Naruto: The Senju Patriarch

Konoha was showing unprecedented strength while still clearly hiding its cards. The world had yet to see the rest of the Sannin, a larger portion of their Shinobi, the Hokage and even the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. Yet they were winning clearly. The fight between Konoha and Kiri ended at an unprecedented pace, and a Great Village crumbling so quickly with their Kage dead seemed to signal the changing of times. And the Suna front seemed to be enjoying a similar success with Sakumo Hatake and Tsunade proving to be far more deadly than the previous war.

The battle against the Sand had been even easier than expected, causing Chiyo, Ebizo and Rasa to deploy Bunpuku, and the One Tails, to turn the tide of the war against the Leaf. They were sure they would be able to take over the battlefield with this manoeuvre, as the Konoha side no longer had the Ino-Shika-Cho trio or Katsuro to hold down their main forces.

However, their calculations had been sorely mistaken.

Tsunade was taking a much more combat focussed role in this war than the last where she was held up in the medical camp concocting antidotes for Chiyo's poison. This time she had the benefit of experience and had gotten even better at medical Ninjutsu. Not to mention her greatly improved strength, she was a physical storm on the battlefields, who through Katsuro's insistence for his wife had learned defensive Jutsu and movements techniques like body flicker to a high proficiency making her extremely hard to pin down and target.

At one point, while fighting Chiyo, she had activated her Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Seal, which caused black markings to appear over her body and made her way stronger - shocking those who saw her previous strength as the achievable peak. Her punches alone could be compared to A or even S rank Jutsu in that state, but the main benefit was the impossible regeneration speed she gained seemingly inheriting from her grandfather. It allowed her to ignore the poison coated on Chiyo's puppets and smash through them, if it weren't for Ebizo's sacrifice of his own body leading to a devastating punch through his puppets to his ribs and the Shinobi who bought her time with their blood, she wouldn't be alive.

Luckily, due to time constraints and the drawback from the Jutsu, Ebizo would manage to live having been flung away and immediately attended to as the designated strategist.

With this and Sakumo killing their Jonin commander, and making Rasa look well in over their head as he butchered the Jonin, Suna sent Bunpuku to the front lines as a reinforcement once again like the last war towards his demise. Unfortunately for them, a special squad consisting of the Uzumaki clansmen prepared by Tsunade and Sakumo were more than ready and had hidden just for this. Their re-emergence alone here and on the Kiri front would send waves through the Shinobi world, as they would realise that the age long alliance between the Senju and Uzumaki was still very much alive.

Not long after Katsuro would start moving in towards the Land of Water, the trap had been set for the One Tails.

—

"Please, do not stand in my way, Leaf Shinobi. It will not end well for any of you this time," Bunpuku declared, "and I do not wish to harm you. You are-"

"Enough, One Tail's Jinchurki!" Sakumo shouted, "Come quietly or I will force you to!"

Bunpuku sighed, "I see. In that case, Feigning Sleep Jutsu!"

From his place, sand erupted upwards like a funnel, and from it, emerged the One Tails raccoon.

"So this is what Lady Tsunade and Lord Katsuro took down by themselves!" an Uzumaki member murmured, staring up at the Tailed Beast in awe and shock.

"Move out of the way! Start the suppression and sealing!" Sakumo yelled.

"Right!" the rest of the group shouted back in response, as they all dispersed. The Uzumaki members repeatedly attempted to seal away the Shukaku spirit entirely, however the One Tails was wary, remembering how he had been beat last time, and repeatedly moved and thrashed around, attacking the sealing unit to force them to evade with various attacks . This meant they failed each time they attempted to seal it, unable to stay still for more than a second and the Sand Spirit always moving around.

Fortunately, Katsuro had trained his clansmen well, and they were still able to avoid the One Tails' attacks while suppressing a large amount of its chakra, causing the beast to move much slower and leaving it unable to use a variety of Jutsu.

Chiyo, Ebizo and Rasa are too wrapped up in this war, Sakumo thought, they definitely wouldn't stop just because I have their Jinchurki hostage, especially with how far deep they've pushed in the fight. I'll end him here and now. I see my opening.

Just as Shukaku ended another attack, and still with a large portion of its chakra being sealed away, Sakumo used Lightning Style: Thunder Clap Impulse and launched himself into the air. During this time the Sand Spirit saw Sakumo leaping towards its host's body, the torso which remained to move the sand.

Shukaku hastily put up multiple sand defences, but there were too little and not enough time. Sakumo smiled sadly. You poor soul, forced to fight a war in which you don't belong, he thought, while drawing his blade and performing the hand signs for Raikiri, exclaiming: "Raikiri Longsword!", a technique he created and made his own after learning it from Katsuro. An aura of lightning surrounded the blade, making it longer and much sharper- a deadly weapon for a deadly Shinobi.

Effortlessly, the White Fang slashed away at the sand defences. Shukaku roared, forming a sudden sand bubble around Bunpuku's body, but his final defence was simply cut through by Sakumo's enhanced blade.

"Goodbye, monk." Sakumo said, somewhat sadly. In one sharp motion, the White Fang stabbed the Jinchurki through his chest and retracted his blade, swinging it away in the process, causing the blood to fly off it. The Uzumaki members stared up at the White Fang, revealing how easily he had killed a Tailed Beast and Jinchurki.

Sakumo descended onto the ground, with the sand of Shukaku crumbling all around him, and with him the body of Bunpuku thumped to the ground, now awake and trying to form his last words, but ultimately went limp and quiet, staring up at the sky for answers. This time, his sleep was eternal.

Back to present…

With the Suna front losing the One Tails, and their key strategist Ebizo being bedridden, any momentum they had hoped of building was shattered. It meant Konoha was facing almost no pressure, and with stars rising seemingly from nowhere such as the recently crowned 'Green Beast' Might Duy or 'Earth Splitter' Tenaki. It was something the other great villages couldn't have. Iwa and Kumo seemed to be the only forces left that were capable of winning other than Konoha. And they could not have Konoha cruising by as they wore each other down. As such, the Raikage made a decision hearing the news from the Kiri front.

The remaining Kiri forces would of course have to retreat once they received orders that they had lost, but getting through them for the Cloud to gain their own benefits would still take time, effort and blood. Although they might feel hard done by, having fought so far for essentially nothing having been played by Konoha and acting as a distraction for them, they couldn't just throw lives needlessly.

It was clear Kiri was done with this war, so the Raikage made his move. All he needed to do to gain from Kiri was to defeat Konoha - something he wanted to do anyway. Therefore, the Kumo forces allowed Kiri to retreat much to their relief, and immediately pivoted towards the Land of Hot Water and towards Konoha.

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