"Damn it, what exactly is going on? Why are those ninja clans refusing to obey our command and deployment orders? Do they think this is still a time where they can protect only themselves and stay out of it!?"
Inside the Hokage's office, Shikaku Nara looked at the intelligence that had just been sent back by the Anbu directly under the Fourth Hokage.
Furious, he crushed the cigarette at his lips into the ashtray, grabbed at his own hair in irritation, and muttered to himself.
"What kind of joke is this? The enemy used four Jinchuriki in one breath to attack the village. If they are still thinking only about preserving themselves at a time like this, how are we supposed to make the enemy retreat?"
"Wait, Shikaku. There is new intelligence here."
Inoichi Yamanaka, who was browsing another pile of reports nearby, suddenly raised his head and shouted at Shikaku Nara.
"An Anbu reported that the reason the major ninja clans have temporarily shut their gates is because of Advisor Koharu Utatane's orders. She and Advisor Homura Mitokado were ambushed by an enemy who infiltrated using a special Transformation Technique. She herself was heavily injured, while Advisor Homura Mitokado died on the spot. After escaping the enemy, the final order she issued to the Anbu she encountered was that all major ninja clans should temporarily seal their compounds. After that, she lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss and was sent to Konoha Hospital for treatment."
"What!? Those two advisors actually—!?"
Shikaku Nara slapped the table and shot to his feet, his face filled with disbelief.
As someone assisting the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, he had often been caught between Minato Namikaze and the two Hokage advisors because of their conflicts in thought and governing philosophy. It would obviously be impossible to say he held no complaints toward those two old people.
But truthfully speaking, Shikaku Nara still respected the two Hokage advisors, who had assisted the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and helped develop Konoha Village into prosperity, both in terms of strength and mentality.
Yet now, within Konoha's main village, the two Hokage advisors had actually been successfully ambushed by an infiltrating enemy using Transformation Technique.
One dead, one injured.
And they had only managed to pass on that one piece of intelligence.
Had the situation already become even more severe than the worst case he had once imagined?
Seeing Shikaku Nara's expression turn solemn in an instant, Inoichi Yamanaka also suppressed the shock in his heart as best he could and said to Shikaku Nara, "Shikaku, since even the place where the two advisors were located was successfully attacked by an infiltrating enemy, this place is not safe either… Should we move somewhere else to conduct the next round of battle analysis and command deployment?"
"No. That would waste too much time."
Shikaku Nara bit his lip and shook his head, rejecting Inoichi Yamanaka's suggestion.
"If we relocate, we must pass that intelligence to the shinobi currently collecting information to ensure they can deliver the latest intelligence into our hands. During that process, that ever-changing infiltrator might seize an opportunity…"
"But if we stay here, are we not basically setting up a target for the enemy?" Inoichi Yamanaka could not help reminding him. "With Lord Third and Lord Fourth both forced to enter the battlefield personally and unable to participate in tactical discussions, we are the last brain capable of mobilizing and connecting Konoha's shinobi. What kind of logic is there in exposing the brain directly to the enemy's vision?"
"I know. But we finally managed to organize some shinobi. Without our deployment, they will not be able to support Lord Third and Lord Jiraiya, who have already gone to the battlefield."
Shikaku Nara tapped the table anxiously with his fingers. His young face was full of struggle and hesitation.
"Hurry up and make a decision, Shikaku!" Inoichi Yamanaka's expression was likewise helpless. "You are the acting Hokage right now. You must—"
Boom!!!
A massive explosion came from outside the window, drowning out Inoichi Yamanaka's unfinished words.
The two people standing inside the Hokage's office immediately rushed to the window and looked out in astonishment.
A huge blaze was slowly rising from the area where Konoha Hospital was located.
"Damn it! The hospital!"
"Did they really launch this war with the intention of wiping Konoha out completely!?"
Just as the two of them stared at the flame cloud surging into the sky with gritted teeth, an enormous sense of crisis suddenly pressed against their backs like a cold blade.
The two subconsciously activated their respective clan secret techniques, trying to react to this sudden attack.
But almost at the same moment they reacted, three monsters that seemed to be made of black threads had already unleashed their own ninjutsu toward the area where they stood.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
Wind fed fire.
Thunder roared.
Three ninjutsu, each individually powerful enough to possess terrifying destructive force, surged toward the top floor of the Hokage Building at the same time.
In an instant, another enormous flame cloud, not inferior at all to the one rising from Konoha Hospital, exploded atop the Hokage Building as well.
Under the moonlit sky, where the moon was gradually climbing toward the peak of the heavens, that surging blaze spread very, very far.
…
At the same time.
Konoha Hospital.
The hospital building, which had been directly struck by a powerful Fire Release, was now burning fiercely.
The lightly injured, who could still move under their own power, supported the severely injured who had lost mobility and desperately tried to bring them outside the sea of flames. But both the raging fire and the overly high population density inside the hospital made their evacuation incomparably difficult.
Kushina Uzumaki, who had only just given birth not long ago, held the swaddled Naruto Uzumaki in one arm while carrying Haruto Yamanaka, who had been badly injured in the explosion, on her back.
She moved slowly toward the exit.
"Put me down, Kushina… Put me down, please."
Haruto Yamanaka coughed blood as he spoke intermittently to Kushina Uzumaki.
"I already… have no strength left… If you leave me behind, you can escape… You still have Naruto. You still have the child. There is no need… to waste time here with me."
"Shut up!"
Kushina Uzumaki clenched her teeth. While enduring the discomfort of her own body, she dragged Haruto Yamanaka's body toward the exit.
"You are an important medical-nin of Konoha… If I let you burn to death here for nothing, many people will die because they cannot receive proper treatment!"
"But you are… the most important one… cough, cough…"
Haruto Yamanaka coughed up a large mouthful of blackened blood and continued trying to persuade Kushina Uzumaki to put him down.
"Put me down… I already…"
"If you keep making noise, then I am not leaving either!"
Kushina Uzumaki brought out the temper she had possessed back when she was called the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero and fiercely snapped at Haruto Yamanaka, who was still saying dispiriting words.
"Do not be so stubborn. You are already… eh?"
As Haruto Yamanaka was speaking, he suddenly felt the space beneath him vanish.
His entire body immediately lost support and fell heavily onto the corridor floor of Konoha Hospital.
Before he, coughing up another large mouthful of blood from the fall, could figure out what had happened, a loud and powerful cry entered his ears from nearby.
Haruto Yamanaka turned his head with difficulty.
He saw the golden-haired infant inside the swaddling cloth crying loudly because he had fallen onto the floor.
And the red-haired woman who should have been holding him carefully and gently in her arms had vanished without a trace.
Join my Patreon to read public release chapters and get 1 chapter ahead for free. Paid members can read more advanced chapters.
Continue reading here
patreon.com/Inkveil_