The sound that rose up behind them instantly gave the three Anbu a bad feeling; alarms blared in their minds.
Their pupils contracted and they tried to scatter at once—
—but the scene before their eyes suddenly tilted sideways.
Within their rapidly blurring vision they caught the silhouette of a young Uchiha girl; yet before they could even see what she looked like, three heads had already rolled from three necks.
Ding! You have successfully killed three "red name" evildoers! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have obtained: ① "Shuriken Throwing Technique" skill book × 7; ② "Water Style: Water Blade Technique"; ③ "Brothel Appraisal Technique" skill book × 4! ]
The crimson rectangles that had been floating above each Anbu's head slowly faded away.
But killing them was only the beginning.
The earlier commotion had already alerted the entire secret base.
Well, that was fine.
It saved Uchiha Chizumi the trouble of ferreting everyone out one by one.
…
When another group of Anbu rushed over,
they found several corpses on the ground—and a blood‑stained ninja blade in the hand of an Uchiha whose body radiated murderous intent.
Startled, and not knowing exactly what had happened, they immediately sounded the base‑wide alarm.
[Woooo— wooo— wooo—
The shrill siren even startled Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"An enemy incursion?!"
His brows knitted beneath his Anbu mask.
Since this secret experimental base had been built, no outsider had ever infiltrated it.
Why did a disaster strike the very moment the old man left it in his care?
Still more puzzling: who would dare invade a secret base so near Konohagakure?
A base built this close to the village must have deep, covert ties to Konoha.
Did the intruder not realize that?
Or else…
Did they simply not care about Konoha?!
"All combat personnel, full assembly!" Shinnosuke's face grew stern as he ordered, "Proceed at once to the location of the alarm. The intruder—"
If this base were exposed, it could damage the old man's reputation.
A flash of killing intent crossed Shinnosuke's eyes.
"Whoever the intruder is—kill on sight!"
"Yes, sir!!!"
Under his command, an entire Anbu squad deployed.
Two squads normally garrisoned this base:
One stood watch outside, patrolled inside, and hauled supplies.
The other eliminated any threats to the facility.
Both answered to Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
He suspected the first squad was already in trouble—and the invader's strength was extraordinary; otherwise no one could have slipped inside so silently.
"Wait!"
He stopped one Anbu and ordered:
"You're not coming with us. Return to Konoha at once and inform the old man. If the base sends no word in fifteen minutes, assume something's wrong and tell him to bring more people."
"Understood!"
Just as Shinnosuke resumed moving toward the alarm's source, a sudden sense of danger made his heart lurch.
On instinct he shouted, "Stop!"
At that very moment he saw, in the metal‑reinforced wall to his right, a flare of orange‑red light—and he felt searing heat pouring from it.
——BOOM!!!!
In an instant the murderous heat melted a giant hole through the reinforced wall; molten iron sprayed like a volcano, and an invisible wave of hot air slammed into them.
The Anbu bent their knees to steady themselves, staring in horror at the molten breach.
"Is that…?"
Shinnosuke's pupils shrank.
He saw half a person lying by the hole.
Where the other half had gone, no one knew.
Judging by the uniform, the victim had been Anbu.
The fallen mask revealed half a face frozen in unspeakable terror—enough to chill the soul.
Drip—
Drip—
Strange droplets echoed.
A sulfurous smell flooded their noses.
A name Shinnosuke loathed flashed through his mind—Uchiha Chizumi.
No sooner had the thought formed than a figure with lava flowing slowly over his body stepped through the hole.
"—It's Uchiha Chizumi!!!" an Anbu behind Shinnosuke blurted in shock.
"Long time no see, Shinnosuke… sensei."
Lava dripped from Chizumi, its glow unable to drown the crimson of his three‑tomoe Sharingan.
He locked eyes with Sarutobi Shinnosuke and said, "As one of the Third Hokage's right hand men, you vanished for two years. I assumed you were dead—but it seems the Third posted you here."
Shinnosuke's fists clenched.
His expression darkened behind the mask. Gritting his teeth, he said, "The day you killed two teammates, you ceased being my student—and I ceased being your jōnin instructor! Uchiha Chizumi, what are you doing here?"
Gazing at the half‑corpse on the floor, Shinnosuke's mood worsened.
He glared at Chizumi: "So the demon in your heart still rages—you plan to massacre Konoha's innocents, don't you?!"
The other Anbu were astonished:
So Shinnosuke‑senpai had once been Chizumi's mentor!
Chizumi asked calmly, "Too many villains of the shinobi world have died by my hand. Which two do you mean?"
Shinnosuke almost stopped breathing.
"You… you've forgotten your own comrades?!"
"I don't bother remembering scum who've died by my hand."
A vein throbbed on Shinnosuke's forehead.
"Shimura Reiya! Uzuki Shaku! Surely you remember those names. They—like you—were once my genin students!"
He could not help recalling the fratricidal incident that had shaken him to the core—after which he never again took a genin team.
"Oh… I vaguely recall."
Chizumi said: "Shimura Reiya bullied others at the Academy, driving one victim to suicide when complaints went nowhere. Uzuki Shaku, Reiya's accomplice, spread rumors even after the victim died."
"Yes, I killed them both. But they struck first, so the Fourth Hokage ruled it excessive self‑defense and held me blameless."
Hearing Chizumi's emotionless tone—as if "comrades" were meaningless—Shinnosuke's anger surged.
"They did not deserve death!"
Chizumi replied,
"Did the bullied victim deserve to die?"
Each step he took left a molten pit in the floor.
"In my eyes, your two students were unforgivable evildoers, corrupted by the ninja world's 'evil.' I merely cleansed that evil with scalding lava. That is all."
"Shinnosuke‑sensei."
Chizumi's scarlet gaze fell on the crimson rectangle hovering above Shinnosuke's head.
"Now, you too…
…have fallen into the abyss."
~~~
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