"How is Morikawa's condition?"
On Kiri's invasion fleet, Hozuki Gengetsu arrived and asked Morikawa's condition to Yuki Shuto.
"He is under surgery right now. The head surgeon said that it will take some time, but he should be fine. He will just need few months' worth of recovery and rehabilitation afterwards."
"Phew~! That's a relief. Alright! Let's retreat! We achieved our goal. Just remain in the periphery edge of Uzushio sensory barrier."
"... Mizukage-sama, our latest report stated that Senju Tobirama withdrew from Kusa."
"?! Hehe. Then we no longer need to engage in battle with them, but we can remain nearby and put some pressure on them. Hold them down for three more days before returning to the village. Send the injured and our young eggs back home. You should return with Morikawa too Shuto."
"... Yes, Mizuzkage-sama!"
Hozuki Gengetsu stared at the island getting smaller and smaller from his vision. And watched the huge explosions setting off on the shorelines.
"Shuto, what do you think about Uchiha clan?"
"... They are a lot more formidable than I thought. A lot of our jonins reported that taking on Uchiha was a lot more difficult than taking on Senju. …The fact that Uchiha is suppressed by Senju, really shows how powerful Senju Hashirama was….
Uchiha Sosuke's strength is definitely above elite jonins but I do not know if he can be compared to a Kage if not for his sharingan. Uchiha Fukashi and his mangekyo sharingan is no doubt the most formidable opponent I encountered so far. We were lucky that he was not used to using his powers."
"Well, we can thank Tobirama for that." Gengetsu smirked in disdain, before he commented. "It seems like there is a need to develop a jutsu that can counter their Sharingan. Hmmm. Shuto lets' look into that when we get back."
"Yes Mizukage-sama."
Kage level was not an official standard to determine one's strength, almost every high leveled ninja had different views and standard on the definition of Kage level strength. Uchiha Sosuke was not a kage level ninja in Yuto's eyes, but to some and most, he was definitely a Kage level ninja.
"Also, Uzumaki and their Fuinjutsus are something that cannot be ignored. Although, they were powerless against Morikawa and myself, but a lot of chunins and jonins reported that Uzumaki jonins were capable of disrupting their chakra flow, some were even capable of draining their chakra through fuinjutsu. Not from the Adamantine Seal Chains"
"….. indeed, Uzukage could forcefully return my giant clam summon beast back through fuinjutsu… I did not know that was possible until now."
"… What have you done to them?"
"Uzukage and the Senjus? Don't worry, I did not kill them. I don't want Tobirama to focus all his attention on us. They are… alive, but they can say good bye to their ninja career. Hehehehehehe."
"…." Shuto shook his head as Gengetsu's sadistic side showed and continued to report, "We also acquired Byakugans from Hyuga ninjas but they disintegrated soon after they were extracted. It seems like it is true that Hyuga has a strong cursed seal placed to protect their Kekkei genkai."
"hmmmm. Such a strong cursed seal, should come at a cost. I do not believe that all of their clansmen are under the cursed seal. When the war is over, send some spies to investigate the Hyuga clan. Rumor has is that their clan is separated into Main and branch family. Dig into that part."
"Yes Mizukage-sama."
"Hehehe. And also, send a letter to Kazekage for me. Now that Tobirama returned, we no longer need to drag ourselves further into this quagmire. We can always wait and grow for the next one!"
"!!!"
"Let Suna, Iwa, and Kumo continue to drag Konoha down. We, Kiri, have done our part."
"Mizukage-sama, if you think Konoha will pull out of Uzushio, then we might have a chance to take over?"
"No, we need more time to grow and stabilize our village and territory. Reason why I did not take all of our forces out for this invasion is because it is more important to consolidate our territories and population living in our new outer islands and archipelagos. We need at least 15 or 20 years before we can expand further outward. By then, after our generation, Kiri should be able to mobilize more than 20,000 or even 30,000 troops in the future!"
Gengetsu turned to his sworn brother.
"Shuto. Remember that the young ninjas and children are the future and most important resource and tools of our village."
"Yes! Mizukage-sama."
"Konoha and Land of Fire has plenty of resource and population. Moreover, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara's union made Konoha to unify Land of Fire with no conflict. Almost all ninja clans joined Konoha 'peacefully'. They have the highest population compared to other hidden villages because of that. But look at our Kiri, and Iwa, Kumo, and Suna. Their Kages lead armies and fought against any dissidents and non-village affiliated clans to finally reach their current state. Konoha started the competition with advantage that other hidden villages lack. Why do you think other nations only guard the borders but not wage war against other nations other than Konoha. There is a silent consensus between hidden villages that there is a need to staunch Konoha's growth."
"I understand Mizukage-sama."
"..... Can you just seriously call me brother or Gengetsu when we are alone. You make us feel like we are strangers."
"Formalities must be kept to protect the presti-"
"AH!!! Forget it! Anyways you get my point. Once Konoha pulls back their forces, it is likely that Tobirama will send Uchiha to Suna front again."
"??!! How does that… What makes you say that?"
