Tonight, the five clans planned to hold their celebration for conquering Stonecastle here.
However, it was to be a banquet fraught with murderous intent.
After giving his instructions to Hagoromo Masanari, Izuna's shadow clone dispelled itself. Far away at the temporary base fifty miles out, the real Izuna instantly received all of the clone's memories.
"Director Kong," Izuna called out.
Uchiha Kong, who had been leaning against a large tree with his eyes closed, about to doze off, shot up and jogged over. "Vice-Clan Head, what are your orders?"
"Inform all clansmen to prepare their weapons. We're launching a counter-attack to take back the city!"
Uchiha Kong's heart leaped, and he quickly relayed the command.
Nearly twelve hours had passed since they arrived at the temporary base. Except for the seriously wounded, everyone had eaten their fill and was ready to go.
Soon, leaving the wounded behind, all of the Uchiha's northwestern combatants—nearly three hundred of them—were assembled.
"Listen up. We'll hide three miles outside Stonecastle and wait for a signal from inside the city. Then we strike with everything we've got and end this war for good."
A... a signal?
The two hundred-plus Uchiha ninja exchanged confused glances. A chunin raised his hand. "Vice-Clan Head, who's going to give us a signal?"
"Hagoromo Masanari," Izuna replied flatly.
The answer left everyone baffled once more.
*Hagoromo Masanari? Isn't he our number one enemy? He's going to give us a signal to attack him?*
It made no sense at all.
"Move out!"
Izuna's eyes were already spinning with three tomoe. He turned and leaped into the trees. The other clansmen, despite their bellies full of questions, quickly followed.
***
Inside Stonecastle, in the mansion where Izuna once lived.
The large main hall had been impressively decorated by Hagoromo Masanari.
He now sat in the seat of honor in the center.
Slightly below him, to his left, were the heads of the Saito and Watanabe clans. To his right were the heads of the Fuma and Kikawa clans.
The tables before the five men were laden with food and fine wine. Two guards stood behind each of them.
"To have torn a piece of flesh from the Uchiha's grasp... throughout the entire history of the Warring States, besides the Senju, only we five clans have managed it."
Hagoromo Masanari laughed heartily and raised his cup. "To that, I toast the four of you."
Watanabe, Saito, and the other two clan heads also raised their cups. After a polite "You're too kind, Clan Head Hagoromo," they downed the wine in a single gulp.
Hagoromo Masanari wiped his mouth, then suddenly changed his tone. He let out a long sigh and said, "It's a pity, though, that one thing has spoiled the whole pot of soup, like a rat's dropping. It displeases me greatly."
"Oh?" The one-armed Fuma clan head looked over. "And what might that be that has soured your mood, Clan Head Hagoromo?"
Hagoromo Masanari gave a strange smile. "Actually, it's four droppings. I, Hagoromo Masanari, believe I dealt in good faith, yet I was to be betrayed. But even with rats' droppings in the soup, if you fish them out early, perhaps it can still be drunk."
The four clan heads of the Watanabe, Saito, Fuma, and Kikawa exchanged a look, a silent understanding passing between them.
"Wouldn't you agree, my fellow clan heads?"
The moment he finished speaking, Hagoromo Masanari slammed his cup down.
*Crash!*
The ceramic cup shattered. The instant the sound echoed, the paper walls behind him were torn open. At least twenty Hagoromo ninja in armor, wielding swords, glared at the four men with murderous intent.
*Just as Tobi said!* the four thought in unison.
The Watanabe clan head sneered, "So you planned to discard us after we served our purpose all along, Clan Head Hagoromo. A pity for you, we are not so easily dealt with."
With that, he slammed his hands on the table before him. The chakra-infused blow shattered the wooden table, sending food scattering across the floor.
The sound of footsteps could be heard approaching from outside. A Hagoromo jonin appeared beside Masanari using a Body Flicker Technique and reported in a low voice, "Clan Head, the four clans have surrounded the mansion."
*Hmph, just as Tobi said,* Hagoromo Masanari thought to himself, a cold smile on his lips. He ordered his subordinate, "Give the signal. Call for reinforcements."
"Yes, sir!" The jonin vanished in another flicker.
"Six months ago, I invited you to cooperate in good faith. Is this how you repay me?" Hagoromo Masanari's gaze fell upon the four clan heads.
***
"You conspired with the Sarutobi and Shimura clans to get rid of us after finishing off the Uchiha, and you have the gall to speak of sincerity?"
The four clan heads, including Watanabe, couldn't help but sneer. The Fuma clan head responded directly by throwing a kunai, but Hagoromo Masanari dodged it with ease.
"Do it!"
The Saito clan head clapped his hands together. "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
A cylinder of rapidly rotating wind pressure rushed forward like an invisible flood dragon.
The Watanabe clan head immediately coordinated his own attack. "Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
Wind and Fire were the two chakra natures easiest to combine. After the Uchiha clan had perfected the technique, other ninja clans had constantly referenced and imitated it.
Two B-rank jutsu, cast by two ninja at the peak of the Jonin level, instantly unleashed power that surpassed an A-rank jutsu.
"The four of you are still not enough to warrant my concern."
Hagoromo Masanari's hands blurred as he rapidly formed hand seals. "Hagoromo Secret Art: Yang Release: Five-Sided Seal Storm!"
A golden light flashed, forming the outline of a shield that momentarily blocked the combined wind and fire attack.
But the shockwave from the attack was redirected to other parts of the main hall. The residence where Izuna had previously lived exploded in an instant. With a thunderous roar, nearly half of the area was engulfed in flames.
"Attack! Kill them!" Hagoromo Masanari shouted with a wave of his hand, and the Hagoromo ninja who had long been lying in wait swarmed forward.
"Kill any Hagoromo on sight!"
The four opposing clans showed no weakness. Both sides faced the "traitors," their hearts filled with a hatred even more extreme than what they had felt for the Uchiha.
The sounds of shouting and slaughter echoed through the Uchiha's city.
***
*Whoosh—Boom!*
Just then, a streak of colored light shot up into the sky above Stonecastle, finally exploding into a multicolored firework.
Izuna, who had long been waiting in ambush in the dense forest outside the city's east gate, saw it, and his handsome face broke into a rapturous smile. "Move out!"
*So there really was a signal!*
The other Uchiha clansmen were both shocked and overjoyed. Seeing Izuna charge toward the city gate first, they couldn't wait either. They grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the city that had fallen less than twenty-four hours ago.
Just before making his move, Izuna had used a summoning jutsu to call forth the Uchiha clan's messenger ninja hawk, sending a message back to Uchiha Madara at the clan compound.
Several days prior, Izuna, in his guise as Tobi, had teamed up with Hagoromo Masanari and the others to ambush Shimura Ri's group at their station.
"How could this have happened?"
The lead ninja knelt beside the station, which had been blasted to pieces, his face a mask of disbelief.
Besides him were three other ninja, who looked just as incredulously at the bodies littering the ground.
Their attire bore the emblem of the Shimura clan.
That's right, the Shimura ninja kneeling on the ground was named Shimura Aigoto, a special Jonin under Shimura Keizo, primarily responsible for intelligence gathering.
Like other ninja clans, Shimura Ri, the envoy for the negotiations with the four clans, was supposed to contact the clan daily via summoning animals to provide them with frontline intelligence.
However, several days had passed without any word from Shimura Ri.
Growing increasingly uneasy, Shimura Keizo could no longer sit still and had dispatched an investigation team to follow the transport route.
Upon reaching the station, they discovered the bodies of Shimura Ri and his party.
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