Watching the "Chu Yang" on the bed gradually transform into a block of wood, Izuna Uchiha's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"How could it be a Wood Clone?!!!"
Izuna let out a heart-rending scream, like a hopeless simp being ruthlessly dumped. His heart plunged straight into hell—because he understood better than anyone what this meant.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
"Lord Izuna!!! It's an ambush!!!"
"Help!!! Lord Izuna!!!"
Izuna violently flung open the tent flap, only to see dense figures all around him.
Firelight flared up in an instant, illuminating the area.
Outside the tent, his subordinates were riddled with kunai and shuriken, collapsed in pools of blood. They were barely clinging to life—some already dead, staring at Izuna with eyes wide open.
As if questioning him—
Why did you bring us here to die?
"How is this possible?!" Izuna stared at Chu Yang in agony, asking in disbelief, "How did you know we were coming to assassinate you?"
Chu Yang scratched his head awkwardly. "You probably won't believe it, but I honestly just couldn't sleep, so I got up to take a walk."
Izuna's eyes bulged.
Then humiliation flooded his face.
How could he possibly believe that?!
If you couldn't sleep, then why the hell was there a clone lying in your bed?!
So enraged that blood rushed to his head, Izuna actually spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
"Capture him alive!"
A trace of reluctance flashed in Hashirama Senju's eyes. It was clear he didn't want to harm his old friend Madara Uchiha's younger brother.
The surrounding Senju clan members received the order and slowly closed in on Izuna.
"Kid, did you really just happen to be taking a walk because you couldn't sleep, and that's how you discovered their assassination attempt?" Tobirama Senju asked curiously.
"How could that be?" Chu Yang's eyes darted as he immediately started talking nonsense. "They've failed to kill me in several battles already—of course they were plotting something. I haven't slept for days, staying on high alert, fully prepared, because I knew they'd come to assassinate me."
Hashirama burst out laughing and teased, "Don't tell me you were so scared that you couldn't sleep?"
Chu Yang rolled his eyes. "Clan Head, if you're going to talk like that, then this conversation really can't continue."
Hearing this, even Tobirama cracked a knowing smile.
At that moment, realizing that mission failure would deal a devastating blow to the Uchiha, Izuna completely lost his mind.
His eyes were bloodshot, like a beast on the brink of death.
Seeing him like this, the Senju members surrounding him felt an inexplicable sense of dread.
Covered in blood, Izuna launched a suicidal charge into the crowd. He fought without fear of death, with only one goal—
Kill Chu Yang.
No matter what happened tonight, he had to kill Chu Yang!
Facing Izuna's desperate charge, the Senju defensive line began to crumble. Because of Hashirama's earlier order to capture him alive, they didn't dare strike lethally.
As the saying goes—hesitation leads to defeat.
Their hesitation gave Izuna an opening. He tore through a gap in the encirclement and charged straight at Chu Yang.
At that moment, several Uchiha who were supposed to be "dead" on the ground suddenly "came back to life"!
When the ambush first happened, some of them had used their comrades' bodies to shield themselves, faking death!
That said, each of them was indeed gravely wounded and on the brink of death.
This was nothing more than a final burst of vitality before death.
They seized this last chance to help Izuna kill Chu Yang.
Even Tobirama hadn't anticipated this!
Caught off guard, he was actually hit by genjutsu, falling into a brief moment of stupor.
Even Hashirama Senju, known as the God of Shinobi, failed to react in time.
Given the vast disparity in strength, the Uchiha could only restrain them for a very short period before the genjutsu broke.
But that was more than enough to assassinate Chu Yang.
Izuna's Sharingan spun rapidly. As long as Chu Yang fell into genjutsu and lost his guard, the kunai in Izuna's hand could easily slice through his throat.
But what happened next was something Izuna never could have imagined—
Chu Yang calmly closed his eyes, showing not the slightest trace of fear.
"You think not falling into genjutsu means you won't die? Idiot!" Izuna roared as he swung his kunai, already envisioning Chu Yang's carotid artery being severed.
Yet despite Chu Yang's eyes being closed, he effortlessly dodged Izuna's strike.
Izuna stared at Chu Yang in disbelief, then gritted his teeth and stabbed again with the kunai.
It missed again.
Seizing the opening, Chu Yang unleashed a crushing [Fish-Man Karate · Shark Brick Fist], slamming it squarely into Izuna's waist—
A direct liver blow!
Izuna looked at Chu Yang as if he'd seen a ghost, completely ignoring the searing pain exploding from his waist.
"You're clearly keeping your eyes closed—how can you precisely predict my every move?!"
As Izuna spat out a large mouthful of blood, his aura rapidly withered.
Why else could it be?
Of course—it was Observation Haki.
Chu Yang answered with a straight face, "A guess."
"Pff—!"
Izuna, driven mad by rage, vomited blood once more. His eyes rolled back, and he completely lost consciousness.
At the same time, the Uchiha who had used their lives to hold back Hashirama and Tobirama also collapsed one after another, their faces filled with disbelief.
Their all-or-nothing gamble had turned into a colossal joke in front of Chu Yang.
Hashirama snapped out of it and immediately looked toward Chu Yang. Only after confirming he was unharmed did he finally relax.
Tobirama was the same.
Hashirama gave a bitter smile. "That was my mistake. I almost let things go wrong."
Chu Yang grinned. "It's fine. With Izuna Uchiha captured, the initiative is in our hands. Fight or peace—it's entirely up to us now."
Tobirama said, "Your performance this time really impressed me. It seems there's no longer any need for extra tempering."
Chu Yang chuckled.
Not just Tobirama—every clan member present had witnessed Chu Yang's performance. They truly admired him from the bottom of their hearts.
As dawn gradually broke, Madara Uchiha, who had waited all night without news of his brother, finally vented his fury on the sand table, smashing it to pieces with a single punch.
He understood that after this incident, the Uchiha Clan had completely lost any chance of turning the tide. Continuing the war would only lead to total annihilation.
Madara wasn't the only one who realized this.
When news spread that Izuna's assassination attempt had failed and that he had been captured instead, many within the Uchiha Clan immediately began considering surrender.
In just a single day, Madara saw numerous people secretly slipping out of the camp. With morale shattered to this extent, there was no saving the situation.
As clan head, the last thing Madara could do—
Was to seek out Hashirama Senju and fight one final duel.
(End of Chapter)
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