Gulp.
Gulp.
"I must be insane… to be seeing this."
"T-That's Lord Danzō… he's one of the higher-ups I admired most…"
"When did Ren get this kind of monstrous power?"
"Sorry, I only knew he was a chatterbox…"
Staring at the scene before them, nearly a hundred ANBU outside the Hokage Building swallowed hard.
No one could've imagined it.
The mighty Danzō—untouchable in their minds—was being casually trampled underfoot by a boy barely in his teens.
Especially the ANBU who had once monitored Ren.
Their eyes looked ready to pop out of their skulls, mouths hanging wide.
This is Ren?
That long-winded Ren?
Wasn't this guy only good at talking and sunbathing?
When did he ever train?
They couldn't make sense of it.
Compared to them, Root's reactions were far calmer.
They didn't speak. They simply kept striking again and again, trying to pull Danzō back.
It was useless.
Any attack that reached Ren's front vanished for no reason at all.
And Danzō, forced into desperation, had to form seals again—
Faster. More chakra. More force.
He sucked in a huge breath, then spat it out with everything he had.
Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!
From bullets—
To mortar shells.
But even the "shell" disappeared the instant it touched Ren's body.
Not even the faintest ripple.
It was gone—clean, effortless—
As though Danzō really had just exhaled.
"Is it because ordinary ninjutsu doesn't work?"
A war-hardened Hokage aide to the core, Danzō finally recognized the problem after several failed assaults.
"If simple ninjutsu is useless… then I'll have to try tools…"
He muttered, rolling away from the ground in a quick tumble.
Three ken away.
Shh!
A shuriken appeared in his hand.
He lowered his head and blew onto it—dense chakra clung to the weapon's edge like a pale yellow-white glow.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!
Then he lunged in like a strike of lightning, stabbing straight at Ren!
If ninjutsu failed—
Weapons would make up the difference!
"So obsessed with stabbing people with shuriken, huh?"
Ren almost laughed out loud.
As expected of Danzō—the man who tried to stab Susanoo with a shuriken.
When in doubt, poke it with a shuriken.
Ren simply stood there, smiling as he watched Danzō rush him.
Three ken.
One ken.
Half a ken.
As the shuriken closed in, joy exploded across Danzō's grim face.
"No reaction at all?!"
"Was this brat just bluffing the whole time?"
"Hahahaha! Of course shuriken are the strongest!"
Riding that exhilaration, his thrust sped up even more.
But the moment he finally reached Ren—
He caught a flicker on the boy's face.
Disdain?
No—
Mockery.
Why?
Crack.
Danzō froze.
And then he saw it.
The shuriken in front of him—
Splintering apart, inch by inch.
A light breeze passed.
And like ash, it vanished into nothing.
Danzō went blank.
His body was still locked in the stabbing posture, unable to adjust—
And then…
Ren's left eye flickered slightly.
Riiiip—!!!
Within the three-foot space, Danzō's bandaged arm was violently torn off as if reality itself had grabbed it and ripped!
"AAAAAH!"
"Damn it—damn it!!"
The howl of a half-century-old man tore through the night, echoing across the entire village.
It made skin crawl.
Even the Uchiha—eyes red with fervor moments ago—couldn't help shuddering.
A shinobi doesn't fear death.
But—
Having an arm ripped off alive…
The ragged flesh still hanging in uneven strips at the torn edge…
Just seeing it sparked a visceral, nauseating phantom pain.
"Damn it! Monkey, what are you standing around for?! Kill this brat!"
"Are you really going to let the Uchiha clan shove their hands into Konoha's власть?!"
Danzō finally broke, shouting frantically.
He was genuinely terrified.
Two steps slower, and the eyes in that arm would be pierced—
The consequences were unthinkable.
So he threw all hope onto the Third Hokage.
His words were urgent—desperate.
And they hit the softest part of Hiruzen's heart.
The scales that had begun to tilt…
Snapped back in an instant.
The older a man grows, the easier it is to go blind.
After countless wars and the hard-won peace that followed, the Third Hokage had long since lost any hunger for the future.
All he wanted now was to clutch tight the power in his hands.
And now—
Someone was trying to take that power from him?
Unforgivable.
Absolutely unforgivable!
With that thought, he didn't hesitate.
His hands formed seals at high speed.
"Come forth, my old partner—Enma!"
Summoning Jutsu: Monkey King Enma!
Bang!
A white monkey appeared in a puff of smoke.
He looked half-asleep, rubbing his eyes as he yawned.
"Ahh… been a while, Hiruzen."
"No time to explain, Enma. Help me—now!"
"Oy. Got it!"
Enma thumped his chest hard, then turned to look in the direction Hiruzen was charging.
Just one glance—
And he stopped dead.
He was certain he'd never seen the young boy standing there.
And yet…
The moment Enma looked at him, a strange feeling surged up—
An overwhelming sense of closeness.
And beneath it, faint but unmistakable…
Fear.
Don't strike.
You can't strike.
At the same time, the Third Hokage had already formed seals.
"Enma! Transform—Adamantine Staff!"
Bang!
In the next instant, Enma transformed into the staff.
"Today, I'll show you what it means to be the Third Hokage!"
Hiruzen inhaled deeply, his aura surging as if returning from the grave.
Even this aged body began to erupt with frightening vitality.
"Great! It's Lord Third—the strongest Hokage! We're saved!"
"I haven't seen Lord Third like this in ages…"
"Hmph! Uchiha brat—tremble! Hahahaha!"
The ANBU elites finally breathed again, faces burning with excitement.
When the Third Hokage moved, he moved with everything.
Even the clan heads further back couldn't help lighting up.
Many of them had once been Hiruzen's followers, charging through battlefields at his side.
Seeing him like this after so many years almost made them want to cry.
Except for a rare few.
Hyūga Hiashi's eyes lowered slightly, chakra unconsciously gathering in his hand.
"With Lord Third and Enma together… it takes at least two Kage-level opponents to match them…"
"This kid might…"
"And what the hell is Uchiha Fugaku doing? Standing there like a statue—idiots, all of them!"
Meanwhile, the Uchiha…
Though worry flickered in their eyes—
Not one of them spoke.
Even Fugaku stayed where he was, watching intently.
Crimson shimmered faintly in his pupils.
He trusted Ren… but doubt still crept in.
"The Third is old… but Ren should be fine, right?"
But the moment the thought formed—
He saw something impossible.
The Adamantine Staff in the Third Hokage's hands, brimming with unstoppable might—
The instant it touched Ren…
It went soft.
Yes.
Soft in the most literal, humiliating sense.
With no warning, it turned limp like boiled noodles.
Fugaku stared in stunned disbelief.
The ANBU went slack-jawed.
The clan heads' mouths fell open.
Only Hiashi let out a small breath of relief.
What… in the world… was this?
Even Hiruzen froze for a heartbeat, then hurriedly leapt back, retreating at full speed.
"Enma—what's going on?!"
Enma didn't answer.
He only screamed, over and over—
"It hurts! It hurts too much!"
"…Sorry, old friend. I'm going to—"
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