In the wilderness, at the Uchiha clan's campsite.
"Elder Yashiro, someone from the village is following us," Uchiha Yasumasa reported, his expression grave as he looked at Uchiha Yashiro inside one of the tents.
Yashiro's face darkened. "Have you identified them?" he asked, his voice low and cold.
Yasumasa lowered his head. "They appear to be from Root."
"Damn it! Those persistent pests again!" A thick killing intent flashed in Yashiro's eyes. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly instructed, "Go get Hiroaki. We're leaving the main group immediately and proceeding alone."
"Leave the group?" Yasumasa exclaimed, startled. "What about the caravan and the clansmen?"
"Foolish!" Yashiro snapped, his gaze turning icy as he stared hard at Yasumasa. "This is no time for sentimentality! Hurry up and find Hiroaki!"
"Y-yes, sir!" Startled by Yashiro's glare, Yasumasa flinched, quickly acknowledged the order, and hurried out.
A short while later, three figures slipped away from the caravan encampment under the cover of darkness.
Swish, swish, swish~
Not long after their departure, figures cut through the night air. Danzo Shimura arrived with more than twenty Root operatives.
"Lord Danzo, the three Uchiha—Yashiro and the others—have already secretly left the camp," a Root ninja, who had been lying in wait nearby, immediately reported respectfully to Danzo.
"Leave no one alive!" Danzo commanded coldly, his expressionless gaze sweeping over the nearby Uchiha caravan campsite.
"Yes, sir!" Ryoma Aburame immediately took three Root squads and moved to encircle the camp. Danzo led the remaining Root ninja, bypassing the encampment to continue the pursuit.
"Enemy attack!" Chaos erupted in the quiet campsite. Screams and the sounds of battle quickly filled the air.
Hearing the commotion from behind, the expressions on Yashiro, Hiroaki, and Yasumasa changed drastically. Root had moved incredibly fast! They glanced back towards the campsite. Soaring flames already lit up the area where the caravan was located. Faintly, in the distance behind them, they could already make out Root ninja closing in.
"Elder Yashiro, you go on ahead! We'll stay behind and cover your escape!" Hiroaki's face hardened, his initial shock quickly replaced by grim determination. Beside him, Yasumasa opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.
Yashiro's gaze flickered between the two younger men. He shook his head. "There's no time! If we split up, they'll just pick us off one by one. Prepare for battle!" With that, Yashiro spun around to face their pursuers. His hands flew through seals, rapidly forming the Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu.
Boom! A massive, blazing sphere of fire illuminated the forest, trailing a long tail of flames as it hurtled towards the pursuing Root ninja.
"Hmph! Mere Fire Style!" Bathed in the firelight, Danzo's perpetually expressionless old face actually revealed a faint trace of excitement. His hands began to form seals. "Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!" Danzo expelled a razor-sharp blade of wind, like a kamaitachi's sickle, that sliced the incoming fireball clean in half. The fireball dissipated, and Danzo, along with several Root ninja, shot straight through the remnants.
Seeing Danzo himself leading the charge, despair mingled with fierce resolve in Yashiro's eyes. Danzo came personally! That meant escape was impossible.
"Hiroaki, run! Get word back to the clan that Root ambushed us!" Realizing this, Yashiro turned and roared the order at Hiroaki. Hiroaki had already activated his three-tomoe Sharingan and was poised for combat. He froze at Yashiro's command, then whipped his head around to look at the elder. Seeing the hesitation, Yashiro yelled again, his voice urgent, "This is a sign the village intends to move against the Uchiha! You must get this information back!" Finished speaking, Yashiro charged forward to meet Danzo and his operatives head-on. He had to buy time for Hiroaki's escape.
"Hiroaki, go, quickly!" A look of grim determination settled on Yasumasa's face. He shouted at Hiroaki before following Yashiro into the fray.
Watching Yashiro and Yasumasa charge towards the enemy, one after the other, tears instantly welled in Hiroaki Uchiha's eyes. He didn't want to run! He wanted to fight! But Yashiro's words echoed relentlessly in his mind: The village is moving against the clan... must get this message back! Forcibly suppressing the urge to charge forward, Hiroaki took one last look at Yashiro and Yasumasa, and at Danzo's ugly old face, then turned and sprinted away into the darkness.
Beside Danzo, the dozen or so Root operatives who had followed him needed no further instruction. One squad immediately split off and gave chase after Hiroaki.
"Danzo!" Filled with intense hatred, Yashiro suddenly drew a long sword and lunged at Danzo. A Root squad moved to intercept him, while Danzo began forming hand seals again. "Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" Upon completion, Danzo spat out a continuous stream of highly compressed wind orbs that shot towards Yashiro like bullets. Yashiro's three-tomoe Sharingan blazed as he twisted and dodged nimbly through the air. Although Yashiro was known within the clan primarily as a strategist—having once been the clan's number two figure—his combat prowess was undeniably formidable. On the other side, Yasumasa had already been surrounded by several Root ninja. Facing the coordinated assault, he was quickly losing ground. Yashiro, however, was still holding his own for the moment. But it was clear that as time wore on, neither could escape their fate.
Clang, clang, clang!Boom! Boom! The sounds of clashing steel and ninjutsu explosions echoed incessantly through the night.
In the darkness, Hiroaki Uchiha fled at tremendous speed, his Sharingan active. Behind him, three Root ninja pursued relentlessly. Suddenly, one of the Root pursuers stopped on a tree branch and unleashed a powerful stream of fire directly at Hiroaki's back. Feeling the searing heat wave behind him, Hiroaki's expression changed, and he quickly leaped into the air to evade. Just as his body became airborne, sharp whistling sounds cut through the air. Boom! Boom! Boom! Several kunai, each with an explosive tag tied to its handle, detonated simultaneously. Caught in the violent explosions, Hiroaki crashed heavily to the ground, battered and disheveled. The moment he hit the ground, a Root ninja was upon him. Clang! Clang! Clang! Amidst a flurry of blows, Hiroaki found himself completely tied down by the three Root operatives.
While the fierce battle raged below between Hiroaki and the three Root ninja, illuminated by the blazing firelight, a figure could be seen standing silently atop a nearby tree, calmly observing the fight. Swoosh! With a flicker of movement, the figure shot down, instantly intervening in the battlefield. Hiroaki and the three Root ninja alike reacted with sudden alarm, both sides instinctively leaping backward. The newcomer who had abruptly entered the fray was Jizo, his face concealed by a mask. Ignoring the retreating Hiroaki, Jizo leaped forward, launching himself directly at the three Root ninja.