The various shinobi clans’ thoughts were unknown to those on the battlefield.
The Uchiha’s slaughter continued.
Yet Sarutobi Hiruzen lived up to his reputation as the "Shinobi Hero." The moment the evil spirits ran rampant, he immediately reacted.
The Third Hokage stomped his foot against the ground, sending countless fragments of stone flying into the air. He brought his hands together and formed a seal.
"Ninja Art: Stone Shuriken Technique!"
A large number of stone fragments were infused with chakra and shot in every direction, striking the evil spirits as well as the Uchiha who were in the midst of their frenzied slaughter.
The technique was not particularly powerful, but it forced the Uchiha to defend themselves and temporarily halted their advance.
At the very least, Hiruzen had bought them some breathing room.
It gave the Sarutobi Clan shinobi who had yet to recover from the shock of the attack enough time to catch their breath.
At least they know how to run, right?
Sarutobi was beginning to feel exhausted.
Unfortunately, a technique like this was useless against the evil spirits, which were energy-based entities.
The Forest of Demonic Hell continued spreading fear around Sarutobi Hiruzen.
The area around the clan head, which should have been the safest place, had instead become the most dangerous.
Looking at his clansmen who could not even fight back, Sarutobi Hiruzen regretted for the first time having protected them too well.
Unfortunately, now was not the time for regret.
A sharp glint appeared in the eyes of the Shinobi Hero.
At last, he noticed something abnormal within the Forest of Demonic Hell.
All eight hundred Hannya had to pass through a shinobi’s body before that shinobi lost their ability to fight.
But there was one Hannya mixed among them that had never passed through anyone’s body.
That must be the real body!
"You Uchiha brat! I’ve seen through your trick!"
"Summoning Technique! Giant Shuriken Technique! Die!"
The Third Hokage summoned an enormous shuriken.
The giant weapon traced an elegant arc through the air, cutting straight across the battlefield and heading directly toward Uchiha Jūbei’s true body.
Hiruzen showed absolutely no mercy.
The attack carried enough power to kill in a single blow.
He urgently needed to cut Jūbei down on the battlefield and restore his side’s morale.
The attack succeeded.
The Hannya that Jūbei had transformed into was shattered by the enormous shuriken, and the evil spirits covering the battlefield disappeared as well.
A figure was revealed.
No...
It was more like an insect.
The creature had neither hands nor feet.
It had an ugly face, long hair reaching past its waist, and a pair of enormous eyes.
It stared at the Third Hokage and spoke in an eerie voice.
"Hehehe. You broke my children. You’re going to have to pay the price for that, Mr. Sarutobi!"
Being addressed as "Mr. Sarutobi" was already the greatest respect Jūbei could show him.
As far as Jūbei was concerned, the Third Hokage’s position did not qualify him to be called "Lord."
At this moment, Jūbei remained completely calm.
As long as he could keep Sarutobi Hiruzen occupied, they had already won.
Seeing Jūbei show absolutely no mercy in battle while speaking to him so politely made Hiruzen both angry and anxious.
Today had descended into complete chaos.
Everything he had planned before was now useless.
The most important thing was to make the other side stop so that he could clean up this disaster.
Forcing a smile onto his face, Sarutobi Hiruzen still believed in his authority over Konoha and the legitimacy of his position.
"Uchiha, who are you? Are you rebelling? Does your master, Kei-kun, even know what you’ve done?"
The Hokage could only cling to the hope that this sudden incident was the personal action of the strange man standing before him.
After all, Uchiha Kei had yet to appear.
As long as the two leaders had not personally confronted one another, there was still room to de-escalate the situation.
Whether Uchiha Kei had ordered today’s attack or not, as long as this Uchiha refused to drag his master into the matter, Sarutobi Hiruzen would still have room to maneuver.
There was still a chance to salvage everything.
Hearing this, the insect-like man’s expression relaxed slightly.
"Oh? Mr. Sarutobi, it is an honor for me, Uchiha Jūbei, to fight the Third Hokage. Unfortunately, I specialize in a form of innate divination. Would you like to hear what my divination says about you?"
Faced with the Hokage’s question, Jūbei answered with something completely unrelated.
What law says that because you’re the Third Hokage, I have to answer your questions?
Jūbei continued stalling for time.
