The voice from behind sent shivers down the spines of the three ANBU ninja; a powerful sense of dread exploding in their minds. As their pupils contracted, they tried to scatter immediately. But their vision suddenly tilted. An Uchiha girl's figure blurred into their sight, but before they could even make out her features, their heads rolled from their necks.
[Ding! You have successfully killed three "Red Name" villains! Your chakra has received a small boost! Congratulations, you have successfully dropped: ① "Shuriken Throwing Jutsu" EXP Book x7; ② "Water Release: Flowing Blade Jutsu"; ③ "Brothel Appraisal Jutsu" EXP Book x4!]
The crimson boxes floating above the heads of the three ANBU ninja slowly dissipated. But killing them was just the beginning. The commotion had already alerted the entire secret base. Good, actually. It saved Uchiha Akainu the trouble of digging everyone out.
When more ANBU ninja arrived, they found several bodies on the ground and an Uchiha ninja wielding a blood-stained blade, radiating killing intent. Though shocked and unsure of what exactly happened, they immediately sounded the base's alarm.
"Woooo—woooo—woooo—"
The piercing alarm even startled Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"Enemy intrusion?!"
Shinnosuke's brows furrowed beneath his ANBU mask. Since this secret experimental base was established, there had never been an external intrusion. Why did this mess happen the moment the old man entrusted him with its oversight? What puzzled Shinnosuke even more was: who would dare to invade a secret base near Konoha Village? A base built so close to Konoha implied a deep, secret connection to the village. Didn't the intruder know that?
Or rather...
Did they simply not care about Konoha?!
"All combat personnel, assemble!" Shinnosuke's expression grew grim as he gave the order. "Immediately proceed to the alarm's origin point within the base. The intruder..."
He thought about the significant reputational risk this secret base's exposure could bring to the old man. A murderous glint flashed in Shinnosuke's eyes. "No matter who the intruder is, kill on sight!"
"Yes!!!"
Led by Sarutobi Shinnosuke, an entire ANBU squad moved out. This secret base was originally guarded by two ANBU squads. One squad's mission was to patrol outside, conduct internal patrols, and transport supplies; the other was responsible for eliminating any threats to the base. Both ANBU squads were under Shinnosuke's command.
Shinnosuke suspected that the first squad might have already been compromised! And the intruder's strength was not to be underestimated! Otherwise, the enemy could never have slipped into the base so silently.
"Wait!"
Shinnosuke stopped an ANBU and ordered him, "You don't need to follow. Return to Konoha immediately and inform the old man. If there's no news from the base within fifteen minutes, it means something has gone wrong here. It'd be best for the old man to bring more people."
"Understood!"
Just as Sarutobi Shinnosuke was about to continue towards the alarm's location, a sudden sense of crisis made his heart leap. He instinctively roared, "Stop!" At the same moment, he suddenly noticed a faint orange-red glow appearing on the metal-reinforced wall to his right, and he could feel an intense heat radiating from it.
—BOOM!!!!
Terrifying heat instantly melted a massive hole in the metal-reinforced wall. A volcanic-like eruption of molten iron splashed everywhere, and an invisible heatwave slammed into them. The ANBU ninja immediately bent their knees to brace themselves, their eyes wide with horror as they stared at the molten hole in the wall.
"That's..."
Shinnosuke's pupils contracted. He saw "half" a person lying next to the hole in the wall. The other half of their body was nowhere to be seen. But judging by the clothes, it was an ANBU ninja. Their mask had fallen off, and half their face was frozen in an expression of indescribable terror, chilling anyone who looked at it.
Drip—
Drip—
A strange dripping sound reached his ears. The smell of sulfur filled his nostrils. The name of an Uchiha ninja he intensely disliked suddenly popped into Sarutobi Shinnosuke's mind—Uchiha Akainu!
As the thought crossed his mind, a figure with lava slowly flowing over his skin stepped out from the other side of the wall.
"—It's Uchiha Akainu!!!" an ANBU ninja behind Sarutobi Shinnosuke exclaimed, shocked, speaking the name aloud.
"Long time no see. Shinnosuke... sensei."
Uchiha Akainu was dripping lava, its molten glow barely concealing the scarlet blood-red of his Three Tomoe Sharingan. He looked directly at Sarutobi Shinnosuke and said, "As one of the Third's right-hand men, you've been off the radar these past two years. I thought you were dead. I didn't expect Sensei Shinnosuke to be stationed here by the Third."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's fists clenched instantly. His expression beneath the mask darkened, and he gritted his teeth. "The moment you killed two of your comrades, you stopped being my student, and I stopped being your Jonin instructor! Uchiha Akainu! What are you doing here?"
Looking at the half-body on the ground, Shinnosuke's mood worsened. He stared intently at Uchiha Akainu. "You really couldn't suppress the demon within you, could you? Are you preparing to go on a rampage in Konoha, to kill these innocent people?!"
The other ANBU ninja behind him looked surprised. So, Senior Shinnosuke and Uchiha Akainu had such a past; he used to be his supervising Jonin!
Uchiha Akainu calmly asked, "I've killed too many evils of the ninja world. Which two are you referring to?"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke almost stopped breathing. "You... have you forgotten your comrades entirely?"
"I don't purposefully remember the villains who have died by my hand."
A vein throbbed on Sarutobi Shinnosuke's forehead. "Shimura Reiya! Uzuki Saku! You must remember those names! They... were my Genin students, just like you!" Sarutobi Shinnosuke couldn't help but recall the "comrade-killing" incident that had deeply shaken him years ago. It was after that incident that he stopped serving as a Jonin instructor for any Konoha Genin.
"Oh... I vaguely recall them," Uchiha Akainu said. "Shimura Reiya, he bullied others at the Ninja Academy, leading to the bullied student's suicide after complaints went nowhere; Uzuki Saku, Shimura Reiya's accomplice, spread rumors about the bullied student even after their death."
"Yes, I did kill those two. However, they made the first move back then, which led the Fourth Hokage to rule it as excessive self-defense on my part, but I wasn't held accountable."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke listened to Uchiha Akainu's emotionless tone, as if "comrades" were expendable in his eyes. A wave of fury surged within him. "Their crimes weren't worthy of death!"
Uchiha Akainu replied, "So, was the bullied student worthy of death then?" With every step he took forward, a molten crater appeared on the ground. "In my eyes, your two students were already corrupted by the 'evil' of the ninja world into unforgivable villains. I am merely cleansing the unforgivable 'evil' of the ninja world with scorching lava. Nothing more."
"Sensei Shinnosuke."
Uchiha Akainu's scarlet eyes fell upon the crimson box floating above Sarutobi Shinnosuke's head.
"You, too, have fallen into the abyss."