That night, at 1:00 AM.
A hundred Rain jonins gathered in a small cave not far outside the Uzumaki village.
"Move out!" the Amegakure Captain ordered as soon as the appointed time arrived.
"Yes!!!"
After the synchronized response, the Amegakure Captain personally led this large group of ninjas toward the Uzumaki village.
What they didn't know was that right now, a pair of eyes were secretly watching everything happening here.
"I should inform my main body. They've all mobilized," said the owner of these eyes before vanishing into a wisp of white smoke.
Outside the Uzumaki village, over a hundred mysterious figures wearing gray ninja vests were preparing to infiltrate.
"Captain, everyone has assembled."
"Good. Scatter and begin your mission. Remember, try not to alert them."
"Yes!"
As soon as the words faded, grey figures silently slipped into the Uzumaki village from all directions.
After his subordinates entered searching for their targets, the Amegakure Captain carefully jumped onto a rooftop to observe.
Under the moonlight, he could barely make out the nearby buildings.
In such a short time, he couldn't gather any useful information.
"Weird. Do members of the Uzumaki clan really go to sleep this early?" He muttered to himself as he scanned the area cautiously.
The eerie silence in the Uzumaki village gave the Rain Captain a bad feeling.
Every time he had this feeling, danger usually followed.
"The plan shouldn't have leaked. But this instinct has saved me many times before," he hesitated internally. Looking at the house so close yet unknown, he decided to investigate first.
[Creak...] The faint sound of the door opening echoed loudly in the deathly silence of the Uzumaki village.
The Amegakure Captain cracked the door open slightly and slipped inside like a shadow. The pitch-black environment didn't impede his movement much.
After all, he was someone who held the position of captain—his abilities weren't so easily affected by environmental factors.
"No one here? The clothes and beddings are still inside. It doesn't seem like they left in a hurry." With new doubts, he swiftly moved back outside, looking for the next target.
"No one?"
"Not here either?"
"Just as I suspected—completely empty!"
After checking several houses, the Amegakure Captain realized something was wrong.
Remembering that his team probably hadn't reached their positions yet, he immediately pulled out a flare from his pocket and fired it into the night sky.
"Pop!"
A blazing red firework lit up the pitch-black sky with a loud pop.
From the temporary command center, Shen instantly hit the detonator for the bombs surrounding the Uzumaki village.
"It looks like there's still someone sharp in the Rain faction. They actually figured out my trap!"
"Huh...?"
Shūya was completely taken aback by this person's self-satisfied remark.
He glanced over at the composed members of Team One and began to wonder if he had indeed been biased against the Uchiha.
"Uncle Shūya, are you questioning whether you're biased against the Uchiha?"
"Believe me, Shen is just that despicable!" Nawaki seized the opportunity to badmouth him again.
At the same time, he kept insisting his cousin-uncle Jiaolong's judgment was completely flawless.
Just as Shen pressed the switch, continuous explosions at the outskirts of Uzumaki village caused more than a hundred Rain ninjas who were just preparing to execute their plan to simultaneously cry out in despair.
"What's going on? Was our plan exposed? But—" It was unclear which specific Rain ninja he was, but one victim simply became part of Uzumaki village's soil after the explosion.
The Amegakure Captain stood stunned as explosions roared around him and cries for help filled the air.
"Damn it! Where did things go wrong? There must be a traitor among those four villages!"
As he turned to help a surviving comrade caught in the explosion, a bomb buried deep underground suddenly detonated behind him.
"Ahh!"
The intense explosion sent the Amegakure Captain flying into the air. What made it worse was that various ninja tools followed up, injuring him even further.
"Just who the hell is this guy? This kind of power can't possibly come from Explosive Tags!"
While carefully removing ninja tools embedded in different parts of his body, he naturally couldn't believe Uzumaki village alone could set up such large-scale traps.
"The four villages are definitely involved! There's no way the Uzumaki could've prepared all this on their own in such a short time—not with how fast we moved!" His mind raced with thoughts of betrayal and hidden conspiracies.
No one would buy that this was just a coincidence.
As an elite Jonin from Amegakure village with countless battles under his belt, he could confidently say this sophisticated layout must have taken extensive planning.
Probably no one across the shinobi world could imagine someone secretly hiding beneath the ground like this.
Plus, there was someone who could soar through the skies and vanish beneath the earth at will, while another could mimic anyone by sensing their chakra.
"Cough... cough... Seems like I've broken a few ribs plus all these wounds." The captain of Rain ninjas slowly got up, listening to the explosions echoing everywhere, his face immediately showed anguish.
"Damn it! I'll remember this!" As he made his decision internally, he endured the excruciating pain and vanished into the night.
It seems he believed since there was a traitor involved, staying in Uzumaki village for another moment was too risky.
Ten minutes after he left, the endless explosion sounds finally subsided.
But peace was nowhere in sight for Uzumaki village.
"My leg..."
"Hurry and save me! My hand is stuck!"
"Damn these traps!"
"Where is the Captain?"
Various Amegakure ninjas scattered around Uzumaki village cried for help or expressed confusion.
All of them were injured; several severely wounded ones were covered in blood and flesh wounds. More than a few unlucky ones who happened to be at the blast centers suffered so badly they were reduced to meat paste soaking into the soil.
"Hmph," Shen muttered, stepping outside once the explosions ceased. But when he glanced around, he quickly covered his mouth in shock.
The situation at Uzumaki village's outer perimeter was far more brutal than the ruined village in the north of Land of Fire during their previous encounter.
Torn limbs and spilled viscera filled the air with a sickening stench — one no ordinary person could stomach.
Shen, who in his past life had been a 996 office worker, had never seen anything like this before.
He used to live in a world where even traffic accident scenes were blurred. For over thirty years, he had never witnessed such a horrifying sight.
Now, after seeing firsthand the devastation caused by the bomb he had created, he felt physically ill.
Battling nausea, Shen once again fell into confusion: "If just this number of deaths is unbearable, how would the Great Ninja World War truly be like?"
The decision to use weapons doesn't rest with their creators but with those in power. This adult world was full of suspicion.
"Shen, this world works this way. If you don't kill them first, they will kill you," Orochimaru said philosophically as he arrived to inspect the aftermath.
Coming to terms with it all, Shen replied firmly, "Snake Uncle, I'm fine. I know now — peace can only come through bloodshed. I just hope never to see this kind of scene happen to people I care about."
Orochimaru gave a slight smile as he lifted his gaze toward the moon hanging high in the sky.
In that moment, he realized — maybe staying in Team One was the best path forward after all.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
Want to read the subsequent content in advance?
Please follow my Patreon:patreon/Tansnovel
Tans Novel - The Fastest-Updating Naruto Fanfiction Account
Read 100+ chapters in advance, with at least 3 new chapters updated every day! More free chapters! 20+ Naruto fanfictions!
Just three steps:
1. Download and open the "Patreon" app
2. Search for "Tans Novel"
3. Click on the collection and enjoy to your heart's content
<><><><><><><><>