"Hm? The Uchiha are actually standing behind a brat?"
"He is… that chatterbox?"
"Damn—ain't that one of the Uchiha's 'Twin Disgraces,' the loudmouthed kid? Why's he so far up front?"
"Hiss—look at his eyes. Three tomoe!"
The moment Ren appeared, the clan heads and ANBU couldn't help murmuring among themselves.
But as they spoke, their voices gradually died.
They'd… underestimated the Uchiha chatterbox.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Ren stepped on flowing moonlight and stood at the head of the formation, staring straight at the Hokage Building.
A small figure—
Yet the pressure rolling off him was suffocating.
His gaze swept over the Third Hokage's iron-dark face, over the greedy stiffness frozen on Koharu Utatane's features, and finally settled on the "corpse" laid out on the ground.
He smiled faintly.
"Lord Danzō… you're not allowed to sleep here."
Sleep my ass.
Koharu's face turned black. She immediately jabbed a finger toward Ren's nose and shouted,
"Insolent! You Uchiha brat—what do you think you're doing?!"
"Surrounding the Hokage Building with armed men—are you trying to betray the village?!"
Her voice was sharp and harsh, desperately trying to seize the moral high ground.
But when it met those crimson eyes—
She still took an instinctive half-step back.
"Betray the village?"
Ren turned his head slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting into a cold curve.
"Since when does Lord Danzō represent the village? Or do you—Koharu Utatane—represent Konoha?"
"We're here to restore order— to execute the thieves who've stolen Konoha's foundation and butchered their own comrades… the true village traitors!"
Koharu screeched, "Nonsense! Utter slander! Hiruzen—give the order! Suppress these rogue ninja at once!"
Hiruzen drew a deep breath.
The hand holding his pipe bulged with veins.
But when his eyes swept over the Uchiha elites brimming with killing intent, he still hesitated.
Clashing head-on with this many Uchiha?
No.
The price would be too high.
"Uchiha Ren… put down your weapons. Let's talk."
After a brief pause, the Third Hokage spoke in a deep voice.
"Before things between the village and the Uchiha reach the point of no return."
"Talk?" Ren snorted.
His gaze sharpened like a blade as he thrust a hand toward the "corpse" being guarded.
He enunciated every word.
"Talk with that old dog who stole my clan's bloodline, who uses my people's eyes as extra lives?"
"Or talk with these two parasites whose heads are filled with nothing but corruption, loot-splitting, and sucking Konoha's blood dry?!"
"Lies! We're Hokage advisors—how dare you smear us!"
Koharu and Homura shook with rage, voices shrill and frantic—
The sound of people whose secrets had been stabbed into the open.
Oh? There's more to this?
The clan heads immediately held back, suppressing the urge to intervene, watching closely.
Hyūga Hiashi even nodded hard.
Forget anything else—just in terms of village finances, even the Hyūga had suffered plenty.
Many clan inheritances had vanished without a trace.
He'd assumed it was negligence.
Now it seemed… they hadn't vanished at all.
They'd been swallowed by someone using the village as a mouth.
Seeing this, even Hiruzen's brows drew together.
Had something truly gone wrong with Konoha's finances?
And "Uchiha eyes as extra lives"… what did that mean?
He was about to speak—
When he suddenly felt a gust of wind in front of him.
"Insolent is what you are!"
"Tonight, we'll let Konoha see the real faces of you so-called leaders!"
Before the last word fell—
Ren's body had already flashed past everyone, plunging straight into Root's encirclement.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several Root elites were smashed away as if struck by a giant hammer, screaming as they flew.
"Stop him!"
A Root squad leader's eyes went bloodshot.
But… too late.
Ren moved like lightning. One step—
And his foot came down on "dead" Danzō's head.
He even ground his shoe slightly.
"You little bastard—how dare you!!!"
Koharu, as Danzō's old companion, finally lost control. Even as she tried to stop him, she whirled and screamed at the ANBU behind her,
"What are you standing there for?! Move!"
Shhk!
Shhk-shhk-shhk!
More than ten shuriken shot out in an instant—
Crack!
Then, as they neared Ren's body, they halted unnaturally in midair.
The Root elites instantly remembered and shouted a warning, "No—he can reflect—"
Whoosh!
Before the sentence finished, the shuriken rebounded.
Psch!
One ANBU was a beat too slow—
And took a blade straight into the body.
"T-This ability… is it from those eyes?"
"But abilities like that only appear when the Sharingan evolves to the next level…"
"Ren… how could he…"
Hiruzen's brows knitted so tightly they could raise fish.
As one of Konoha's rare long-lived shinobi—and the Second Hokage's student—he knew many Uchiha secrets.
Including the Mangekyō.
But he never imagined Ren, so young, had already awakened it—
And had even developed a unique dōjutsu.
"Haa…"
He inhaled deeply, fingers unconsciously tightening around the pipe.
The wavering in his heart tilted.
The Uchiha's power… was simply too terrifying.
If this truly turned into a fight to the end, Konoha would suffer grievously even in victory.
With that thought, he raised a hand, signaling the ANBU behind him to hold.
Then he stepped forward again, voice heavy.
"Ren… maybe we really can talk."
"You don't want Konoha to suffer heavy losses because of this, do you?"
He bit down hard on the words our Konoha, trying to awaken whatever innocence still lingered inside Ren.
"I still remember you as a child. You were a very lovable boy."
"Have you been misled? I know Danzō—he's stubborn, but everything he does is for Konoha."
In Hiruzen's eyes, the Uchiha had good children like Itachi and Shisui.
And Ren—he'd seen him since he was small.
A child who could carry the Will of Fire.
"Everything… for Konoha?"
Ren repeated it softly.
He lowered his head, foot still planted on Danzō's skull, and asked curiously,
"Is that true, trash?"
Silence.
Danzō on the ground didn't move at all—like a real corpse.
But Ren knew he wasn't dead.
Ever since Orochimaru defected and Danzō inherited part of his research…
He'd been scheming for Sharingan—especially from Uchiha who went missing or "died" on the battlefield.
"You really can endure."
Ren smiled faintly, then lifted his right foot.
"So what if I just… crush your head?"
Chakra surged into his leg, enough to shatter boulders.
He stomped down.
This kick could split stone like a mountain cleaver.
"STOP!!!"
Hiruzen couldn't hold back anymore.
Danzō couldn't die yet.
For his rule, Danzō was an essential piece.
But just as he prepared to move—
He realized something was wrong.
Right there, under Ren's foot—
The "corpse" Danzō suddenly erupted upward!
He couldn't keep pretending. His hands formed seals as he drew in a sharp breath.
Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!
Whoosh!
Chakra gathered in his mouth and fired outward—
Pff-pff-pff!
White streams like machine-gun rounds, spraying densely toward Ren.
"Can't keep acting says the trash?"
Ren's expression was contemptuous. He ignored the Wind Release completely and kept stomping down.
Psch!
Psch!
The razor wind slammed into his sole—
Yet it didn't leave even a scratch.
It didn't even nick the shoe.
"He blocked Danzō's Wind Release… with pure flesh?!"
Koharu and Homura stiffened, their eyes clearing as if waking from a nightmare.
They knew Vacuum Bullets.
That technique was so strong that even ordinary Earth Release couldn't fully stop it—let alone a human body.
Hiruzen's pupils constricted sharply.
"A Mangekyō dōjutsu that strengthens the body…"
"That's rare."
He paused.
Behind his back, his hands began forming seals slowly, deliberately.
"If it's raw physical power…"
"…then I'll have to rely on you, Enma."
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