Two days earlier.

  Eito Uchiha possessed a robust confidence as he led his clan forward in their assault on the Ryoukai compound. Though, as he thought about it, ‘assault’ was not quite the right term. All they were really doing was applying strategic pressure on the young lord that sat within, trembling as his courtiers spoke about the frightening sight of the Uchiha clan standing at their front door. He imagined they would not have to stay there for long, the lord crumbling to his client’s demands, enforced by the weight of the Uchiha. They had been hired to ‘assist’ in the re-negotiations of certain trade agreements made between their client and the Ryoukai family, who’s leadership had recently passed to the youngest heir after an unfortunate assassination surprisingly enacted by the Hyuuga clan. He didn’t have all the details, though the topic interested him.

  “Everyone is in position, Patriarch.”

  The voice of Eito’s right hand, Tan, approached from the side. Eito glanced over to see the pale face of his brother in arms. Tan’s dark hair was strictly kept in a clean crop cut. He smiled to himself at Tan’s stern nature overall.

  “Thank you, Tan. You may return to your post. We will await further instructions as planned.”

  In complete opposition to his own words, Eito proceeded to sit and plant himself on the ground, quickly finding a comfortable position to relax. Tan watched Eito, unable and unwilling to say anything. He simply sighed and walked away from his immodest leader.

  —

  Noriya Ryoukai sat in a tense posture upon the elaborate wooden chair in his father’s- no, these chambers now belonged to him, he reminded himself. These people now belonged to him. He must lead them, however he should do that. His mentor and advisor stood beside him, waiting. Despite his own lack of confidence in the clan, his advisor had vehemently argued for the sake of hiring the Hyuuga clan, despite their supposed betrayal in killing his father over a year ago. Succumbing to his wishes, Noriya sent for a courier to personally ask for their assistance. That was just a few days ago. The clan had graciously accepted the job despite the low pay. An old man entered the chamber, accompanied by no less than six nervous armoured guards. Noriya went on edge at the change in atmosphere that seemed to follow the old man into the room. It felt as if the air itself would explode from the pressure the man exuded.

  “Greetings, young lord. I am in your debt for allowing my clan to make amends for the terrible incident that occurred. I will make sure you do not regret this decision.”

  The man’s voice was grating, yet sincere. The anger present in the man’s posture was completely absent in his words. This was a dangerous man. Yet… The anger was not directed at anyone in the room.

  The Hyuuga clan had been blamed for the death of his father and the disappearance of his sister, yet they had made continuous attempts at amends between their two people. The young Noriya had only given them the chance after the advice from his mentor.

  “Will… Will you be capable of performing this task alone? Have you seen the enemy’s enforcement?”

  “The Uchiha clan will not be a problem. In fact…” Tomoji spoke slowly, a dry smile finding its way onto his lips.

  “You will likely have a mess to clean up after I am finished.”

  —

  Tan walked a steady gait through the troop of Uchiha. He inspected each man as he passed them, ensuring they kept in formation. This was no time to show any lack in appearance, as they were certainly being monitored by the fort guards.

  “Right hand Tan. Our watchers have disappeared.”

  Tan turned to the voice, a younger man who he knew was named Fujiki, as he looked out toward the fort, Sharingan active. Tan turned to the large stone walls in the distance and saw with his own eyes that the stationed archers were no longer present.

  “What?...”

  Eito Uchiha lavished the winter sunlight. This would be one of the last clear days of the season, with endless clouds threatening to blanket the sky for months to come. A storm was coming. As he sat with these thoughts, a presence forcefully intruded upon his senses. The presence was distant, but powerful nonetheless.

  “A second storm approaches…”

  One of the men stationed just behind Eito took a step forward. “What’s that, leader?”

  “...It’s time to move.”

  Eito stood suddenly. Looking out toward the keep, he saw a solitary figure making its way toward the group at an unceasing pace, cutting a path through the tall grass that ringed the compound. He could easily see the long grey and black hair and clean white robes of the man from where he stood.

  Hyuuga.

  With his Sharingan active, Eito began to move forward. The sensation he felt from the intruder did not reassure him of this being a friendly confrontation. If this man truly sought to kill, Eito would test that resolve.

