Obito took Itachi and left Konoha directly.
During the trip, Itachi tried to persuade Obito to take Sasuke with them as well.
But that bastard Danzo had hidden Sasuke too well—even Obito had no idea where he was.
Sure, he could probably find him if he really wanted to, but Obito had no intention of lingering any longer in Konoha for Sasuke's sake.
Uchiha Kaede's overwhelming strength had already instilled a deep sense of fear in him!
So the weakened Itachi could only abandon that thought and follow Obito into retreat.
And just like that, Sasuke's fate completely deviated from the original storyline...
At the same time, while Obito was rescuing Itachi—
Uchiha Kaede was in full slaughter mode!
Naoto and the others were nearly crushed under the weight of a force more than five times their size.
Kaede deactivated Susano'o and joined the fray directly!
Using Susano'o against these weaklings would be overkill.
One swing of his blade—regardless if they were chūnin or jōnin—and heads would roll!
Against someone like Kaede, who had reached Kage-level in all areas, these mid and high-tier shinobi were nothing more than livestock ready for the slaughter.
In just a few minutes, over thirty had already died under his sword.
It was pure annihilation.
The outer circle of Konoha's shinobi, unable to freely cast large-scale jutsu due to fear of harming their comrades inside, hesitated to act.
Koharu watched the scene unfold with growing panic.
She really wanted to order them to forget the ones inside.
A single barrage of large-scale jutsu would be enough to wipe out the Uchiha—how convenient would that be?
But she didn't dare.
She had at least that much brain left.
If she gave such an order—especially after all the resentment that had built up—the shinobi would probably kill her first!
"Just now… what happened? Where's Itachi?"
It was then that Hiruzen arrived.
With help from the medical-nin, he had recovered somewhat from the damage caused by Tsukuyomi.
Though his mental strength was still weak, his stamina was back.
His overall combat strength hadn't fully returned, but he rushed to the scene immediately anyway.
Koharu was overjoyed—at this point, Hiruzen was her final pillar of support.
She quickly reported everything that had just happened.
She even sneered, "That brat Itachi tried to cozy up to Kaede, but got stabbed straight through the chest!"
"If that masked guy hadn't shown up, his eyes would be gone too!"
"No idea if he's dead or not."
Hiruzen frowned deeply at her words.
And then, he said firmly, "Itachi would never betray us."
"It must have been Kaede. He has a genjutsu so powerful that not even Mangekyō Sharingan can resist it."
He let out a heavy sigh.
"What a shame... such a powerful asset lost like that."
Koharu's expression also darkened.
"Hiruzen, what do we do now?"
"I only just managed to rally the troops' fighting spirit, but they can't stop Kaede at all!"
"If this continues, even if we do wipe out the Uchiha, we'll suffer enormous losses!"
"And there's no way to hide tonight's events from the other shinobi villages. War could break out any moment. We can't afford to lose any more strength!"
Hiruzen closed his eyes, face twisted with painful hesitation.
Homura, who had followed behind, sighed.
"Maybe… we'll have no choice but to let them go."
Koharu instantly rejected that.
"Absolutely not! If we let them escape, they'll just grow stronger!"
Homura knew she was right—but realistically, they couldn't stop Kaede now anyway!
Even if they slaughtered the rest of the Uchiha clan, as long as Kaede remained alive, he'd be a century-long threat to Konoha!
In fact, keeping the remaining Uchiha alive might even serve as leverage—
At the very least, Kaede would restrain himself from massacring Konoha if his clan's safety was at stake.
With that in mind, Homura snapped back, "Then what's your brilliant plan?!"
As the two were about to argue, Hiruzen sighed.
"There may be… only one option left."
Koharu and Homura immediately turned to him.
Hiruzen said the words slowly and clearly: "Shiki… Fujin…" (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)
"Wha…?"
Both Koharu and Homura widened their eyes.
Of course, they knew the technique—but its cost was the user's life!
Perhaps due to having faced death once already, Hiruzen smiled bitterly.
"Kaede wasn't wrong. Konoha's fall is largely my fault."
"If I can do anything now, it's to trade my life to bring peace back to the village."
If it hadn't been for his past decisions—or his complacent approval—would Konoha have fallen so far?
During the Third Great War, Konoha had been mighty beyond compare:
Sakumo, Minato, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru...
Kage-level elites were everywhere, and the next generation even more promising.
But now?
The prodigies were gone. The once-mighty had either died or left.
Had they still been around, would Kaede have even stood a chance?
With that thought, Hiruzen's resolve hardened.
Let his death redeem his sins—and reignite the Will of Fire within Konoha!
"Summon the jōnin. Help me create an opening!"
Meanwhile—
Kaede had no idea Hiruzen had decided to go all-in for a suicidal trade.
Right now, he was still dancing through the battlefield, each sword swing taking another life.
Corpses were piling up all around him.
"This can't go on."
Kaede glanced at his clanmates and frowned.
Even if individual Uchiha were strong, they were still losing ground against the sheer numbers of Konoha's forces.
While he was having a grand time slaughtering enemies, the rest of his clan was under immense pressure.
The Uchiha were a clan—a community.
They were essential to his vision of leading the Uchiha to the top of the shinobi world!
He extended his senses—good. The clan elders were now more than twenty li outside Konoha.
"Just a little longer, and we can retreat."
With one leap, Kaede appeared beside a struggling clansman and saved him from certain death.
He began organizing the remaining Uchiha into tight formations for better defense.
At the same time, he once again raised Kyōka Suigetsu.
"Shatter—Kyōka Suigetsu!"
In an instant, over a hundred enemy shinobi around him were caught in illusion!
Kaede's spiritual power was still relatively weak.
Other than a small reserve for emergencies, he had poured almost all of it into controlling this group.
But the result was worth it.
The Uchiha immediately felt a huge reduction in pressure.
Even though Kyōka Suigetsu couldn't control everyone—and some illusions would be broken by teammates—it was enough to eliminate inattentive or poorly aware enemies in the chaos of battle.
The fighting raged on.
Suddenly, Kaede's eyes were drawn to a familiar figure.
Hatake Kakashi!
Thinking of Obito's repeated interference, Kaede's eyes narrowed.
"I'll be taking your Sharingan."
In a flash, he appeared right next to Kakashi!
Before the latter could even turn around, Kaede's hand was already covering his left eye.
The next moment—searing pain!
Kakashi's Sharingan, the one Obito had entrusted to him, was now in Kaede's hand!
"No…!"
Kakashi stared at him, seething.
That eye had been Obito's final gift—his most treasured possession.
(End of Chapter)
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