A Hyuga shinobi from the Rat Squad spotted the target three kilometers away—Senju Haku.
"Captain! Target in sight!"
Behind his mask, the Rat Captain's eyes sharpened. "We're only a few kilometers from command. We can't alert Senju Nawaki. We must stop Senju Haku here!"
All three squads of the Rat Unit moved swiftly toward Senju Haku.
With enemies chasing from the front and blocking from behind,Senju Haku pulled out a secret pill.
It was a special Akimichi secret pill, gifted to him by a fallen Akimichi comrade.
Once consumed, the pill would burn the user's flesh and blood to rapidly produce a massive amount of chakra. But if the user couldn't control the reaction, they would die from the violent extraction.
With nothing left to lose, Senju Haku swallowed the fiery capsule with the resolve of a man ready to die.
Every cell in his body screamed as he wrung out every last drop of potential from his flesh.
His chakra surged wildly.
Before the ANBU closed in on him, he unleashed one final jutsu.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
A massive surge of water erupted around Senju Haku like a fountain.
The Rat Captain, now close enough to witness it firsthand, was stunned. Haku's strength far exceeded what the intel had suggested. He quickly braced himself.
He knew full well he couldn't withstand that scale of Water Style.
Still, the Rat Captain didn't back down. Even if it meant death, he couldn't allow Senju Haku to get anywhere near the command post.
"Earth Style: Earth-Flow Wall!"
A wall of earth rose before him.
Behind Senju Haku, in the distance, the Yellow Dog Unit Captain had already entered the field of vision.
But the Water Dragon wasn't targeting the Rat Captain at all.
It shot toward the sky.
The dragon curved ever so slightly, shaking subtly as it rocketed almost perfectly straight into the clouds.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, the massive column of water was strikingly conspicuous.
Even though he was still 200 meters away, the Yellow Dog Captain felt an ominous chill.
"Fire Style: Great Blaze Bullet!"
A massive fireball streaked across more than 200 meters, soaring toward the airborne Water Dragon Bullet.
Watching from the side, Yako whistled quietly. 'That's one hell of a Fire Style—ridiculous range.'
But it was just a few seconds too slow.
The flame smashed into the lower half of the dragon.
The Water Dragon Bullet exploded in midair, spraying outwards in all directions.
Several smaller water dragons split off from the explosion, forming a clan emblem in the sky—a crest of the Senju Clan.
Even someone as mentally steadfast as the Yellow Dog Captain froze in place, overcome with unease.
The others continued rushing toward the airborne signal.
Inside the command tent, Senju Nawaki—currently sparring with his teacher Orochimaru—suddenly turned his head in confusion.
He saw the Senju crest blazing in the sky above.
"That's a Senju distress signal! We're under attack! Iwagakure's forces are already this close!"
The moment Nawaki shouted, he leapt into the air and vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. Even if it was an emergency, why use the old, obscure Senju signal instead of the standard Konoha distress flare?
Since the founding of Konoha, the Senju clan's signal hadn't been used in decades.
Still, sticking to his educational philosophy, Orochimaru followed Nawaki from a moderate distance.
Nawaki was a prodigy, and Orochimaru wanted him to develop independent judgment from the very beginning of his ninja path.
His role was to analyze mistakes with Nawaki—not prevent them altogether.
Intervening in every step would never produce a successor who could surpass the master.
And Nawaki wasn't the only one who left the base. Other Senju shinobi, upon seeing the skyborne crest, charged out in a panic.
Watching the signal crest dissolve in the sky, the Yellow Dog Captain turned to speak."Fox! Take your team and tail Nawaki. Don't stop him for now—just keep watch."
Yako nodded and disappeared with his squad.
Having completed his mission, Senju Haku let the waters crash back to earth.
The resulting surge turned the surroundings into a localized flood zone.Senju Haku, too, was submerged.
Amid the waves, the Rat Captain's blade plunged into Haku's chest.
Even he was surprised by how easy it was.
As the water dispersed, he saw what was left—Senju Haku's body, veins ruptured, shriveled like a skeleton.
His skin had torn under the pressure of exploding blood vessels, clinging grotesquely to bone.He no longer looked human.
One or two minutes later, Konoha shinobi arrived from the forward command base.
They found several ANBU... and a single corpse on the ground.
Senju Nawaki stepped forward, staring at the body.
The corpse wore a Kirigakure forehead protector. Its body had been scorched beyond recognition—charred into a blackened, oblong shape.
Seeing Nawaki's confused expression, the Yellow Dog Captain explained:
"ANBU intercepted a Kirigakure spy. This shinobi was skilled in Water Style.
They tortured the Senju distress signal out of a captured clan member and tried to infiltrate the camp for sabotage.
We stopped them."
Nawaki didn't say anything, though suspicion lingered in his heart.
The explanation was airtight... but something didn't sit right.
After a brief hesitation, the Senju shinobi withdrew from the forward camp.
Later, Yako approached the Yellow Dog Captain.
"Captain, Nawaki didn't encounter anyone on the way here. No interruptions, no surprises."
The Yellow Dog Captain sighed in relief. "Good. The mission is finally complete."
Yako thought to himself: That's a relief... but if you relax now, Yellow Dog, that's the real danger.
Ten minutes later, a middle-aged Senju shinobi was sent to reinforce the patrol routes after the earlier chaos.
As he passed a tree, he suddenly froze.
Etched into the bark was a symbol—one known only to the Senju and Uzumaki clans.
This was an old symbol from the Warring States era, long before the village was founded.
Only the Uzumaki clan used it to secretly contact the Senju.
He bent down under the mark and found a scroll hidden in the roots.
Judging from the slanted grass and disturbed soil, it had been placed there at least two days ago.
Who could it be?
Wasn't the Uzumaki Clan wiped out?
Who left this scroll here two days ago?
Didn't the village say only one Uzumaki remained—Princess Kushina?
He opened the scroll briefly and instantly staggered back, his pupils dilated.
What—?!
He slammed it shut, light-headed and breathless.
Konoha knew about the fall of the Uzumaki Clan… and even helped it happen?
The reason Uzushio Village was caught off guard, without even time to flee, was because ANBU leaked every last scouting position along the coastline to Kirigakure?
And the so-called rescue of the Uzumaki Princess… was a staged performance?
All of it—just to make sure Konoha had a new Jinchuriki for the Nine-Tails?
Controlling his breathing, the Senju shinobi thought of the young clan head.
Flames rose as he burned the scroll to ash.
He stomped hard on the bark, erasing the Senju-Uzumaki cipher.
Over forty, a veteran of war, he didn't panic.
He calmly waited until his patrol was over, then returned to camp like nothing happened.
If this became public, the Senju would be forced to break from Konoha instantly.
An internal war within Konoha—right in the middle of the ongoing Great Shinobi War—would be catastrophic.
Konoha was the blood and effort of the First and Second Hokage. Others might try to bring it down...but not the Senju.
He decided to report this first to Princess Tsunade or Young Master Nawaki.
Tsunade was out on a mission, so he would contact Nawaki.
A few days later, the Yellow Dog Unit was on its way back to Konoha.
A messenger hawk suddenly flew overhead.
The Yellow Dog Captain stood atop a tree branch, overcome by a sense of dread.
The hawk descended quickly, dropping off a scroll.
From a distance, Yako saw that beneath the Yellow Dog Captain's mask… sweat was pouring down like rain.