  Tan had begun to move at the sight of his leader standing. However, before he could catch up with Eito, the Uchiha flashed forward. Tan, with his Sharingan active, saw the flashing speed of his leader as he moved to catch the individual approaching them off guard. Right as Eito moved within a dozen feet, the Hyuuga let loose a single breath of air. A puncturing wave of force hit Eito like a brick wall, freezing him mid-air, before pushing forward like an avalanche, sending the Uchiha leader swinging wildly through the air over the group. He crashed into the ground, causing gravel and debris to spread out.

  Eito was knocked unconscious by the violent attack. In those long moments, the assembled Uchiha watched with surprised shock at the casualness of their leader being tossed aside. The wave of pressurized wind broke as it slammed into the group. Gathering their courage, they charged. In the front line of the formation, the Uchiha all formed the hand signs for the attack pattern called out by Tan.

  “Begin with Fireball. Then follow with directed attacks! Do not let the opponent escape!”

  The front group of eight men looked to fulfill their duty. They all sent simultaneous spheres of fire that grew to fill the distance between them and the Intruder, who was all that stood between the clansmen and the Ryoukai fort.

  Tomoji watched the inferno approach with a passive expression. Walking forward, he formed nine hand signs. The bottoms of his feet sloshed with mud as the dirt he strode on was suddenly churned with water. Suddenly, a wide line of earth rose almost two dozen feet into the sky, completely covering the direct line of sight between him and the oncoming fireballs. He softly spoke to himself.

  “Water release, Churning Waves, followed by Earth release, Mud Wall. A simple but effective countermeasure to large volumes of fire…”

  The rushing wall of fire met with the packed wall of mud. The cool, wet mud quickly leeched the heat from the oncoming fire, releasing a large burst of steam as the packed mud almost completely baked into solid earth. Using the cover of the steam, Tomoji formed another set of hand signs, spreading his hands in a wide movement that sent forth a net of cutting wind slicing through the still scalding hard earth wall.

  The front line Uchiha had not anticipated the wall of earth stopping their onslaught so effectively. Their Sharingan allowed them to see somewhat through the vapour barrier, letting them see the next attack before it completely caught them off guard. One Uchiha moved in front of the group, rapidly making his formations before slamming his hands into the ground.

  “Stand back!”

  In front of them, a dome of earth began to rise. It was not fast enough. The wave of wind tore through the Hyuuga’s wall, shredding it to chunks and sending them flying in the Uchiha’s direction. Hot shrapnel blew past the half-raised dome, only catching some of the projectiles on the jutted earth. It sent the group into partial chaos as some dodged the flying rocks while others attempted to intercept or destroy pieces that came their way. The Uchiha that attempted to protect the group with his earth dome stood forward, blasting the melted earth away with punches wrapped in elemental negating Chakra. This attack was nowhere near enough to actually take any clansmen out, with almost everyone coming out completely unscathed. That’s when the group noticed that the Hyuuga was no longer standing in the distance, but was instead standing right in their midst.

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  Eito Uchiha woke from a sound sleep after being slapped by his second in command. He looked around groggily, before focusing on the face of Tan.

  “Huh… What? Time to go already?”

  With a patience that surprised even himself, Eito’s right hand spoke. “No, sir. We are being attacked. You need to get up.”

  “Oh.”

  Suddenly, Eito remembered the short series of events that ended with him getting smashed into unconsciousness. Regaining his composure and dignity, he snapped to his feet and activated his Sharingan. The mess of battle spread out in front of him. In the center stood the Hyuuga, a whirlwind of palms striking and redirecting the attacks from the Uchiha that grouped around him. Eito studied the old man for those few crucial seconds, gathering all of the combat data he could before going in, for this was the Sharingan’s strength. With the Sharingan active, he perceived the Hyuuga’s movements with a slowed sense of time, allowing him to view the brutal palm strikes accompanied by the small but penetrating bursts of Chakra he released into Eito’s fellow clansmen. His Sharingan recorded this knowledge, accumulating and processing the data for the purpose of efficiently- and violently dismantling his opponent. He moved.

  Tomoji had kept partial focus on the unconscious Clan leader, knowing he would wake soon. The purpose of knocking him out instead of killing him was simple; it would allow him to take his anger out in full on an opponent that could handle his beat down. That was what he truly wanted out of this fight. He cared not for these peons that scattered at the mere flick of his wrists, completely overwhelmed by his unending and powerful blows.

