The Hyuga ninjas at the front froze, their eyes widening as a single strike from the Uchiha wiped out a fifth of their number. One seasoned Jōnin's gaze flickered—calculating, sharp, unafraid. He knew they couldn't stop this onslaught, so he waved his hand, signaling a tactical retreat. The remaining ninjas fell back, regrouping with the main Hyuga coalition forces.
Smart move. Better to preserve strength than die trying to hold a point that was already lost.
Uchiha Rei noticed the retreat but didn't give chase. The frontlines mattered more; fifty elite Uchiha vanguard ninjas moved straight into the chaos of the main battlefield. There, the Uchiha coalition clashed with the Hyuga coalition in a brutal, unrelenting fight, pushing the vanguard to press the attack outside Lingshan Canyon.
Across the valley, Uchiha Tajima—the long-lost patriarch of the Uchiha—drove his samurai sword through the chest of a Hinata ninja. Two other Uchiha flanked him, dragging captured enemies along as they advanced. Ahead lay the Hyuga coalition's forward base at the far edge of Lingshan Gorge.
The Uchiha coalition had prepared their core strategy even before the war officially erupted. The vanguard, led by the shadow-level powerhouse Uchiha Zero, struck first, raining destruction on the Hyuga forces.
Meanwhile, Tajima executed a surgical strike on the Hyuga supply lines. Even as the vanguard forces suffered severe casualties—ambushed in a valley hidden deep in the gorge—the coalition's coordinated plan partially succeeded. Uchiha Tajima's trio alone was enough to cut off the enemy supplies, their skill enough to hold a hundred ordinary ninjas at bay.
Tajima was a living legend, one of the most feared presences of the entire Warring States period. The two elite Jōnin under his command were no less formidable—rivals even to the Kakashi of later generations. Together, the three tore through the outskirts of the Hyuga forward base and closed in on the main camp.
"Stop!" Tajima whispered, hidden behind a massive tree. His scarlet eyes scanned the Hyuga garrison.
From this distance, the base's defenses looked… laughable. Sparse. Nearly empty.
Only a handful of ninjas guarded what should have been a fortified stronghold. Tajima's sharp mind instantly calculated the reason: both coalition forces were fully engaged elsewhere. The Hyuga had left their station thinly defended.
Even without knowing the outcome of the ongoing battles, Tajima knew one thing for certain: destroy the Hyuga supply lines, and the entire direction of the war could be swayed.
A flicker of murderous intent flashed in his eyes. With a subtle shake of his right hand, the trio disappeared into the shadows, racing toward the helpless Hyuga garrison. None of the stationed ninjas had the slightest clue that death itself had already come for them.