Chapter 25- Pre-war buildup

Itachi Uchiha POV

Supply run.

A simple C-rank mission to deliver Storage scrolls filled with Food, Chakra pills, medical supplies, and weapons to the border for her clan members.

They were doing good in the frontline, too good. And that's what worried her.

Yes, they were racking up kills by the dozens every day. But their enemies weren't idiots. They'll adapt. And then they'll start targeting the Uchiha. Just like how they'd targeted the Senju clan in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Shinobi war. And in the time in between.

And look at how that turned out for the Senju clan. The once mighty clan now only had surviving kunoichi to carry on their legacy.

She feared this possibility every day, even as her clansmen cheered upon getting updates from the frontline, unable to see the grim future that might come to pass.

She landed upon another tree and stopped.

Something was wrong. The forest was too quiet.

She crouched down and made a few handsigns to use the summoning technique and summon her crows. However, she abruptly halted in the midst of it and dodged to the side as a flurry of kunai and shrunken assaulted her position.

The barrage of shuriken didn't stop and she jumped from one tree to another in order to dodge all of them.

Her heart beat a mile a mile as she tried to observe where the attacks were coming from. To see how many enemies have ambushed her.

'Calm down. Think rationally. Panicking won't help you.' She reminded herself as she took out her kunai and deflected a few shuriken that she couldn't dodge.

And to think that her first lone mission would end in this situation.

Jiraiya Sensei had to go to the Konoha-Kumo frontline to assume command. Then Rin had to leave a few days ago in order to train directly under Kushina-san. And then Anko was also sent to the Frontline, her Snake summons being very useful in a war camp.

Only she was left behind.

But she didn't want to be left behind. She wanted to play her part in this war, which led to this situation.

With her surrounded by 5 enemy shinobi.

'Kumo.' her mind whispered as she eyed their forehead protectors. 'How did they know about my location to set up this ambush? Was this simple luck or did someone from Konoha leaked the info? No, I can worry about that later. I need to focus on my survival first.'

'I need to ask Ren for support.' She thought but before she could reach for the special Kunai Ren had given her, the attacks came.

A giant of a man brought his butcher's knife in an overhead swing, making her dodge to the left, only to immediately come under attack by two other shinobi, their kunai aiming for her heart and throat.

Clang! Slick!

She successfully blocked one of the attacks and redirected the other, causing it to strike her shoulder instead of her throat. Pain surged through her world, but then, in an instant, everything transformed.

The world became more vivid, more enchanting. The enemy shinobi appeared to move in slow motion, yet still too fast for her react. She recognised the awakening of her Sharingan, but there was no time to revel in it as the other shinobi continued their assault.

Listening to the various stories from the elders, you might be fooled into thinking that shinobi battles last for minutes if not hours with shinobi using dozens of Jutsus to kill their enemy.

The battles seen in the Chunin exams also fuel that lies. Making you think that real battles can last for a long time.

That's far from the truth.

Real battles are lightning fast. Blink and you'll find your head separated from your shoulders.

Even with her recently awakened Sharingan, she proved no match for the five Kumo shinobi and suffered severe injuries within mere moments.

Her right leg bled profusely from a deep slash, while her right shoulder sustained multiple bone fractures, rendering it unresponsive. Dozens of smaller cuts adorned her body, and her vision dimmed as darkness crept in from the loss of blood.

"Huh. Looks like you Uchiha aren't all that strong after all." the burly man chortled, conveniently overlooking the fact that it was five adult shinobi ganging up on a six-year-old Genin.

However, underestimating her and granting her a fleeting moment by taunting her would prove to be their undoing.

Swiftly, she retrieved a special kunai from her pouch, infused it with chakra, and hurled it towards the burly man. More precisely, it targeted the tree behind him.

The burly man easily sidestepped the kunai and laughed. "Ah… looks like you still have some fight in you. Don't worry. I'll beat that out of you soon enough."

"Are we taking her alive?" One of the other shinobi asked as they started to round up on her.

"I don't see why not. She's a girl. She'll eventually grow up and be capable of bearing children."

Her stomach tightened as she wished that this would work. That he would come.

"Well… knock her out then. And let's leave this place quickly." Another shinobi said. "You never know when one of those White eyed freaks might have their eyes on us. The faster we leave this place, the better."

And that's when it happened.

A tidal wave of Killing Intent engulfed them, and even though it wasn't directly aimed at her, she nearly lost consciousness.

"You won't be leaving this place." A soft, familiar voice came from behind. Her eyes brightened as she lifted her head, glancing at the recognisable figure standing behind her enemies.

Ren, his expression utterly blank, gazed at her, took note of the injuries she had endured, and then shifted his attention to the shinobi responsible.

"Huh. Who are yo-" That's as far as the shinobi went before Ren's form flashed and a blood spurted from the shinobi's neck.

"Fuck! Surround the kid!" The burly man roared and lunged towards Ren. Without even sparing a glance at the imposing figure, Ren swung his hand, enveloping his arm in wind chakra, forming a blade that effortlessly cleaved both the shinobi and his cleaver in half.

The other three shinobi stared at the bisected body of their leader. And then, at once, all of them left the clearing, each springing into a different direction.

Ren created 9 Shadow Clones to chase after them before he flashed to her side.

Her sight grew dimmer by moment and the last thing she saw was him holding her in a princess carry, his face twisted in concern, before everything plunged into darkness.

—————

Minato Namikaze POV

He was listening to the report of one of his Jounin when the door to his room abruptly swung open, and an ANBU operative, clad in a blank mask, hurried inside. "Hokage-sama! There's been an attack."

Promptly rising from his chair, he gestured for his ANBU to stand down. "Who was targeted?"

"Danzo-sama. We were returning from a mission when five Kumo shinobi ambushed us. I've been sent here to request reinforcements."

