"Do you have the Banana Fan?"
Upon hearing Tutai's words, Uzumaki Ashina's eyes lit up as he immediately asked about the Banana Fan—the most destructive of the Six Paths Tools.
Among the five Six Paths Tools, only the Banana Fan was purely offensive. Paired with the Uzumaki clan's vast chakra reserves, one swing per person would be enough to annihilate wave after wave of enemies.
"Yes,"
Tutai replied decisively.
He knew very well that once the Uzumaki clan obtained the Six Paths Tools, their combat strength would rise dramatically—but that was precisely what was needed to force Konoha to make a choice.
At the same time, they also needed the Uzumaki clan to help wipe out the elite forces of the other great villages in this war. Only then would the Cloud Village's path in the subsequent stages of the war become much easier.
Receiving Tutai's firm confirmation, Ashina's smile widened. He stepped forward, took the two preserved hearts, and began forming seals, constructing an intricate and arcane sealing array.
"Contract Seal—Release!"
With a final motion, he slapped both hearts, and pitch-black sealing characters spread over them.
Then Ashina scraped off some tissue from the hearts, using it as a medium to perform a summoning technique.
With a burst of smoke, four items appeared—precisely the four Six Paths Tools that had been sealed away by the Gold and Silver Brothers.
Ashina immediately grabbed the Banana Fan. As chakra flowed into it, five chakra spheres instantly formed—wind, fire, lightning, water, and earth—each with astonishing intensity.
"Just as recorded… it can generate five elemental nature transformations and convert them into five-element attacks."
Ashina was extremely satisfied. With this ultimate weapon in hand, the coming war was practically secured.
"The remaining three tools are for you to take back. The Cloud Village's sincerity—I have seen it. My sincerity, you will soon see as well."
Glancing at the remaining three matching Six Paths Tools, Ashina showed little interest. They were troublesome to use and far less convenient than the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques.
"We look forward to it,"
Tutai replied.
Using sealing scrolls, he stored away the three tools along with the Gold and Silver Brothers' hearts. After discussing further battle plans, he finally took his leave.
This mission had been completed perfectly. All that remained was to see how the Uzumaki clan would choose—and how the war would unfold.
"Where are they?"
Escorted to the village entrance by an Uzumaki ninja, Tutai froze in surprise.
Where were that brat and the other three?
"They left with the young miss,"
the Uzumaki ninja at the gate reported.
"They asked me to tell you they returned first and for you to catch up quickly. They also warned you to be careful of ambushes along the way."
"Young miss?"
Tutai was completely baffled.
What had that kid done while he was gone?
Despite his confusion, Tutai immediately set off, even using the Body Flicker Technique to accelerate toward their rendezvous point.
Their return route had already been planned—different from the path they came in on. Several jōnin proficient in Earth Release had been dispatched ahead of time to dig a long underground tunnel, concealing their movements and preventing ambushes.
After all, at this stage, far too many eyes were fixed on UzUzushiogakure.
Meanwhile, after familiarizing himself with the Banana Fan, Ashina headed for the residence of the clan head—his own nephew.
Today's visitors to UzUzushiogakure were not limited to the Cloud Village. Konoha had also sent people, clearly for the next generation of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
When Ashina entered, he found the other four clan elders already present, their expressions grim.
"So Konoha truly didn't send reinforcements?"
Ashina asked calmly as he sat down, glancing at his nephew.
"The four great villages have begun advancing toward the Land of Fire. Konoha has already dispatched elite ninja from the major clans as vanguards to the frontlines, seizing key terrain and building defenses.
The Senju clan was assigned to the Land of Earth.
"The Hokage promised to send reinforcements. They will arrive in the Land of Whirlpools tomorrow night."
Uzumaki Masahiko spoke with helplessness. The situation was far worse than he had imagined.
He didn't mention the news that Uchiha Madara was still alive—saying it would only crush morale.
The four elders all wore gloomy expressions. Whether they could even survive tonight was uncertain, let alone tomorrow night.
"A hundred percent calculated move,"
one elder muttered.
"Whether this is the four great villages' scheme or that little monkey Sarutobi's scheme is hard to say,"
Ashina sneered.
"Reinforcements tomorrow night? That's not support—that's collecting corpses."
The room fell silent.
Masahiko said nothing. He remembered the many details the boy had revealed about Konoha—none of them encouraging.
After a moment, Ashina spoke again:
"I said long ago that Konoha couldn't be relied on. I secretly contacted the Cloud Village instead. They are the only great village still recruiting outsiders and can accommodate at least part of our clan.
"It's a fallback route.
"We old men can die for UzUzushiogakure, but the children cannot. The Uzumaki clan must not be exterminated—or we would have no face to meet our ancestors.
"The Cloud Village has shown great sincerity. They just delivered the Six Paths Tool—the Banana Fan—to aid us in this war."
As he spoke, Ashina produced the Banana Fan and injected chakra, forming five elemental spheres as proof.
"It really is the Banana Fan!"
The four elders' eyes shone with excitement. This was a true weapon of mass destruction—especially in the hands of the Uzumaki clan with their immense chakra reserves.
Against top-tier experts it might be limited, but against ordinary ninja it was nothing short of slaughter.
The greatest problem posed by the allied shinobi forces was their sheer numbers. Elite enemies could be dealt with using forbidden sealing techniques in one-for-one trades, but masses of ninja were another matter entirely.
Now, with this weapon, the war would become far easier.
From this perspective, the Cloud Village truly was sincere.
Given the situation, whether Konoha sent reinforcements or not, the fact that the four great villages were besieging UzUzushiogakure was already set in stone. Even if Konoha came, they wouldn't be able to send many forces.
Having an extra path forward wasn't a bad thing.
But unlike the excited elders, Uzumaki Masahiko felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
"Just now… the one who went to see you—was he from the Cloud Village?"
He had assumed it was also someone from the Senju clan. If it was the Cloud Village, then who exactly was that brat?
"Yes. He was the Raikage's advisor from the Cloud Village,"
Ashina replied, puzzled by his nephew's reaction.
"BOOM!"
A terrifying burst of chakra erupted, wrecking the hall.
"That damned little brat!"
Masahiko's face twisted in fury.
He had been completely deceived—tricked into handing over his own granddaughter and the clan's entire accumulated heritage.
Humiliated. Enraged. Played like a fool.
How could the Cloud Village produce such a vile, shameless, evil little monster?!
Ashina and the others stared at the suddenly enraged clan head in confusion.
"What about the battle plan?"
Masahiko finally asked after regaining control, his voice heavy.
No matter how furious he was, what was done was done.
First, they would cooperate with the Cloud Village to survive this calamity.
After that… he would find a way to deal with that wretched little bastard.
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