinne and Ryūshin suddenly darted out beside her.
"Mom, you should really look at what's happening right now. This isn't the time to reminisce. The top priority is to find the guy summoning these beasts and take him out one by one."
"Oh—right, you're absolutely right."
Tsunade snapped back to her senses belatedly. Seeing her mother's look of sudden realization, Ryūshin instinctively glanced at his sister, who was crouched nearby, poking curiously at the massive fallen bull.
My sister's airheadedness definitely comes from genetics.
Hiruzen, on the other hand, was quite pleased with Ryūshin's words.
"So these are Ryūshin and Rinne? Time really flies—you've both already grown into shinobi capable of standing on your own. You're right. Continuing to fight the summoning beasts like this isn't a solution. The most urgent task is to find the one controlling them."
As he spoke, Hiruzen turned to the members of the Hyūga clan watching nearby.
"To locate that person, we'll need the Hyūga and Uzumaki clans. As for the Senju and Uchiha, I'll have to trouble you to continue helping us deal with these summoning beasts."
At his words, the members of the four great clans exchanged glances and nodded in unison. Seeing this, Ryūshin also spoke to Tsunade:
"Mom, my sister and I won't be able to contribute much here. We'll go with the Uzumaki uncles to find the caster."
Compared to Hoshiyomi, Tsunade—as a mother—had a much clearer understanding of her children's strength. Her son and daughter were far stronger than she had been at the same age.
Moreover, since she had often taken them to visit Kushina over the years, most of the Uzumaki clan already knew who they were. Following the Uzumaki shinobi, they would surely be well protected—there was nothing for her to worry about.
With that thought, Tsunade didn't hesitate. She nodded and let the siblings leave with the Senju clan members.
Ryūshin and Rinne followed the members of the Uzumaki clan as they searched throughout Konoha for the whereabouts of the Animal Path. Although Ryūshin's intelligence wasn't as absurdly high as Shikamaru's, it was still well above average. In order to track down the Animal Path, he raised his hand and summoned Garuru.
Because Garuru's size was more suitable for operating within Konoha—and because he was equipped with alloy armor designed by Orochimaru—Hoshiyomi had specifically assigned him to protect the two children. As a result, Garuru was also the first to respond to Ryūshin's summons.
After listening to Ryūshin's description, Garuru sniffed the hide of the ox Ryūshin had prepared. Just as he was about to search for similar scents on the fur, his expression suddenly changed and he spoke to Ryūshin:
"The matter of the caster aside, I just caught a familiar scent."
"Whose scent?" Ryūshin asked.
Steel Garuru spoke seriously, uttering a name Ryūshin didn't expect:
"Hanabi."
...
In a small alley not far from the Hyūga compound, Hanabi was struggling desperately, her face filled with terror.
Her thinking had been similar to Ryūshin's. As the second young lady of the Hyūga clan and someone with a strong sense of justice, Hanabi wanted to rely on her own strength to find the villain who had summoned those monstrous creatures.
After a thorough search using her Byakugan, she actually did stumble upon one of the Paths of Pain.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the Animal Path—it was the Human Path.
Hanabi had originally planned to secretly tail the Human Path and then quietly gather Hyūga clan members to deal with him together.
But she never expected the Human Path's perception to be so sharp. Before she could make a move, he discovered her, steadily forcing her into this dead-end alley.
Feeling the iron-clamp-like grip tightening around her throat, Hanabi was gradually sinking into despair. This enemy's strength far exceeded her imagination. What she found even harder to understand was that he wasn't afraid of Gentle Fist at all.
She had clearly landed a full set of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms on him, yet his chakra hadn't been sealed in the slightest. He continued to move as if nothing had happened—while she, instead, had been seized by the throat.
"There's nowhere left to run."
Looking at Hanabi's fear-filled face, the Human Path revealed a cruel smile. He intended to thoroughly examine the soul of this well-dressed Hyūga girl and see whether it contained any valuable information.
As the strange purple light began to glow in his hand, Hanabi's vision grew increasingly blurred. She kicked at him with all her remaining strength, but it was completely useless.
Watching that large hand move closer, Hanabi instinctively closed her eyes.
Was everything about to end?
In the final moments of her life, countless faces flashed through her mind—her father and mother, her sister, Brother Neji, Lord Hoshiyomi, little Rinne, and… that cold, lazy-looking Ryūshin.
Thinking of that face that always seemed perpetually unmotivated, Hanabi unexpectedly felt a sense of regret.
In the end, I didn't make it in time? If only I had been a little braver before...
...
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