I Am Fugaku Uchiha

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At this moment, Itsuki squinted his eyes and looked at the vast desert land. He was leading a squad of three Uchiha clan members, hiding behind a sand dune.

Although it was not the first time he had experienced the baptism of the hot and dry desert, the relentless sandy wind made it difficult for him to keep his eyes open.

Despite the country's harsh environment, it had a large population. This is the border of the Wind Country, and Itsuki couldn't help but think that if these Sand Shinobi attacked the Land of Fire, it may be because they coveted its fertile land.

"How come the Third Kazekage disappeared? That's just a lame excuse," he muttered under his breath. "Come on, let's go. Nothing's happening here."

"Leaf ninja? Since you're here, why don't you stay?"

"Who?" Itsuki was shocked. "How did they...?"

Before he could ask, about twenty sand ninja wearing yellow vests and the Sand Village protector emerged from under the earth, where they were hiding.

The Itsuki squad was looking at them vigilantly. They were at the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind, so they could see ahead at the end of the desert.

How did the enemy sneak up behind them? Did they use some earth-style technique?

The leader of the Sand Shinobi continued, "We've been expecting you for a long time," and gestured for his team to attack.

From what he said, it sounded like they had been aware of our movement.

Without missing a beat, they attack his squad with shuriken and kunai-attached explosive tags, hoping to overwhelm them with their numbers.

Some Sand Shinobi drew their ninja swords and kunai, ready to continue their assault. They knew that shuriken wouldn't deal damage.

Although the other three clan members hadn't opened their eyes yet, they were all elites. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been sent to monitor the movements of Sand Shinobi.

Itsuki squad members drew their ninja swords as they dodged attacks, while Itsuki started to form hand seals.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu."

Itsuki was an elite jonin of the Uchiha clan, possessing the three-tomoe Sharingan. Although he isn't abnormally strong like the clan head, he is still an elite Jonin.

He unleashed a fire dragon at the three Sand Shinobi, hoping to incinerate them. But they had anticipated his move. They took out a scroll and spread it across, using both hands.

With a puff of white smoke, the obscured three figures appeared and were able to defend against the fire dragon attack.

When the smoke eventually dissipated, three large puppets with huge arms stood in their place. They used chakra strings to control the puppets.

They had small shields attached to each arm, which they combined to form a large shield to defend themselves.

"What are these? Puppets? How come those shields defend Fire Style?" Itsuki wondered as he narrowed his eyes.

"Konoha ninjas intrude our territory with intentions of starting war; surrender now, and we will grant painless death." The leader of the Sand Shinobi provoked them.

Such an obvious lie! Wasn't it? They were the ones who ambushed them with a large force, while his team was only scouting. But he did not want to argue.

The Sand Ninjas wasted no time in launching their attack. From the mouths of their three puppets, they unleashed a barrage of flying senbon that whizzed through the air.

With Itsuki included, there were only four people who could only use ninja swords to block them.

The Itsuki squad has their ninja swords for routine scouting, and they were ill-equipped to deal with such a threat.

They tried to dodge or block the senbon, but two of them were pierced by several projectiles. The Sand Shinobi smirked at the sight of their injury.

"You go ahead; I'll stop them."

Itsuki ordered his three comrades as he throw three smoke bombs that exploded and filled the area with thick smoke.

Four figures dashed out of the smoke and ran towards Konoha.

"Hmph! Don't even think about running away."

Some of the Sand Shinobi chased after them while throwing a kunai barrage at them.

His two squad members got hit. Then those two turned into smoke.

"What? Shadow clones?"

Those Sand Shinobi were surprised and halted their pursuit. They had been duped by the smoke and the clones. They scanned the horizon and spotted four more figures running in a different direction.

They must be the real ones.

They didn't waste any time and resumed their chase, hoping to catch them before they reached their camp.

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The Sand Ninjas were about to split up and chase the four figures, but one of them felt a dark shadow behind him.

He turned and saw a pair of crimson eyes staring at him. Its Sharingan, Uchiha clan He fell in genjustu as he looked at them, and That Sand Shinobi couldn't even react and limped on the ground.

Itsuki didn't have time to finish him off. While retreating, he made some hand seals and unleashed a fireball jutsu.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu."

He aimed at the Sand Ninjas, who weren't using puppets at the moment, hoping to reduce their numbers. It was enough to give three of them a third-degree burn.

"Forget them. They are Uchiha clan ninjas. They are not easy to deal with. They used shadow clones to escape our ambush."

The leader of the Sand Ninjas recognized him and ordered his men to stop chasing after them.

Itsuki smirked and said, "Not bad. You are not as stupid as you look. You know the strength of the Uchiha clan."

He looked around as he was surrounded by sand ninjas. One of his squad members was with him, and another one was wounded by a puppet's senbon. The last one turned into smoke, revealing himself as a shadow clone.
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Today Power Ranking (bi-annual) = 41