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"BOOOOM!!"
"BOOOOM!!"
Explosions shook the forest behind them, one after another. The woods were so thick that daylight barely reached the ground. Branches tangled overhead, and leaves blocked out the sky.
Izuna Uchiha ran through the trees with his six students right behind him. The wind whipped at their clothes as they jumped from branch to branch, never slowing down.
After a short fight with the enemy, Izuna knew just how bad things were. His team was completely outmatched. Even worse, the attack didn't make sense if it was an official Kumogakure mission.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku had betrayed their own village and brought most of their forces with them. If Izuna kept fighting, all seven of them would die here.
Izuna broke away and led his students past the enemy line. They kept running until the sounds of pursuit faded.
Only then did they stop under the thick canopy, deeper in the woods.
"Split up. Two-man teams! Danzō, you're with Hiruzen. Homura, go with Koharu. Kagami, you're with Torifu. All three teams will meet at the Valley of the End camp."
Izuna gave the assignments as soon as he landed.
This was nothing like Tobirama Senju's famous last stand in the original timeline. Izuna wasn't picking a successor or calling everyone together for a hopeless last fight. He just wanted to get as many of his students home as he could.
By splitting into pairs, Kumogakure's men would have to split up too. The plan might actually work. In this timeline, Kinkaku and Ginkaku had never eaten Kurama's flesh, so they were much weaker than before.
"What about you, Teacher?" Danzō and Hiruzen asked together.
"I'll stay behind and hold off Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and the main force. While they're focused on me, the rest of you can escape." Izuna closed his eyes as he spoke.
"NO! WE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN! We're your guards. We're supposed to risk our lives for the Hokage, not watch while the Hokage risks his life for us. You're the leader of Konoha. The whole village is counting on you!"
Hiruzen stepped forward and blocked Izuna's path.
"He's right, Teacher. I've had the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing ready for a long time. If I have to, I'll take the enemy with me. I'm ready to die for you and for Konoha." Danzō tore open his shirt to show the seal on his chest.
"We'll protect the Hokage with our lives!" Homura, Koharu, Torifu, and Kagami stepped up beside them.
All four stood firm. None of them even glanced at the escape routes Izuna had pointed out.
Seeing them stand together made Izuna proud, but it also made giving the order even harder.
Izuna had never planned to take any students. His great-grandfather insisted, and Izuna agreed only because the old man wouldn't give up. Now, with Kumogakure's forces closing in, he finally understood what his great-grandfather saw in them.
Not one of the six flinched when Izuna told them to leave him. Instead, they all stepped closer.
They were some of the best shinobi of their generation, and losing all six for one old man was a price the village couldn't pay.
"Enough. You are my personal guards, but before that, you are my students. I trained each of you myself. One day, you may have to risk your lives for Konoha, but not today. Until then, you must stay alive..."
"...Where the leaves dance, the fire burns. Its light reaches every part of the village, and new leaves grow in its warmth. That's how Konoha survives. I'm old. You six are the future. If one generation must die so another can live, then the old must step aside for the young." Izuna opened his eyes and looked at each student.
Izuna didn't raise his voice. He sounded like he was giving them one last lesson, and all six knew his mind was made up.
By the end, their eyes were red. They still hated his decision, but none of them argued again.
"YES, SIR!" All six dropped to one knee, backs straight, and gave their teacher the formal Konoha salute.
"Go. Now!" Izuna turned away from them.
"Yes, sir!" Homura and Koharu held back their tears and ran along the first route.
"Take care of yourself, Teacher!" Torifu and Kagami wiped their eyes and ran in the other direction.
"Please come back alive, Teacher." Danzō and Hiruzen bowed low to Izuna's back.
Neither wanted to leave, but they knew waiting would only waste the time he was giving them. They straightened, turned, and disappeared into the woods together.
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Izuna listened until he couldn't hear their footsteps anymore. Only then did he lower his guard.
"Madara... Tobirama... So this is how it ends? I don't even get to see either of you one last time?" He looked out into the empty forest.
Izuna drew his steel sword and gripped it with both hands. The polished blade showed his reflection. The face looking back at him was old.
"Let's see if these old moves still work." He raised the sword and waited.
Two streaks of light shot through the trees and stopped in front of him.
"WHOOSH!"
Kumogakure's Two Lights had arrived: Kinkaku and Ginkaku—the infamous Gold and Silver Brothers.
Both men carried Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths, and both grinned.
"Tough luck, Izuna Uchiha. You ran into the Gold and Silver Brothers. You're not leaving this forest," they said together.
"Heh..." Izuna laughed under his breath.
"Your eyes are done for, aren't they? Give up. You still have time to surrender." Ginkaku snorted and shifted his grip on his Treasured Tool.
The brothers wanted Izuna alive. If they captured the Hokage, they could use him to blackmail Konoha.
"Save your breath. Come see what Uchiha pride really means." Izuna pointed his sword at them.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku raised their Treasured Tools. Just as they were about to attack, a black crow swooped down through the branches and landed on Kinkaku's shoulder. Their grins vanished as soon as they saw it.
"Damn it. You could have told us sooner," Ginkaku complained.
"If that's his order..." Kinkaku nodded reluctantly.
Izuna tightened his grip on his sword. They should have attacked by now. Why did they stop?
"You got lucky, Izuna Uchiha." Kinkaku and Ginkaku gave him one last look, then disappeared into the forest as quickly as they had come.
Izuna didn't move. He kept his stance and waited for them to double back, circle around, or set a trap. A minute passed, then another. Their chakra signatures kept moving away until he couldn't sense them anymore.
"What was that about?" Izuna lowered his sword. As soon as he did, his knees gave out.
He collapsed onto the forest floor and passed out as two figures in black robes appeared beside him.
"Why did those two run? Did they see us?" one of them asked.
"Doesn't look like it. They take orders from someone above them, and that crow brought instructions. We can deal with that later. Grab Izuna and let's go." The other man shook his head.
The two men picked up Izuna and carried him out of the forest. From that day on, the Fourth Hokage disappeared from the shinobi world without a trace.
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