Sarutobi had not received the answer he wanted, but he made his own decision.
"Oh? Brat, then what did you divine about me?"
"Hehehe. I divined that you won’t remain Hokage for much longer."
Their words followed one another.
Before either sentence had even fully faded, both men attacked simultaneously.
After only a few words, they understood one another perfectly.
Both sides could abandon their remaining illusions.
Regardless of whether this had been the result of a subordinate acting on his own, and regardless of whether Uchiha Kei was involved, today’s conflict had already become a fight to the death.
"Five Elements Secret Technique, Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally employed the Sarutobi Clan’s secret technique.
It combined Wind Release and Fire Release.
Hiruzen spewed a massive quantity of flames from his mouth, then used Wind Release to intensify the flames, greatly increasing the power of what would otherwise have been an ordinary Fire Release technique.
The flames burned with terrifying intensity.
Anyone caught by this technique would be reduced to ashes in an instant.
"Uchiha Secret Technique: Fear Armor, Taira no Masakado’s Oni Warrior!"
Uchiha Jūbei activated his Fear Armor to withstand the Third Hokage’s ninjutsu.
At the same time, several oni warriors appeared behind the Third Hokage and launched a surprise attack.
For a moment, the battlefield was filled with the howls of demons, the clash of weapons that shook the earth, and a dragon of fire soaring through the sky.
Those who kill shall not die; those who give life shall not live!
The Uchiha who had been escorted away from the battlefield by Uchiha Shisui stared at the horrifying scene.
Bodies were strewn everywhere.
Many had been killed so brutally that not even intact corpses remained.
The eerie confrontation between the demons and the shinobi sent chills down their spines.
Watching such powerful secret techniques being unleashed, Uchiha Setsuna began to wonder.
"Secret techniques? The Uchiha Clan has things like this?"
"Didn’t our clan only rely on our eyes to turn throwing techniques into an art form? Could it be that the Clan Head has been deliberately hiding something from us all this time?"
Even Uchiha Hōkaku, the oldest among them, was uncertain.
He had never been a particularly outstanding member of the Uchiha Clan.
If not for the Uchiha civil war and Madara Uchiha’s departure, he would have remained nothing more than a minor figure with little chance of rising to prominence.
Naturally, someone like him did not know much.
So whether the Uchiha Clan really possessed secret techniques that were rarely passed down, he genuinely had no idea.
Seeing the reactions of these two seniors, UchihaShōmei, the current leader of the Uchiha orphans, became even more consumed by jealousy and resentment.
"I knew it. I knew it all along."
"From the very beginning, Uchiha Kei never regarded those of us who were among his first followers as his own people."
The moment Uchiha Kei was mentioned, UchihaShōmei ground his teeth.
"He is definitely not an ordinary orphan. He has a hidden backing. He has secret techniques passed down to him."
"He and we are not the same kind of people."
"It wasn’t us who betrayed him."
"It was him who betrayed us."
Consumed by jealousy and resentment, UchihaShōmei’s eyes began spinning rapidly.
He had actually awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the middle of the battlefield.
"Uchiha Kei, if you had truly treated us without any selfish motives back then, we would certainly be following you today and fighting Konoha alongside you."
"But you hid so much from us."
"You were the one who wronged us first!"
The living conditions of the Uchiha orphans had become extremely difficult.
After Uchiha Kei left, they lost his protection.
Their residences were reclaimed, and their material provisions returned to the level they had received before Uchiha Kei’s rise.
It could not exactly be called miserable.
At the very least, they still had enough food and clothing compared with the orphans of Konoha.
But it was easy to go from frugality to luxury, and difficult to go from luxury back to frugality.
Once people had enjoyed a life of privilege, with someone powerful standing behind them, how could they easily lower themselves and accept becoming second-class people again?
They had once been promising young talents who could laugh and converse casually with the Hokage.
And now, Uchiha Kei—the person responsible for their current miserable circumstances—had become the culprit in their eyes.
At this moment, UchihaShōmei firmly believed that everything was Uchiha Kei’s fault.
Uchiha Kei had destroyed his life.
He was filled with hatred.
But what good was hatred?
Even after awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he still did not have the courage to enter the battlefield.
The battle taking place before him was simply too terrifying!
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