In one breath, four hundred Uchiha troops surged forward, rushing toward the battlefield at top speed.
"Is he really in danger?" Uchiha Shin asked as he ran beside Uchiha Akichi.
"To persist for this long proves the Vice-Clan Head's strength. It's very likely he has already exhausted much of the Senju and Uzumaki's active forces," Uchiha Akichi said, biting his lower lip until blood ran down his chin. "We must succeed in one stroke! Today, we will end the Battle of Shirotani Pass!"
The Jonin unit led by Uchiha Shin and Uchiha Akichi arrived at the battlefield first. Starting ten li out, they began to see numerous corpses littering the road.
The count along the way was shocking.
"Vice-Clan Head!"
Uchiha Akichi gave a loud shout. The others looked in the direction he pointed, spotting Izuna standing atop a mountain peak.
A breeze blew past, carrying the pungent scent of blood through the valley.
Uchiha Akichi quickly leaped to Izuna's side and knelt on one knee, asking for instructions. "Vice-Clan Head, what is the current situation..."
"Unfortunately, I failed to kill that bastard Senju Yuma."
Izuna's body swayed. Uchiha Shin moved to support him, but Izuna raised a hand to refuse.
"However, after taking that hit, he won't be able to step onto a battlefield ever again."
The surrounding Uchiha Jonin listened with growing astonishment.
Did that mean the five-hundred-strong Senju and Uzumaki force had been completely routed and forced to flee?
"Scour the area for fifty li. Clean up the battlefield. If you see any fish that slipped through the net, kill them without mercy!" Izuna unclasped his tattered armor, threw it aside, and turned to head back to the Uchiha camp as he issued orders.
"Yes!"
Everyone responded with hands clasped in awe.
Back at the military camp, while servants heated water, Izuna picked up a mirror to examine his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Is the pattern the opposite of Madara's in the original work?
Not bad.
He slept until noon the next day.
After enjoying a simple lunch, Izuna visited the tent in the corner of the camp where Mito had been living for the past year.
Only then did he order Uchiha Akichi to summon the elite Jonin in the camp to the main tent to discuss matters.
Uchiha Akichi and Uchiha Shin stood on either side, with five Jonin behind each of them.
Facing Izuna in the main seat, every single one of them wore an expression of reverence.
He had actually challenged an army of five hundred single-handedly—an army composed not only of the powerful Senju and Uzumaki clans but also including two Kage-level experts and more than two Near-Kage level fighters.
"How are the tasks I instructed you to handle coming along?" Izuna asked.
Uchiha Akichi, standing at the front left, took a step to the right, bowed with clasped hands, and reported on the current status of Shirotani Pass.
While Izuna was resting yesterday, Uchiha Akichi had led the army to clean up the battlefield and hunt down stragglers.
After several investigations, and checking the abandoned Senju and Uzumaki camp, it was confirmed: there was not a single Senju or Uzumaki left at Shirotani Pass.
At the same time, due to Izuna's excessively exaggerated battle, the damage to Shirotani Pass was immense.
If it had been a rugged mountain range before, it had now become a mountain road traversable by ordinary people.
In the future, this place might become a key route for enemy surprise attacks against the Uchiha. It was even possible they would send an army of thousands to raid it.
"Heh, I overlooked that. After this war ends, I will petition the clan to send more men to garrison a fortress city at Shirotani Pass."
"Yes, this subordinate will handle it immediately," Uchiha Akichi responded.
Izuna raised his hand and added, "No rush. First, pass down my order: bring out the wine and meat we were stockpiling. It will be a small gift for everyone at the celebration banquet tonight."
"Yes!"
Half the awe on the Jonins' faces was replaced by joy.
It was supposed to be a small-scale campaign, yet it had been fought so bitterly for a full year.
Now, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
That night, at the bonfire banquet.
Among the typically cold-natured Uchiha clansmen, quite a few were dancing excitedly, performing rather nondescript dances.
The iron wall originally built by the Senju and Uzumaki had left them wanting to attack but unable to do anything.
None of them had expected the war to end with such an abrupt result.
"In your opinion, what level has the Vice-Clan Head's strength reached?"
"Surely he must be comparable to Clan Head Tajima by now, right?"
"Pah! Stop talking nonsense. In my opinion, the Vice-Clan Head's strength surpassed Clan Head Tajima long ago."
"Right, right. Clan Head Tajima never achieved such a glorious battle record!"
While everyone drank excitedly, the most discussed topic was Izuna's strength.
This battle was enough to be recorded in clan history and praised for a hundred generations.
It also made everyone deeply curious.
Just what level had Izuna's strength reached?
Uchiha Shin had also scavenged through the Senju camp afterward.
But there was nothing of value.
Before fleeing, Senju Yuma had ordered his men to burn all remaining military provisions to ash.
The revelry lasted all night. By the afternoon of the next day, it was time to get back to work.
After all, this was only a side battlefield. The main battlefield at Mount Congyun was suffering a war a hundred times more severe than this one!
Izuna gathered the five hundred Uchiha ninja troops of Shirotani Pass.
He decided to take the three hundred men under Grand Elder Uchiha Yukinoji with him, leaving the remaining two hundred to guard Shirotani Pass, build military fortifications, and eventually begin constructing a city after the war.
When Izuna finished issuing the mission, the troops' response shook the valley, showing just how much yesterday's victory had shocked them.
Izuna's status in their hearts had upgraded from merely "The Brains" to a "Pillar" of the clan.
Before setting off, Izuna asked about one more thing: the state of the battle between the Hyuga and the Sarutobi/Shimura clans.
It had been nearly a year, and he realized he hadn't paid attention to the war between these two families he had played for fools since arriving here.
"Yes. Neither side has deployed their clan's full military power. The Hyuga family is led by Hyuga Yuanzheng, who has stepped into the Clan Head level, fighting against Shimura Keizo. The troop strength is 1,200 for the Hyuga and about 800 for the Sarutobi and Shimura."
Izuna secretly pondered the matter of the Hyuga and Sarutobi/Shimura.
In the end, this was all a grudge war he had manufactured using the identity of "Kite."
"Kite" was the culprit who had killed over twenty Jonin from the Sarutobi and Shimura clans, led by Shimura Ri.
He had tricked Sarutobi Furuyuki, making Shimura Keizo and the others mistakenly believe Kite was a member of the Hyuga clan, leading to a massive attack.
The Hyuga clan, on the other hand, was involved because of the death of Gekko Fūha, the leader of their vassal clan, the Gekko clan.
Originally, Hyuga Tenso didn't want to go to war with powerful clans like the Sarutobi and Shimura just for the death of a vassal clan leader.
But while he was contemplating a solution, the other side had already attacked.
From the Hyuga perspective, the actions of the Sarutobi and Shimura clans were simply the guilty party filing the suit first. With the whole clan in a rage, they had no choice but to fight.
One shouldn't assume a Clan Head has complete control over everything in the clan; often, if the subordinates are dissatisfied, the Clan Head can accomplish nothing.
Didn't Madara in the original work end up with no one following him when he left Konoha?
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