Chapter 10: First Battle
That evening, the Second Elder returned from the Hyuga clan.
"They refused? ...I see." The Clan Head let out a soft sigh. As expected, it wasn't going to be that easy.
"It seems the Hyuga truly suffered a great loss of strength from their fight with the Uchiha all those years ago," Masahiko said.
"That must be it. Otherwise, they would never pass up such a good opportunity." The Clan Head felt helpless. "It seems our hope of minimizing our own losses is now impossible..."
"It's fine. With Second Uncle here, I will protect the clansmen," Masahiko offered.
The Second Elder and the Clan Head both rolled their eyes at him, causing Masahiko's old face to flush red.
Walking out of the Clan Head's hall, Masahiko muttered to himself, "The me of today is a far cry from the me of the past... This war will definitely leave everyone stunned."
The next morning, after breakfast, Masahiko prepared his gear and hurried to the front of the Clan Head's hall.
Many clansmen were already assembled, and more were still arriving.
About an hour passed. The clan's Second and Third Elders arrived, following behind the Clan Head.
The Clan Head scanned the area. "It looks like everyone is here. I won't say much. I just hope you all return safely."
"I leave the rest to you two Elders," the Clan Head said, looking at them.
"Rest assured, Clan Head," both Elders replied in unison.
"Move out!" After exchanging a few more words with the Clan Head, the Second Elder turned to the assembled shinobi forces and gave the order.
"Sir!" After a unified shout, the shinobi force advanced toward the eastern plains battlefield. Masahiko set off with the team.
Within the ranks, Masahiko closely observed the shinobi. He found there were over a dozen Elite Jonin, two Peak Jonin, and several hundred elite Chunin and Genin.
'This is almost half of our clan's entire strength. It seems the leadership is determined to teach the Kaguya a lesson,' Masahiko thought.
They marched for an entire day, only arriving at the Senju clan's battlefield encampment by evening.
They encountered many Senju and Kaguya scouts along the way but ignored them. It was impossible to hide a force of this size, so they might as well let both sides know.
Therefore, when they neared the Senju camp, Hashirama and Tobirama came out personally to greet them.
"Thank you to the Uzumaki clan for coming to our aid! It was a long journey. Please set up camp nearby and rest. After you've eaten, we can speak with our Elders," Hashirama said, clearly happy about their arrival.
After making camp and eating, Hashirama led the Second and Third Elders to meet the Senju's Eastern Battlefield Elder. Masahiko shamelessly tagged along. The two Uzumaki Elders shot him a glare but didn't stop him.
Surprisingly, they found the Eastern Elder lying in bed.
"You must forgive this sight. These old bones of mine are becoming more useless by the day," the Eastern Elder said, his voice weak.
It turned out the Senju had already engaged in a probing battle with the Kaguya that morning. The result was a near-total rout. The Kaguya clan's First and Second Elders had both taken the field. Hashirama and Tobirama managed to hold off the Kaguya's Second Elder, but the Senju's Eastern Elder was frontally defeated by the Kaguya's First Elder, Kaguya Takechiyo, within 10 minutes.
"My skills were inferior. Damn that Kaguya Takechiyo! If Hashirama hadn't had a breakthrough mid-battle today, I'm afraid I wouldn't have made it back." As he said this, a slight smile appeared on his face, clearly pleased by Hashirama's talent.
"Now that you two are here, I can rest easy. I was worried the Kaguya would launch a surprise attack..." His words completely ignored Masahiko, who was standing to the side. Masahiko didn't mind.
Tobirama, however, looked thoughtful. After fighting alongside Masahiko against Uchiha Madara and helping develop the Hiraishin, he no longer believed this Great-Uncle was the "useless old man" from the rumors.
'This is going to be a tough fight,' Masahiko thought. He originally assumed their arrival would give them the absolute advantage, but he hadn't expected the Senju's Eastern Elder to be this badly injured. This was trouble.
At this point, the two Uzumaki Elders finished their conversation and walked out, with Masahiko following.
