Chapter 55: A False Alarm
Uchiha Raizen went straight to Uchiha Tajima upon returning to camp. This intelligence was too critical to delay.
"What? This was a Senju plot?" Uchiha Tajima roared, shooting to his feet, his face a mask of fury.
"That's what Hyūga Tōgen claimed. I cannot verify its truth, but we cannot gamble with the lives of our clansmen back home," Uchiha Raizen stated, his voice urgent.
"Damn them! We return! Now!" Uchiha Tajima bellowed, his strategic mind instantly overriding his thirst for vengeance.
A wave of relief washed over Uchiha Raizen. His mother, his sisters, Haruka—they were all back at the compound. If the Senju attacked, they would be slaughtered. He couldn't bear that thought.
He joined the vanguard, the fastest group setting out for home. The journey that normally took three days was compressed into two by their frantic pace.
And it was on this hurried return that they stumbled upon them—a squad of Senju shinobi moving with stealth through the forest.
Seeing them confirmed everything. Hyūga Tōgen had told the truth. It was a brilliant, vicious plan: pit the Hyūga and Uchiha against each other, let them bleed each other white, and then swoop in to finish off the weakened victor. With the Uchiha main force gone, their home was defenseless.
"Patriarch, we—" an ANBU captain began.
"Enough talk! Annihilate them!" Uchiha Tajima's voice was a guttural snarl. The iconic, swirling pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan blazed to life in his eyes.
Uchiha Raizen saw it then—a glowing [Intermediate Sharingan Fragment] orb appearing on the ground near the patriarch. But his daily pickups were exhausted. He felt a sharp pang of greed and frustration; his own Sharingan still hadn't awakened. But there was no time for regret. He launched himself into the fray.
The twenty-strong Senju squad, led by an Elite Jōnin, stood no chance against the wrath of a Mangekyō-wielding clan leader. They were cut down in moments.
"Move! They are just scouts. The main force might already be at our gates!" Uchiha Tajima commanded, pushing their speed to the absolute limit.
Over the next day, they encountered and obliterated four more Senju squads, nearly a hundred shinobi in total. Each skirmish fueled their dread.
But when they finally burst into the Uchiha compound, they found... peace.
The clan lands were untouched. There were no signs of battle, no fires, no alarms. The Senju main force had either never arrived or had withdrawn upon learning of their return.
Uchiha Raizen didn't wait for debriefing. He used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing in front of his home in a blur. Surface calm meant nothing; a skilled infiltrator could already be inside.
"Mother! I'm home!" he shouted, throwing the door open.
"Welcome home, Raizen!" Uchiha Yōyō's voice called out, warm and unhurried.
"Raizen! You're back! Perfect timing, the dumplings just came out of the pot!" Uchiha Kuna emerged from the kitchen, holding a steaming plate, a genuine smile on her face.
Seeing his family safe and sound, going about their normal lives, the coiled tension in Uchiha Raizen's chest finally released. It had been a false alarm. They were safe. For now. He slumped against the doorframe, the adrenaline crash leaving him weak with relief.