The Uchiha elders had already retreated over thirty li from the village.
At that distance, the safety of the ordinary clansmen was basically ensured.
Naoto and the others had fought enough. There was no need to keep risking their lives.
Thinking this, Kaede lifted his foot and began walking in their direction.
Such casual disregard finally set off the nerves of the surrounding Konoha shinobi.
A jōnin couldn't hold back and shouted angrily, "Bastard! Don't ignore us!"
"Hm?" Kaede turned his head and looked at him with mock confusion.
The very next instant—
Swish!
Kaede disappeared and reappeared right beside him, his Kyōka Suigetsu already stabbed through the man's throat.
"S-So fast!"
Everyone was stunned. They never expected that Kaede could move that fast even without relying on space-time techniques.
For these chūnin and jōnin, it might as well be teleportation.
One jōnin clenched his teeth, raising a kunai to attack while Kaede was supposedly distracted.
But Kaede's hand snapped out, grabbing him by the throat.
He lifted the man into the air with one hand and locked eyes with him.
"You think you can stop me from leaving?"
His comrade nearby panicked and pointed a kunai at Kaede. "L-Let Yūsuke go!"
"Sure," Kaede chuckled.
Then, like tossing away trash, he casually threw Yūsuke straight at his friend.
The poor teammate tried to catch him—only for his arm to snap with a crack! and both of them to go crashing to the ground.
Kaede turned toward Hiruzen's direction.
The Third Hokage was now heavily guarded, surrounded by Koharu and dozens of elite shinobi.
Kaede swept his gaze over the remaining forces and said coldly:
"Those who retreat now, may live."
That sharp, ruthless glare made everyone freeze in terror.
Whoosh!
All of them involuntarily took a step back in perfect unison.
"Heh," Kaede smirked with disdain, turning away and resuming his steps toward the outer edge.
The time-space sealing barrier really was troublesome. It even made using his dōjutsu risky—it might end up teleporting him miles away from the battlefield.
But this kind of seal couldn't stop him from simply walking out of it.
And so, under the wary watch of hundreds of Konoha shinobi, Kaede strolled out of the hundred-meter-wide sealing zone without resistance.
He arrived at Naoto's location.
"Damn it! Why didn't you guys stop him?!"
"Over two hundred people… and you let him scare you into inaction?!"
Koharu suddenly leapt forward, barking at the ninja troops with furious indignation.
She hadn't dared speak when Kaede was around, but now that he was gone, she suddenly found her courage again.
The shinobi glared back at her with anger. Their combined gazes made her visibly pale and stagger back.
And then came the shame—shame that turned into deeper rage.
She was a village elder! How dare they look at her like that?!
She forgot that her own reputation had been completely ruined by her exposed crimes. If not for the sake of the village, no one would be following her orders at all.
Hiruzen raised a hand, stopping her outburst.
"Look around us… We're not worthy of being Konoha's leadership anymore."
He sighed as he turned to look at Kaede walking in the distance.
"It's finally over…"
Koharu's eyes lit up. "You mean… Kaede is leaving?"
Hiruzen nodded solemnly. Among the entire Konoha leadership, he was perhaps the only one who truly understood the situation.
Kaede was indeed powerful, but he still had his clan to protect.
So the reason he dragged the battle out so long… was likely to give the hidden civilians of the Uchiha time to escape.
What Hiruzen didn't understand, however, was why Kaede hadn't killed him when he had the chance.
…What he would never know was that Kaede didn't intend to kill him just yet.
As strong as Kaede was, Konoha still possessed overwhelming power.
The reason it was so easily crushed tonight… was only because the other great clans didn't get involved.
The Hyūga, Nara, Aburame…
Their strength was not to be underestimated.
Especially the Nara, whose intelligence could fully unleash the power of Konoha's army.
That earlier incident where a thousand jutsu canceled each other out? That would never happen if the Nara had been in charge.
Those clans were likely just using Kaede as a tool—to eliminate Hiruzen and his rotten cabinet.
Once that was done, they could install a new, energetic Hokage and rebuild the village anew.
But Kaede had no intention of letting that happen.
Yes, Konoha had tens of thousands of ninja. As a disunited mob, he didn't fear them.
But if they came under a unifying new Hokage, that would be a different matter.
Only if Hiruzen and his ilk survived, would Konoha continue to rot from the inside.
He would let them live in humiliation and despair.
Arriving at Naoto's side, Kaede summoned his second-stage Susanoo.
With a single swing of its blade, more than a dozen unfortunate Konoha ninja were instantly reduced to corpses.
The others panicked and scattered like ants.
Naoto and his squad breathed a sigh of relief.
"Kaede…" Naoto looked at him with guilt in his eyes.
If they hadn't been so weak, Kaede could have slaughtered Konoha freely.
Kaede just smiled and patted his shoulder. "You did well. Let's go."
He didn't blame any of them—they had risked their lives for the clan.
At this point, Hiruzen and the rest were finally arriving.
This time, they didn't dare stand at the front. They kept their heads low and crept along with the crowd.
Kaede turned back toward the mass of Konoha shinobi.
"I had a great time tonight."
Those words made every ninja clench their teeth in rage.
They had thrown everything at him. So many comrades died… and to him, it was just fun?
Hiruzen couldn't hold it in anymore. He stepped forward again, voice raised:
"U! Chi! Ha! Kaede!"
He enunciated every syllable with hatred.
"Everything you've done tonight… Konoha will remember forever!"
Then, shouting loud enough for the entire battlefield to hear, he declared:
"Tonight, I failed as Hokage. Many of our comrades were cruelly slain by Uchiha Kaede!"
"I admit my past mistakes. I ask for no forgiveness. I hereby resign as Hokage and submit myself to judgment!"
He took a deep breath and roared:
"But before I go, as the last Hokage… I declare the Uchiha clan to be enemies of Konoha!"
"From this moment on, everyone must consider them… mortal enemies!"
He was trying to brand the entire Uchiha clan as traitors. If he succeeded, the Uchiha would become outcasts in the entire shinobi world.
But Kaede just laughed coldly.
"Good! Very good!"
"Hiruzen, who gave you the right to speak for Konoha?"
His eyes turned icy.
"Konoha was founded by the Uchiha and the Senju."
"We picked this location. We named the village. We allowed the people and shinobi to join."
"The Senju are history. The one orphan they left behind has no authority. The Uchiha alone carry Konoha's legacy!"
And then, word by word, Kaede declared:
"In the name of the Uchiha—Konoha is hereby dissolved."
"From this moment on, the shinobi world and the Land of Fire shall recognize: Konoha no longer exists!"
If Hiruzen wanted to turn the world against the Uchiha through politics… then Kaede would take away their name.
Only the Uchiha had the power and legitimacy to dissolve Konoha. And the other villages? They might even welcome it.
They had always wanted to tear Konoha apart.
Konoha wasn't the same village it was during the era of the First Hokage, or the one that once fought the other four great nations alone in the Third War.
Now it was over.
Konoha was dead.
Its people were no longer shinobi of a great village. They were now just wandering ninja.
Their pride and belief… shattered.
As for the last Senju, Tsunade…
She was just one person.
Kaede's declaration sent shockwaves through the minds of Konoha's most intelligent survivors.
They were in deep trouble now.
The other four great villages now had the perfect excuse to invade the Fire Country, which no longer had a shinobi village to protect it.
(End of Chapter)
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