"Damn Uchiha!"
Tobirama's roar echoed over the battlefield, part frustration, part warning to his allies. He reached for the long sword across his back and lunged at Izuna without hesitation, trying to draw the enemy's focus onto himself.
Clang!
Their blades collided. Metal rang out as sparks flew between them. Their movements looked almost mirrored-raw and instinctive. All around them, their comrades had already clashed with opposing forces. The battlefield shifted from tension into full-blown chaos in seconds.
"Asshole…"
Tobirama stared at the Uchiha before him and instinctively tried to assess their formation, but shoved the thought aside and spit words instead.
"There's no chance you'll succeed. You don't even understand how terrifying Thousand Stars is."
"Really?"
Izuna gave the response plainly, unbothered.
Tobirama noticed the dismissal in his eyes. Deep down, he grinned to himself. "Go ahead and underestimate him. You'll learn soon enough."
His thoughts scattered as his senses screamed. Every one of his allies had been cut down quickly and cleanly. They were outnumbered… and somehow, outmatched. He hadn't even seen any of them fall.
"What the hell…? Our numbers were supposed to be several times theirs."
His sword swung sideways with force, forcing Izuna back just half a step. That gave him enough room to check the battlefield properly.
"Three tomoe? All of them?!"
Shock crashed into him. According to Senju intelligence, only Madara and about ten others had matured Sharingan with three tomoe. Now every Uchiha here had them, and their forces matched their own almost one-for-one.
"You…"
Panic churned in Tobirama's gut. This was their elite force every fighter here was top-tier, and Uchiha didn't even send Madara? It had to be part of some decapitation strategy coordinated with tailed beast attacks elsewhere. That left only one conclusion-
Akira was the target.
Akira had earned too much within the alliance: respect, power, loyalty. If they lost Akira now, they'd lose not just tactics but morale.
"He's probably watching this from afar… I have to send this information somehow."
Tobirama raised his chin and called out across the battlefield.
"If you're trying to take out Akira, give it up! That guy's smarter than every last one of you! How else do you think he earned the title 'God of War'?!"
Izuna's expression remained neutral, but some of the others flinched from the name drop.
In that moment, a familiar pull twisted in the air beside Tobirama.
"Tobirama… are you talking shit about me again?"
Akira's mocking tone cut across the battlefield before he even fully appeared. Movement on both sides froze for just half a second.
"You fucking idiot! Why did you come alone?!"
Tobirama glared at him. He'd just finished hyping him up, and now Akira stumbled in alone without backup?
"I didn't know it was this bad!" Akira barked back defensively. "Izuna's my future brother-in-law why would I bring people?!"
Tobirama stared at him like he'd gone mad. "Are you insane?! They've sent nothing but elites, and you're talking about getting in good graces with Madara's little brother?!"
"I thought you brought enough people!"
Before Tobirama could smack sense into him, the air around them shifted again as spatial energy locked tight around the battlefield perimeter.
"They sealed the space…!"
Akira's escape route vanished.
Without Flying Thunder God on the table, and facing down this many three-tomoe veterans even Tobirama had to admit this fight was suicide now.
"We'll hold out until reinforcements come," he said flatly.
"There aren't any," Akira replied with calm finality. "I told them not to follow me."
"You what?!"
Tobirama clenched both fists as rage flared behind his eyes, but he stopped himself from snapping back further. There were enemies surrounding them now and pride wouldn't keep them alive.
"I'll hold them off, you find a gap and run."
Akira opened his mouth, but before he could speak, anew tone dropped through Izuna's lips.
"You're Senju Akira?"
"Right."
"The original?"
"Yes."
"…Good," Izuna said flatly and gave the faintest smile, nodding once toward him. "I acknowledge you."
Confusion cracked briefly through both Senju brothers, but there wasn't time to ask questions as every Uchiha soldier burst forward at once.
"Kill them!"
Akira responded without hesitation, no movement wasted as his hands blurred through signs.
"Genjutsu: Dark Illusion!"
Black tendrils poured outward from him swallowing light and robbing vision from every Sharingan nearby. The technique was aggressively tailored specifically to counter the Uchiha's greatest strength by nullifying tracking and chakra flow perception in combat.
It wasn't perfect though, not in this kind of fight, and brute force chakra disruption was already spreading between enemy lines as several squads worked to break its effects between each other using shared pain techniques.
"Earth Release: River of Mud!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
Three simultaneous techniques erupted from Akira's clones and original body, earth cracking open underfoot as deadly terrain ripped into enemy lines.
Six Uchiha dropped dead on impact-caught mid-recovery by coordinated barrages of stone and sludge.
Tobirama backed into formation beside Akira again, eyes wide for once beneath his calm exterior. He spoke through grit teeth.
"This is gonna get ugly."
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