The walls of the Hidden Whirlpool Village collapsed with a thunderous crash.
From the gaping breach, the Hidden Cloud shinobi charged in.
A great river named the River of Snails flowed through the center of the village, with fences on both sides near the walls—water could pass, but ships were not allowed through without permission.
Those fences had already been destroyed by the Hidden Mist shinobi, who now leapt out of the river and stormed into the village.
The southern bank of the village was home to ordinary villagers—merchants, laborers, and families.
The Cloud and Mist shinobi burned every house they found, dragging villagers out of their homes and slaughtering them one by one.
Their bloody methods sent a message to the Uzumaki clan: if they couldn't obtain the clan's supreme sealing techniques, they wouldn't rest tonight.
The Mist and Cloud forces had also learned crucial intelligence—Leaf hadn't sent any reinforcements. With that knowledge, they became even more unrestrained.
Yagami lowered his binoculars and turned slightly to glance in Danzō's direction.
That side was still silent.
Three squad captains and two advisor aides stood quietly like withered trees, awaiting Danzō's command.
Yagami frowned in puzzlement. Shouldn't the Hidden Leaf already be moving to rescue Uzumaki Kushina by now?
The numbers of the Cloud and Mist shinobi were enough to spark a regional war against the Leaf. Any more delay, and Kushina could be captured or killed.
Just then, a barrier suddenly flared up within the Hidden Whirlpool Village—
The Four Violet Flames Formation!
A massive rectangular barrier rose on the northern bank of the village, enclosing a large section within it.
The deep violet light of the barrier gleamed vividly against the surrounding fires, almost like solid crystal.
The Uzumaki were not only masters of sealing techniques—they also excelled in barrier ninjutsu. In truth, barrier techniques were simply a special branch of sealing arts.
One rash Cloud shinobi leapt into the air, flipped his blade downward, and drove it hard against the barrier.
He was too impatient—his body slammed against the barrier, and in an instant, he was burned alive.
The Four Violet Flames Formation was incredibly hot; anything that touched it would be incinerated by the purple fire.
Seeing this, the Mist shinobi released a coordinated Water Release.
With the village's central river serving as their water source, the technique required little chakra.
A mountainous wave of water crashed against the barrier.
The roaring flood was seared by the flames, billowing up thick clouds of steam.
The mist grew so heavy it covered the sky, cloaking the entire Hidden Whirlpool Village in a shroud of vapor.
Judging by the sheer amount of steam, the barrier's power was immense—unyielding and formidable.
Yagami thought to himself, So that's why Danzō was so calm… he already knew the village had this hidden trump card.
The Four Violet Flames Formation of the Hidden Whirlpool could indeed hold out for a time.
Under normal circumstances, they would just need to endure until reinforcements from the Hidden Leaf arrived, and the crisis could be turned around.
Unfortunately, things couldn't be judged by normal logic anymore.
Would the Uzumaki still have any hope left after learning the Hidden Leaf's true stance?
He sighed inwardly—what a tragedy for the villagers outside the barrier.
The Cloud and Mist shinobi's massacre was advancing from the outer edges toward the center.
Wherever the firelight reached, death followed.
The Yatagarasu circled in the sky, unsure how to intervene—any attack it made would only hasten the villagers' deaths.
The Spirit Turtle opened its enormous jaws and exhaled a fierce gale, blowing away part of the thick mist that blanketed the village.
With the haze thinning, Yagami could see clearly again.
Through his binoculars, he saw the Cloud and Mist shinobi sending out representatives to negotiate with the Uzumaki clan inside the barrier.
Within the formation stood the leader of the Hidden Whirlpool Village—the patriarch of the Uzumaki clan. His teeth were clenched as he forced out his words, one by one:
"Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Whirlpool Village will both repay you—double!"
The representative of the Hidden Mist was none other than Hōzuki Hōzangeki, carrying the massive blade Samehada. He sneered,
"The Leaf might come for revenge, but whether your Hidden Whirlpool Village will even live to see that… depends on your decision.
Let's make a deal. Hand over your secret sealing techniques, and we'll leave immediately.
Don't try to play games—if I can personally seal that giant Spirit Turtle of yours, I'll consider the deal complete.
You'd better hurry. Your villagers won't last long.
Refuse… and I'll take the sealing techniques from your corpses instead.
Your little Hidden Whirlpool dares to covet our Three-Tails—what's next? The Two-Tails?
Do you think you're the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, that you can collect every tailed beast?
If we can't have your sealing arts, then the Uzumaki clan has no right to have them either."
Not far away, Uzumaki Yuka listened to the shouting near the barrier while raising her eyes to the sky.
The Four Violet Flames Formation was vast and roofless.
If the situation grew desperate, it was her duty to send Princess Kushina out using her spear, White Heron.
Watching the villagers being slaughtered outside, Yuka felt her heart twisting in pain.
Among them were familiar faces—
the woman who sold breakfast,
the uncle who pushed his cart of goods,
the old grandmother who always basked in the sun at the street corner.
All those vivid memories—now dying, one by one.
To increase the pressure, the Cloud and Mist shinobi dragged the villagers to the barrier's edge and killed them there deliberately.
Thick streams of blood ran down the ground, hissing into black-gray vapor where they touched the violet flames.
All the civilians cursed the shinobi alike. When ninjas killed, they were cruel as beasts.
That was what shinobi were trained for—the art of killing, both in skill and in spirit.
Yuka closed her eyes in anguish, but the screams never stopped.
The Uzumaki didn't want to abandon the villagers, but the attack had come too suddenly—and the enemy numbers were overwhelming.
Their outer scouting teams had been betrayed, their positions leaked to the Cloud and Mist.
The attackers struck every scouting post simultaneously, tearing down the village walls before the Hidden Whirlpool even realized they were under siege.
The sheer number of enemies defied reason—perhaps they had even prepared for the possibility of Leaf interference.
All they could do now was pray that the Leaf would notice the invasion early, and that their messenger ninja would reach the Hidden Leaf Village in time.
But who had leaked the Whirlpool's outer defense network?
On the mountain peak, Yagami noticed some commotion below.
An Anbu squad appeared, escorting two Uzumaki shinobi as they entered the barrier.
One of the Uzumaki rushed straight to Danzō, overjoyed.
"Lord Danzō! The Leaf did know in advance about the Cloud and Mist's sneak attack!
Please, lead your men to save our village quickly!"
He was trembling with excitement, never expecting the Leaf to be so close already.
The other Uzumaki shinobi, however, was drenched in cold sweat.
He glanced uneasily at the surroundings—the barrier they were in looked like a cloaking barrier.
Why… wasn't the Leaf entering the village directly? Why set up a hidden barrier instead?
Yagami could already guess Danzō's intention. He pulled a kunai from his pouch.
Should I show some initiative in front of the commander?
He thought for a moment, then decided against it.
If he caught Danzō's attention, that could spell disaster.
Captain Yomi moved first—he killed one of the Uzumaki on the spot.
At almost the same moment, Captain Kurokage struck down the other, the one who had been nervously scanning the cloaking barrier.
Throughout it all, Danzō didn't even blink.
His four implanted white eyes remained fixed on the Hidden Eddy Village below.
***
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