Three months passed since the first strike.
The Eastern Front no longer had any grasslands left it had become something words cannot describe.
Neither side committed to a full scale advance. Neither side dared the losses. They had small frictions from time to time.
Uchiha Leo did many spins but he could not get anything that could defend against the Uzumaki Shinigami Mask. He did get rocket launchers and tanks but with ninja speeds they can easily dodge them.
As the war dragged on, a pattern emerged and it favored the Uchiha.
Their Extremis unit, refused to die and was very difficult to deal with. Still, Senju managed to trap one and conduct experiment. Uchiha airships made logistics nearly immune to sneak attacks and Leo's Bio-tech trees ensured they had constant supply of food and did not starve.
The Uzumaki's sealing support, once the shield of their defense, had begun to waver. Two elite sealing elders were lost in the battle and their bodies did not recover. Senju had lost more ninjas as compared to Uchiha.
Senju did manage to kill few Beast unit members of Uchiha clan but they were soon replaced with other Uchiha members. They were sure that Uchiha had some means to make ninjas awaken beast bloodline.
Leo also accepted Shimura and Sarutobi, as he had some plans for them. But he asked them to pretend to be on Senju side.
Senju-Uzumaki Command center
Inside the tent that served as the Senju's central command, Butsuma stood near the table, hands pressed to the laid out battle plan.
Uzumaki and Senju elders across from him, said nothing. His eyes lingered on the losses faced by Senju and Uzumaki clan.
Butsuma: "We can't win with current plans."
Uzumaki Elder: "What's your plan?"
Butsuma: "I'll challenge him for a Duel."
Uzumaki Elder: "Will he accept ?"
Butsuma: "Of course he will. He's an Uchiha."
Senju Elder: "And the terms?"
Butsuma: "Winner dictates terms for Loser's clan."
Senju Elder: "You're risking the clan."
Butsuma: "This is the only way. If we drag this much longer, Senju will lose a lot more."
Uchiha Command Center
A summoning beast delivered the letter from Butsuma to Uchiha Tajima. He showed this letter to Uchiha elders.
Leo: "Father, this smells like a trap."
Tajima: "You think I don't see that?"
Leo: "Are you going to accept the challenge?"
Tajima: "If I refuse this challenge, every clan watching us from the shadows, will think that the Uchiha are afraid. That we hide behind machines and devil fruits."
He walked out of the tent and looked at the sky "Uchiha pride isn't written in technology. It's written in blood and fire."
Leo: shouted "You old fool...!!" and teleported away.
Leo was angry, he could not understand, why risk it? We can just drag the war and eventually Senju will lose. He was flying in the sky without any destination, his thoughts were in a spiral now, tighter and tighter.
Leo looked at the horizon and shouted "I don't care anymore".
Battlefield
Only two men stood at the center of the field. The river ran silent between them, a gray mirror of the sky above.
Tajima Uchiha looking at Butsuma with his Mangekyo sharingan, activated his chakra saber, the blade hissing with crimson heat, glowing along the length of a hilt invented by his own son. It burned the very air it passed through.
Butsuma Senju, injected thunder chakra in his own chakra blade, it also had some Uzumaki sealing engraved on it. His eyes were calm.
They said nothing and then they moved.....