"Be careful when you strike. Do not damage her heart, Zetsu…"
After pulling his hand out of Homura Mitokado's chest, the man wearing a Takigakure forehead protector with a heavy slash carved across its center looked at the heart that, although aged, still contained powerful chakra.
He nodded in satisfaction and casually spoke to White Zetsu, who had also taken down Koharu Utatane.
"Don't worry. I only destroyed her spine so she can no longer control her body. I won't damage the heart you reserved in advance, Kakuzu."
White Zetsu, who had already returned to his original form, pulled the kunai stained with blood and bone fragments out of Koharu Utatane's back.
With a faintly excited tone, he looked at the man whose back was bulging in an extremely abnormal shape, preparing to store Homura Mitokado's heart.
"Now, the connection between Konoha's higher-ups and the jonin under them has been temporarily severed. Although it cannot be ruled out that certain people with special positions will step forward and link the manpower together again, compared to the Hokage advisors and the Third Hokage, the difficulty they face in ordering everyone around will ultimately be much greater…"
"Compared to the Konoha shinobi who fought me last time, the Hokage advisors of this era are laughably weak."
The Earth Grudge Fear inside Kakuzu's body squirmed for a while, slowly storing Homura Mitokado's heart as a backup in case one of his hearts was destroyed.
"After living in peace for so long, they have actually grown this lax…"
"For that, we have to thank Danzo Shimura's reckless actions, as well as Rei Kaguya, who killed Danzo Shimura and all his Root elites without mercy."
A rather strange smile appeared on White Zetsu's face, which only had facial features on one side.
"If Danzo Shimura had not died, we would not have been able to take over Root, which understood all kinds of Konoha secrets, so easily. Nor would we have been able to bring enough combat power to destroy Konoha this close to Konoha proper with such ease…"
"In a certain sense, does this count as an unintentional cooperation between us and our greatest enemy, Rei Kaguya?"
"Heh. Perhaps it does."
Kakuzu sneered and walked toward Koharu Utatane, whose body was twitching uncontrollably.
"After I take her heart, Zetsu, you can reuse her corpse. I should not need to explain the method again, right?"
"Got it, got it. I just need to wear her face and issue a few orders to create chaos. Easy."
As he spoke, White Zetsu began gradually transforming into Koharu Utatane's appearance beneath her horrified gaze.
He stripped off her bloodstained clothes and used the blood that truly came from her to disguise himself as wounded.
She wanted to open her mouth and warn the Konoha shinobi who might arrive here with intelligence at any moment.
But as Kakuzu's large hand reached into her chest and tore hard, the agony of having her heart ripped out of her body alive instantly swallowed the last of her strength.
Boundless darkness spread before her eyes.
Just like the future Konoha would face after tonight.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
Boom—!
After obtaining the spoils he wanted, Kakuzu, who had always been ruthless and never wasted words, directly blasted apart the principal's office of Konoha's Ninja Academy and most of the teaching building it was located in with a combined wind-fire ninjutsu attack.
Without looking back, he fled into the distance in an extremely convincing, battered state.
White Zetsu, transformed into Koharu Utatane, also staggered out of the exploded flames covered in terrifying bloodstains, landing in front of several Anbu who happened to arrive with intelligence, his face filled with grief and fury.
"Advisor-sama!?"
Seeing Koharu Utatane in a tragic state that could no longer be described as merely battered, the Anbu could not help being shocked.
In their eyes, the place where the Third Hokage and the two Hokage advisors were stationed should absolutely have counted as the safest place in Konoha right now.
If even the place guarded by three Kage-level experts had suffered such a fierce enemy assault, and if even a Hokage advisor had suffered such severe injuries…
Then just how powerful were the enemies they were facing tonight?
"Pass… the order…"
"Tell the major ninja clans to remain in their homes for now and not move rashly. Detain all outsiders who attempt to enter their residences. Once they ensure that no enemies have infiltrated their clan compounds, they are to launch a unified counterattack."
Koharu Utatane, transformed by White Zetsu, coughed blood violently and said through gritted teeth:
"Among the enemies, someone can use a Transformation Technique that is almost impossible to see through to infiltrate us… Just now, Advisor Mitokado was assassinated by the enemy using that method. We cannot repeat the same mistake…"
"What!? Advisor Mitokado actually…"
Hearing this news, the expressions beneath the Anbu masks changed drastically.
