Chapter 35 : New Recruits

As the ice avalanche approached closer and closer to the monster, Fubuki reappeared next to Renji with a perpetual smile on his face.

The temperature in the arena dropped even further, ice crystals forming on the walls and floor. The Yuki clan's combined attack, a true manifestation of their power, was a terrifying yet magnificent sight. The wave of ice moved relentlessly, covering everything in its path with a chilling layer.

The monster, despite its strength and agility, couldn't escape the power of this attack. The arms it had summoned froze instantly, trapped in ice before shattering into a thousand pieces. The dark aura surrounding it seemed to waver against the pressure of the ice.

Renji, watching the spectacle with admiration, felt a surge of adrenaline. This battle, though seemingly turning in favor of the Yuki clan, was not yet over. He stood ready, hands poised to perform hand seals for his next technique.

The monster's aura, though wavering, still seemed menacing. It emitted a piercing cry, a mix of rage and despair, as it struggled against the encasing ice. But the Yuki clan's attack was too powerful, and soon the monster was completely engulfed by the ice avalanche.

The icy wave closed in on it, forming a massive prison of ice. Silence fell over the arena, interrupted only by the sound of ice crystals forming and breaking. The Yuki ninjas maintained their focus, their hands continuing to channel chakra to reinforce the ice prison.

"Is it over?" murmured a member of the Yuki clan.

Approaching the ice, Fubuki appeared disappointed to end it like this. It was clear that having to imprison the enemy without being able to kill him demonstrated a certain weakness on their part.

Of the initially over sixty Yuki members, only about twenty remained. The arena was devastated and destroyed.

It was clear that this arena had just witnessed its most spectacular battle since its creation.

Renji still felt the excitement of the battle he had just experienced, eagerly awaiting the next time he could experience something like it.

Looking at the young boy named Fubuki in front of him, Renji saw in him a potential rival.

A talent capable of elevating his clan, and not the other way around.

His goal.

Approaching him, Renji decided to introduce himself, but as he opened his mouth to speak, the ice imprisoning the monster shattered, revealing a large crack across its surface.

Regaining their senses, Renji and Fubuki did not have time to take a step back before the ground beneath their feet cracked open, revealing hundreds of hands grabbing them without giving them the slightest chance.

In this last moment of silence, the monster's scream echoed in everyone's ears. It was enraged.

Sliced by this young Yuki clan ninja, the monster showed some intelligence by targeting this issue first.

Renji, who was next to Fubuki, was then taken at the same time as him.

Caught in the countless hands of this monster, Renji and Fubuki gathered their last trace of chakra to try to cut the arms and free themselves, but were surprised to feel their chakra being absorbed by the monster holding them.

Without chakra, they were like flies in a spider's web, at its mercy.

"Reinforcements!"

Suddenly, just as everything seemed lost, nearly two hundred Yuki ninjas surged around the arena, their auras overflowing with rage and anger.

Since settling in this city, they had never encountered such a big problem before.

Seeing the remains of their clan members' corpses around the arena, their thirst for blood was at its peak.

Renji saw hope of getting out of it, but was brought back to reality when he began to gradually lose consciousness.

Having sensed the danger, the monster maximized its use of chakra from the two young ninjas it had caught and sought an escape route.

"No..." Trying to resist as best he could, Renji tried to draw on his last reserves of chakra to cut the monster's hands, but to no avail.

Fatigue became heavier, energy weaker.

His eyes gradually gave in to all resistance.

Thus, closing his eyes on a myriad of ice techniques, kunai, and shuriken thrown at this monster, in this arena of a city that was supposed to be just a stop on their mission plans, Renji Senju lost his life facing a monster with the appearance of a dark purple leech.

Without realizing his dream of becoming someone who could proudly bear the name Senju!

...

Far from the city, on one of the islands visible on the horizon, Akeno looked at the young Senju child asleep in front of him with anticipation.

The last member who would potentially allow him to finally have access to chakra on his own.

By gathering the chakras of the descendants of the Otsutsuki, to give shape and life to his chakra system and become a shinobi himself!

And as he patiently waited for the young Senju to wake up, Akeno turned his gaze to the second body next to him, another child with spiky black hair and an arrogant appearance, Fubuki Yuki.

"I must say, I didn't expect to make such a beautiful encounter as you, young ice man," murmured Akeno, his gaze lost in the awakened eyes of the young Yuki.

...

In the distant lands of the Uzumaki clan, a crisis meeting had been proclaimed.

In the ancestral halls of the clan, about thirty Uzumaki were seated in every corner of the room, surrounding the clan patriarch in the center.

The patriarch, whose hair was a deep red, proof of his heritage, stood in silence, rage boiling within him. Around him, the elders and a few clan ninjas stood patiently, waiting for the patriarch to speak.

A few minutes earlier, they had received news from the Senju clan that the young princess, Kaede Uzukami, had lost her life in a battle between the Senju and Uchiha clans.

This event had completely destabilized the Uzumaki clan, and especially its father, the current Uzumaki patriarch.

His own daughter had lost her life in what was supposed to be a joyful union between the two clans to maintain their very close relationship.

Now, facing the patriarch who burned with rage, the elders knew that the Uzumaki clan would have to get more involved in the war between the Senju and Uchiha.

Taking a few more minutes in silence, the patriarch stood up in the eyes of all the Uzumaki present.

Looking into each of their eyes, the patriarch tried to contain his anger and sadness. "Kaede, my daughter..."

His hands trembling with rage, his nails piercing the flesh, the patriarch seemed to be fighting an internal war. "This time, by killing the young princess of the clan, the Uchiha clan has broken our traditional union with the Senju clan. This is an affront we cannot tolerate!" His eyes burning with anger, he knew his words would define the fate of hundreds, even thousands of members of his clan.

If his clan were to go to war against the Uchiha, then many of theirs would eventually die.

But it could no longer be avoided.

"Today, the Uzumaki clan will take a new step in the war with the Uchiha!"

It was no longer just military equipment or some financial assistance that the Uzumaki clan would bring to the Senju in this conflict, but men. War could no longer be avoided.

Peace was a very unknown word in these chaotic times...