"Hehehe. You see, when Tobirama and Hashirama dissolved their clan forces and made most of them into civilian families with their own surnames, Tobirama also implemented multiple policies that benefits and supports civilian ninja and families. Many Senjus that we faced today wore Senju armor but they have two surnames. HAHAHAHAHA. Senju is simply changing their clan's name into Konoha at this point. With so many policies that benefits the 'civilian population', isn't this no different than using Daimyo's money to grow their own people? Daimyo's money cannot directly go to the clan, but they can certainly be used to benefit the 'civilians', right? Of course, this policy drew a lot of surviving members of exterminated or destroyed ninja clans. But the simple truth is that Senju became Konoha itself. The ninja clans inside Konoha are just their vassals, but they do not even realize this. They were just happy that Senju decided to be 'fair' and give them a chance to grow in Konoha. Hahahaha. What a joke! Let Tobirama rule Konoha for a bit more and Senju clan will be only a ceremonial name! but Konoha will be filled with Senju."
"So those policies have such hidden purpose behind them… But there are no Senju in Tobirama's Third Hokage Candidates?"
"Hahaha. Shuto, you are still naïve in politics. Senju Tobirama took Sarutobi Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura as his student when they were six years old, and taught them like they are his children. Tobirama is a man who consider Konoha as Senju and Senju as Konoha. Now, it wouldn't make a difference to call them Senju Hiruzen, Senju Koharu, and Senju Homura. As for the three others, they were accepted at much older age. There is no way that they will become Third Hokage. Only Sarutobi Hiruzen, this man will be his successor. Look at him, a mere Sarutobi already trained into Kage level, rivaling Uchiha Kagami in strength. If this Senju Hiruzen doesn't become the next hokage, I will kill myself."
"… That is little too much…" Shuto remained silent for a bit before he had a moment of realization and asked, "Is that why we were ordered to target Senju ninjas the most? But what does this have to do with Tobirama sending Uchiha to Suna?"
Hozuki Gengetsu revealed a mischevious smile as he explained.
"I am getting their Shuto. Now, in Konoha, only Uchiha is the thorn in Tobirama's eyes. Senju can easily blend in as 'civilian', but Uchiha with Sharingan is different. They are bound to stick out, even if they use the same method as Senju. I said Tobirama will send Uchiha to Suna because, Uchiha did not suffer as much as Senju did against us. Also, Uchiha Kagami is there. Whatever achievements and merits Kagami brings, all of that will be shared with Uchiha clan. Then Kagami will lack 'contribution' to compete for Hokage position. Uchiha can try to support Kagami, but will Tobirama just sit idly and do nothing? Konoha and Uchiha, these two cannot coexist together. They are bound to fall out sooner or later. We just need to push them in right direction, take a step back, relax, and enjoy the show."
Shuto silently nodded his head in admiration. In the beginning he felt that this expedition was a little wasted. Mizukage's plans were to fight for a single day or few more if necessary, without even having few skirmishes to test the water but start and end with single direct full out confrontation. Target the Senju and protect our young ninjas, those were his orders. A lot of resource and supplies were used for this invasion, and they lost close to 3000 troops. Now, it feels like all the losses, effort, and time were worth it.
***
Smoke and debris cleared out and ten huge craters filled the battlefield. Most Konoha and Uzushio ninjas followed Uchiha Sosuke's message and order to retreat, but few could not suppress their anger and charged blindly after retreating Kiri forces and Mizukage's clone. All of them disappeared with the flash of steamy explosion.
On one of the sites of explosion, a man woke up from daze with a roar full of disbelief and rage.
"UWAAAAHHHH!!!! ARASHI!!! Takashi! Setsuna! Everyone!!"
Uchiha Naka's sharingan began to spin rapidly and formed a red three-point pinwheel.
Uchiha Naori arrived next to Uchiha Naka with an equally distraught expression.
Uchiha Arashi and Naori were the first to receive Sosuke's crow summon's message. They stood behind with Fuuki and Shiori, who were severely injured and unconscious. Arashi rushed to stop Naka and rest of his clansmen and Naori remained to guard the unconscious Fuuki and Shiori. However, the grand explosion shocked her and immediately made her rush towards the smoke-filled explosion site.
Once she arrived, she was greeted with little remains of her comrades. She realized that no one survived and immediately fell into despair. The tomoes in her crimson eyes spun rapidly and formed lines that connected the center and edges of her crimson iris and formed crimson three petaled flower patterned Mangekyo Sharingan. With her new found advanced vision, she spotted Uchiha Naka screaming with what remained of Uchiha Arashi in his grasp.
When Naori approached Naka, she saw his eyes bleeding and both of his eyes spinning rapidly.
The remains of Uchiha clansmen and Arashi within his arms began to turn translucent and disappeared into thin air. Before, Naori can realize what exactly happened, Naka jumped up and hugged a figure behind her. Uchiha Arashi and other 13 Uchiha Elite Jonins stood there with a confused expression.
"Arashi! I thought, that… I thought you were gone!"
Uchiha Naka cried with a sense of relief before he passed out.
Uchiha Arashi looked around in confusion and held on to now unconscious Uchiha Naka in his arm.
"Naori… what happened here? Was it just a flash? Genjutsu?"
"… Arashi. It really is you. No, we are not in Genjutsu. That flash... was Mizukage's clone explosion. You and the rest were…... If not for Naka…"
"I see… let's regroup with clan head and Fukashi-sama first."
Naori and rest of the clansmen nodded. They carried Naka, Fuuki, and Shiori on their backs and moved towards Fukashi and Sosuke's location.