Chapter 12: The Kaguya's Despair
The next day, just as both sides were quietly awaiting reinforcements, a piece of news that shocked the entire battlefield arrived.
The Kaguya's iron mine had changed hands.
Actually, "changed hands" wasn't the right way to put it. It had "returned to its original owner."
The Uchiha had launched an attack on the mine without any warning. The Kaguya clansman in charge was only an Elite Jonin; facing Madara, who led the assault, he stood no chance. In less than an hour, the mine had completely fallen.
When Kaguya Raisho received this news, he nearly spat blood in anger, roaring curses at the Uchiha clan.
At this moment, however, despite a bad premonition, Raisho didn't overthink it. He was simply furious that the Uchiha had taken advantage of the situation to "loot a burning house" and take back their mine.
By evening, Kaguya Raisho still hadn't seen any Uchiha reinforcements. Instead, he saw the Kaguya's Third Elder... who was missing an arm... stagger into camp, accompanied by a dozen disheveled Jonin.
Before Raisho could even ask, the Third Elder spoke one sentence, his voice choked with tears, that made Raisho's vision go black.
"Lord Clan Head... the Kaguya clan... is... finished!"
His ominous premonition was confirmed. Kaguya Raisho collapsed weakly into his chair.
"Who did this?!" Kaguya Takechiyo, the First Elder, demanded, seeing his Clan Head was in no state to speak.
"It was... the Uchiha..." the Third Elder replied.
"It really was them. I should have been prepared. The moment the news of the mine arrived, I should have gone back..." Kaguya Raisho said weakly.
It turned out that after capturing the mine, the Uchiha hadn't stopped. They marched straight into Kaguya territory, destroyed their strongholds, and annexed their lands.
Kaguya Raisho closed his eyes in agony. He could vividly imagine the Uchiha rampaging through his homeland, looting and pillaging.
"Pass the order! Assemble at once! We are counter-attacking the Uchiha!" Kaguya Raisho roared, no longer giving a damn about the Senju-Uzumaki allied forces.
The allied forces, meanwhile, knew nothing of the Kaguya homeland being sacked. All they knew was that their reinforcements were close, estimated to arrive within the hour. Seeing the Kaguya forces seem to be in disarray, they naturally wouldn't let them retreat. The allies launched a full-scale attack.
After a month of fighting, the strategy was familiar. Everyone moved to engage their usual counterparts.
However, just five minutes into the fight, Masahiko sensed something was terribly wrong.
"You old bastard, are you insane?!" Masahiko roared, narrowly dodging a bone blade aimed to kill. "That was a suicide attack! What grudge do we have that's worth that?!"
The Kaguya Elder didn't answer. His eyes said it all: He was fighting to the death.
"Damn it, something is completely off..." Masahiko cursed inwardly.
It wasn't just Masahiko. Everyone in the allied army could feel it. The Kaguya were fighting with a desperate, suicidal abandon.
Luckily, no one in the Kaguya clan possessed a protagonist's 'plot armor.' Even with this berserker-like power-up, they couldn't instantly rout the allied forces.
As the battle once again devolved into a stalemate, Kaguya Takechiyo—the First Elder, who was being held down by both Hashirama and Tobirama—actually smiled.
Thinking he was planning some trick, the two brothers immediately backed away.
But Takechiyo used a Body Flicker to appear at Kaguya Raisho's side, blasting back the Uzumaki Elders who were attacking him.
"Lord Clan Head," Takechiyo said calmly. "This old man is already over fifty. In this age of war, that is a long life... If this stalemate continues, our clan will truly be wiped out. My lord, take the men and return. Save our people who are being slaughtered by the Uchiha! I will hold them here."
"First Elder, you..." Raisho began to protest, but he could see the resolve in the old man's eyes. He intended to die here.
Kaguya Raisho closed his eyes for a brief second, then snapped them open, his decision made. "All units—RETREAT!"
Kaguya Takechiyo smiled, relieved. "Shikotsumyaku: Bone Prison Technique!"
To the allied forces, the Kaguya First Elder seemed to instantly weather away, like rotted wood turning to dust, scattering between heaven and earth. The ground trembled, and a massive prison of bone erupted from the earth, slowly rising to enclose the entire allied army.
Kaguya Raisho, already some distance away, looked back at the colossal prison. He spoke to his horrified clansmen: "The 'Bone Prison Technique' is a jutsu many of you can use. You use your bones to create a cage to trap an enemy, similar to the Water Prison Jutsu. But in our clan's forbidden texts, there is a way to expand its scale. By using the life force in your very cells, you can accelerate the growth of your bones in a short time to create a much larger prison... A prison of this size... the First Elder must have used all of his life force," Kaguya Raisho murmured.
He shook himself, his expression hardening. "All units, keep moving! We will annihilate the Uchiha and take back our homeland! We will not let the First Elder's sacrifice be in vain!"
Inside the bone prison, the allied forces were trying everything. They couldn't break the walls. Earth Release specialists tried to dig under, but the floor was also made of thick bone. Hashirama's Wood Release proved too frail against the dense bone.
Ten minutes passed. They were completely helpless. Only Tobirama managed to escape using his still-unskilled Hiraishin. He tried to help break it from the outside, but even that failed.
Masahiko suddenly found it hard to breathe. 'The air in here is limited. We can't wait for reinforcements...' he thought. 'I can't believe I have to use my new jutsu for the first time... here.'
"Everyone, get back!" Masahiko shouted. "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"
An astonishing wave of chakra exploded from his body. The signature jutsu of the future protagonist, Naruto, had just been unleashed for the first time in the Warring States Period.
When the smoke cleared, the bone prison, which had been completely unbreakable, now had a gaping hole, wide enough for two people to walk through.
"Great-Uncle! I never imagined you had a jutsu that powerful!" Hashirama said, his face a mask of shock.
"Yes, well, neither did I," Masahiko said with a bitter smile. "And I didn't expect the side effects to be this... severe."
His appearance was pitiful. He was covered in dust, and his right arm, dripping with blood, hung uselessly at his side.
"I'm afraid... I'm out of this war," Masahiko said.
Only then did Hashirama register Masahiko's condition. "Of course! Great-Uncle, please, go and rest! We'll handle everything from here!"
Half an hour later, Kaguya Raisho and his men arrived near their homeland. From a distance, they could see their compound engulfed in flames, the bodies of their kinsmen littering the ground.
"Damn you, Uchiha!" Kaguya Raisho's face was a mask of grief and fury. "I swear, we will never rest until you are destroyed!"
And at that exact moment, back at the allied camp, the Senju reinforcements finally arrived.