Konoha Village.
The news still hadn't spread—Root's elites wiped out, Shimura Danzō dead, the Sarutobi clan's shinobi slaughtered.
So the village looked… normal.
Calm.
Peaceful.
Like any other morning.
Then—
BOOM.
A pressure so heavy it made souls shiver swept across the village—gone in an instant.
A few minutes later, something even stranger happened.
The air above Konoha…
cracked.
Like a mirror struck by a hammer.
Hairline fractures rippled outward one after another, visible to the naked eye.
In that moment, time itself seemed to stall.
Civilians froze.
Shinobi froze.
Faces locked in disbelief, minds empty except for one impossible thought:
How can the air… have cracks?
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"Hurry—get to the Hokage Tower! Something happened to the Third Hokage!"
The stunned silence shattered into chaos.
Civilians bolted for the shelters.
Meanwhile, Konoha's shinobi—and the major clans—turned grimly toward the Hokage Tower.
Because those fractures in the air…
they were spreading from that direction.
"Move!"
"To the Hokage's office!"
"The Third Hokage is in danger!"
Hyūga, Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Inuzuka—one after another, clan heads and elite shinobi shot across the rooftops toward the center.
Even ANBU on patrol—still unaware of what had truly unfolded overnight—raced in with pale faces.
Inside the Hokage's office—
Hiruzen stared at the trembling air, then at Ren.
His pupils tightened.
"This… what kind of bloodline is this?"
The more Ren revealed, the deeper Hiruzen's fear became.
First that crushing, tyrannical aura.
Now a single strike that made the air itself fracture—enough to send ripples across the entire village.
Hiruzen's madness faltered for the first time.
A flicker of real terror broke through.
Then he realized something, and his face turned even worse.
"Wait… you're doing this on purpose."
"You're trying to draw every shinobi in Konoha here."
"Exactly." Ren nodded as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
What he'd done just now wasn't a lethal attack.
He'd simply "cracked" the air—no direct killing power behind it.
It was a signal.
A beacon.
He wanted the village to come running.
Because at this point, there was no point playing small.
If he'd already stepped onto the stage, then he might as well burn the curtain down.
He would smash Sarutobi Hiruzen in front of everyone—
and put an end to the so-called Will of Fire faction with his own hands.
"You…" Hiruzen's voice shook with fury. "Your intentions are vile."
Ren's gaze stayed calm.
"This is only the beginning."
He checked with Observation Haki—judging the movement outside.
They're here. Close enough.
Then Ren stomped his right foot into the floor.
The Hokage Tower—already unstable—finally gave up.
With a groaning crack, the building collapsed.
"Move."
Three figures shot out in a blur—
Ren.
Fugaku.
And Sarutobi Hiruzen.
They landed in the open plaza before the ruined tower.
By then, Konoha's shinobi were already arriving in waves.
"Third Hokage?!"
"That—Isn't that Uchiha Ren?"
"What the hell is going on?"
"Don't tell me the Uchiha are rebelling—right into the Hokage's office?!"
Confusion rippled through the crowd.
Only the clan heads reacted differently—faces tightening as the situation clicked into place.
Whatever happened last night…
the Uchiha extermination plan had clearly failed.
And this man—Ren—
was almost certainly the hidden key behind it.
Hyūga Hiashi.
Akimichi Chōza.
Nara Shikaku.
Yamanaka Inoichi.
Aburame Shibi.
Their expressions became… delicate.
Careful.
Because this wasn't just conflict anymore.
This was a blade at Konoha's throat.
"Ren… what are you doing?" Might Guy murmured, disbelief thick in his voice. "Is he really… going to rebel?"
Beside him, Kakashi—freshly out of ANBU—went rigid.
The Uchiha… rebelling?
And not secretly.
Not in the shadows.
But right in front of the Third Hokage?
That was insanity.
Even Yūgao Uzuki and Kurenai Yūhi stared, stunned.
"Ren… he's… this dangerous?"
Then—
Whoosh.
Another figure dropped into the plaza.
It was Fugaku.
And in his hands—
were three severed heads.
"Everyone—don't misunderstand," Fugaku said coldly. "The Uchiha are only counterattacking because we were forced."
No one even heard the second half properly.
Because the moment they saw what he was holding—
the crowd's blood went cold.
"Ah—!"
"T-That's…!"
"The elders…?!"
Three faces, dead-eyed and twisted.
Shimura Danzō.
Koharu Utatane.
Homura Mitokado.
The so-called "Konoha leadership"…
all dead.
A wave of horrified uproar exploded through the plaza.
For a moment, every single person shared the same thought:
This is madness.
The Uchiha are completely out of control.
How bold—how ruthless—how insane do you have to be to do this?
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