Winter had not yet departed, and spring had not arrived.
On the northwest border of the Land of Fire, there was neither snow nor blossoms—only desolate yellow earth.
Under the setting sun, two men clad in black cloaks embroidered with red clouds slowly approached from the horizon.
They wore bell-adorned straw hats, bore similar rings, and had vividly painted fingernails, giving them an eerie, mysterious aura.
The bells on their hats jingled softly as they swayed in the wind.
Biwa Juzo suddenly said, "Mr. Cold, Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru replied calmly, "Dan blade, Biwa Juzo!"
Biwa Juzo continued, "I suppose introductions are unnecessary. Although we've never fought before, most of your information has already been recorded in Mist's ninja handbook."
Orochimaru added, "Konoha has also carefully collected intel about you, Mr. Juzo!"
Nodding slightly, Biwa Juzo asked, "Before beginning our mission, should we devise a tactic?"
Orochimaru responded, "By all means."
"You're being surprisingly polite today, Mr. Cold!" Biwa Juzo remarked. "You take initiative—use any ninjutsu or kinjutsu you like—to break through Konoha outpost's barrier formation. Then I will charge forward and break through the Leaf ninja formations surrounding them, while you back me up from behind. This is Plan B."
Orochimaru looked at Biwa Juzo with his amber-colored vertical pupils and asked, "And Plan A?"
Biwa Juzo replied, "Each goes our own way, just fight randomly!"
Orochimaru answered simply, "Got it!"
After walking for a while longer, Biwa Juzo asked, "As a rogue ninja from Konoha, do you know who else might be problematic in this mission? Besides well-known shinobi like Fugaku Uchiha and Shikaku Nara."
Orochimaru turned around in slight surprise to look at Biwa Juzo.
Biwa explained, "Because of one obscure genin of yours, the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist were reduced to only three members. Who would've thought that guy with the scruffy beard could wield such powerful techniques? Since then, I've learned that strength isn't necessarily tied to reputation."
"Might Duy?" Orochimaru murmured.
After a beat, he said, "Other than The Third, currently in the village, there's only one other young man with a rather fearsome reputation—someone you probably already know."
"A young guy with a button nose... Could it be Shisui the Teleporting Flash? He once appeared on the battlefield in Mist," Biwa Juzo said warily.
Orochimaru nodded, then added, "One last word of caution for you."
Biwa Juzo asked, "What is it?"
Orochimaru spoke in a low, slow tone: "Never look into the eyes of the Uchiha!"
Hearing this, Biwa Juzo solemnly nodded.
The two walked onward when suddenly, a ninja wearing red inner clothing and a yellow vest emerged from behind a nearby rock, handing them a sealed letter.
"From Akatsuki organization? This is the intelligence provided by Elder Kitsuchi for you."
...
With the strong operational efficiency of numerous jonin, Konoha's outpost expanded into a large military camp within just three days.
When the camp was completed, Inabi also arrived at the northwest border with the main reinforcements.
Fugaku stood at the gate of the camp and happily stepped forward to pat Inabi on the shoulder.
"Inabi, you actually arrived a full day earlier than expected with your team!"
Inabi chuckled, "Mission accomplished! When I heard Leader Fugaku led the surprise attack to victory, I urged my squad to quicken their pace. Otherwise, it would've been troublesome if the Rock Ninja had retreated safely to Iwagakure."
Knowing Fugaku now held the position of Commander at Konoha's Northwest Border, Inabi abandoned his former way of addressing him.
Fugaku gave Inabi an appreciative glance. Although Inabi didn't possess Shisui's combat strength, his interpersonal skills surpassed Shisui's by far. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become the Captain of the Patrol Officer Unit in the Police Force at such a young age.
Fugaku asked Inoichi to arrange for someone to escort everyone to dine and rest, then led Inabi, Tetsuka, and others toward the central tent.
While inquiring about the reinforcement unit's situation, Aozora sat beside Tetsuka and asked, "Besides you two brothers, who else among our acquaintances came?"
Aozora mostly stuck to strategy and hadn't really bothered with keeping track of who was assigned where.
Tetsuka replied, "Besides Inabi, Shuichi, Shin'ya, Genya, and Kagenbi also came. As for other clan members, you probably wouldn't recognize anyone since you've been staying at home all day."
"Hehe—," Aozora sneered slightly, "I still remember Junping, Hidemi, Mukashi, Ryoichi..."
Tetsuka facepalmed, "Don't mention your opponents from the instructor election contest."
Counting on his fingers, Aozora continued, "Then there's Kintai, Aoki, Iron Blue..."
"Alright, no more names please."
Tetsuka was defeated by Aozora's shamelessness, "Fine, I admit you know many clan members. However, none of them came this time. Except for my brother, Clan Leader didn't summon any clan member who awakened the Three Tomoe. Everyone sent here were promising young talents from the clan."
Nodding understandingly, Aozora guessed Fugaku must've taken his advice into consideration.