  He considered them peons, all the way up until one of them successfully dodged every attack he threw, got into his personal space, and hit him upside the jaw. The blow was like a hammer ringing a bell, sending his head bouncing along his neck like a spring. This only angered Tomoji more. Pouring all of his anger and attention down on the insolent man, he moved to make a killing blow by striking their heart directly. His fist only found air. In all of his years of fighting, he had fought those belonging to the Uchiha clan previously. This situation was not something he had never gone up against before. Surrounding him was now a cloud of red-eyed piranhas, an onslaught made up of almost twenty skilled Uchiha that have fought together for years.

  Eito stopped. He found himself surprised, then swelling with pride as he watched the Uchiha clansmen regain their composure and work not as individuals, but as a single unit. One man, whose name came to him a second later- Hazuki, flashed between the Hyuuga’s attacks and landed a single devastating punch directly on his chin, rocking his head back. Then before the Hyuuga could retaliate, another clansman grabbed Hazuki’s arm, swinging him back faster than he could move out of the way. One after another, each Uchiha took shots at the old bastard, planting hard punches and kicks across his head, gut, chest, and back. The Hyuuga was unable to rebound in time to hit back. Even when the Hyuuga moved to make distance, he was met with secondary and tertiary groups of Uchiha that moved to his new position. Eito stopped admiring his clansmen’s efforts when the nasty Hyuuga began making hand signs again.

  This time, Eito made it in time to intercept whatever technique the elder might throw out. Tomoji had waited for this moment. Eito strengthened his personal defenses, flowing his Chakra throughout his entire body, acting as a shield that could dampen any strong blow that hit him. So Eito found himself surprised when what hit him was a sharp spear, instead of pure force. Tomoji ejected over a dozen highly sharpened pin pricks of wind in every direction, piercing straight through the meager protections of the Uchiha. All thanks to the superior Chakra nature that was his Wind release.

  Instead of getting launched away again, Eito was instead carried forward by his own momentum on the wind spear. He was rather unlucky, getting hit with two spears directly through his gut and chest. Eito felt one of his lungs begin to fill with blood. As fast as the spears were created, they vanished, dissipating back into nothingness.

  Hazuki had been lucky. With his Earth release, he managed to pull up a single small wall of earth, which dulled the wind spear, stopping his heart from being penetrated by mere inches. It appeared that the spear had moved with precision and followed his steps, preventing him from dodging. As he looked around, he saw that not many of the wind spears had hit vital spots. Even still, there were broken bones and sliced limbs. If he had anticipated this attack, he could have attempted another Earth Dome, at least protecting those around him. His thoughts were cut short as the wall he had erected shattered right in his face. The elder stepped into his personal space, making Hazuki reflexively punch outward. The fist was dodged. Hazuki felt his arm shatter as the Hyuuga grabbed the elbow and wrenched the arm straight up, the sound of bones snapping from the violent movement. Before he could scream out, a sharp pain slid across his throat. The last thing Hazuki Uchiha saw was the palm covering his eyes, followed by the bright flash of light.

  Eito had barely managed to stand when he saw the body of Hazuki fall lifeless to the ground. A powerful shock wave had been released after the elder landed a single strike on the man’s face. Twice he had been made a fool during these last few minutes. Now, he had been reduced to helplessness. With blood quickly filling his lung and his gut causing shooting pains up and down his body, he could only marginally move. Even still, he had to win. He had to get his people out of here. This was not an acceptable way to die.

  “Stand up.”

  The voice slashed through to Eito’s core. Tan moved by his side, having somewhat avoided getting pierced, and pulled Eito up by his arm.

  “Let’s deal with him.”

  “...Yeah.”

  The pair moved as one right for the elder Hyuuga.

  Tomoji turned to look at the pair of returning rats. He felt disgusted as the Uchiha clan leader was clearly nothing more than a glorified fool. He moved to meet the two men, intending to end the fight quickly.

  The Sharingan and Byakugan are the two most common Dojutsu in the lands. Their abilities are known far and wide. As it happens, the two share a trait; the ability to see Chakra. For those with eyes enhanced by these techniques, Chakra takes on a visual appearance depending on how strong that Chakra is. Even with this shared feature, the Byakugan wins in quality, making more precise observations.

