The blaring alarms and screams grew ever more frantic.
The rain over the Land of Rain intensified, drenching everything in sight.
The entire Konoha camp had fallen into complete chaos.
Wounded shinobi cried out in pain, logistics teams ran back and forth in panic, and overlapping shouts of "Fall back!" and "Hold the line!" echoed through the downpour.
Uchiha Tobirama stood amid the turmoil, his gaze unusually calm.
Inside his mind, memories churned rapidly.
The Second Shinobi World War.
The leader of the Hidden Rain Village—Hanzo of the Salamander—harbored vast ambitions. He sought to carve out a path between the Three Great Nations and elevate the Hidden Rain Village into the ranks of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
This was a man of absolute ruthlessness.
His tactics, his poisons, and his summoned beast—the Salamander—were all weapons that stood firmly at the Kage level.
In the original course of history, this very battle had seen Konoha suffer devastating losses. In the end, only Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru survived, earning the title of "Sannin" from Hanzo himself.
A humiliating survival.
Yet also the beginning of their legend.
"The battle that made the Sannin famous…"
Tobirama's fingers brushed the hilt of the sword at his waist, a fanatical smile slowly curling at the corners of his lips.
In the original history, this stage belonged to them.
But now—
I'm here.
Then I'll take center stage as well.
The first step to shocking the Ninja World… will be using that old monster Hanzo as my stepping stone.
---
In front of the command tent.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru wore grim expressions.
The situation was far worse than they had imagined.
"Damn it!" Jiraiya scratched his head anxiously, his white hair practically standing on end. "Our main forces are all deployed in the west to hold back the Iwagakure shinobi!"
"Right now, the camp is full of wounded and support personnel. We have less than two hundred combat-ready fighters. How are we supposed to stop Hanzo's main army?!"
Orochimaru slowly licked his lips, his eyes flickering coldly.
"We can't stop them."
"The most rational choice is to abandon the wounded and retreat immediately with the elite forces."
"No!" Tsunade slammed her fist into a support pillar, sending splinters flying. "Those are our comrades! How can you talk about abandoning them so casually?!"
"Then leave a portion behind to cover the retreat and buy time," Orochimaru replied, his tone icy but practical.
The three fell silent.
Cover the retreat?
Against an army led by Hanzo, that was nothing less than a suicide mission.
"I'll stay."
Tsunade took a deep breath, her gaze unwavering.
"I'm a medical ninja—and a member of the Senju Clan. Protecting them is my responsibility."
"I'm staying too!" Jiraiya slapped his chest loudly. "No way I let a woman stand in front while I run!"
Orochimaru sighed helplessly. "Such foolish passion… Fine. If you both die, I'll have a hard time explaining it to the Old Man."
Just as the three resolved themselves to a desperate last stand—
A young voice cut clearly through the curtain of rain.
"Count me in."
All three turned sharply.
Uchiha Tobirama was walking toward them, step by step, moving against the tide of retreating shinobi.
The bloodstains from his earlier battle still clung to him, and his black eyes gleamed with an unsettling brilliance beneath the rain-soaked night.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Jiraiya exploded first.
He strode forward and blocked Tobirama like a wall, his saliva nearly flying into the boy's face.
"Kid! This isn't child's play!"
"This is war! It's Hanzo—the monster known as the 'Demi-god'!"
"You're a freshly graduated Genin, barely dry behind the ears. What are you trying to prove? Get out of here with the main force!"
Tsunade frowned as well, her tone stern.
"Tobirama, be sensible."
"You have incredible talent. You're the future of Konoha. Precisely because you're a genius, you need to protect yourself at times like this."
"When you've grown stronger, you can fight however you want. But not now."
Even Orochimaru let out a hoarse chuckle.
"Uchiha brat, seeking death is not a virtue."
They all treated him like a child.
Like an unhatched fledgling in need of protection.
Tobirama looked at the three future legends—and suddenly laughed.
Ignoring Jiraiya's shouting, he met Tsunade's eyes directly, refusing to yield an inch.
"Tsunade-sensei."
"You saw my strength on the way here."
"Do you really think I'm weak?"
The question caught Tsunade off guard.
Images of the slaughter along the road flashed through her mind—Chunin cut down in seconds, Jonin fought head-on, that chilling instinct for battle.
Weak?
What a joke.
Setting aside chakra reserves and experience, this boy's killing efficiency already surpassed that of an average Jonin.
Tobirama took a step forward, a faint pressure radiating from him.
"I don't need anyone to protect me."
"Rather than running away like a coward and regretting today's weakness for countless nights…"
"I'd rather stay here and kill a few more enemies."
"There are only Uchiha who die on the battlefield."
"There is no Tobirama who runs away."
The words rang with ironclad conviction.
Several Konoha shinobi passing nearby froze in their tracks, staring at him in shock.
What an arrogant kid.
What an unyielding spine.
Tsunade stared deeply into Tobirama's eyes.