After a full day of marching, the Uzumaki clansmen were exhausted. Everyone went to sleep early.
The next morning, while Masahiko was still half-asleep, he heard someone outside shout, "All units, on alert! The Kaguya are attacking!"
Masahiko sat bolt upright. He knew the Kaguya must be aware that reinforcements had arrived. To dare attack anyway meant they had some trump card he didn't know about.
He walked out of his tent and saw the two Uzumaki Elders already gathering their clansmen. The Senju's Eastern Elder also came out, supported by his men.
A few moments later, the Kaguya forces arrived at the front of the camp. But the one at the very front was not Kaguya Takechiyo.
"Damn it! Kaguya Raisho! You dare come to the battlefield yourself?! Aren't you afraid of leaving your clan compound undefended?!" the Eastern Elder shouted.
It was the Kaguya Clan Head himself. No wonder they had attacked so quickly.
"Hmph. I'll have plenty of time to go back after I've annihilated you all here!" Kaguya Raisho retorted.
The Eastern Elder's face turned ugly. It was true. On this battlefield, no one could stop Kaguya Raisho. Even if he weren't injured, he probably could only last five minutes against him.
The two Uzumaki Elders looked at each other, their expressions grim. "Damn Kaguya lunatics. Their home base must be so empty right now that any mid-sized clan could wipe them out!"
"Hashirama, just try to pin down the Kaguya Clan Head for a moment. After that, leave him to us!" the Second Elder said, turning to Hashirama.
"Wood Release: Birth of a Dense Forest!" Hashirama didn't answer; he simply acted. Wood Release truly was the ultimate battlefield weapon. Although its main purpose was to restrict Kaguya Raisho, many Kaguya Genin and Chunin were still wounded by the attack.
At that moment, the two Uzumaki Elders and the two Peak Jonin who had come with them all used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing around Kaguya Raisho.
"Ninjutsu: Four Violet Flames Formation!" A barrier appeared, sealing both Kaguya Raisho and the four Uzumaki inside, isolating them from the battlefield.
"Yes!" the Eastern Elder shouted, pushing away the clansmen supporting him. "Alright, next! Hashirama, Tobirama, you stop Kaguya Takechiyo! As for the Kaguya's Second Elder, I'll risk this old life of mine to intercept him! Everyone else, kill them all!"
"Wait, Elder!" Tobirama spoke up, turning to Masahiko. "Great-Uncle... can you stop the Kaguya's Second Elder?"
Masahiko nodded slowly. "Leave him to Uzumaki 'Skirmish'."
The Eastern Elder looked bewildered, but he watched as Masahiko engaged the Kaguya's Second Elder. Although it looked like a desperate struggle, Masahiko was using his god-like Substitution Jutsu, superb shuriken skills, and the occasional instant-cast Rasengan to harass his opponent. The Kaguya Elder couldn't take him down.
Although he had no idea what was going on, the Eastern Elder reacted immediately, directing the other shinobi from both clans to attack the main Kaguya force.
Thanks to their superior numbers, they quickly inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.
"Damn it! You think a mere barrier can hold me?! Dance of the Seedling Fern!" Kaguya Raisho, seeing his clansmen being slaughtered, had used the forbidden Shikotsumyaku technique—one he normally couldn't use freely due to his bloodline disease.
Countless bones erupted from the ground, shooting toward the four Uzumaki. Helpless, they could only break the formation and dodge.
Kaguya Raisho, having broken the barrier, charged madly toward the main battle. But Kaguya Takechiyo shouted, "Clan Head! Our losses are too heavy! We must retreat and regroup for now!"
"Fine... Retreat!" Kaguya Raisho yelled, full of unwillingness.
After the Kaguya clan had fully retreated, the Senju and Uzumaki shinobi all let out a sigh of relief. The pressure from the Kaguya Clan Head had been immense.
"Today's battle is over, I suppose," Masahiko sighed, looking up at the sun, which had risen to the middle of the sky.
"I wonder how many Uzumaki we lost this time..."
Ah, War...