"Is the enemy's Transformation Technique truly that strong!?"
"At the very least, before he suddenly attacked, none of us saw through his disguise…"
Koharu Utatane violently vomited another large mouthful of blood and shouted sternly:
"Hurry! Send this intelligence to the ninja clans who still do not know what has happened… If this information only reaches them after their clan elites have already left, our battle lines will collapse in an instant because people's hearts have been shaken."
"Yes! Yes!"
The three Anbu had no time to further distinguish the truth of Koharu Utatane's words.
Each of them used their fastest speed and rushed toward the districts where the village's ninja clans were located.
The final Anbu apologized once, then carried Koharu Utatane on his back, turned around, and sprinted toward Konoha Hospital.
Konoha still needed an advisor in the rear to maintain command and make judgments.
She absolutely could not be allowed to die here.
That was the Anbu's thought.
And "Koharu Utatane," lying motionless on his back as if weakened by excessive blood loss, revealed a chilling sneer where no one could see it.
The hospital… huh?
That sounded like a place very suitable for him to perform.
…
"Hurt. Cry. Scream…"
"Then all of you can die."
"The pain you Konoha once brought this old man shall all be returned to you at this moment."
Within the deep purple poisonous mist, Hanzō, who looked much older than he had before being driven out of the Land of Rain and was wearing clothes that seemed excessively warm, stood atop the giant Black Salamander.
He watched as Konoha residents covered their throats and mouths, collapsing one after another in agony beneath the spreading poison mist, convulsing and struggling on the ground like maggots.
Between his cold brows and eyes, there was a trace of satisfaction from finally getting revenge, as well as a more hidden discontent and irritation.
Once upon a time, he had also imagined leading the shinobi of Amegakure to openly break through all of Konoha Village's defensive lines like this.
He had imagined setting the flames of war ablaze in their homeland, letting those Konoha shinobi who had trampled the Land of Rain more than once properly experience the pain of having one's home fiercely destroyed and ravaged by an enemy they could not defeat, with no power to change that situation.
Today, he had successfully realized that wish.
He had turned the idea he once envisioned when he started the Second Shinobi World War, using the salamander's deadly poison to kill large numbers of Konoha shinobi, into reality.
But all of this had not been accomplished with him in command.
To Root, which had achieved the feat of invading Konoha proper, he, Hanzō of the Salamander, was merely a high-level hired fighter who was naturally good to have, but not so essential that the mission could not continue without him.
If this were two years ago, or even earlier, Hanzō would never have agreed to participate in a large-scale military operation that was not led by himself.
But now, as someone else's defeated opponent and a stray dog who could only barely maintain his combat strength by relying on some of Root's technology, he no longer had the right to say no.
But so what?
In order to take revenge on the Fourth Mizukage, Rei Kaguya, who had beaten him into this situation, Hanzō would gladly pay even more.
Inside the area shrouded by poison mist, it was not that no Konoha shinobi tried to attack Hanzō and his Black Salamander.
But after Root's help further strengthened the poison, not a single shinobi could withstand such violent poison and charge into a distance where they could harm him or the Black Salamander.
"Konoha has indeed fallen as well… But this is fine. Your suffering is exactly the painkiller I want most."
As Hanzō murmured to himself, his peripheral vision just happened to catch sight of a figure recklessly charging into the poison mist from outside.
That person was heading straight toward him and the Black Salamander beneath his feet.
Hanzō, who had been relying on the miserable state of Konoha's people to suppress the bone-piercing cold within his body, could not help looking at that person with great anticipation.
Yes.
Just like that.
Come a little closer.
Breathe in a little more.
It would be best if you could rush all the way to the Black Salamander's feet and swing the weapon you are so proud of at it.
Then fall to the ground in unwillingness and struggle.
Let me see your face filled with despair and pain—
"Haah!!! Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
A heroic, sharp female voice that carried not the slightest hint of weakness suddenly came from that approaching figure.
Immediately afterward, a monstrous strength enough to split mountains and break peaks slammed into the salamander beneath Hanzō's feet.
