In the Uchiha district, the Uchiha patriarch woke to the smell of smoke and the sound of explosions. He left his house with his battle uniform on in seconds and his Sharingan already active, scanning the sky.
—Flying shinobi? —he murmured, incredulous.
He had never seen anything like it. The shinobi mounted on flying devices moved with perfect coordination, their flight paths drawing patterns that seemed calculated to maximize bomb coverage. They were not flying with wind techniques. They were using machines. Machines that operated on chakra.
—Uchiha clan, mobilize! —he shouted to his people, who were already beginning to come out of their houses—. Protect the village!
His son Fugaku appeared at his side, his eyes sharing the same determination.
—What are those things?
—I don't know. But we're going to shoot them down.
He began forming hand seals. His chest swelled, and a great fireball rose toward the sky, striking one of the shinobi. His machine burst into flames, and his body plunged onto the empty streets.
In the Aburame district, the patriarch woke his entire clan with a single thought. The insects inhabiting his body stirred, and through them, he sent the order to all members of his lineage.
—Go out —he said softly, but his order was transmitted like an underground current—. Devour those machines. Find their weak points. Destroy them from within.
The Aburame clan members responded quickly.
Millions of kikaichū began to rise from their hosts, forming black clouds that spread across the sky like a living storm. They pounced on the flying shinobi, seeking the cracks in the metal structures they used to fly, penetrating their internal mechanisms.
Some of them began to wobble, their systems failing as the insects devoured the chakra conduits that powered them.
—We need more power —murmured the Aburame patriarch, watching as one of the machines remained in the air despite the swarm.
---
In the communications tower, operators worked against the clock to coordinate the defense. Messages came from all districts: the hospital was overcrowded with wounded, the academy had been hit by a bomb, the main street was a sea of rubble and fire.
—Report from the southern wall! —shouted an operator—. Ten large presences detected at sea! Warships, according to the sensors!
Hiruzen, who had arrived at the tower minutes earlier, felt the weight of the world fall on his shoulders.
—Warships? —he repeated, incredulous—. From the sea?
—Yes, Hokage-sama. The flying shinobi take off from those ships, drop their bombs, and return to resupply. It's a coordinated operation. This is not an attack by just any group. This is an organized military incursion.
Hiruzen clenched his fists. His mind, forged in dozens of battles, was already plotting the counterattack.
—Message to the clans —he ordered—. I want damage reports. I want casualties. I want to know what the hell we're facing.
—Yes, sir!
In the streets, mid- and low-ranked shinobi fought desperately.
—Fire Style! —a chūnin from the military police launched a fireball that struck a flying shinobi. The shinobi fell engulfed in flames, but before crashing to the ground, he released a final volley of kunai that hit three civilians fleeing down the street.
—Damn it! —the chūnin ran toward the wounded, but it was too late. The three lay on the ground, their bodies pierced by the projectiles.
—We can't keep going like this! —shouted a kunoichi at his side—. There are too many!
In the sky, a shinobi fired a laser beam from the cannon in his hand and pierced an entire building. The apartment block split in two, and debris fell onto the streets, crushing a dozen people who hadn't managed to flee.
—Retreat the civilians to the underground shelters! —ordered a jōnin—. Quickly! We can't protect them here!
---
The attack lasted just over an hour.
Shortly after midnight, the shinobi mounted on flying machines began to withdraw. They flew east, toward the sea, where the giant ships waited to resupply them with chakra and weaponry.
The sky slowly emptied, leaving behind a trail of smoke, fire, and destruction.
More than a third of Konoha lay in ruins.
It was not the total destruction that Pain would cause decades later, but it was severe enough that the leaf symbol carved into the mountain seemed to weep at the sight of what remained of its village.
---
An hour later, Hiruzen gathered the clan heads in what remained of the Hokage Tower.
The casualties were devastating. More than two hundred civilians dead. Nearly fifty shinobi fallen. Hundreds wounded. The commercial district was on fire, the academy was partially collapsed, and the hospital was overwhelmed.
—Reports —Hiruzen said in a grave voice.
The Uchiha patriarch was the first to speak.
—The flying targets are divided into two categories —he explained, his Sharingan still active—. The small ones are mechanical winged devices, operated by a single pilot. They can fire kunai at high speed and drop bombs. They are agile but vulnerable to fire. The large ones are more dangerous. They are larger craft, capable of firing chakra laser beams. Their defenses are more robust, and our basic attacks barely affect them.
—Did we shoot any down? —asked an elder of the council.
—Yes —replied the Aburame patriarch, whose voice was barely audible but whose presence was undeniable—. My insects managed to infiltrate three of the large ones. They devoured their internal systems and brought them down. But they were only three. There were at least twenty in the sky.
—And the warships? —asked Hiruzen.
—Ten —reported an intelligence captain—. Giant ships, anchored at sea, about fifty kilometers from the coast. The flying devices take off from there, launch their attacks, and return to resupply. Without those ships, the attack would not have been possible.
Hiruzen nodded slowly.
—Then we will destroy the ships.
A murmur ran through the room.
—Hokage-sama —said a counselor—. Those ships are at sea. Our water techniques...
—We don't need water techniques —the Aburame patriarch interrupted him—. My insects can reach the ships without being detected. They will devour their foundations, their internal structures, everything they find. And when the ships are weakened...
—The Uchiha clan will finish the job —the Uchiha patriarch completed, his eyes gleaming—. Fire will consume what remains.
Hiruzen looked at them both, then at the other clan heads.
—Prepare your men. We attack in one hour.
---
As everyone prepared, Konoha began its retaliation.
The Aburame patriarch personally led the infiltration squad. His insects spread across the water like a black tide, invisible in the darkness, advancing silently toward the ten ships anchored in the bay.
The pilots of the flying devices rested on the decks, confident.
They had successfully launched an attack that had caused heavy casualties to what was considered the most powerful of the shinobi villages, and now they were preparing for the next phase. They did not expect such a swift reprisal. They did not expect Konoha to counterattack so soon.
That was their mistake.
The kikaichū reached the ships' hulls first. They penetrated through the smallest cracks and ventilation ducts. Then, they began to devour.
The systems that powered the ships began to fail. The engines that kept the enormous vessels stable on the water shut down one by one. The deck lights flickered and went out. The pilots, bewildered, came out of their cabins to discover they were surrounded by a buzzing black cloud.
—Insects! —shouted one—. Insects everywhere!
The kikaichū did not attack people, at least not directly. They devoured the chakra from the machines, the weapons, the communication systems. But when the pilots tried to stop them, the insects responded with terrifying efficiency: they crawled into their uniforms, into their mouths, into their eyes, draining their chakra until they were completely dry.
In less than twenty minutes, the ten warships were dark, their systems collapsed and their pilots neutralized.
That was when the fire arrived.
The Uchiha patriarch did not wait for orders. When his sensors indicated that the insects had completed their work, he gave the signal.
—Now!
Dozens of Uchiha rose above the water's surface, their hands forming hand seals in unison.
—Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
Large fireballs flew toward the ships, striking their hulls. Wood burned. Metal melted. The remains of the ships slowly began to sink into the sea, taking with them the pilots who were still on board.
Some tried to flee, throwing themselves into the water. But the insects awaited them. They devoured their chakra as they swam, and the sea swallowed them.
Others tried to counterattack, throwing kunai and shuriken from a distance. But the Uchiha were already upon them, their Sharingan predicting every move and their flames responding with fury.
Within an hour, the ten warships were completely destroyed. Their smoking remains floated on the sea's surface like memories of what they once were.
No pilot survived.