Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 207 Attack

"boom."

With a loud explosion and billowing black smoke, three figures burst through the smoke and rushed out.

They landed on the treetops, channeling their chakra into their feet. With a little effort, they became as light as swallows, leaping to another treetop, continuously cycling through the forest.

The wind whistled past his ears, and Aokiji, suspended in mid-air, stared ahead with a solemn expression, wondering if Uchiha Akane could catch up.

Their original mission was to cut off the Grass Country's supplies. Given the Grass Country's national strength, this mission shouldn't have been too difficult.

As a result, they somehow ran into an elite force. Although they were wearing masks, judging from their clothing, they should be ninjas from Iwagakure.

According to Aokiji, Iwagakure should not have officially declared war on Konoha. Could it be that Konoha is now outnumbered and they are taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack?

Aokiji had no idea about this; he only knew that these guys rushed at them as soon as they saw them.

If it weren't for Uchiha Akane's decisive action in staying behind to cover their retreat, they would have already perished there.

Aokiji cursed under his breath, thinking that his group was incredibly unlucky to have run into the line of fire.

They traveled in silence for a while when they suddenly sensed pursuers approaching from behind. Aokiji turned around and threw a shuriken.

With a clang, the sound of metal colliding rang out in the air.

Upon seeing that the newcomer was Uchiha Akane, Aokiji and the others were delighted and felt a little relieved, as it seemed they had successfully shaken off their enemies.

But Uchiha Akane, who quickly caught up, poured cold water on Aokiji and the others with his blood-covered face: "Don't be too happy yet. What we just encountered was only a small group of Iwagakure ninjas. Now, more ninjas are heading this way, and we are gradually being surrounded."

Aokiji's face was gloomy. Although it was a bit impolite to say it like that, apart from Uchiha Akane, he was the only one in the team who could really fight.

The other two are just average ninjas.

Now that things have come to this, he can no longer hide his strength: "We'll fight them to the death."

Uchiha Akane saw through Aokiji's intention and stopped him, saying, "Don't waste your time. Even if we risk our lives, we can't possibly deal with so many elite ninjas at once."

A shadow fell over Aokiji's face. Uchiha Akane was right. Even if he used his full strength, it would be impossible for him to defeat such a large number of ninjas.

Aokiji clenched his fist, his palm throbbing slightly from the deep-set fingernails digging into it.

The disadvantage of age was constantly magnified on the battlefield. He sincerely wished he were a little older.

One team member asked anxiously, "When should we do that?"

Uchiha Akari closed his eyes for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Use me as bait, and then the three of you can run away in different directions. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope."

"No way, Akashi-sensei! You're an elite member of the Uchiha clan. You should be taking someone like me, a mediocre talent who doesn't even have a Sharingan!" Sayuri exclaimed.

Uchiha Akane declared with righteous indignation: "My grandfather and father both died on the battlefield as ninjas. Self-sacrifice is a ninja's duty."

"But……"

"You are still young and have a bright future ahead of you. Sooner or later, you will have your chance to shine. Until then, cherish your lives."

Uchiha Akara gave Aokiji a special look, "You inheritors of the Will of Fire, you'd better protect the village well from now on."

Seeing the meaningful look he gave him, Aokiji suddenly understood something.

Before Elder Itachi died, he must have told someone he trusted in the clan about his affairs, and Uchiha Akane was undoubtedly the right person for that.

Knowing his true strength, Uchiha Akira deliberately separated the three people to escape, ostensibly to increase their chances of success, but in reality, he didn't want the other two to be a burden to him, and perhaps even to conceal his own secrets to some extent.

"Teacher Akashi, you..."

Uchiha Akane, who rarely smiled, revealed a rare smile, though it was an ugly one: "Don't feel sorry for me. If I die, I will turn into stars and watch over you from the sky."

The three knew this was not the time to be reserved, or they would be wasting Uchiha Akane's efforts. They gritted their teeth and ran off in three different directions.

Uchiha Akara stared at the direction Aokiji had fled, a smirk playing on his lips. He could have simply captured Aokiji, but that would have been rather unrefined.

On the other side, not long after Aokiji ran away, he heard a huge explosion behind him. It seemed that Uchiha Akane was engaged in a fierce battle with them to attract the attention of more enemies.

Aokiji was filled with emotion. Now that Uchiha Akane was staying behind to draw the enemy's attention, he was unlikely to survive.

He's still too weak.

1v1 is fine, but if you encounter a situation where you are fighting against multiple opponents, unless you have overwhelming strength, it is easy to fall into a passive situation.

Once war breaks out, the seeds of hatred will constantly be sown between the opposing sides.

I will avenge you.

Those eyes, tinged with murderous intent and the color of revenge, gleamed crimson, telling their story.

Shortly after he conceived this idea, he heard a sound like something cutting through the air behind him.

"Da da da..."

The shuriken and kunai were pinned to the treetop where Aokiji had just stood.

Aokiji turned around in mid-air, looking at the pursuing soldiers. A bitter smile appeared on his lips. He hadn't expected that the man's desperate resistance would ultimately fail to stop the enemy's advance.

Aokiji landed on the ground, looking at the dozens of masked Iwagakure ninjas surrounding him, his face extremely grim.

Those who can become ninjas in the Anbu are usually ruthless characters.

Facing so many formidable ninjas at once, Aokiji, his face covered in cold sweat, took a deep breath. Perhaps due to the fear in his heart, he found that the air he inhaled was much heavier than ever before.

Damn it, that's why I don't want to fight some bullshit war before I've even grown up. There are just too many uncertainties.

There are many things I want to complain about, but at this moment even the time to complain seems like a luxury.

Without Uchiha Akane by his side to protect him, and given that ninjas are all fragile and could be seriously injured with the slightest carelessness, Aokiji dared not be careless and immediately activated his strongest state.

A rapid change occurred deep within his wide-open eyes, turning them blood red, with three tomoe-like lines twisting around the pupils. At the same time, half of his body was dyed pitch black, and the combination of his scarlet eyes and the blackened half of his body gave him an air of menace and eeriness to onlookers.

"This is..."

In the crowd, Uchiha Madara, wearing a mask and disguised as an ANBU member, revealed a glimmer of light deep within his half-closed eyelids.

He actually sensed a Sage Chakra similar to Hashirama's back then from this brat, but unfortunately, this level of Sage Chakra was extremely degraded and could not be compared to Hashirama's back then at all.

Well, it's not bad for an ordinary ninja.

Interesting. It seems that this kid also had his own opportunities when he wasn't being watched.

The Iwagakure ANBU ninjas were slightly startled when they saw Aokiji's appearance: "This kid looks a bit strange, and he also has Sharingan. Don't be careless."

"Even if he's an Uchiha, he's just a brat." Another Iwagakure ANBU ninja said dismissively, throwing his shuriken as if to prove his theory with action.

The rapidly spinning sound made a piercing noise in the air.

Aokiji stared intently, and the spinning trajectory in his hand, which was difficult to discern with the naked eye, became very clear under his gaze.

He stepped back and turned, dodging the attack, while raising Enma high, the tip of the sword passing through the round hole of the shuriken and embedding itself in the ground.

In that instant, the spinning shuriken made a piercing sound as it rubbed against the tip.

At the same time, Aokiji loosened his grip on the sword hilt, quickly formed hand seals, and took a deep breath of turbid air. He then released a fireball from his mouth, which contained a massive amount of chakra. The fireball exploded and spread out in a semi-circle the moment it hit the ground.

Fire Release: Head Carving.

(End of this chapter)