"No—!"
The flaming Totsuka Blade pierced through the immortal bodies of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo.
The firelight illuminated the shelter.
The blaze burned like an infernal hell.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo's eyes went blank. In their vision, only that godlike Complete Susanoo remained.
Soon after, their Edo Tensei bodies and souls twisted, merging into a state of energy, and were absorbed into the genjutsu sealing world of the Totsuka Blade.
Everything returned to silence.
The Totsuka Blade vanished.
But the orange-red Susanoo still stood tall opposite the Hokage Rock. Within it resided the Zero-Tails.
The armor of the crow tengu was covered with black markings, like bizarre and intricate patterns.
"We lost… The strongest Hokage… Lord Third Hokage… actually lost!"
A middle-aged man cried out in horror.
Cautiously, he raised his head to the sky. When he confirmed that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo had been sealed, despair welled up inside him.
"Who can possibly stop him?"
"They're the Uchiha, aren't they…"
As the battle ended, the ordinary citizens of Konoha all raised their heads toward the inner wall's high platform.
The night of the Uchiha clan massacre…
Konoha had been unable to suppress the news; it had long since spread throughout the entire shinobi world.
But in the version passed around by word of mouth, Uchiha Yu had slaughtered his clan in order to obtain this godlike power, then controlled the surviving clansmen to flee with him.
Yet now, in the eyes of these ordinary people, it was clear: the Uchiha were following Uchiha Yu willingly. There was no sign of control at all.
What's more…
Many Konoha civilians had begun to wonder: if Uchiha Yu had truly controlled the survivors to escape, then why would Konoha still place bounties on the remaining Uchiha?
The crowd stared blankly at the platform above the walls.
Behind Uchiha Yu stood Kushina Uzumaki.
The breeze blew gently, lifting the hem of Kushina's dress, her red hair swaying with it.
The two of them stood opposite the orange-red Susanoo—like mortals standing before a god.
"You have no reason to exist either!"
Uchiha Yu raised his gaze toward Enma, bound and suspended in the sky by adamantine restraints.
"Wai—"
Enma's face was stricken with terror.
But before he could finish speaking, scarlet Yasakani no Magatama markings appeared in his pupils. The next instant, the chakra within his body went berserk.
"Ahhhh!!"
Enma's face twisted hideously.
A shrill, anguished scream tore from his throat.
Boom—
The diamond-hard body of Enma exploded from the inside out. After his chakra went berserk and spiraled out of control, he burst into a cloud of blood mist in the air.
Shikamaru and the others curled up against the rock wall, their hearts about to shatter, yet utterly powerless.
He knew very well that things had reached a point where Konoha would no longer send anyone to save them.
Sakura, unable to withstand the psychological strain, had already fainted from fright. Ino sat blankly beside her, staring upward at Uchiha Yu.
Among the Konoha rookies, only Yakumo Kurama remained especially calm.
After finishing everything, Uchiha Yu finally lowered his gaze toward Shikamaru and the others, pondering how to deal with them.
Inside the lower shelter—
With Enma's violent death, the Konoha civilians fell silent, not daring to look up at the platform again.
"This time it's finally over!" Nonou said with a weary face, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Even though I didn't do anything, I still feel like I worked myself to exhaustion…"
"Come on, let's regroup with the others!"
Mikoto sprinted toward the high platform.
Sasuke and Suigetsu Hozuki followed beside her. During the battle of the Uchiha, Suigetsu had found Mikoto and Sasuke and obediently stayed put.
This battle once again left a deep impression on Suigetsu.
At that moment, Sasuke suddenly turned back, gazing toward the Uchiha clan grounds. Tears streamed down from the corner of his eyes as he silently thought: "Everyone… did you see that?"
He then wiped away his tears and his eyes became resolute.
Suigetsu studied the Uchiha boy who was about his own age and sighed inwardly: "I really envy this guy…"
The battle atop the wall had also come to an end. After Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo attacked Uchiha Yu, Izumi, Nankaze, and Tamamo joined the fight against the Shimura clan shinobi.
Nine Uchiha surrounded dozens of Shimura ninja and slaughtered them all.
"Heh, I couldn't beat the Hokage, but do you think I can't beat the likes of you?" Tamao sneered, kicking away the corpse of a Shimura clansman.
Now that Izumi, Nankaze, and Tamamo each wielded ninja blades, their power was below only the Kage level, surpassing that of ordinary jōnin.
The Uchiha regrouped—none were missing. In fact, they had gained an extra member, Sasuke. Together, they all stood behind Uchiha Yu.
When Sasuke followed his mother to stand behind Uchiha Yu, his eyes reflected a complicated emotion as he looked toward his classmates, who were huddled in the corner and suffering immense mental trauma.
"These are your classmates, aren't they?"
Uchiha Yu asked.
As he spoke, he looked down at Sasuke, who was being held by Mikoto.
"Yes—"
Sasuke replied in surprise.
"Do you think they still have any reason to live?" Uchiha Yu asked.
At these words, Shikamaru immediately raised his head to look at Sasuke. His eyes revealed confusion and fear.
"Me…?"
Sasuke's eyes widened, staring at Uchiha Yu in disbelief, then glancing at Shikamaru and the others.
Was he really being asked to decide Shikamaru and the others' fate?
Sasuke's mind spun with countless thoughts.
Mikoto looked gently at her son, believing that Sasuke could give the answer he thought was right.
Sweat broke out on Sasuke's forehead, his pupils trembling violently. He turned toward Shikamaru and found that Shikamaru was staring right back at him.
"…"
Shikamaru slowly looked around at Kiba, Shino, Ino, Choji, and Sakura.
His face turned pale. He wanted to speak but hesitated. Then, looking back at Sasuke, he shook his head.
"I… I think they can be spared," Sasuke said with difficulty, swallowing hard.
"Hah—"
Shikamaru let out a deep breath, his tense body leaning against the rock wall finally relaxing somewhat.
"And your reason?"
Uchiha Yu cast a sidelong glance at Sasuke.
"With them, we essentially hold leverage to negotiate with the other Konoha clans.
Or… we could use them to cultivate secret shinobi techniques unique to the Uchiha."
Sasuke racked his brains, blurting out every idea he could think of.
"Good. Then I'll give you a task. From today onward, they will become prisoners of the Uchiha, and you will be the one to manage them."
Uchiha Yu continued:
"If anything happens to them, you will bear the primary responsibility!"
Keeping these Konoha rookies around promised a great deal of amusement later. Of course, not keeping them would have been fine as well.
Uchiha Yu wanted to use this matter to test Sasuke's mindset.
If Sasuke chose to spare them, then Shikamaru and the others would know they owed Sasuke an immense debt of gratitude.
Hearing this, Shikamaru cast a grateful look at Sasuke, his heart finally settling down completely.
Sasuke locked eyes with Shikamaru, then turned toward Uchiha Yu and nodded heavily. "Alright!"
On the surface, Sasuke seemed calm as he spoke.
But the small hand gripping his mother's was already slick with sweat, and he unconsciously tightened his hold, afraid she might slip away from his side.
At this point, Sasuke had only lived through a little over a month since the clan's massacre. Because Mikoto was still alive, and because he had not endured the same twisted psychological torment from Itachi as in the original timeline, while he did have mental burdens, they were nowhere near as severe.
This allowed Sasuke to appear more like an ordinary child.
Mikoto smiled warmly, leaning down to whisper in her son's ear:
"Hurry now, thank your father."
Sasuke's face flushed red.
He stole a glance at Uchiha Yu and saw that Yu was no longer looking his way.
"Thank you!"
Sasuke mustered his courage and shouted his gratitude.
°°°
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