About ten minutes later, Mito opened her eyes. She pointed in several directions. "There, 10 o'clock, 22 kilometers, 120 men. There, 2 o'clock, 24 kilometers, 90 men. And over there, toward the river valley, 33 kilometers, 150 men..."
That old fox Senju Yuma. Besides the 400 men stationed at his main camp, he had scattered the rest of his forces. It was a classic guerrilla tactic, allowing him to launch flanking attacks when the Uchiha army advanced.
*Fine. If you want to play at guerilla warfare, I'll start by taking out your outposts one by one.*
Izuna cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp in the night air.
Mito reminded him, "Hurry. There are sensory ninja in the Senju camp. They might have already detected my chakra."
Unlike the Hyuga's Byakugan, which could see great distances without the target's awareness, the chakra a sensory ninja released for perception could be detected by other sensory ninja. It was possible that a powerful sensor in the Senju camp, perhaps someone on Tobirama's level, had already noticed the anomaly.
***
Though Izuna and Mito were aware of the possibility, very few Senju ninja actually detected Mito's chakra. Even for those who did, the sensation was so fleeting they dismissed it as their imagination. Only a sensory ninja on Senju Tobirama's level might have noticed, and while Senju Yuma and some others were powerful, they weren't sensory types.
With Mito's guidance, Izuna bypassed every Senju patrol, silently approaching one of the scattered outposts Senju Yuma had established.
This particular camp was situated by a mountain stream. According to Mito's senses, there were 150 men here—the largest of all the detached outposts.
"You stay here. I'll handle this," Izuna whispered to Mito from the cover of the bushes.
"There are over a hundred of them," she said, worried.
"Didn't your senses tell you that the strongest one here is just an elite jonin?" Izuna countered with confidence.
While perception couldn't precisely gauge an opponent's strength, the amount of chakra detected gave a rough estimate of their power level. The strongest person in this outpost was an elite jonin. At Izuna's current level, such an opponent was nothing.
"Don't expect me to come save you," Mito pouted.
Izuna couldn't help but smile. She was being tsundere again.
At the outpost gate, two guards stood on either side, and two more were positioned on lookout towers just inside. Four in total.
*Swoosh!*
The sound of something slicing through the air. Almost simultaneously, the four Senju guards raised their weapons to block the incoming shadows.
*Clang!*
The clash of metal rang out. The objects were either knocked to the ground or dodged, embedding themselves in the gateposts behind them.
"Is this... a kunai?" the guard on the right lookout tower muttered, frowning at the three-pronged kunai stuck in the post.
The next second, realization dawned, and he reached for the alarm bell. But before he could act, a blur appeared before him. The figure plucked the three-pronged kunai from the post and slashed it across his throat.
In an instant, all four guards were dead, victims of Izuna's Flying Thunder God Technique.
Looking down at the camp below, Izuna reached into the pouch on his back and took out all of his custom kunai. He flung them in every direction, scattering them throughout the camp.
*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Though it was late and more than half the men were asleep, several patrol guards immediately spotted the falling three-pronged kunai.
"What is th—"
Before the guard could finish, Izuna appeared before him like a phantom, a Rasengan already slamming into his face. The man's body spun violently before flying backward, crashing through a tent and jolting several sleeping Senju ninja awake.
"Enemy attack!"
"Everyone up! We're under attack!"
"Is it the Uchiha?"
"Dammit, what were the patrols doing? How did someone get in here!"
In the Warring States period, a ninja's combat readiness was second to none. Less than five seconds after the patrol guard was sent flying, every sleeping ninja in the outpost was awake and rushing out of their tents.
"Sound the alarm bell!" an elite Senju jonin shouted.
But as soon as he gave the order, one of his subordinates yelled back, "We can't, Lord Chiharu! The alarm bell has been destroyed!"
The Senju clan's alarm bells were forged from a special bronze alloy. When struck, their sound could travel for over ten li, used to summon reinforcements from nearby outposts.
The outpost's commander, Senju Chiharu, was stunned. "How many Uchiha are there?" he roared. "What was the sensory squad doing? How did the enemy infiltrate our base!"
"I'm afraid it's just me," Izuna's voice rang out from across the way. The corpse of a Senju ninja lay at his feet.
"Uchiha Izuna!?" Chiharu was startled but quickly composed himself. "The Vice-Clan Head of the Uchiha clan, deep in enemy territory all by himself. You have courage, but don't you think you're being a little too arrogant?"
Izuna merely smiled and tossed a three-pronged kunai at him.
Senju Chiharu was a taijutsu specialist, also skilled with a sword. Seeing the kunai fly toward him, he drew his blade with lightning speed and casually deflected it into the air.
After knocking the kunai away, Chiharu's eyes snapped back to Izuna, only to find that he had vanished.
"What!?" Chiharu gasped, a fatal premonition washing over him from above. He instinctively swung his sword upwards.
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