Unfortunately, this failure to stop Black Zetsu was going to cost Uzushio and the Uzumaki dearly.
The almighty barrier of Uzushio suddenly broke with the sound of shattering glass.
The Uzumaki forces froze in bewilderment for a moment and in doing so, they gave their foes a critical opening.
Onoki's eyes glinted with ruthlessness as he unhesitantly exploited the gap in the First Elder's defenses.
Not to strike at him though.
If he did that, the man's instincts would likely allow him to automatically save himself, even if by the skin of his teeth.
So the Tsuchikage chose a target which he had a far greater chance of success at actually destroying . . .
'Dust Release: Detachment of The Primitive World'
A beam of all consuming white light carved a channel through the center of the Uzumaki forces.
Those shinobi unfortunate enough to stand in its path of destruction left neither ashes nor dust, their forms utterly obliterated until nothing was left.
With unstoppable momentum, the beam reached the gate and wall of Uzushio.
Bereft of the Village Barrier's protection, no matter how sturdy their construction, they were no match for the destructive might of the Tsuchikage's Dust Release.
Onoki unleashed the full might of his jutsu, letting the beam disperse into a white explosion of light, expanding to violently erase everything in a large area.
The casualties for the Uzushio forces were catastrophic.
The village's gate was gone and a large portion of the walls surrounding it had been reduced to nothingness as well, creating a massive gap in the village's defense.
Worse, Onoki had been the fastest to exploit the shock caused by the Village Barrier dropping, but he was certainly not the only one.
The Kumo shinobi clashing in violent melee with the shinobi of the Uzumaki had also exploited the opportunity with ruthless efficiency.
They did not merely take the opportunity to score a hit on their distracted foes.
Now, they took the opportunity to surge forward and penetrate the Uzumaki defense lines.
Their objective?
Muddying the battlefield.
In a chaotic battle where foe and friend all mixed together in a single large blob of shinobi, individual ability, particularly in close quarters combat, swiftly became the deciding factor.
And while the Uzumaki were very physically strong, their focus was not on taijutsu and kenjutsu, putting them at a disadvantage against Kumo.
'Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Beheading'
The fastest of the Kumo shinobi dashed into the middle of enemy lines and immediately unleashed their blades in large sweeping slashes.
'Cloud Style: Flame Beheading'
'Cloud Style: Wind Beheading'
Those rushing up behind them unleashed waves of fire fed by gusts of wind, delivered through powerful chakra enhanced slashes.
'Cloud Style: Thunder Beheading'
And once their enemies were rattled, injured and disoriented by the relentless assault, the last wave of Kumo shinobi leapt at them with the crack of thunder resounding as their lightning infused blades dealt the killing blow.
Screams rang out as mass casualties were inflicted upon the off guard Uzumaki.
But then . . . The screams of pain and suffering gave way to screams of rage and violence.
The Uzumaki clan already had a well known hot blooded nature along with chakra even more responsive to emotion than for normal shinobi.
In the ancient past, the clan had been called the Blood Haired Demons, not only for their forbidden methods of back then but also for their merciless berserker rages.
With floating, nearly living crimson hair, reddened eyes and twisted faces like demons of wrath, the Uzumaki launched themselves at the closest enemy they could get their hands on.
And right then, the normally fearless and vicious close quarters specialists of Kumogakure, felt a primal terror well up from the depths of their psyche.
A nameless Uzumaki rushed towards a nameless to-be victim.
The targeted Kumo shinobi, despite his fear, reacted with honed instinct.
'Cloud Style: Front Beheading'
A quick and powerful slash left a trail of sword light as it cut towards the oncoming Uzumaki, a man so possessed with violence that he did not even seem to acknowledge his to-be victim's counterattack.
The sword bit deeply into the charging shinobi's left collarbone, sending large amounts of blood spraying into the air and immediately crippling the movement of his left arm.
A critical wound that would bring down the toughest of normal shinobi.
With the blood of his enemy splattering across his face, the Kumo shinobi's lips curled into a smirk.
'Frightened over nothing!' He internally mocked his earlier scared self.
That attitude did not last long.
In fact, it did not last for more than a second as an iron-like vice grip closed around his throat.
The attacking Uzumaki shinobi's still functional left arm had the Kumo Jonin by the neck before he could even react.
Desperately, the man pulled at his ninja blade to try and cut his attacker against but also, to his utter terror, it seemed stuck, lodged into the body of his foe.
With a savage and bloody sneer, the Uzumaki man strengthened his grim and actually ripped out a large chunk of flesh from the Kumo shinobi's through.
Blood gushed into the air with force, creating a localized scene of maybe blood rain.
However, the real problem for the Three Village Coalition, was that this was not an isolated incident.
As if simultaneously afflicted by the same rage virus, the Uzumaki appeared to go utterly insane.
Charging into their Kumo foes without any regard for their own lives, eating what should have been killing blows and using them as an opening to counterattack.
Worse, the surging vitality in their bodies meant they were not falling.
Even after suffering heavy injuries to take down one enemy, they jumped straight towards the next as if nothing was wrong with their bodies.
Soon enough, the screams of pain and despair shifted from the mouths of the Uzumaki to those of the Coalition shinobi.
'Hmph! Crazy bastards . . .' Onoki thought to himself from the sky.
'We've dealt enough damage, sticking around longer in the mire and allowing them to fight back and inflict casualties will only diminish our victory today.
Not to mention they still have the Tailed Beasts, with their recovery abilities, they ought to be ready for resummoning, best to retreat now.' The Tsuchikage concluded.
And so, much to the frightened regular forces' relief, the signal for full retreat resounded.
Still filled with bloodlust, the batter and dying Uzumaki forces instinctively gave chase but the First Elder decisively pulled them back
'Summoning: Five Layered Rashomon - Fusion'
Pulling his troops back into the bounds of Uzushio, the First Elder plugged the massive gap in the walls with a special Uzumaki summoning.
A massive metal gate resembling the face of a demon rose from the ground,composed of five individual gates stacked and fused into one whole stronger than the sum of its parts.
It was an advanced version of a summoning jutsu gifted to the Senju clan and passed down in Konoha since the village's founding.
In the original series, Hashirama as well as Orochimaru and some of his subordinates used weaker variations of it.
And with that, the Final Clash for Uzu came to a close, concluding in a way outside the expectations of all involved parties.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -