Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

The water-treading training was completed on the second attempt, and the student learned to walk on water.

Over the past month, under the careful guidance of Kakashi, a Jonin who is proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, the girl's basic skills have made great progress. Although it is still difficult for her to cooperate with Naruto and Sasuke in battle, as long as she does not encounter enemies that are too far beyond her level, she will at least not be a major hindrance.

Sakura's skills have improved by leaps and bounds.

This is one of the reasons why Kakashi agreed to let them carry out higher-level missions.

The capacity of a wooden barrel is determined not by the longest plank, but by the length of the shortest. In the assembled barrel of Team 7, if Naruto and Sasuke are the long planks, then Sakura is the short plank that determines the barrel's capacity.

"A C-level mission?"

Just as Kakashi was pondering how to help the young men and women further understand the cruelty of the ninja profession, a series of malicious and treacherous winds, of unknown origin, blew into Konoha Village, causing quite a stir and even alarming Uchiha Munen, the Sixth Hokage.

[Chapter 343. The Extermination of the Clan]

Under the veil of night, orange-red sparks danced in the village at the foot of Mount Katsuragi, as if holding a farewell ceremony for the fading mournful cries. The people who once lived in the village had embarked on a journey to the underworld, a journey from which there was no return.

Only a very few lucky ones were spared by death.

Lord Death did not rush to invite everyone to the Underworld.

On the high hill,

A group of young men and women, tears streaming down their faces, hid in the bushes, gazing at their hometown being slowly devoured by the sea of ​​fire. Sorrow overwhelmed their hearts like a raging tsunami, and feelings of bewilderment, anger, and despair filled their minds.

"Waaaaah~~"

The youngest girl couldn't help but sob softly.

"Don't cry, now is not the time to cry, we have to hurry up and move on," the leader of the group said through gritted teeth.

"But...where can we go?"

Someone asked, looking bewildered.

Their hometown is being devoured by the sea of ​​fire. Without their hometown, where can they go?

Those who escaped were all young people who had basically lived near their hometowns since childhood. Many of them had only ever been to a nearby town. Once they left the village, they were already quite good at distinguishing between east, west, south, and north, even with a surname like Tu Zhizhu (土蛛, meaning Earth Spider).

However, most members of the Tsuchigumo clan no longer rely on the life-or-death struggle for survival. They've had enough of the constant life-or-death crises that ninjas face. The Tsuchigumo clan wants to give up their identity as ninjas, but unfortunately... it's not as simple as just giving up and surviving peacefully.

trouble,

They will come to us on their own initiative.

They naively believed that laying down their weapons would eliminate the enemy's malice, but what they truly faced was merciless slaughter.

"Let's go to Konoha."

The man in the lead said through gritted teeth.

“My father told me that Lord En no Gyoza’s granddaughter is in Konoha. If we go and seek refuge with her, we can get Konoha’s help and avenge my father and mother.”

"But the adults in the clan don't allow mentioning Lady Xingzhe's affairs... Will she help us?"

An older person asked with concern.

The young boys and girls looked blank, having no idea who the En no Kōzō was. Ever since the Tsuchigumo clan split up, the name En no Kōzō had become a taboo in their clan. Only the older ones knew who the En no Kōzō was, while the younger ones had never even heard of the name.

"That's a feud between elders! Now that the elders are all gone... we don't need to inherit that kind of insight anymore. Besides, we are Tsuchigumo after all, we have to give it a try. Also, some time ago, some Konoha ninjas came to see the clan leader. We Tsuchigumo and Konoha should have some connection." Otherwise, I really don't know where to go.

The ninja world is vast,

But it's not so easy to survive.

The young leader didn't utter the final, disheartening words. He was still quite clear-headed and knew he couldn't say such things now. If he let his last bit of momentum slip away, the Earth Spider clan would be truly finished, or at the very least, their branch of Earth Spiders would be wiped out.

"Let's go!"

"Stop looking, or you'll get caught."

The displaced young people disappeared into the night on the hillside with tears in their eyes. However, the boys did not realize that someone had been silently watching them in the darkness. Only after they left and embarked on their journey to Konoha did a satisfied smile appear on their faces, and then their figures disappeared into the deep darkness.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Konoha Village.

The Hokage Building has been extremely busy these past few days. Although there's never much free time on ordinary days, the level of busyness has visibly increased recently. The most typical evidence of this is the obvious dark circles and bags under the eyes of the staff at the Hokage Building.

Because there was so much backlog of work, we had to repeatedly cut back on employees' rest time and extend their working hours. If it weren't for the repeated increases in salary and bonuses, I wonder how many people would have been overwhelmed by this high-intensity work.

"Is there new intelligence?"

In the intelligence analysis room, the director, who was engrossed in his work behind his desk, heard the door open. He looked up and saw his subordinate carrying a large stack of documents into the office. He immediately gave a wry smile and asked listlessly, "How many more families have been expelled?"

"Three families."

The subordinate who entered carrying the files responded and quickly walked over, placing all the files on the head of the department's desk. He said, "These include intelligence gathered by the secret service. Give us a copy, and some information submitted by survivors from two families. We hope to find something useful in these files to help us figure out the true identity of the perpetrators."

"Sigh! Let's hope so!"

The room leader sighed, not optimistic about the situation. He reached out and touched his increasingly thinning hair, his heart filled with worry.

Just about a week ago,

A ninja from a little-known clan in the Land of Fire came to Konoha and was given a mission: to investigate the truth behind his clan's demise. This mission did not initially attract much attention, as it was common for such small clans, whose members totaled less than a hundred, to be wiped out.

It will be posted as a regular B-rank mission for anyone interested to take on. Of course, if no one takes on the mission within three days, the Hokage will personally assign someone to complete it in order to protect the village's reputation.

however,

Similar tasks soon followed one after another.

This made the department head who accepted the commission feel that something was amiss. He reported the intelligence and was shocked to find out what he found. In the past month, more than twenty ninja clans in the Land of Fire had been confirmed to have been wiped out overnight. Except for a few clan members who escaped, the entire clan was often left without a single survivor.

Even more bizarrely, the bodies of the exterminated family have disappeared.

Even ashes were not found in large quantities.

The unusual situation was immediately reported to Zongxian. In accordance with the Hokage's highest instructions, in order to investigate the truth behind this series of events, the Hokage Building began to operate at full capacity, and all relevant departments, such as the intelligence analysis room, began to work day and night.

However, it's not just the lower-level employees who have to work overtime.

The Sixth Hokage himself was stationed at the Hokage Building, and the office lights were often on all night. In addition, the increase in salary and bonuses prevented everyone from harboring any resentment. However, they were all secretly determined to relax thoroughly once this busy period was over.

"Chief, they're here again, someone else is here."

An intelligence analysis staff member stumbled through the door.

"Let them come! There are already quite a few, so a few more won't matter." The head of the department, who was almost numb, was unmoved. At first, he would sympathize with these ninja families that had disappeared from the world without a trace, but as more and more information was sent, his little bit of sympathy had been divided up and there was hardly any left.

"No, it's different. This time, it's the Earth Spider clan that's suffering."

"Who cares about earth spiders or water spiders... wait, which earth spider are you talking about? The earth spider clan of Katsuragi Mountain?" The room leader suddenly stood up, his eyes wide open.

"Chief, there should only be one Tsuchigumo, right?"

The employee, startled, stammered.

"...You're right. It's not just in the country, there's only one Tsuchigumo clan in the entire ninja world." The head of the department muttered to himself, his expression turning extremely grim. The name of the Intelligence Analysis Department is enough to understand its special nature. As a department with limited access to a lot of secret information, the head of the department, who can be considered a veteran of four reigns, knows many things that young people don't.

Speaking of the surname Tsuchigumo,

The young people in the department would immediately think of the Hokage's disciple.

However, the head of the department remembered that Konoha and the Tsuchigumo clan were true allies. The Third Hokage had made an alliance with the Tsuchigumo clan's En no Gyoza, agreeing that Konoha would send someone to help the Tsuchigumo clan when they were in danger.

Although Konoha Village is now under the rule of the Sixth Hokage.

The traveler who was about to embark on his journey had already passed away several years ago.

However, this alliance has not been dissolved, meaning it is still in effect. Now, the Tsuchigumo clan has been attacked and nearly wiped out. Moreover, we cannot forget that the Hokage's youngest disciple is from the Tsuchigumo clan... The situation is about to escalate!

"Are you sure it's the Tsuchigumo clan from Katsuragi Mountain that was also wiped out?"

The section chief confirmed the accuracy of the intelligence.

"It's true. A lot of the Earth Spider clan has escaped and entered the village. This news will probably spread very quickly, and it won't be able to be kept secret anytime soon." The subordinate's answer made the chief take a deep breath. It seemed that this matter was really going to escalate, although it was not a small matter to begin with.

Before receiving this news, the Konoha ninjas might have felt a little sympathy for the victims, but in the end, the life and death of those ninja clans had nothing to do with Konoha.

Until now—

The allied Earth Spider clan was attacked.

We can no longer wait until we have a clear understanding of the situation before deciding what to do.

The village needs to take a stronger and more obvious action to show its attitude to the outside world. Of course, if it were the elderly Third Hokage, there might still be room for discussion, but Konoha is now under the absolute power of the Sixth Hokage, and given his temperament, there is no room for discussion.

That is,

Something big is definitely going to happen next.

"However... it has nothing to do with me." The village chief pondered for a few seconds, then sat down calmly again. No matter how big this matter became, what did it have to do with him? There were many experts in the village now, and they could handle any trouble. It was not his place as a 'veteran of four dynasties' to step forward and do his work.

Therefore,

Just do your own thing.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The Hokage's office.

"You mean those petty thieves living in the Thousand-Year-Old House got away?" Zongxian looked at Shisui with some surprise.

"Yes, they disappeared just three days ago."

Zhi Shui's face turned ashen.

This time, it was his subordinates who messed things up.

Because I've been busy investigating the annihilation of many ninja clans in the Land of Fire, I haven't been paying attention to the Chitoseya surveillance. However, the ANBU responsible for the surveillance didn't report the disappearance immediately after discovering it, instead thinking that the target couldn't have gone far and that it wouldn't be too late to report after finding the target's whereabouts.

As a result, after going back and forth, not only did they fail to find their target,

It wasn't until today that Shisui learned of this matter.

"Zongxian, this was my oversight."

Shisui practically ground his back teeth to powder. It took him more than half a year, but he still couldn't completely unite his subordinates. No matter what the reason was for this incident, as the head of the Dark Division, he couldn't shirk his responsibility.

"Leave this to me, I will definitely..."

"They left three days ago?" Zongxian interrupted Shisui's ramblings and asked thoughtfully, "Then Shisui... do you think the Katsuragiyama incident is related to these people?"

"Huh?"