Chapter 148: Secret Letter Recall, Fugaku's Worry

Maito Dai's body plummeted rapidly through the air, like a burnt-out meteor. His skin began to crack quickly, small fragments constantly peeling off.

"Boom!"

Maito Dai's body slammed heavily onto the ground, motionless.

At this moment, a commotion came from the ruins in the distance. Rubble tumbled, and Madara Uchiha's figure slowly emerged.

He crawled out of the pit with difficulty, every step accompanied by the sound of bones grating. Madara looked down at his body; his entire right half had completely vanished, blood constantly gushing out, leaving dark red traces on the ground.

"Heh heh heh"

Madara looked down at his ruined body, letting out a low laugh.

"Truly... astonishing power." Madara's voice was hoarse and low, carrying a hint of barely concealed excitement, "In my long life, battles that make me feel this excited are few and far between."

Suddenly, Madara's body trembled violently, and he coughed intensely, a mouthful of blood spraying from his mouth, splashing onto the ground.

Madara frowned at his wounds, realizing this injury was more serious than he imagined, and it would probably be difficult to fully recover in a short time.

Madara Uchiha looked at Maito Dai in the distance; at this moment, his body was collapsing at a visible speed, his body peeling off like burnt paper ash.

"As a return gift, I'll personally send you on your way."

As Madara's words fell, a thick tree branch shot out like an arrow off a string. The tree branch instantly pierced Maito Dai's chest, completely extinguishing his remaining vitality.

"Hah" Madara took a deep breath, retracting the Gedo Mazo in the distance.

At this moment, the ground suddenly emitted a slight tremor.

Only to see the land not far away begin to rise, a white humanoid creature drilled out of the soil.

"Madara-sama, we should retreat." White Zetsu's voice carried.

Madara frowned, his gaze sweeping toward the distance. Sure enough, several Konoha ninjas had already arrived at the scene: "Konoha's reinforcements have arrived?"

"The Nine-Tails is already in hand, no need to continue entangling here." Madara said coldly, his tone carrying a hint of disdain, "These ants are not worth my wasting time on."

Hearing this, White Zetsu quickly turned his body into a white mass, wrapping around Madara's body. The two figures began to slowly sink into the ground.

Just as Madara was about to completely disappear, a large number of Konoha reinforcements had already arrived.

"Quick! Spread out and check the scene!" a Jonin shouted orders.

The ninjas quickly dispersed, and soon found Minato, Kushina, and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi lying on the ground. Seeing this scene, everyone's faces were filled with grief.

"Look there!" a ninja suddenly pointed toward the distance, his voice full of shock: "Who did this."

Following the direction of his finger, everyone saw a heart-stopping scene. A long trench was left on the ground, surrounded entirely by shattered flesh and blood, obviously someone had dealt a heavy blow to the other party.

Someone noticed Maito Dai not far away and immediately ran over to check.

"Is this... Maito Dai?" a ninja said in surprise: "How could he be here?"

"Here! I found Lord Minato!" a medical ninja quickly ran to Minato's side and immediately began checking his condition. His palm glowed with green light, gently covering Minato's chest.

"Lord Minato still has vital signs!" the medical ninja shouted loudly, his voice carrying a hint of hope, "Quick, we must immediately send him back to the village for treatment!"

Minato barely supported his body, his gaze sweeping over the battlefield covered in wounds. At this moment, the words Madara Uchiha had spoken echoed in his mind: Your strength is insufficient, that is the cause of all this tragedy. It is precisely because you do not have enough strength that you watch helplessly as those you love die. The next second, Minato completely fell into a coma. The medical ninjas carefully lifted him and quickly moved toward the village.

………………………………

On a battlefield thousands of li away, Uchiha Fugaku stood in a temporarily erected command post, carefully reviewing the latest battle reports. Suddenly, a rush of wing flapping caught his attention.

"Whoosh!"

A Ninken broke through the sky and landed steadily on the table before Fugaku. A small scroll was tied to its leg, sealed with Konoha's wax seal.

"This kind of Ninken..." Fugaku muttered to himself, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. He knew very well that this kind of Ninken, extremely fast but rare in number, was only activated in the most urgent situations.

Fugaku reached out to take the scroll and quickly untied the binding cord. As the scroll unfurled, his eyes quickly scanned the content, his expression gradually becoming grave.

"A major event has occurred in the village, requiring immediate return; the remaining ninjas continue to guard the defense line." Fugaku quietly repeated the content on the scroll, his brow tightly furrowed.

"What exactly happened?" Fugaku muttered to himself, "Why not directly state the specific situation? This kind of vague wording makes people even more worried..."

His thoughts were interrupted by a vice officer who suddenly rushed in. "Lord Fugaku, there are new movements on the front line!"

Fugaku took a deep breath, rolled up the scroll, and said calmly: "It seems something has happened in the village, asking me to return immediately."

Fugaku rolled up the map in his hand and spoke at a rapid pace: "Leave this place to me for the time being. Continue to act according to the original plan; if there are any abnormal situations, you can go ask Orochimaru."

The deputy nodded solemnly: "Please rest assured, Lord Fugaku, I will definitely handle everything here properly."

After making arrangements, Fugaku immediately set out, quickly departing toward the village.

"Hope nothing happened to the Uchiha Clan" Fugaku's unease grew stronger. He clearly knew that whatever could make Konoha issue such an urgent recall must be a major event capable of shaking the village's foundation.

As the Clan Leader of the Uchiha Clan, he knew well how delicate the clansmen's position in the village was. Any slight disturbance could trigger a storm; Fugaku silently prayed in his heart while quickening his pace.

I don't know how long passed

Finally, the gates of Konohagakure appeared in his sight. Fugaku slowed his pace, warily surveying the surroundings. The gates, usually heavily guarded, now seemed unusually deserted, with only two ninjas standing there, expressions stern.

"Uchiha Clan Leader," a guard said coldly, "you're back."

Fugaku frowned at the other's tone but said nothing more, striding into the village. However, the sight before his eyes made him involuntarily frown.

The streets, usually bustling, were now unusually empty, like a deserted city.

At this moment Fugaku noticed shadows moving behind the windows around him. The villagers hid inside their houses, secretly eyeing him with terrified eyes. Those eyes were filled with fear and suspicion, as if looking at a terrifying criminal.

The next second, Fugaku's Sharingan instantly opened, three Magatama spinning rapidly in his blood-red eyes.

Relying on the Sharingan's insight, he clearly sensed figures constantly flickering around him, seemingly monitoring his every move in the dark.

Fugaku did not stop, nor did he turn to look at those followers. He pretended nothing was wrong and continued forward, while rapidly thinking of countermeasures in his mind.

"Is it the Anbu, or people from Root?" Fugaku guessed to himself, "Whoever it is, this kind of large-scale surveillance is too abnormal."

Fugaku's unease grew even greater; his intuition told him the situation was worse than he imagined.

(Chapter End)