Konoha Village.
The corpses of those who had died began to decay rapidly, and plague spread from the bodies.
The earth began to tremble, and buildings collapsed one after another.
Dark clouds gathered densely overhead, while thunder raged across the sky.
This was the power of Great Calamity.
Every natural disaster that had ever wiped out human civilizations seemed to have descended upon the tiny area of Konoha simultaneously.
The entire village looked as though the apocalypse had arrived.
Jūbei had gone completely mad!
And the moment the disaster descended, the people of Konoha finally realized that they could no longer stand by and do nothing.
Jūbei’s actions had also completely placed him against the entirety of Konoha.
"Uchiha! Are you planning to die together with everyone else?"
Sarutobi abandoned all of his previous plans.
In the face of a natural disaster, every scheme seemed laughable.
More importantly, this technique did not even spare the people Jūbei himself had brought with him.
When the person casting the technique possessed such an attitude, the situation became even more serious.
"You figured that out? As expected of the legendary shinobi!"
Jūbei had always been an extreme person, and the current situation had made his tone even more sarcastic.
Hiruzen Sarutobi transformed into a one-man disaster-response force.
Countless Shadow Clones appeared around him, each one using ninjutsu to combat the various disasters.
"But what you’re doing now means killing the Uchiha who are fighting alongside you as well!"
Sarutobi hoped Jūbei would stop for the sake of his fellow Uchiha.
At the same time, the old man did not forget to address the problem at its source.
He attempted to eliminate Uchiha Jūbei, the source of this catastrophe.
Enma transformed into the Adamantine Staff, and Sarutobi closed the distance to Jūbei.
With a single swing, he struck Jūbei’s Fear Armor.
Jūbei was sent flying like a cannonball.
His body smashed through one building after another before finally crashing into the giant "Fire" sign atop the Hokage Building.
An ordinary person would have been thoroughly killed by such an impact.
But protected by the absolute defense of Fear Armor, Jūbei suffered far more internal shock damage than external physical damage.
Blood sprayed from Jūbei’s mouth.
Yet the calamity continued without the slightest change.
Sarutobi did not stop.
The staff formed from Enma came crashing down from above once more.
In Sarutobi’s understanding, ninjutsu required its caster.
If interrupting the caster could not stop the technique, then he would simply eliminate the caster altogether.
"Give up, Uchiha. There are still members of your clan in Konoha. Your subordinates are here too, and so is Konoha’s future. As long as you’re willing to stop, we can negotiate anything."
"These sacrifices are simply too great."
The Third could no longer bear these losses.
The people of Konoha were the result of everything he had worked for over so many years.
He attacked while simultaneously trying to persuade Jūbei to surrender.
Regret was also spreading through the Third’s heart.
Seeing Sarutobi’s furious and desperate appearance, Jūbei laughed even more wildly.
"Oh~ Hahahahahaha! Old man, the weak-willed and the indecisive have no place in this world."
"Only swift action and unwavering conviction allow one to survive."
"No sacrifice is too great."
"And no betrayal is too insignificant."
Facing another swing of the Adamantine Staff, Jūbei did not even bother dodging.
Boom!
Jūbei took the blow head-on once again.
It was almost as though he were deliberately seeking death.
And in order to provoke the old Third Hokage, Jūbei’s words became even more vicious.
"Old man. Even now, I haven’t seen a single Konoha Uchiha come to help you."
"That is betrayal."
"And loyalty that isn’t absolute is absolute disloyalty."
"The Uchiha of Konoha are not loyal to the Uchiha."
"You seem to have experienced that sort of feeling yourself, haven’t you?"
As he spoke, Jūbei gave Sarutobi a mocking glance.
The impact of the staff had left blood streaming down Jūbei’s face, making that mocking expression all the more terrifying.
"Speaking of which, old man, how exactly have you managed to run Konoha all these years?"
"Even now, you don’t have a single person coming to help you!"
"You’re even worse off than me. At least I have all these followers!"
Jūbei’s words struck an especially uncomfortable nerve in Sarutobi’s heart.
But at a time like this, the Third could only stubbornly maintain his position.
"Their loyalty to me doesn’t matter."
"As long as they’re loyal to Konoha, that’s enough!"