One reason was to train the clan's outstanding juniors, while another likely reason was preventing other Uchiha from stealing his spotlight.
After chatting for a while, Fugaku spoke to everyone, "Thank you all for your hard work. Rest well today, get some rest and recharge. Tomorrow we'll engage Iwagakure in decisive battle and seize their camp!"
This campaign aimed to achieve great merit. Simply scoring a surprise victory against Iwagakure wouldn't satisfy Fugaku's ambitions.
After the meeting, everyone returned to their respective tents. However, Inabi, Tetsuka, Genya, Kagenbi, Shuichi, and Shin'ya gathered together to find Aozora.
The tent proved too small, so Aozora and the others sat around a bonfire.
After briefly talking about their trip with the reinforcements, Inabi and the others eagerly questioned Aozora about the details of the surprise attack.
Among these six men, only Inabi, serving as Captain of the Patrol Officer Unit within the Police Force, held the rank of Jonin. Even Tetsuka merely possessed the rank of Special-Jonin, while the rest were all Chunin.
Since Inabi needed to impersonate "Fugaku" and lead the group, none of the six participated in the surprise attack against Iwagakure.
Genya excitedly said, "Aozora, quickly tell us about that surprise attack three days ago!"
Tetsuka added, "83 people launching a surprise attack on Iwagakure's main camp—it sounds so thrilling! Share all the details with us."
Others immediately turned their gazes toward Aozora, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Seeing this, Aozora could only shrug and say, "Alright!"
"On that day, 83 of Konoha's most elite Jonin secretly infiltrated to approximately five hundred meters away from Iwagakure's main camp."
At that time, our front had already been illuminated by the enemy's lights, filled with barriers and traps. So the clan leader made a decisive call and ordered us to unleash composite ninjutsu attacks on Iwagakure's main camp.
As the most proficient in Yakton among the 83 jonin, it was only natural for the clan leader to place me in charge of leading this joint technique."
Upon hearing this, several people couldn't help but look at Aozora skeptically, since they hadn't seen him demonstrate Yakton before.
Aozora shook his head and said, "You giving me that look really pisses me off. You've actually doubted me! Just look!"
As he spoke, orange fire-type chakra gathered in Aozora's hands, instantly raising the temperature and making all six people around him feel unbearably hot.
Inabi, being well-versed, immediately said, "You've actually mastered Yakton?"
Yakton as opposed to ordinary Fire Release was like Tarui's Black Lightning compared to normal Lightning Release—not a Kekkei Genkai, but rather the ultimate form of Fire Release. It was believed that one needed complete mastery over Nature Transformation of Fire Chakra to control Yakton.
Different people manifested Yakton differently; some had black flames while others had blue ones, each unique. The only commonality was that Yakton chakra resembled magma—thick and intensely hot.
After Inabi's explanation, even Shuichi, who focused solely on swordsmanship, couldn't help but respect Aozora a bit more.
The younger generation had surpassed them far beyond expectations. Even those once called prodigies now felt immense pressure.
Seeing the determination and stress in these young warriors, Aozora secretly nodded in approval.
Fugaku wanted to temper them, and Aozora also wished for the clan to grow stronger. Of all the clan members Aozora had met, these six stood out both in strength and character, and Aozora hoped they would become even more ambitious.
Of course, revealing his mastery of Yakton was mainly because he could no longer hide it, though Aozora did want to show off slightly first.
After withdrawing his Yakton chakra, he continued explaining what happened next during the surprise attack.
However, everyone remained immersed in amazement regarding Aozora's Yakton until they heard how Aozora and two others covered the retreat, finally snapping Inabi and the rest back into focus.
[Hikaku] Causing hundreds of Rock Ninja to fall under genjutsu and freeze completely immobile at a single glance?" Homura exclaimed in disbelief.
Genjutsu generally falls into two categories: one used chakra to alter the surrounding environment and confuse an opponent's five senses, while the other pulled the enemy into a world constructed by the caster.
The former type could affect hundreds or even thousands simultaneously and was represented by techniques like the Nirvana Inn Technique. However, this category was easily detectable, with the counter being simply disrupting one's own chakra flow.
The latter target just one individual and was best represented by the Uchiha Clan's dojutsu [clan-specific eye techniques]. With this kind, even if you realized you'd been caught, unless your spirit exceeded that of the caster, you could only patiently wait for someone else to disrupt your chakra flow to break free.
Clearly, Fugaku's genjutsu belonged to neither category or skillfully combined the advantages of both while eliminating their drawbacks.
Although Aozora explained that Fugaku had controlled the pursuing Rock Ninja for only a moment, Homura still thought Aozora exaggerated.
Others like Shuichi and Hikaku also found it hard to believe—if what Aozora claimed were true, then against Fugaku they too would have no choice but to surrender helplessly.
Although they respected Fugaku, they didn't believe that as fellow Uchiha, they lacked the ability to even fight him.
