Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 440 The Flame Burns for Protection

On the edge of the battlefield, the lingering heat of the flames still scorched the air.

A one-sided massacre has just come to an end.

A young Konoha ninja stood frozen in place. He was not a member of the Uchiha clan, but a civilian ninja who had been assigned to this advance unit.

His hands and feet were ice-cold, his stomach was churning, and his throat was filled with the metallic taste of ashes and blood.

Before them lay the charred, twisted corpses of Iwa ninja, their bodies burned to a crisp and twisted into bizarre shapes. The earth itself was charred black, like skin branded with a hot iron.

The heroic epics about war in books were shattered at this moment by this silent purgatory.

Life, it turns out, is so fragile, like grass.

A hand rested steadily on his back, the warmth of the palm dispelling some of the biting chill.

"Scared?"

The boy turned around abruptly, and what came into view was Uchiha Fugaku's angular face illuminated by the firelight.

"No... Lord Fugaku, I..."

He wanted to say that he wasn't afraid, that he was just not used to it, but the words stuck in his throat, sounding weak and powerless.

Fugaku did not blame him.

His gaze passed over the boy's shoulder and landed on the scorched earth still emitting black smoke. His voice was low and deep, yet like the lingering echo of a war drum, striking one's heart.

"What is the purpose of our flames?"

Fugaku suddenly asked.

The young ninja was stunned.

Before he could answer, Fugaku continued, his voice carrying an unwavering firmness.

"What we burn is not chakra, but the enemy's ambition."

"What we are burning is not life, but the flames of war they are trying to ignite elsewhere, flames that could devour countless families."

Fugaku slowly turned his head to the side.

In the dim light of the day, the three tomoe in his eyes slowly rotated, and the eerie red light seemed to pierce through the deepest confusion in people's hearts.

"remember."

"Our flames are a barrier lit to protect."

"Every release must leave a burning fear deep in the enemy's soul. Make them feel pain, make them fear, so that for the rest of their lives, every time they close their eyes, they will remember this sea of ​​fire today, and never dare to extend their greedy claws to the homeland behind us again."

The young ninja's heart was gripped tightly in that instant, and then suddenly burst open by a torrent of scalding heat.

Looking at Fugaku's resolute profile, as firm as a mountain, and at the Uchiha clan members around him who maintained the same absolute solemnity and composure, the fear, nausea, and discomfort in his heart melted away like ice meeting lava.

Instead, there was an unprecedented, burning emotion that seemed to burst forth from the heart.

Those are the foundation called glory, and the monument called mission.

He suddenly stood up straight, forcefully wiped the foam from the corner of his mouth, and bowed deeply to Fugaku with all his might.

"Yes, Lord Fugaku!"

Fugaku said nothing more, simply nodded, and turned away.

His gaze returned to the vast battlefield; the mission had only just begun.

at the same time.

On the roof of the airtight tent of Iwagakure Commander Kenjiro Tsuchiya, the Iwagakure ninja in charge of communications was reporting the dire situation at the front to the Tsuchikage Onoki at the top of his lungs.

A nearly transparent parasite, barely larger than a speck of dust, rested quietly in a crevice of the tent.

Its wings, as thin as cicada wings, fluttered gently, transforming everything that happened inside the tent, including Kenji Tsuchiya's words filled with surprise and disbelief, into the purest flow of information, which silently blended into the wind.

The Land of Lightning, on its northwestern border.

The endless mountain ranges were completely soaked by the heavy night and the cold rain, like a tattered rag soaked in ink.

In this rugged mountain forest where ordinary people would find it difficult to traverse even a step, more than a dozen figures moved at high speed between slippery rocks and muddy slopes, like ghosts blending into the rainy night.

They made no sound, not even the crisp sound of breaking dry branches under their feet.

Rainwater slid down their combat uniforms, but it couldn't take away a single bit of their heat.

Hiashi Hyuga sprinted at the very front of the group, not looking at the road beneath his feet, or rather, he didn't need to use conventional vision to discern it.

A pure white field of vision covered the surrounding 360 degrees of space. Raindrops, leaves, rocks, birds... all things in the world lost their color in his mind and were deconstructed into the most essential chakra form and outline.

Hiashi Hyuga stopped on a moss-covered boulder. He didn't turn around, but simply raised one hand.

The dozen or so Hyuga clan members behind him froze instantly, like sculptures blending into the darkness, their breathing rhythm perfectly synchronized with the environment.

"Brother."

Hyuga Hizashi's voice came from beside him, deep and steady, almost completely drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain.

"Six-tenths of a kilometer ahead, a patrol team from Sunagakure, in groups of four, is moving eastward along the ridgeline and is expected to pass the pass below us in three minutes. Their chakra flow is steady."

Ri Zu nodded slightly.

In his view, the world was a completely different sight.

In a world of stark black and white, countless chakra pathways, some bright and some dark, form the outline of all things.

He could clearly see the energy flowing within the four Sand Ninjas a kilometer away, and could even discern the subtle changes in one of their hands due to the cold weather.

They could even see the heartbeats of wild rabbits lurking in the grass around them.

This mountain forest, which is full of unknowns and dangers to others, is as easy to read as the lines on the palm of one's hand in the eyes of a scoundrel.

"There's another hidden sentry post below the ravine to our left, with two men. They're very well disguised, almost blending into the chakra of the rocks."

Hijiri added, his voice devoid of any emotion, "It's probably because Sunagakure learned their lesson from the last war and has become wiser."

"Clever? That's just a child's trick."

Hiashi's voice carried a hint of cold mockery. His disguise technique, which used Earth Release to assimilate his chakra frequency with the earth, was like a white patch on a black cloth in front of the "Advanced Chakra Identification Manual," which was personally issued by the Third Hokage and improved by Orochimaru.

"Avoid them."

Hiashi made a simple gesture, "Our target isn't these small fry. Has the messenger team's location been confirmed?"

"It's locked."

Hizashi replied, "We're resting in a cave ahead of us. The three of us are all Chunin-level by Konoha standards."

Hiashi tapped his fingertips lightly in the damp air.

In his mind, a dynamic map constructed from countless pieces of intelligence was rapidly unfolding.

Watergate gave them only one mission objective—to act as the Vultures of the West Wing Raiders, like the sharpest scalpel, severing the enemy's arteries in the most unexpected places.

And the supply line is the most vulnerable artery of this massive war behemoth.