There was no fear—only thirst for battle, and an almost absolute confidence.
He meant every word.
And he had the strength to back it up.
"Tsunade! Don't be stupid!" Jiraiya snapped. "Even if he's talented, he's still a kid! What if—"
"Let him stay."
Tsunade spoke abruptly, cutting him off.
Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped out. "What?! Have you lost your mind?!"
"He's no ordinary child."
Tsunade turned toward the camp entrance, her voice firm and cold—yet those who knew her well could hear the trust beneath it.
"His strength is enough to survive on this battlefield."
"And…"
She glanced back at Tobirama, her gaze heavy.
"I believe in him."
Four simple words.
Yet they carried the weight of a thousand stones.
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, clearly reassessing the value of this young Uchiha.
Tsunade stepped closer and bent down slightly, her brown eyes filled with seriousness.
"One condition."
"If the situation turns bad, you run immediately."
"Don't throw your life away for pride. Understand?"
Tobirama grinned, his white teeth flashing brightly against the grim, rain-soaked night.
"Understood, Sensei."
Jiraiya clutched his head in despair. "Unbelievable! Everyone's lost it! Are the Senju and Uchiha brains wired differently or what?!"
---
Just then—
BOOM—!!!
A thunderous explosion shook the world.
The camp's wooden gates—and the watchtowers flanking them—were obliterated in an instant.
A massive cloud of purple poison mist surged inward like a tidal wave.
Even from afar, its nauseating metallic sweetness burned the nose.
Moments later, countless Rain shinobi clad in raincoats and respirators poured through the breach like a black flood.
"Konoha rats!"
"Prepare to receive divine judgment!"
An old, domineering voice descended as if from the heavens, carrying an overwhelming chakra pressure that made the Genin present feel their chests tighten, their knees nearly buckling.
Hanzo of the Salamander.
Standing atop his enormous summoned beast, he looked down upon the battlefield with the indifference of a god.
"Kill."
At his command, the Rain ninja army launched a full-scale assault.
The pressure was suffocating.
Konoha's remaining forces were already few, and at the sight of this formation, morale shattered instantly.
"We… we can't stop them…"
"That's Hanzo… the Demi-god of the Ninja World…"
Despair spread like a plague.
The defensive line collapsed upon first contact.
In the opening clash alone, more than a dozen Konoha shinobi fell into pools of blood.
"Get up, all of you!" Jiraiya roared as he summoned Gamabunta, charging straight into the enemy ranks.
Orochimaru summoned Manda as well, the massive serpent tearing through the battlefield.
Tsunade activated her monstrous strength, enemies flying with every punch.
The Sannin finally revealed their terrifying power.
But along the fringes of the crumbling defensive line—
A group of Rain Chunin charged toward several isolated, wounded Konoha shinobi, grinning cruelly.
"So this is Konoha? Pathetic."
"Die!"
Their blades came down—
A sharp flash of lightning tore through the darkness.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Blade!"
The Rain shinobi at the front never even saw what happened.
Their bodies froze.
Thin red lines appeared simultaneously across their throats.
Pfft—!
Blood sprayed in unison, like some grotesque ritual.
Tobirama stood among the corpses, a long sword in hand.
His three-tomoe Sharingan spun slowly in the darkness, glowing like twin crimson lanterns.
He wore no raincoat.
The cold rain battered against him, yet it could not extinguish the blazing battle intent within.
"This path is closed," Tobirama said coldly.
The surrounding Rain shinobi froze—then erupted in rage.
"A brat thinks he can block us?!"
"Kill him!"
More than a dozen Rain shinobi rushed forward.
Shuriken, kunai, and Ninjutsu poured down in a deadly storm.
To any ordinary person, this would have been certain death.
But to Tobirama, whose three-tomoe Sharingan saw everything—
Too slow.
Painfully slow.
"Since you're all so eager to die…"
His figure blurred, turning into an afterimage as he charged straight into the crowd.
No flashy hand seals.
Only the purest, most extreme taijutsu and kenjutsu.
Every flash of the blade claimed a life.
Sidestep. Slash. Reverse stab. Spinning kick.
Each movement was precise to the millisecond; every strike aimed straight for a vital point.
This was the Uchiha's killing art.
"Aaagh!"
"What is this kid?!"
"My hand—my eyes!"
The Rain shinobi who had been so aggressive moments earlier were sprawled across the ground in the blink of an eye.
Blood mixed with rain, forming shallow streams at Tobirama's feet.
One man.
One blade.
He had single-handedly driven a stake into the collapsing defensive line.
Even against enemies many times his number—
Even on this battlefield soaked in despair—
That twelve-year-old figure stood like an unmovable mountain.
In the distance, Tsunade sent an enemy flying with a single punch and stole a glance in his direction.
When she saw Tobirama carving through the enemy ranks as though unopposed, terror spreading wherever he passed—
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
"Jiraiya, do you see now?"
"This is the disciple I chose."
"In the future Ninja World…"
"There will definitely be a place for him."