The following day, as both sides quietly waited for reinforcements, a message thundered across the battlefield like a bolt from the blue.

  The Kaguya cn’s iron mine... had changed hands.

  Or rather, it had returned to its rightful owner.

  Without any warning, the Uchiha unched a swift and ruthless attack on the mine. The Kaguya assigned to guard it was only a single elite jonin—no match whatsoever for Madara, who personally led the raid. Within less than half an hour, the entire mine had fallen.

  When word reached Kaguya Jōrei, he nearly coughed up blood from sheer rage, cursing the Uchiha with every breath.

  At the time, Jōrei had a bad feeling, but he didn’t think much of it. He simply seethed with anger at the Uchiha for taking advantage of the war to snatch back their old property.

  But by dusk, when Uchiha reinforcements still hadn't appeared, instead came a sight that sent a chill down his spine—a battered group of Kaguya shinobi, led by the Third Elder, missing an arm and looking like they’d crawled out of hell itself.

  Before Jōrei could speak, the Third Elder’s voice, heavy with tears, delivered the blow.

  “Cn Leader... the Kaguya... we’re finished!”

  That ominous premonition solidified into reality. Jōrei colpsed into his chair, drained and pale.

  “Who did it?!” Kaguya Taketori stepped forward in pce of the dazed cn leader.

  “It was the Uchiha...” the Third Elder muttered.

  “I knew it! I should’ve seen this coming. The moment I heard the mine was taken, I should’ve gone back!” Jōrei groaned in regret.

  After securing the mine, the Uchiha hadn’t stopped—they had stormed straight into Kaguya territory, tearing through base after base, expanding their territory at the Kaguya’s expense.

  Jōrei shut his eyes in anguish. He could already picture the Uchiha running rampant through his cn’s nds, looting and sughtering.

  “Send the order—assemble immediately! We’re striking back at the Uchiha!” Jōrei bellowed, no longer caring about the Senju-Uzumaki alliance they were still fighting.

  On the other side, the coalition forces had yet to learn that the Kaguya homend had fallen. What they had heard was that their own reinforcements were close—less than an hour away.

  So when they noticed signs of the Kaguya forces pulling back, there was no way they’d let them escape. Instead, they unched a full assault.

  After a month of fighting, the alliance had fine-tuned their tactics. Each fighter moved to engage their usual opponent.

  But within just five minutes, Masahiko felt something was off.

  “You old bastard—have you lost your mind? Trading injuries for kills? What grudge do you even have with me?” he shouted, barely dodging a deadly bone bde.

  His opponent didn’t answer. But his eyes said it all—he was ready to die.

  “Shit… something’s really wrong,” Masahiko muttered under his breath.

  And he wasn’t the only one who noticed. The Kaguya were clearly fighting with a new level of desperation.

  Fortunately for the alliance, none of the Kaguya had protagonist-level plot armor. Even when fighting with everything they had, they couldn’t break through.

  Realizing the battle had returned to a grueling stalemate, Taketori—currently pinned down by Hashirama and Tobirama—suddenly smiled.

  The Senju brothers froze. That smile reeked of a pn. They retreated on instinct.

  In a fsh, Taketori vanished and reappeared next to Jōrei, scattering the attackers around him.

  “Cn Leader… I’m already past fifty. In this age of endless war, that’s a rare thing. If we keep dragging this out, the Kaguya will go extinct. Please, take our people and go. Save the survivors from the Uchiha. Let me handle this side,” Taketori said quietly.

  “Elder, you—” Jōrei tried to protest, but he saw it in Taketori’s eyes. He had already chosen death.

  Jōrei clenched his eyes shut… then opened them with resolve.

  “All forces, retreat!”

  Taketori gave a faint, relieved smile. “Shikotsumyaku: Bone Prison.”

  To the alliance, it looked like the old man had crumbled into dust—returning to the earth.

  The ground rumbled. A massive bone prison rose from the earth, encasing the coalition forces in a dome of death.

  Jōrei looked back at the towering white structure in the distance, then turned to the stunned Kaguya warriors beside him.

  “The Bone Prison Jutsu—many of our cn can use it. It’s simir to the Water Prison, trapping enemies within. But there’s a forbidden variant in our cn’s scrolls. One that expands the range by rapidly growing bones from one’s own life force.”

  “To create a prison that size… the Elder must’ve burned up all his life,” he murmured.

  “Everyone, onward! Wipe out the Uchiha! Recim our home! The Elder must not die in vain!” Jōrei roared, rallying his men.

  Inside the bone prison, the coalition was throwing everything they had at it—but nothing worked. Earth-style users tried digging out, only to find more bone beneath. Even Hashirama’s Wood Release cked the power to break through.

  Ten minutes passed. Still no progress.

  Only Tobirama, using his not-yet-mastered Flying Thunder God Technique, managed to escape. He tried attacking from outside—but still couldn’t breach the walls.

  Masahiko suddenly felt it—his breath was getting short.

  “There’s limited air in here. We can’t just wait for backup…” he realized. “Guess it’s time I used that jutsu… didn’t think this’d be the first time.”

  “Everyone, back away!” Masahiko shouted.

  “Wind Style—Rasenshuriken!”

  A surge of chakra exploded from his body—the signature move of a future Hokage appeared for the first time in the Warring States Era.

  When the smoke cleared, the bone prison had been pierced—he had carved out a two-man-wide tunnel through the unbreakable walls.

  “Great-Uncle, I had no idea you had a jutsu like that!” Hashirama excimed, wide-eyed.

  “Yeah… I didn’t either,” Masahiko replied with a bitter smile. “Turns out the side effects are worse than I thought.”

  He was in rough shape—covered in dust, his right arm dangling uselessly, blood streaming down to his chest.

  “I probably won’t be able to fight anymore in this war…” he admitted.

  Hashirama finally noticed how bad he looked. “It’s okay, Great-Uncle. Rest up. Leave the rest to us!”

  Half an hour ter, Jōrei and his remaining forces reached the edge of the Kaguya homend—only to see the skies lit with fmes, and the ground littered with bodies.

  “Damn you, Uchiha… this is war without end!” Jōrei howled, eyes bzing with fury.

  At the same time, back on the battlefield—Senju reinforcements had arrived.

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