Naruto: I am Uchiha Shirou

Credits: Aidan Goodwin

"Shirou!"

When Shirou appeared, standing protectively in front of Kushina, Tsunade was even more shocked. Orochimaru, gasping for breath, had an inexplicable gleam in his eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Tsunade shouted angrily. At this moment, she was far more mature than she had been during the events in the Land of Grass. More importantly, she now bore the heavy weight of responsibility on her shoulders.

The outcome of this battle would determine whether Konoha could extricate itself from the quagmire of war. Even when Kushina prepared for her final desperate outburst, Tsunade could only blame her weakness.

If only she were stronger. If only she had the strength of her grandfather or even her granduncle. Then, there would not be so many heartbreaking moments.

Power! Power! Tsunade had never felt such a desperate desire for strength as she did now.

From afar, Konoha's shinobi, who wanted to come to their aid, were held back by the ferocious Rain shinobi. Earlier, it had been Konoha holding them off. Now, the tables had turned.

"Lord Hanzo is going to win! There's no way we're letting you through!"

"Long live Lord Hanzo!"

Amid the deafening sounds of battle, at the center of the battlefield, Shirou's solitary figure stood in front of Kushina and began walking forward step by step.

"I once thought that the prejudice in people's hearts was like a mountain; no matter how hard the Uchiha try, they will never be able to move it..."

His weary voice echoed, taking Tsunade back to that cave in the Land of Grass, and to Kushina's wide, unyielding gaze locked on him.

Shirou glanced sideways at the crowd. Unlike the loneliness he had shown back in the Land of Grass, this time there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"The choices made on the battlefield will have to wait until I fall, Kushina. The honor of the Uchiha clan will never allow itself to crumble behind its comrades—just as the Senju once stood in front of Konoha during the First Great Ninja War..."

His resolute voice echoed across the battlefield. Konoha's shinobi had long forgotten the sacrifices the Senju clan made to protect the village during the First Great Ninja War.

But on this battlefield, the elite Senju shinobi who had followed Tsunade here felt their eyes sting with emotion as they heard those words.

Though all of Konoha may have forgotten the Senju, the Uchiha still remembered. And this time, it was the Uchiha who stood in front of everyone.

"Shirou!"

In the pouring rain, it was unclear whether the droplets streaming from Tsunade's eyes were rain or tears. Her gaze firmed as she shouted:

"Uchiha Shirou! If you have any trump cards left, use them now!"

As Tsunade's shout rang out, Orochimaru immediately launched his jutsu, aiming directly at Hanzo, who was preparing to attack.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

In an instant, countless snakes bound what appeared to be Hanzo, only for him to dissolve into a puddle of water. Upon seeing this, Shirou took a deep breath and shouted in a commanding voice:

"Find Hanzo's real body! Just one moment is all I need to end this!"

With a powerful leap, Shirou jumped onto the highest slab of broken stone on the devastated battlefield.

"Hanzo's real body!"

Realizing something, Kushina quickly formed hand seals and shouted. Instantly, a surge of energy swept across the battlefield.

Barrier: Heavenly Dome Formation

Centered on herself, a transparent, spherical detection barrier rapidly expanded. Fueled by Kushina's reckless expenditure of chakra, the barrier grew large enough to cover half the battlefield in an instant.

"Hanzo is underground!"

Kushina suddenly opened her eyes wide and shouted, pointing directly at Hanzo's hidden location. Just as Hanzo, who had been hiding underground, prepared to counterattack, Tsunade's furious roar echoed from the sky.

"Hanzo! Come out!"

Leaping down with all her might, Tsunade's devastating Heavenly Foot of Pain smashed into the ground. The sheer force of her monstrous strength caused the earth to collapse as if an earthquake had struck.

The sheer destruction left all the surrounding shinobi, both allies and enemies, in awe. Even at her limits, this was a battle beyond their ability to intervene.

"You!"

Hanzo emerged from the ground, looking utterly disheveled. Gasping for breath, he glared furiously at the Konoha shinobi.

"Let me see how much chakra you have left, aside from this Nine-Tails Jinchuriki!"

The moment Hanzo reappeared, the sky suddenly erupted with thunder and lightning. The shocking sight drew the attention of all the shinobi present, filling them with dread.

On the highest stone slab stood a lone figure, clad in tattered white garments. Uchiha Shirou, gasping for breath and appearing somewhat battered, gazed down at Hanzo with an imperious look, his back illuminated by countless arcs of electricity.

"Hanzo! All I need is one moment. This Jutsu may still be incomplete, but there is no way to evade it!"

