"Lord Hokage, are you trying to stage a rebellion?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened in shock upon hearing those words from Mirai Uchiha.
He had served as Hokage for all these years, never imagining that one day such an accusation would be thrown at him.
As the Hokage, being charged with treason sounded utterly absurd.
Yet...
Looking at the group of clan leaders standing behind Mirai Uchiha, despair clouded Hiruzen's gaze.
These clan leaders were the pillars of Konoha. Most of the village's elite came from these ninja clans.
Individually, none of them posed any real threat to him.
But when united, their combined strength was an entirely different matter.
Now, with all these clans standing behind the Uchiha, Hiruzen felt as though the power he had tightly held onto for so long had suddenly vanished.
"Mirai Uchiha, how dare you speak like this to the Hokage?"
"Treason? No, I think it is you who are committing treason!"
"The Hokage embodies the spirit of Konoha itself. The will of the Hokage must be obeyed!"
"And Hiashi Hyūga, Shibi Aburame, Shikaku Nara... are you fools really going to throw away your clans' futures by following the Uchiha clan?"
Homura Mitokado stepped forward and bellowed furiously.
His habitual air of authority lent him considerable presence.
He angrily pointed at Mirai Uchiha, his eyes burning with rage.
The Hokage was the source of their authority—the dignity of the Hokage could absolutely not be challenged!
"Annoying."
"What did you just say?"
[Amaterasu!]
Pitch-black flames instantly engulfed Homura Mitokado as he let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
Seeing this, the two guards behind him rushed forward desperately trying to extinguish the black flames consuming Homura, but once the flames touched them, they quickly spread.
Across the ground, onto clothes, onto skin...
Wherever the black flames touched, they continued burning endlessly, unaffected even by dirt or Water Release techniques.
Hiruzen and the others immediately backed away from Homura and his two guards.
Oozing an ominous presence, those black flames mustn't touch even a speck of them...
Before everyone's horrified eyes, Homura's screams — and those of his two guards — gradually faded, their bodies reduced to smoldering heaps of charcoal.
Even then, the black flames burned on, unwaveringly spreading across the clearing and consuming the smoldering corpses.
Silence fell heavily across the scene.
Nobody had expected Mirai Uchiha to be so bold, even daring to kill Homura Mitokado, one of the Hokage's senior advisors, right inside the village.
"Mirai Uchiha, you deserve to die!"
Seeing their clan leader dead just like that, the dozen or so elite ninja from the Mito Gate clan who had accompanied Homura rushed forward all at once, weapons drawn and eyes bloodshot with rage.
In response, Mirai merely lifted his arm calmly, spreading all ten fingers wide. [Shikotsumyaku: Bone Pellet!]
Hundreds of tiny bone pellets shot out in a dense barrage, easily piercing through the bodies of the advancing ninja.
Without pause, Mirai raised his hand before his eyes, index and middle finger pressed together. [Shikotsumyaku: Impalement!]
Pfft!
Pfft!
Pfft!
Countless sharp, sturdy bone spikes erupted wildly from within the Mito Gate ninja's bodies, skewering them like porcupines.
Blood spilled everywhere, and every ninja present couldn't help but inhale sharply.
Too bloody!
Too powerful!
Too easy!
These Mito Gate shinobi weren't ordinary—they were all formidable elites, some even jonin-level ninja.
Yet they were killed off so effortlessly.
Koharu Utatane, who had originally planned to lead an attack against Mirai alongside her subordinates, immediately abandoned that idea.
Mirai was completely different from any opponent they had faced before.
He didn't care about their identities and held absolutely nothing back.
Truly, a complete madman!
[Ding! Congratulations, host! You have successfully acquired a reward: Spiritual Power +1!]
[Ding! Congratulations, host! You have successfully acquired a reward: Chakra +1!]
[Ding! Congratulations, host...]
Hearing the system notifications echoing inside his mind, Mirai nodded in satisfaction.
That last technique had been one he developed based on the Wood Release: Stocks. First, he fired innumerable bone pellets into the enemy using a spread-fire method — a variation of Shikotsumyaku: Bone Pellet, then controlled the growth of countless sharp bone spikes from within the pellets.
This caused devastating internal damage from the inside out.
Clearly, the strategy had worked perfectly.
"Minato, go deal with Mirai Uchiha!" Sarutobi Hiruzen turned his gaze toward Namikaze Minato beside him.
Mirai was far too strong. At this point, Minato was likely the only one among Sarutobi's ranks who still had a chance at defeating him.
Even if Minato couldn't defeat Mirai, he could certainly drain a lot of his stamina and chakra.
Then, when Sarutobi himself made his move, victory would be all but guaranteed.
However, what Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't anticipated was that after receiving his order, Minato Namikaze immediately chose to activate the [Shunshin no Jutsu] and abandon Hiruzen's faction.
Seeing this, Hiruzen angrily shouted, "Minato, what exactly do you think you're doing?!"
Minato's face took on a rare, solemn expression. "Third Hokage, I cannot follow your orders."
He wasn't naïve, just straightforward.
The Third Hokage secretly killing fellow village ninja for human experiments had cost him everyone's support.
A Hokage abandoned by all could no longer be considered a true Hokage.
Moreover, the actions of Hiruzen and his allies completely violated the Will of Fire—how could he possibly side with such injustice?
"Damn it!"
Hiruzen muttered a curse under his breath, nearly choking on his fury.
What did it mean to be betrayed by everyone? Today, he'd finally understood it firsthand.
"Hiruzen, what should we do?" Koharu Utatane asked nervously from behind Hiruzen.
Facing such mortal terror once again after all these years made her body tremble uncontrollably.
Hiruzen slammed his pipe onto the ground and stepped forward voluntarily from the protection of the Anbu ninja.
"Mirai Uchiha, the dignity of the Hokage shall be upheld by myself alone!"
"Let's see who dares raise a hand against me!"
As Hiruzen advanced steadily forward, Shibi Aburame and others revealed expressions of hesitation on their faces.
Although they held righteousness now, Hiruzen was still officially recognized as the Hokage.
You could sideline his authority, refuse his commands, even force him to step down...
But as long as he still bore the title of Hokage, openly laying hands on Hiruzen would carry an entirely different implication.
Witnessing this scene, a faint smirk of satisfaction appeared on Hiruzen's face.
Hmph!
Mirai Uchiha, you dared attack the Anbu, dared strike the Hokage's advisors.
Then I'll come personally for you! Just try resisting the Hokage himself!
However, Mirai Uchiha clearly didn't overthink the situation much. As he saw Hiruzen reach out trying to grab his shoulder, Mirai directly lifted his leg and delivered a front kick.
Crash!
Hiruzen flew more than ten meters backward from the impact.
Looking at their shocked expressions, Mirai twisted his neck with a pop and smirked, "Third Hokage, since you're so determined to keep fighting, I'll have to throw you into police custody—and make sure you enjoy some real isolation."
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