Chapter 189: The Point of No Return
The truth hung heavy in the air, a toxic cloud of guilt and revelation. Tsunade's face was a battlefield of its own—grief for Itachi's sacrifice, fury at the elders' deception, and a cold, pragmatic understanding of the political nightmare unfolding before her. She believed Uchiha Ren. Every word he spoke resonated with the inconsistencies she had long suspected but never dared to fully confront.
Yet, as Hokage, her duty was to the living, to the village that still stood—for now. Admitting this truth publicly would shatter Konoha's foundation more completely than any Tailed Beast Bomb. She had to reject it, even if it tasted like ash in her mouth.
"Uchiha Ren," Tsunade's voice was firm, a leader's voice, pushing past the turmoil within. "The Uchiha clan's rebellion was a tragic choice they made. Itachi's decision, while horrific, was made to prevent a civil war and protect the village. Knowing this, why continue this vengeance? The debt you speak of is a cycle of pain that will consume everyone!"
Ren's laughter was sharp, a sound devoid of any warmth. "A choice they made? You still don't see it! Konoha gave them no choice! You built the walls of their prison with your suspicion and then condemned them for trying to break free! The 'debt' is not a cycle; it is a bill that has come due. And I am here to collect."
He swept his gaze across the assembled shinobi, his voice rising to a condemnatory roar. "You speak of Itachi's sacrifice to protect the village? What about the Uchiha sacrifices to build it? We were founders! And for that, we were rewarded with exile to this corner, watched day and night like criminals! The Konoha Military Police Force? A golden cage! The distrust after the Nine-Tails' attack? The final straw! You systematically broke a proud clan and are now shocked that the pieces are cutting you?"
A murmur ran through the ranks. For the clan-born shinobi—the Hyuga, the Aburame, the Nara—his words struck a chilling chord. They understood the delicate dance of power and the fear a powerful clan could inspire in a village's leadership. The civilian-born shinobi looked on in confusion, the ugly underbelly of village politics laid bare before them.
Tsunade saw the doubt spreading and knew she had to reclaim control. "These are lies spun from bitterness!" she declared, though the words felt hollow. "They are an excuse for your madness! Stand down, Uchiha Ren! Submit to Konoha's justice, and I swear I will investigate the Uchiha affair fully!"
"*Your justice is a joke!*" Ren screamed, his composure finally shattering. "What justice can you offer the dead? Can your investigation breathe life back into my family? I don't want your investigation! I want Konoha to feel the despair the Uchiha felt! I want you to watch everything you've built turn to dust!"
As if his rage were a physical command, the Nine-Tails beneath him threw its head back and unleashed a roar that seemed to tear the sky itself. The air thickened, grew heavy, as the demon fox opened its maw. Darkness coalesced, spinning, compressing—a Tailed Beast Bomb forming with terrifying speed.
"No! It's aiming for the village!" Kakashi yelled, his Sharingan tracking the trajectory. But it was futile. The power was too immense, too fast.
With a world-shaking roar, the Nine-Tails launched the sphere of annihilation. It wasn't aimed at them. It flew over their heads, a black comet of pure hatred, its mere passage gouging a canyon through the earth. It moved in a horrifying silence before the impact, a vacuum of sound that sucked the hope from every heart.
Every eye, Konoha and Ren's alike, followed its path as it streaked toward the heart of the village—toward the Hokage Mountain.
The world turned white.
Then, sound returned—a deafening, crushing *BOOOOOOM* that was less a noise and more the end of an era.
The light faded. Where the proud, stony faces of the Hokage had gazed over their village for generations, there was now only a gaping, raw wound in the mountain. The Hokage Tower, the administrative heart of Konoha, was simply gone. A colossal crater smoked where the village center had been, surrounded by a ring of utter devastation.
The silence that followed was profound, broken only by the crackle of distant fires and the faint, falling debris. The Konoha shinobi stood frozen, their minds refusing to process the obliteration of their most sacred symbol. Their history, their leadership, their very identity, had been erased in an instant.
That silence was fragile, a dam holding back an ocean of rage, grief, and horror. Tsunade stared at the smoking crater, her body trembling not with fear, but with a fury that promised violence.
The time for words was over. The war for Konoha's survival had truly begun, and it would be fought with a brutality unseen since the days of the founding.
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