The crimson three-tomoe Sharingan glared down at Hanzo. At this moment, Shirou's expression mirrored the arrogance Hanzo had displayed earlier. It was as if he now held dominion over the battlefield.

"What... what level of jutsu is this?!"

"No... impossible! How can someone wield such power?!"

Shinobi from both Konoha and the Amegakure stared in shock at this scene.

In the next instant, as lightning crackled from Shirou's hand, Hanzo's pupils contracted.

"This jutsu summons thunder from the heavens. Its name is Kirin. With this lightning, vanish from this world!"

As Shirou raised his arm like a god commanding the heavens, the lightning in the sky obeyed his guidance. Thunder roared as a massive lightning beast in the form of a kirin emerged, its deafening roar echoing across the battlefield.

"There's no way to dodge this!"

At the sight of the jutsu's prelude, the experienced shinobi present instinctively realized they stood no chance of evading it.

This wasn't just ninjutsu; it was a technique that harnessed the forces of nature. Lightning struck in one-thousandth of a second, faster than the speed of sound!

"This Shirou!"

Orochimaru's raspy voice carried a rare tone of admiration as his golden eyes reflected the brilliant lightning. He couldn't help but marvel at the incredible jutsu.

"Hanzo!"

Just then, Hanzo's figure dissolved into the water once again. Tsunade's face darkened, and Kushina, maintaining her barrier, shouted in frustration:

"Shirou!"

Her cry revealed Hanzo's reappearing figure. However, they were already too late to stop him.

"You Uchiha! I acknowledge your strength! A lightning-based jutsu like this is impossible for me to evade!"

Using the Water Body Technique, Hanzo's figure appeared right in front of Shirou. His eyes still carried a lingering fear of the jutsu's power.

If not for his quick reaction, forcing Shirou to activate the jutsu prematurely, he truly wouldn't have been able to escape.

But now, at such close range, there was no way Shirou could unleash a jutsu of that scale.

Shirou's three-tomoe Sharingan tracked Hanzo's movements. As Hanzo attacked, Shirou's expression did not show surprise; instead, a sly smile slowly crept onto his face, as though his plan had succeeded.

"I already told you, this jutsu is still incomplete..."

Before Shirou could even finish speaking, Hanzo of the Salamander's pupils widened in shock. Was this Uchiha willing to go down with him? Had he lost his mind?

In the sky, the thunderous roar of the lightning-formed Kirin tore through the heavens and earth in an instant.

Blinding white light engulfed the battlefield in an instant, making everything vanish from sight. Tsunade, Kushina, Mikoto, and countless Konoha shinobi stared in shock at the area where the lightning had struck.

Boom!

First came the dazzling white light, illuminating the entire sky and earth, followed by a deafening explosion that echoed across the land.

"Shirou!"

Tsunade, Kushina, and Mikoto stared in disbelief at the spot where Shirou had just stood, on top of the giant boulder.

The intense lightning eventually faded, and both Konoha and Amegakure shinobi looked toward the center of the battlefield with shock.

After the thunderstorm passed, the black clouds in the sky seemed to dissipate, as if drained of their energy, and even the rain began to cease.

In the spot where Shirou once stood, there was now only a massive crater. The ground nearby had been scorched dry by the overwhelming power of the lightning. Suddenly, a weak coughing sound broke the silence, causing countless Konoha shinobi to narrow their eyes, while the Amegakure shinobi broke into excited cheers.

"Lord Hanzo!"

From the rubble, Hanzo of the Salamander emerged battered. His body was severely burned by the lightning, and his injuries were horrific. Yet, within the crater, there was no other trace of life.

"Cough cough... So from the very beginning, this jutsu was uncontrollable, only capable of being guided... and even that required self-sacrifice."

Hanzo coughed weakly, blood spilling from his mouth. Despite his severe injuries, his face twisted in anger. It had been years since he had felt such a close brush with death.

Just moments ago! So close!

"Hanzo!"

Tsunade's furious shout echoed as she charged forward. In the distance, Kushina's pupils dilated as her fourth chakra tail began to emerge.

With a booming crash, Tsunade's monstrous strength seemed to have waned. Her punch left only a deep crater in the ground.

Hanzo turned into a puddle of water, revealing his desperation to escape from this group of Konoha shinobi.

As Tsunade's fist struck the ground, it shattered part of the terrain, revealing the half-buried corpse of a massive creature. Everyone recognized it instantly—it was none other than Hanzo's summoned beast, the salamander.