He knew that this might be a trap. But despite everything, Danzo was a highly valuable and capable shinobi. Losing Danzo would hurt Konoha and he can't afford that right now.

"Where?" He asked.

"Near the Nikawari village. 5 miles South from here." The Root anbu reported and he gestured for his anbu to follow him before he used Hiraishin and appeared in the village.

Disregarding the villagers, who seemed taken aback by his abrupt arrival, he scanned the surroundings and noticed smoke billowing from the distant forest. Without hesitation, he swiftly made his way towards the source.

Upon reaching the scene, he was greeted by a sight of complete devastation.

Entire trees were cut in half with Wind Release Jutsu. The ground was littered with craters, earth walls and earth spikes. Some trees remained ablaze, contrasting with others drenched in water, causing large puddles to form in the pockmarked ground below.

And amidst all the widespread devastation, lay the corpses of Root shinobi.

He immediately rushed toward the ones whose corpses were intact, still wary of an ambush, and checked for vital signs.

None. All of them were dead.

Eventually, he saw the sight that he'd feared the most.

Danzo, with half his torso missing along with his right arm, lay sprawled on the forest ground, his expression a rictus of pain as his eyes stared blankly at the blue sky above them.

He let out a sigh and cursed his luck.

He was too late.

—————

Raikage POV.

He stared at the report, an oppressive silence settling over his office as his fury rose with each word he read.

At last, his anger reached its zenith, and he slammed his arm onto the table, shattering it to pieces.

"What is this nonsense?" he demanded of the messenger, distantly aware that the hapless Chunin likely had no answers and certainly did not deserve the brunt of his rage.

"L… lord…" The chunin stammered and then went quiet at a severe look from him.

He stared at the report once again and took a deep breath to calm himself.

An elite team made up of bloodline wielders. A team that he'd assembled with the specific purpose of countering those damn Uchihas.

All of them dead.

'Just what the hell are they feeding those Red eyed freaks!?' He wondered, keenly aware that those blasted Uchiha had been nowhere near as dangerous in the 2nd and 3rd shinobi war.

No. Something has happened. Something large. Something that allowed a mere Uchiha Jounin to fight at the level of an Elite Jounin or a Low S-class shinobi.

This… this was a disaster.

If this continued, then the army he'd prepared to be sent the borders would only serve as cannon fodders for those Uchiha. And he refused to let his shinobi be slaughtered in such a manner.

He thought on this matter for a while, contemplating his next course of action.

Should he dispatch another team? Should he go himself?

No, sending another team would likely end in their demise too. And going himself would lead to an escalation of the war. One that he didn't want right now.

He sat back on his chair and tapped the armrest, thinking on what to do in this situation.

Finally, he turned to his secretary.

"Bring me Yugito Nii and Bee."

'It was time that those Uchiha faced the real monsters of Kumo.' He thought. Though a part of him that he didn't want to acknowledge feared that this much might not be enough.

—————

Kushina Uzumaki POV

She stood in the distance and watched as Ren perched on Kyuubi's shoulder, whispering in its ears.

She really, really wanted to know that those two were talking about but Ren had asked her for privacy and she'd promised to give it to him.

'No. Not Kyuubi. Kurama.' She reminded herself.

Because of course Kyuubi would have a name. Why the hell had she never even thought of that.

Well, the answer was simple. She had never truly engaged in conversation with it—or rather, with him. She'd sealed the tailed beast inside herself and punished it any time it lashed out.

She thought of Kurama as a monster, not even aware that he might not be what everyone else had told her. That he might be an innocent victim, not deserving of any of the cruelties she'd imposed upon him throughout her life.

She felt sick to the stomach, knowing that she'd imprisoned and tortured a sentient being for no crime of his own.

Would Kurama even be willing to work with her. After all these years of hatred between the two of them?

'Oh, I didn't know that you weren't the monster I was told you were. Sorry for the years of imprisonment and torture. Let's forget everything and get along from now on.'

If she was in his place, then would she be willing to work with her captor and torturer?

...most likely not.

And how the heck did Ren even knew all those things about the Tailed Beasts, when she knew nothing about them despite holding Kurama within her for over one and a half decades by now.

Oh, because he can see glimpses of the future.

She wondered what he'd seen in the future that made him so sympathetic toward the Tailed Beasts.

Suddenly, Ren appeared at her side, prompting her to take a deep breath in an attempt to quell the gnawing guilt in her stomach.

"What did he say?" she inquired, a mixture of fear and hope evident in her voice.

"He'll willing to work with you. But only if you apologise to him and free him from the giant rock he'd currently tied to."

She bit her lip. "If I removed him from that rock, then those seals will stop working. What if he took that chance to try and break out of my seal?"

"He won't." Ren told her. "Besides, I'm here, aren't I? Don't worry, nothing will happen to you."

She still felt hesitant about the entire thing. It's not like she wanted to keep Kurama imprisoned after learning about his situation. But what if he lashed out in anger after becoming free and tried to kill her.

"Trust is a street that goes both ways Sensei. To earn his trust, you must show yours. Besides, this is the least that we can do to atone for our mistakes, don't you think so?"

She gave a hesitant nod, all her instincts honed over a lifetime telling her to keep the beast caged inside her rather than letting it go free.

"You can do it Sensei." Ren said with a calm smile. "I believe in you."

She licked her lips and nodded. Then she gathered her resolve and started walking toward Kurama.

—————

AN: Danzo fucked around and found out.

And Kushina takes the first step toward becoming a Perfect Jinchuriki. It'll still take her a while before she can gain Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode. But it's a good start.

Rin will eventually go through similar training. Though she should have an easier time of it, considering that Isobu doesn't hate her nearly as much and is a more chill guy when compared to Kurama.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter.

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