In a defenseless posture, the Root Commander could only widen his eyes in shock as a devastating Chakra Enhanced heel fell towards his head at blinding speed.
With her sensory abilities, Kitsune was unhampered by the smokescreen and saw through Toka's move.
But lacking quick and powerful ranged options, she could only resort to shuriken in a desperate attempt to slow down the Senju kunoichi's attack.
Alas, with Earth Spear reinforcing her body, the shuriken just harmlessly bounced off with a clang, utterly ignored.
Faced with this situation, Neko could only launch another sneak attack to create an opening for his commander to evade Toka's attack.
However . . .
"!?" Kitsune's sensory ability immediately told her something was wrong but in such a fast paced battle situation, there was simply no time to warn her two companions.
Gankutsu's expression reflected shock, disbelief, incomprehension . . .
After all . . .
When Neko's chakra enhanced slash manifested from perfect stealth, it inexplicably slit the Root commander's throat instead of targeting Toka.
Then, without being given time to realize what had just taken place, Neko was crushed by the Senju kunoichi's descending heel drop.
"Genjutsu . . ." Kitsune murmured, looking at the corpses of her two companions.
She still could not believe how quickly the situation turned from a barely maintained stalemate to an absolute defeat.
Her own death came swiftly after, she did not even bother to resist the inevitable, her side had already been vanquished.
Ultimately, it came down to a mistake born from misinformation.
Toka's reliance on ninjutsu to clear the rest of the facility and taijutsu to enhance them, made the three Root operatives believe her speciality lied in those two disciplines.
Alas . . .
Toka had always been good at taijutsu, most mainline Senju were due to their innately strong bodies and great vitality, her ninjutsu had also been decent.
Her current high mastery however, came as a result of focused training when the kunoichi had already hit her thirties.
However, in the old days, at the time of Konoha's founding, when Senju Toka was in her twenties, her genjutsu was already world renowned.
And for a Senju that constantly clashed with Sharingan bearing Uchiha, even the Mangekyo Sharingan, to be touted as one of the best genjutsu users of her time well . . . that said something.
Once Toka figured out Neko's timing for his ambushes, preparing a perfectly timed genjutsu to trick him into misplacing his attack was child's play for her.
Truly great users of genjutsu don't typically overwhelm their opponents with powerful and obvious genjutsu, that is only done when one is sure that the enemy will be unable to resist.
Usually, more subtle means are employed, blending in with other shinobi skills tricking the enemy without even letting them realize they were being tricked in the first place.
Whatever the case, with the last bit of meaningful Root resistance crushed, Senju Toka cleared the base of all useful materials and captured the most important researchers to bring back as prisoners for interrogation.
*
All while this took place, the Uchiha trio, Naori, Setsuna and Fukutsu made their own assault and when compared to the meticulously planned operation of Toka or the stealth based approach of Benihime, they certainly handled things quite differently.
Most Uchiha favored speed based approaches to combat, fully taking advantage of the superior dynamic vision and accelerated perception provided by their Sharingan.
They also heavily relied on ninjutsu but in the current case, such big attacks risked destroying the materials they were trying to recover or, even worse, kill clan compatriots possibly imprisoned in the facility.
All this led to a most simple and straightforward plan.
Just draw one's sword and rush in, cutting through the enemy faster than they can respond.
A rather thoughtless seeming plan in theory, a foolishly not well prepared frontal assault . . . again, in theory.
In practice however . . .
Well, one quasi-Kage level Uchiha in Setsuna, peak of A rank; one early Kage level Uchiha in Fukutsu, bottom of S rank and one high Kage level Uchiha in Naori, high S rank, all bearing the extremely unfair Sharingan . . .
With such unreasonable individual fighting prowess, planning was almost superfluous.
No need to think that deep.
Just charge into the facility and kill all enemies before they can even mount a proper response, this was the only plan necessary.
It was like a storm of flashing steel.
The Uchiha trio became vengeful ghosts carving a bloody path through the entire facility faster than the guards could even react.
Unlike Toka who had been momentarily stopped by three opponents of reasonable strength due to the numerical disadvantage, Naori had two powerful companions covering her.
The result was that they managed to cut through every signal Root operative without any significant resistance.
But now . . . at the core of the facility, Uchiha Naori stood frozen in place.
Tears welled in her eyes, the left still turvy blind and the right involuntarily taking the three petaled red flow pattern of her Mangekyo Sharingan.
With barely contained rage spread across their faces, Fukutsu quickly gathered every experimental material, piece of equipment and research records that might hold importance.
His notorious Uchiha temper running even hotter, Setsuna gathered and secured the researchers they had captured in the raid.
Root operatives were usually impossible to break, they self-destructed if anyone came close to doing so barring special operatives with superior value in Danzo's eyes.
The researchers on the other hand . . . far less restricted and far more susceptible to shinobi interrogation methods.
They had also found "survivors" Uchiha captured alive for experiments, three of them but alas . . .
"Such a state can hardly be called living." Were Fukutsu's words regarding the situation.
The continuous inhuman experiments had worn down their spirits until they broke.
According to the records, they had been purposefully physically and mentally tortured to test how the stimulation of their negative emotions affected their Sharingan.
There was only one thing Fukutsu could do.
In his capacity as head of the Uchiha clan, he gave all three a quick end to their suffering alongside a promise that they would rest in the same soil as their fellow Uchiha in their clan cemetery.
Seeing the relief on their faces as death arrived only stoked the rage and pain in the hearts of the two men.
Still, this was still just solidarity for fellow clan members.
It could not compare to what Naori was going through right at that moment.
Be it Setsuna or Fukutsu, neither of them approached the final chamber of the facility for a long time after it was clear, giving the kunoichi all the time she needed.
Because in front of the teary, frozen Uchiha Naori, lay a large tune of preserving fluid, the extremely well preserved corpse of a man floating inside.
Her son, Uchiha Kagami.
The Uchiha who fought for and gave the most for Konoha itself.
The son she had taught not to hate, to look for the best in others.
The husband who left behind a grieving widow in the prime of her life.
The father that barely got any time to live alongside his newborn son.
All his devotion.
All his dedication.
In the end, he was betrayed, not just by the people he trusted but by the ideals he believed in.
+++++
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 -