Aozora said calmly, "Mangekyou."
"Mangekyou?"
"Mangekyou!"
...
Suddenly, everyone got it—and went quiet. If it were Mangekyou, everything made sense.
It had been decades since any Uchiha awakened the Mangekyou. For them, the Mangekyou was merely legend.
As for its abilities, they just figured it was stronger than the Three Tomoe, though they didn't really understand what that meant.
Now hearing that Fugaku had frozen hundreds of Iwa ninja with a single glance, they couldn't believe it—like something out of a dream.
After a long while, everyone finally regained their senses.
Aozora looked around at them and asked, "You know why I'm telling you all this?"
Inabi and others gazed at Aozora in shock. For a moment, they forgot their age and rank. They were just students again, hanging onto every word.
"Can't you all see? This is truly our Uchiha clan's chance to rise again!"
While everyone stared at Aozora in astonishment, he continued, "Our clan now has rising talents—someone has awakened the long-dormant Mangekyou. Ordinary Body Flicker Technique has evolved into [Phantom Clone Technique], and Fire Release has advanced into [Yakton]..."
Inabi and others silently lowered their heads in thought. Indeed, this generation of Uchiha was the strongest since Madara Uchiha's defection.
"The Clan Leader handpicked only the best young warriors—obviously hoping to toughen you up through war. All I'm saying is—Jonin isn't the ceiling! There's no end to the path of the ninja. We need to aim high and keep pushing forward.
Back when the Uchiha were at their peak before, all anyone remembered were Madara and Izuna. Others were just known as 'Uchiha clan members.' Now, as the Uchiha rise toward greatness once more, don't you want people to remember *you* by name?"
After speaking, Aozora quietly left from beside the bonfire and returned to his tent to rest.
Meanwhile, Inabi and the others sat by the bonfire in deep thought for quite some time before bidding each other goodnight and returning to their tents.
The next day, dawn slowly unveiled its brilliance.
All the ninja in Konoha's main camp had already risen, fully dressed and equipped with all their ninja tools, ready for action.
Fugaku himself had come out personally, standing grim-faced before the ninja force, loudly issuing orders and assigning tasks.
At this moment, Konoha's second batch of Jonin hadn't yet departed, but reinforcements had already arrived. Iwagakure's supporting forces, however, remained nowhere in sight—the perfect opportunity for Konoha to crush Iwagakure's main camp.
Fugaku declared, "Today, we shall destroy Iwagakure's camp and let them learn exactly how formidable Konoha ninja are!"
The assembled Konoha ninja shouted in agreement.
"Crush Iwagakure's main camp!"
"Crush Iwagakure's main camp!"
"Crush Iwagakure's main camp!"
...
Seeing morale high and usable, Fugaku raised his arm decisively and commanded, "Move out!"
Aozora softly warned, "Clan Leader, please be careful. Our large-scale movement cannot be hidden; Kitsuchi must have prepared countermeasures. If we fail to breach Iwagakure's main camp, don't insist on forcing it."
Fugaku nodded and said, "Today, I'll trouble you all to guard the camp."
Originally there were 45 jonin at Konoha's outpost, but with 9 seriously injured and 4 additional jonin coming from the Reinforcements, there remained a total of 40 available jonin in Konoha's main camp. Fugaku deployed 34 jonin for the attack on Iwagakure, with 6 remaining to defend the main camp.
Aozora thumped his chest proudly. "Don't worry! With us here, this camp will be an impregnable fortress."
Inabi and the other jonin nodded in agreement, though Inabi's face showed helplessness and frustration.
In his opinion, Fugaku's forces vastly outnumbered the enemy—there was practically no chance Iwagakure could retaliate. Sitting here guarding the base was meaningless work.
After assigning four other jonin to patrol the perimeter, Inabi let out a bitter laugh and complained, "First I led the main force, now I'm stuck guarding the camp again. Why do I always end up stuck with support work? Am I really weaker than the others that I keep getting assigned these roles?"
Aozora chuckled. "Isn't it because our clan leader trusts you? Also, you're the one who brought all these ninja here—you're naturally better suited to command them. Just wait, everything will sort itself out soon enough."
Inabi sighed, "I just hope Iwagakure doesn't fall too easily today."
Aozora replied, "Actually, I hope they do fall today!"
Inabi shook his head; he had said that without thinking just now. Whether as a Konoha ninja or as an Uchiha, he should wish for Fugaku's victory.
Afterward, Aozora and Inabi returned to the central headquarters.
As Konoha's ninja army marched past, raising clouds of dust, animals across the Kitsuchi Prairie scattered in panic.
In a cave far away from Konoha's main camp, a mud snake emerged from the ground and crawled beneath Orochimaru's black cloak.
Orochimaru's vertical pupils gleamed dangerously as he declared, "Time to act!"
Biwa Juzo, mid-polishing his massive blade, nodded slightly. With one smooth motion, he sheathed the sword across his back.
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