  This is what allowed Tomoji to see the Chakra welling up in the chest of the Uchiha leader after he weaved a series of hand signs. The pest clearly intended to spew more of that worthless fire at him. This would prevent Tomoji from simply weaving another Wind release technique, as the sudden dense air might work against himself if timed correctly. If Tomoji knew anything about the Uchiha, it was to never doubt their timing. He would simply counter the Uchiha with his own Water release instead. He formed a short set of hand signs for his technique. Then, he could deal with the others in short order.

  This would suffice, Tomoji thought. He thought wrong.

  Eito and Tan understood the strengths of the Byakugan. Instead of making futile efforts to combat the elder’s eyes, they decided to simply overcome his natural weakness: Assumptions. Eito leapt forward, intending to take the Hyuuga head on. Tomoji reached out fast with both arms, a Water release technique quivering to escape from his palms. Eito took in his breath. Right before he released it, Tomoji unleashed a vicious wave of super dense water that rushed to pound into Eito’s body. He released his breath. A small blue arc escaped his lips, curling and crackling with energy as it shot straight through the wave of water, simultaneously dispersing along its surface and cutting a path directly to Tomoji’s chest.

  At the same time, Tan had moved directly behind the Hyuuga a distance away. He intended to hit the Hyuuga with a fireball. He watched the wave of water shoot out from the elder’s hands, slamming into and launching Eito a distance away, while the minuscule beam of Lightning release Eito spat out electrified and pierced the Hyuuga. It was not enough to actually cut through the elder, of course. Eito barely had any affinity with Lightning release, and that small technique was the sum of his output. Damaging the elder was Tan’s part of the plan. His hands knew the formations for the fireball very well as he flipped through the hand signs, before forming an ‘O’ shape with his mouth and pushing his lungs as hard as he could. A stream of pure fire exited at dizzying speeds, growing into a geyser as it rushed to engulf the Hyuuga elder. The elder could only watch with his Byakugan, locked in place by the pitiful burst of electricity. His scream cut through the cold morning air as the hot flames licked at his back.

  —

  The elder vanished after leaving a parting gift. A wave of water rose from the ground, pulled from an underground reservoir that must have been tapped by a nearby well. The wave washed over and scattered the remaining Uchiha before being reabsorbed by the thirsty ground. In the chaos, the Hyuuga had left the battlefield, not returning to the castle he was supposedly hired to protect. Tan was only slightly upset at not getting to see his handiwork. His real emotions were disgust and grief at being unable to defend his fellow clansmen. He was sure that Eito felt the exact same way, watching as their leader kneeled over the corpse of Hazuki, their one and only casualty. As Tan looked around at the injured Uchiha, he came to the conclusion that the Reaper could still take lives if they did not receive medical attention soon.

  One group of Uchiha had attempted to follow the Hyuuga after confirming they had seen where he went. Eito’s voice boomed over them.

  “No one will follow the enemy, unless you wish to inflict yourself with a quick and painful death.”

  After a long pause, the clansmen returned to tending to themselves under the timid watch of the Ryoukai keep.

  —

  “...And that’s what happened. That Hyuuga ended up only stealing Hazuki’s life. We are thankful no others have left us since then.”

  Dan sat in silence as he listened to his father recount the events of their unfortunate mission. Two women worked on cleaning and stitching the few wounds Tan had accrued. The rest of the young clan members were getting a group ready with supplies to go out to the wounded adults. They had not yet heard the full story like Dan had. He would be staying here to coordinate with others to make a secondary supply run if necessary. Since Atsuo was still nowhere to be found, Keina had been chosen to lead the first group instead of Dan.

  —

  Atsuo meandered along the hidden path to the campsite. He had spent quite a few more hours than necessary out with Kotetsu, showing and testing how well he could perform various Fire release techniques. Somehow, that little brat managed to succeed at every single Ninjutsu Atsuo had shown him. Atsuo regretted ever opening his big fat mouth. His thoughts were interrupted as he got closer to the camp. He ran into an older boy on his way through the entrance, the boy doing a double take as he passed by Atsuo.

  “...Oh! Atsuo… Uh, sir.”

  “Hey. What’s going on?”

  “It’s the mission group. They’re back, and need medical supplies. We’re going out to help. Dan wants to see you.”

  The mission group wasn’t supposed to be back for another few days at least. Atsuo felt his eyes grow wide at this news, as he moved off to go find Dan. His chest tightened at the thought of what was to come.