"Boom…"
"Get down! Protect the Tsuchikage-sama!"
As rubble crashed down from the collapsed ceiling, Iron Country samurai and elite guards sprang into action. With swift precision, chakra-infused blades and defensive ninjutsu knocked debris aside, protecting the Kage seated inside the summit hall.
"What's happening!? Who would dare attack the Iron Country during the Five Kage Summit!?"
General Mifune unsheathed his blade with practiced ease, slashing away falling stone. Fury burned in his voice.
This was no ordinary gathering—this was the Five Kage Summit, a symbol of fragile cooperation amidst war. As the host nation, the Iron Country's neutrality and honor were at stake.
"Boom!"
The tremors faded, and smoke cleared. Two figures emerged from the wreckage.
Uchiha Byakuya, with the Mangekyō Sharingan spinning in his eyes.
And Senju Tsunade, former Sannin and the Fifth Hokage of Konoha.
"So this is the venue for the Five Kage Summit?" Byakuya muttered with a raised brow.
"Who are you!? This is a diplomatic summit!"
Mifune, leader of the Iron Country, strode forward with authority.
"You've disrupted sacred ground. Identify yourselves immediately!"
Tsunade didn't hesitate.
"The real question is—who gave you the right to convene a Five Kage Summit without my presence?"
Mifune's eyes narrowed. His gaze locked onto the crest on Tsunade's haori—the unmistakable red fire symbol of the Hokage.
"…Tsunade-sama? But… isn't Sarutobi Hiruzen still the Hokage?"
It wasn't an unreasonable question. The Iron Country had only limited intel, and recent developments in Konoha had been chaotic.
"That man is a traitor," Tsunade snapped.
"He's no longer Hokage. I've resumed the position."
"Traitor?!" Mifune's face darkened.
Even in his neutral role, he knew the gravity of that word.
Before Mifune could respond further, Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped out from the shadows. His once-gentle eyes were now cold and guarded.
"Tsunade… You speak of betrayal, yet you turn against your teacher and your village?"
"I was appointed Hokage by the Second Hokage himself!"
"And he clearly made a mistake," Tsunade countered coldly.
"You experimented with Hashirama's DNA, betrayed Konoha, and sparked chaos across the shinobi world."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. His hand subtly moved toward his staff.
He knew this confrontation would end badly.
"We're leaving."
He turned to his ANBU. "Now."
But Byakuya stepped forward.
"Leaving? Not so fast."
Sarutobi's gaze locked with Byakuya's.
"Uchiha Byakuya… Are you threatening to fight in the Iron Country? Do you intend to violate the treaty of neutrality?"
Byakuya smiled coldly.
"You used this neutral ground as a political shield. I'm simply ensuring justice is done."
Mifune stepped between them, his hand resting calmly on his katana.
"Stand down, both of you."
"By shinobi code, no violence is to be initiated within Iron Country borders."
"I don't care what village you're from, or what grudges you carry. If you raise a hand here, you face the wrath of Iron."
"We, the Iron Country, are a neutral nation. We do not interfere in shinobi affairs…"
Mifune's voice was calm but firm, echoing across the hall filled with scattered rubble and dust.
But before he could finish, Uchiha Byakuya let out a cold laugh, his chakra already rising.
"Neutral?" Byakuya sneered, his Mangekyō Sharingan glinting ominously. "You call this neutrality? You hold a Five Kage Summit without inviting Konoha's rightful Hokage. You treat Sarutobi Hiruzen as its representative—him? The one who resigned in disgrace? And you think you've stayed neutral?"
Byakuya stepped forward, the air around him crackling with oppressive power.
"No. You made your choice. And today, Hiruzen will die. Anyone who stands in my way… dies with him."
Mifune's brows furrowed. As the supreme commander of the Iron Country and a master of kenjutsu, he did not take threats lightly.
"Then the Iron Country will not tolerate your tyranny. Draw your blade."
Mifune, one of Mifune's top samurai, lunged forward with swift precision.
"Sword Style: Iai Beheading Draw!"
His blade flashed, faster than the eye could track. The edge was aimed directly at Byakuya's neck.
But in that instant, a ribcage of violet energy erupted around Byakuya, forming the early stages of his Susanoo. The blade collided with it—
"Clang!"
Mifune's arms shook violently from the recoil. The sheer impact forced him to stagger backward, blood trickling from his knuckles.
"What... is this power…"
Byakuya's eyes narrowed.
"Since you drew first… you die first."
The skeletal arm of Susanoo lashed out in a blur. Mifune barely had time to raise his blade again—
"BOOM!"
He was sent crashing into the stone wall with a thunderous shockwave, his armor shattered, blood splattering across the ground.
Mifune stepped forward immediately, unsheathing his katana in a flash of steel.
"I won't let you defile this land!"
He moved with blinding speed—his Iai techniques among the fastest in the world.
But speed alone wasn't enough.
Byakuya's Complete Susanoo surged to life, towering above all. Chakra arms extended outward, and with a swipe, Mifune's blade was caught mid-strike.
"Your blade is strong… for a man," Byakuya murmured coldly. "But you're trying to cut through a god."
A single crushing palm fell.
"CRACK!"
The entire summit hall quaked as the Susanoo's hand crashed into the ground. When the dust cleared, Mifune's body lay mangled amidst shattered stone, his katana broken beside him.
The Iron Country's elite samurai froze, their courage shattered by the brutal one-sided clash.
Byakuya stood tall within the armor of his Susanoo, his eyes locked on the next target—Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"One obstacle down. Now… old man, your time has come."
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