"Even at the last moment, he used his summoning beast to block the fatal blow," Orochimaru remarked, finally understanding how Hanzo had managed to survive such a terrifying jutsu.

"Lord Hanzo!"

"Lady Tsunade! Lord Orochimaru!"

Following the earlier lightning strike, several shinobi from both sides disengaged from combat and rushed toward their respective leaders.

"Lord Hanzo!"

Six Amegakure shinobi roared as they positioned themselves in front of their leader. Two of them quickly helped support the weakened Hanzo, their eyes filled with shock.

Never before had they seen Lord Hanzo in such a pitiful state.

"Cough cough!"

Another mouthful of blood spilled from Hanzo's lips, shocking the Amegakure shinobi. Despite his injuries, Hanzo forced himself to lift his head and glare at the Konoha shinobi who had pushed him to this point.

At this moment, a hawk's cry pierced the sky.

"Lord Hanzo! Urgent news from the battlefield..."

When Hanzo read the report, his eyes widened in disbelief, and he spat out blood in frustration.

"Lord Hanzo!"

As his subordinates cried out in panic, Hanzo wheezed heavily, his gaze filled with bitterness as he looked at the Konoha shinobi.

If only this information had arrived just half a minute earlier, he wouldn't have been so severely injured.

"It seems... this war is Konoha's victory. Konoha shinobi, I will remember your names..."

At the same time, Konoha's shinobi received their report from the hawk.

"Kushina!"

A seal paper with the character "Seal" was slapped onto Kushina's back, suppressing the tailed beast chakra that was about to erupt within her.

Hearing the voice, Kushina's pupils widened. Her eyes filled with tears as she rasped, "Shirou..."

"Cough cough. I told you, this jutsu was just a guide, still incomplete..."

A weakened Uchiha Shirou appeared behind her without warning. Smiling faintly despite his condition, he added, "And Kushina, this is our little secret."

Hearing his teasing tone, Kushina's blood-red beast-like eyes gradually returned to normal. She turned to face him, immediately throwing herself at him and biting him fiercely.

"You liar! I couldn't feel your chakra!"

Tears fell as she sobbed. Shirou, still coughing weakly, smiled faintly as he saw Tsunade's relieved expression in the distance.

At that moment, he smiled. He had won! Once again, he had gambled and won!

The Shirou they had seen earlier was just a shadow clone. Although his real body hadn't mastered White Zetsu's underground camouflage technique, he had managed to burrow into the ground, evading chakra detection.

This was how he had fooled both Hanzo and Kushina's sensory barriers.

"You bastard!"

Kushina scolded, but as her clarity returned, she quickly wiped away her tears. As for Shirou's mention of their "secret," though she was furious, she could only keep it to herself for now.

"Fire the signal flares! The war is over!"

Orochimaru's raspy voice ordered several Konoha reinforcements to launch signal flares. At the same time, Amegakure Shinobi did the same.

"Konoha shinobi, I will remember you!"

When Hanzo saw that Shirou had survived, his frustration grew. One by one, they had ganged up on him, an old man.

"Retreat... retreat..."

In a hoarse and weak voice, Hanzo gave the order to retreat. Many Amegakure shinobi roared in frustration but complied.

Seeing this, Hanzo muttered weakly, "Sunagakure has already fallen. This war belongs to Konoha. Retreat!"

Hanzo had hoped for peace, but he had planned to strike a decisive blow against Konoha before negotiating terms.

Now, however, both sides were left battered, and his leverage in negotiations had greatly diminished.

"Protect Lord Hanzo during the retreat!"

Two level-headed Amegakure shinobi shouted, summoning a small salamander to burrow into the ground.

On the battlefield, both Konoha and Amegakure shinobi began retreating under the signal flares, regrouping with their respective forces.

"Amegakure is retreating underground and has summoned countless explosive-tagged rats... They're using them to cut off pursuit!"

As they retreated, the Amegakure shinobi displayed remarkable decisiveness, planting countless explosive tags to prevent Konoha from chasing them.

Konoha, for its part, no longer had the strength to continue the fight. Even if they did, Tsunade and the others wouldn't risk destroying Amegakure.

If the Land of Rain fell into chaos, Konoha's goal of ending the war would fail. A crippled yet somewhat stable Amegakure was what they needed.

"Treat the wounded!"

Konoha had suffered heavy casualties, leaving many ninjas in critical condition. Meanwhile, Amegakure had only around a hundred shinobi left to escape.

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru had all lost their combat capabilities. While Kushina could still unleash a tailed beast bomb if she truly wanted to, doing so would mire Konoha further in the Land of Rain's war.