Several soul fluctuations clustered together felt very familiar. Makiya adjusted the flying sword's direction and flew straight toward them.
After the attack, the Konoha camp was heavily guarded. Their pride, once bolstered by pushing back the Hidden Stone, Cloud, and Sand, had been shattered in an instant. The ninjas regained their sense of vigilance.
The stationed ninjas were like birds startled by a mere twang of a bowstring; the slightest disturbance put them on high alert.
As soon as Makiya landed, two sets of sentries spotted him. After checking the password and wasting a fair amount of time, they finally confirmed his identity and allowed him into the camp.
The closer he got to the inner layers, the more Uchiha clansmen appeared. An unusual atmosphere filled the camp. The Uchiha, who usually walked with their noses in the air, now looked like withered eggplants hit by frost, walking with their heads down in silence.
"Lord Makiya." An Uchiha noticed him and quickly stood up with an exclamation.
This cry seemed to wake the whole camp. One by one, the Uchiha looked up in surprise. Seeing Makiya walking toward them, they felt as if they had found their savior.
"This is great! It's Lord Makiya!"
"Lord Makiya, you're finally here!"
"Damn the Senju clan for defecting to the enemy!"
"Idiot, the enemy just knows Wood Style. It doesn't mean they're definitely from the Senju clan."
"How could it not be a Senju? Is it an Uchiha then?"
"...In any case, watch your tongue."
The clansmen seemed to have found their backbone. The surrounding Uchiha gathered around Makiya, and the low atmosphere instantly brightened. They even found the energy to bicker.
"Rest for now. Where is the Clan Head? Someone take me to him." Makiya waved his hand casually, dismissing the crowd.
"Lord Makiya, I'll take you."
An Uchiha stepped forward. Makiya found him familiar; he was likely someone who had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Under his lead, Makiya soon found Fugaku's tent. The clansman bowed politely and took his leave.
Lifting the tent flap, Makiya immediately saw a dejected Fugaku and Shisui, who was covered in bandages.
"Makiya, you've arrived." Seeing it was Makiya, Fugaku was visibly relieved. Although Makiya's status in the clan was rising and threatened his own, in times of war, a powerful Makiya undoubtedly provided an unparalleled sense of security.
"Clan Head, Shisui." Makiya nodded to them both. He pulled out a stool and sat across from the map. Looking at the complex battlefield layout, he asked, "I didn't see much intelligence at the Hokage's office. What exactly happened? How many attackers were there?"
"There were two attackers in total." Shisui stood up and walked over to Makiya, pointing to a spot on the map. "We were ambushed here. I encountered a blond youth who gave me a very strange feeling."
A thoughtful look appeared in Shisui's remaining eye. "During the fight, his body movements were stiff yet flexible. He didn't... feel like a human. Most importantly, my ocular jutsu didn't work on him. He also possessed deep and powerful ocular power; he might be an Uchiha clansman who went missing during the war."
Shisui's face darkened with frustration. "But if he were an Uchiha, why wouldn't he return to the family? Why would he decide to attack us? What's his relationship with that Wood Style user? Everything is unknown. We have too little information."
"I encountered the Wood Style ninja clad in white armor," Fugaku added immediately after Shisui spoke. "The opponent also possessed powerful ocular power, at least no weaker than mine."
Fugaku possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. This was what excited the clansmen most after the attack. Fugaku's use of Susanoo while resisting the Wood Style ninja had been far too prominent; many on the battlefield had seen it.
Thanks to Shisui revealing the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan earlier, many clansmen had begun studying advanced knowledge of the Sharingan, learning that Susanoo could only be used after awakening the Mangekyo.
Fugaku's Mangekyo was his greatest trump card. Unless absolutely necessary, he would never have revealed it.
After activating Susanoo, Fugaku had planned to kill the opponent in one go and reclaim Shisui's eye. However, reality slapped him hard twice in the face. Even with Susanoo active, Fugaku was still dominated—right in front of everyone.
The Uchiha couldn't beat the Senju, and Susanoo was no match for Wood Style. The mysterious man had shoved these two harsh realities in the faces of all the Uchiha, leaving them unable to argue.