And at last, the heavens gave the Konoha that was already little more than a shell of its former self a shred of dignity.
In the face of a natural disaster, no one could escape.
And because of that, no one could remain uninvolved.
Several enormous toads leaped into the sky.
Jiraiya, whose whereabouts had remained unknown until now, finally appeared.
"Sage Art: Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
A vast swamp spread across the ground.
Though it was only a thin layer, it was enough to absorb and mitigate the violent tremors of the earthquake.
There were already very few buildings left standing.
Saving people was what mattered most.
Tsunade reeked of alcohol, yet she showed no sign of drunkenness.
She glared furiously at Jūbei, but her hands never stopped working.
"Summoning Jutsu: Katsuyu! Great Division—Tsunade’s Healing Corps!"
Even while performing the technique, Tsunade continued berating Jūbei.
"Uchiha! You’ve gone too far!"
There was quite a bit hidden behind those words.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru attempted to summon one of the snakes from Ryūchi Cave.
But only Manda answered his summons.
And the moment Manda appeared, he completely ignored the reason Orochimaru had summoned him.
Instead, he stared at the devastation in Konoha with undisguised anticipation.
"Wow! So many sacrifices! I’m rich!"
Manda immediately joined the rampage, leaving Orochimaru speechless.
Ever since the Uchiha Clan’s summoning beasts had switched from the Cat Clan to the snakes of Ryūchi Cave, Orochimaru—their former contracted summoner—had completely fallen out of favor.
Only Manda, whose relationship with the snakes of Ryūchi Cave was particularly poor, was still willing to play along with Orochimaru.
Seeing what was happening on Orochimaru’s side, Jiraiya became agitated.
"Orochimaru! Are you going to join the Uchiha in their atrocities too?"
"I was wrong about you!"
For once, the usually calm Orochimaru lost his composure.
"You idiot! At a time like this, you’re still playing this ridiculous game of choosing sides?"
"Survive first, then worry about everything else!"
Orochimaru dispelled the summoning and then summoned Rashōmon.
He had no interest in saving everyone else in Konoha.
But he did want to protect the people around him who had chosen to stand with him.
And so, in the face of a disaster that made no distinction between friend and foe, the Three Legendary Sannin finally worked together again after many years.
Perhaps it was only when confronted with an indiscriminate disaster that humanity could finally set aside all selfish desires and demonstrate the instinct to stand together.
The intervention of the Sannin temporarily stabilized the situation.
Then a flash of light streaked across the battlefield.
Countless shuriken scattered throughout Konoha, and the more seriously injured shinobi were immediately transported away.
"It’s the Yellow Flash of Konoha!"
"Lord Minato has come to save us!"
It had to be said that Minato was blessed with extraordinary timing.
He had arrived at precisely the right moment.
Those who brought salvation to others would always win more hearts than those who brought disaster.
At this moment, although no one said anything aloud, in the hearts of many people, the Hokage had already become little different from Jūbei.
It was his poor decisions as Hokage that had brought this catastrophe down upon Konoha.
He would have to answer for it.
Meanwhile, in one corner of Konoha, within the Uchiha district, a giant figure rose into the sky.
Uchiha Fugaku had finally abandoned his hesitation.
He had begun fulfilling his responsibility as clan head.
"Father, why is Big Brother Kei attacking us too?"
The Uchiha had not left the gates of their clan district.
Having heard that several hundred Uchiha had appeared outside and begun slaughtering people indiscriminately, they assumed that Uchiha Kei was behind the entire incident.
Uchiha Fugaku did not know how to explain it to his son.
Beside him, however, Uchiha Sanqianyo laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face.
"Hahahahaha! Naive young clan heir."
"Kei is fighting with his life on the line for the survival of the Uchiha, while we, as Uchiha, simply stand here and watch him fight for us without lifting a finger."
"People who behave like that no longer deserve the right to live."
"The Uchiha brought this disaster upon themselves."
"It serves us right!"
The moment he finished speaking, another giant figure rose in Konoha.
Then a voice rang throughout the entire village.
"Mangekyō Sharingan: Kotoamatsukami—Radiance!"
The Light of Salvation rose over Konoha!
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