A faint smile crossed his face. He didn't know Danzo Shimura's full plan, but he could guess it; whatever Danzo had done, he had done it secretly, and Sarutobi Hizashi could truthfully say he had no part in it.
"Itachi is a good boy," Sarutobi Hizashi thought.
"Oh no—Hokage-sama, something big has happened!" a dark-division shinobi rushed in, shouting.
"What is it?" Hizashi frowned as a bad feeling rose in his chest.
…
"Hahaha—come on, come on, hahaha!!" The mad laughter rang out. The demonic figure kept attacking; each random blow was a devastating strike the arriving Konoha shinobi could not withstand. Uchiha Yue cut down every Konoha ninja who came to support them.
The air grew colder. After draining those shinobi of their energy, his form grew larger and more blurred; the closer one approached, the colder one felt, and chakra began to leak uncontrollably from the body.
"What kind of monster is this?" some Konoha shinobi murmured, staring at the increasingly indistinct figure.
Uchiha Yue stopped smiling, fixed his gaze on the distant shinobi, and raised his hand. Dozens of chains burst from his body and shot toward them.
Rumble. A huge staff came hurtling from afar; Yue reacted and raised his hand.
The staff struck the translucent energy palm and slammed into Yue's body. He slid half a step, then stopped; Sarutobi Hizashi at the other end was flung back.
"Susanoo!" Hizashi stared at the towering figure, his face dark. He had guessed what had happened: Danzo's scheme to destroy the Uchiha had been set in motion, and now the clan was nearly wiped out. Something had changed—someone in the Uchiha had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and turned the tide, killing Danzo and Itachi.
"Danzo, Itachi—this has gone terribly wrong," Hizashi said. The figure before him was no ordinary Uchiha but a true monster, able to withstand all ninjutsu and possessing immense strength. So many had died, yet the monster showed no sign of weakening; it only grew stronger. What on earth was this?
"Not good! Old man, this thing is absorbing my chakra—ah!!" Hizashi cried as the face on his staff flashed. The staff in Yue's hand began to shrink, as if being pulled free.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yue tilted his head and slammed the staff down hard, gripping the portion of the beast's body. As the chakra there was siphoned away, the ape-like guardian's indestructible form diminished and convulsive pain seared its mind.
The beast wailed; the staff contracted wildly and finally tore free from Yue's grip.
"Sarutobi Hizashi—hahaha, you finally show yourself. Now you die!" Yue grinned and saw Hizashi raise his hand as a crimson flame formed into a spiraling fireball.
As Yue absorbed more energy, his chakra control and perception grew rapidly. From the Konoha ninjas' earlier attacks, he had copied jutsu with his Mangekyō-like eye; now he knew how to cast them.
A massive fireball blasted toward Hizashi like a meteor.
"Old man, are you all right?" the ape's voice asked through the staff.
Hizashi leapt. The staff anchored into the ground, then snapped up, flipping him through the air; the staff arced and struck Yue's shoulder with a heavy clang. But nothing happened—no crack in the giant's defense.
"You're weak. Is that all you've got?" Yue grabbed the staff pressed against his shoulder. The moment he did, the staff began to shrink, trying to tear free.
Chains burst from Yue's shoulders and poured into the staff. "Ah!" a pained scream echoed—the chains acted like leeches, sucking chakra from the guardian. As the guardian's chakra vanished, it reverted from a massive form to a diminished beast and separated from Hizashi's control.
"Old man! No!" Hizashi cried, but it was too late. Chains burst from the beast and in an instant it became a dry corpse.
"Old man—don't touch that monster… ah!" the guardian's last wail echoed, and the creature that had served Hizashi all his life died before the contract could be broken.
The guardian had been powerful—indestructible body, immense strength, transformation ability—but it relied on chakra. It had met a Susanoo that fed on chakra, and the result was catastrophic.
The guardian's shriveled corpse hit the ground. Yue looked at Sarutobi Hizashi.
"Protect the Hokage!" someone cried. "Monster—die!"
A new wave of shinobi launched their jutsu at Yue. Various ninjutsu bloomed against his body and were immediately absorbed.
"Stop—energy attacks are useless against this monster!" someone shouted.