Senju Haruto never expected the Uchiha clan under his command to win a glorious victory.
He only wanted them to die — so he could take their eyes after the battle.
The more Uchiha corpses, the better.
With that in mind, Haruto didn't bother wasting time devising elaborate tactics. He simply left several Wood Clone bodies near the Fire Temple and ordered them all to activate the Byakugan, pushing their sensory range to the maximum.
That way, no Mist shinobi could slip past undetected.
Once that was done, Haruto simply let the Uchiha do as they pleased, moving toward the forests surrounding the Fire Temple.
The woodlands in this region were not only dense but also vast, covering an enormous stretch of land.
It didn't take long for the more than two hundred Uchiha to be split apart by the terrain.
Part of the reason was simple — the clan's numbers were relatively small, and gathering them too tightly would make it nearly impossible to hold back an enemy breakthrough.
On the other hand, in forest warfare like this, bunching together only made it easier to be spotted and targeted.
After thinking it through, Uchiha Kenichi — the clan's second strongest after Fugaku — approached Haruto and explained his plan: scatter the Uchiha into smaller units and fight a guerrilla-style battle.
First, it would make it easier to ambush the enemy.
Second, the Uchiha had immense confidence in their own strength. Thanks to the Sharingan's abilities, they could match — or even overwhelm — enemies one-on-one, or even in outnumbered fights.
"Fine. Do it that way," Haruto said with a nod, having no objection to Kenichi's plan.
Kenichi gave a sharp "Understood" and was about to leave when he noticed something drifting in from the far side of the forest.
A bank of heavy mist.
"Mist?"
Kenichi frowned immediately. It was dusk — the sun had just set — and in this season, such an unnaturally thick fog was anything but normal.
"The Mist Village…"
He realized at once — this was the Hidden Mist's specialty: the Hiding in Mist Technique.
"They got here fast…"
Haruto also spotted the change almost immediately. "No idea how many they've sent in this landing operation."
"In any case, we'll do whatever it takes to keep them from breaking through our lines," Kenichi said, casting a deliberate glance at Haruto. "When this is over, I expect you to keep your word."
Without waiting for a reply, he surged forward at full speed, transmitting his tactical orders to the scattered Uchiha through coded signals.
In moments, the entire Uchiha force had vanished into the Fire Temple forest.
Kenichi knew all too well what this was — Konoha, and Haruto himself, were treating the Uchiha as cannon fodder to slow the Hidden Mist's advance… while conveniently bleeding away the clan's remaining strength.
And yet… knowing the truth changed nothing.
With his reputation and skill second only to Fugaku, he had no choice but to carry this burden at this critical moment.
Even if Haruto had deliberately sent them to die, Kenichi could only grit his teeth and lead from the front.
"May our Uchiha ancestors protect us…"
His jaw tightened as he activated his fully matured Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
But the thick mist made it impossible to tell just how many enemies they were facing.
"The Sharingan isn't the Byakugan," Kenichi thought grimly. "It can instantly detect the flaws in ninjutsu and genjutsu… but in this kind of dense fog, it doesn't have the Byakugan's advantage."
He dashed into the mist, every sense on high alert.
Shff—
Shff—
Several more Uchiha dropped down from the trees, landing beside him in a swastika-shaped battle formation.
They, too, no longer trusted Fugaku's leadership.
In their eyes, only Kenichi could lead them through this — and in this fight, they didn't hesitate to rally around him, protecting him from all sides.
Kenichi understood their intentions perfectly.
"Find the enemy if you can… and eliminate them," he ordered.
It was then that he noticed something strange.
From outside, the fog had looked suffocatingly thick, but inside, the visibility wasn't quite as bad.
"Looks like even the Mist's shinobi can't maintain such a wide-range Hiding in Mist Technique at full density," he quickly reasoned.
In his mind, the Mist and the Leaf were separated by a great ocean. For the enemy to launch a landing assault, they had to have a commander — someone overseeing the battle and adjusting tactics as needed.
And by his guess, that commander would be positioned toward the rear of the force.
"If we can find their commander, we can launch a decapitation strike. Take them out, and the rest won't be nearly as dangerous."
In fact, he suspected that whoever was producing a mist of this scale might be the commander themselves.
That meant that killing them might also make the fog vanish.
The thought solidified his resolve.
Haruto had already promised him: when the war was over, the surviving Uchiha would be allowed to return to their compound and rebuild their lives.
Even if they were just cannon fodder.
Even if the village had abandoned them.
What mattered now was saving as many of his people as possible.
"Follow me!" Kenichi growled, charging forward.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Before they'd gone far, they collided with an enemy force — and the battle erupted instantly.
Kenichi and his clansmen, using their Sharingan, tracked the enemy's attack patterns and counters with surgical precision.
"The Mist may be famous for assassination…" Kenichi roared, "…but you're facing Konoha's strongest — the Uchiha clan!"
His hands flashed through seals, and after that brief clash of taijutsu, he unleashed the Uchiha's most feared specialty — Fire Release.
The other Uchiha followed suit instantly, their fingers weaving seals at incredible speed.
Fwoosh!
Fwoosh!
Fwoosh!
Great waves of flame roared forward, the blaze shooting so high it lit the treetops.
In terrain like this, one careless move meant being swallowed by the inferno.
The Mist shinobi facing Kenichi had no choice but to retreat under the onslaught.
And as the flames spread, visibility improved considerably.
"Uchiha clan, huh…"
A child's voice echoed through the mist.
Then, with a roar like the sea itself, a massive tidal wave surged upward, spiraling as it transformed into a snarling, clawed water dragon.
Kenichi's eyes went wide.
It wasn't that he'd never seen Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet before — but never at a scale like this.
To create a water dragon tens of meters long in a place with no natural water source…
Just how much chakra does this kid have…?
His shock lasted only a moment before the dragon opened its massive jaws and lunged straight for him.