Fugaku and Shisui had manifested two Susanoo, barely holding out against the storm of attacks until reinforcements from the Hyuga clan arrived, allowing them to escape.
While the two top combatants were occupied, the Hidden Mist simultaneously launched a surprise attack. Led by clans with Kekkei Genkai, the powerful ninjas charged into the Uchiha camp. Their suicidal, eye-for-an-eye tactics threw many Uchiha into disarray, causing heavy casualties.
Finally, the enemy left behind many corpses and retreated in haste.
"I see." Makiya was thoughtful. "Shisui, Clan Head, you two should rest. I'm going to check the battlefield."
Shisui nodded. "Be careful. If you encounter a strong enemy, fire a signal flare immediately. We'll support you right away."
Fugaku sat nearby, looking disgruntled. He gritted his teeth, his face full of disappointment. "Makiya, I heard you personally rejected Lord Hokage's appointment and instead recommended that old... senior, Hiruzen, to serve as the commander. Why? This was a great opportunity to build fame and power, and you just gave it up!"
"The role of commander doesn't suit me." Makiya didn't want to explain further and turned to leave the tent. "Rest and recover. I'm heading out on a mission."
After Makiya left, Fugaku sighed with a mix of regret and relief. If Makiya really had accepted the commander position, Fugaku would have been the most uncomfortable.
On paper, he was the Uchiha Clan Head, leading all the Uchiha. But Makiya would have been the battlefield commander, leading all frontline ninjas. Who would have been following whose orders then?
Shisui watched Fugaku's expression and silently pressed his hand against his missing eye.
Normally, both Mangekyo Sharingan are required to activate the third power dwelling in the eyes: Susanoo.
However, Shisui's talent and ocular power were extraordinary. He had forced a Susanoo into manifestation with a single eye to battle the mysterious ninja. The consequences were severe; the excessive strain on his remaining eye had already begun to blur his vision.
This was the flaw of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Every time ocular power was consumed, it brought the eyes one step closer to blindness until everything went dark.
In the corner, a young Itachi Uchiha held his younger brother, Sasuke, silently observing Makiya's every move. He occasionally rocked his arms to let Sasuke lie comfortably in his embrace.
Itachi, who had nasolabial folds at such a young age, tilted his head in thought, frowning slightly.
Makiya left the camp and sped eastward again. He soon reached the site of the encounter. The ground, ravaged by Susanoo, was overflowing with groundwater, which had mixed with mud to form a marshland.
Releasing his soul perception, it was no surprise that there wasn't a single soul nearby. Madara and Nagato certainly wouldn't linger here.
As a traverser, Makiya knew Madara's motives and goals like the back of his hand. The Eye of the Moon Plan was Madara's spiritual anchor for the second half of his life. Spending all day plotting to put all of humanity to sleep was quite the thrill.
"What exactly was the point of this attack?" Makiya was puzzled. Uchiha Madara's actions were never without reason; there had to be some ulterior motive behind it.
"Could it be a diversion? Launching an attack on the front lines while secretly infiltrating the Land of Fire to target Obito back in Konoha?"
This idea wasn't entirely impossible. Obito was Madara's originally intended executor of the plan. With a foolish brain, he was very easy to deceive, and the chance of things going sideways was low.
Though things did go sideways in the end.
However, the shadow clone he left in Konoha hadn't sent back any news, and there was no movement from Minato's side. This meant Konoha hadn't been attacked yet, and everything was fine.
Madara had been hiding in the Land of Water, so he must have been up to something. As long as something had happened, there would be traces. If worse came to worst, he would just go to the Land of Water himself.
Given Makiya's original personality, he would have just flown his sword straight to the Land of Water to conduct a blatant investigation. However, the combo of Tsunade's parting kiss and the First Hokage's necklace was a formidable omen. Makiya didn't dare underestimate metaphysics and chose to play it safe.
The white haori was too conspicuous. He had put it away at home before setting out. Makiya was wearing special clothing for infiltration missions; if worn inside out, it looked like the standard flak jacket of a Mist ninja.
Continuing east, the moisture in the air became denser. This area was very close to the ocean and was the primary activity range for Mist ninjas, falling within their patrol routes.
Makiya hid in a tree, waiting for a Mist ninja patrol to arrive.
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]