Before he could react, the Black Salamander's body underwent a spine-chilling deformation toward the side.
Then, like a cannonball, it flew toward the outside of Konoha together with Hanzō, who was standing on its back.
"Wha— This monstrous strength is!?"
Feeling the howling wind around him and the rapidly fading life force of the Black Salamander under his feet, Hanzō's expression darkened.
He quickly found in his mind a Konoha shinobi capable of producing such an effect.
"How is that possible!? Didn't Tsunade, one of the Sannin, leave Konoha long ago? Why is she—"
At this moment, Hanzō felt twelve out of ten parts regret and frustration over his act of allowing the other party to approach just now.
But nothing could be changed anymore.
Tsunade's full-strength blow had already completely killed his summoning beast, the Black Salamander.
If he relied only on himself, his ability to create poison mist and kill the surroundings would absolutely drop by more than one level compared to when the Black Salamander was still alive.
He had originally been entrusted with great expectations by Root, prepared to poison more than one-third of Konoha's population to death.
But now, he had at most only poisoned around two thousand Konoha residents with the Black Salamander's poison.
The gap between that and the original goal was something others would find very difficult to make up no matter how hard they tried.
Unless, among the three Jinchuriki Root had pulled in to join this operation, someone could make the Tailed Beast Ball they fired break through Konoha shinobi's defenses and strike directly at the gathering place of Konoha's large ninja clans…
Then Hanzō, who was flying high through the sky, saw an entirely new giant chakra sphere gathering directly above Konoha, aimed straight at the area where the Hyuga clan was located.
That was…
A fourth one?
A flying Tailed Beast?
Takigakure!?
…
"All right. Our little game and warm-up should be about over."
Obito Uchiha looked at Shisui Uchiha, whose wings behind him had already been shredded apart by his Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs Technique, and whose third hand, which could form hand seals independently in Cursed Seal Level Two and greatly increase the power of Fire Release, was also hanging weakly down.
Obito sneered as he spoke.
Shisui Uchiha, who had basically exhausted every method he had and had only barely managed to protect himself against Obito Uchiha, who possessed both Wood Release and an absurd Mangekyo ability, unwillingly raised his head.
Coughing blood, he said, "Cough, cough… At least… At least I held you back and did not let you take Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan immediately…"
"Hah. Even now, you still think my actions today are only to steal Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan, or perhaps take Konoha's Nine-Tails while I am at it?"
Obito Uchiha raised his chin slightly.
While enjoying the expression of the once-brilliant genius boy of the clan, who could now only look up at him with unwillingness and pain, he mocked without mercy:
"Then your scope is truly… so small it almost makes me laugh."
"Was the previous fight truly so intense for you that you no longer had any energy left to pay attention to changes in the outside environment?"
Hearing this, Shisui Uchiha could not help gritting his teeth.
Of course he had sensed the violent tremors that came when the Tailed Beast Balls bombarded the earth.
He had also heard Nagato's "Shinra Tensei," which carried endless majesty and a sacred feeling.
He had even seen the Tailed Beast Balls explode in midair into miniature suns, almost replacing the night that was descending.
It was precisely because he had seen the situation outside become increasingly intense that he dared to activate Cursed Seal Level Two without regard for whether others would notice, going all out against Obito Uchiha.
But it was also precisely because this incident, which should only have been on the level of a terrorist attack, had suddenly turned into a large-scale war involving at least three Jinchuriki and three of the Five Great Shinobi Villages that he instinctively did not dare place his thoughts anywhere other than his fight with Obito Uchiha.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure.
How exactly had Obito Uchiha and Root convinced them?
With three Jinchuriki and an unknown number of shinobi from two villages participating, would Lord Fourth's previous strategy continue to be implemented?
After tonight, would Konoha, once the strongest hidden village in the shinobi world, become ruins and history?
He did not dare think about any of these things.
So he could only numb himself and concentrate all his attention on his battle with Obito Uchiha.
And now, Obito Uchiha intended to end this battle that had only been conducted to delay time and allow chaos to spread further.
Yet Shisui did not even have the ability to stop him from leaving.
How much of a failure was this?
How utterly disgraceful.
He could even see from Obito Uchiha's eyes the reason the other party did not deal him a killing blow.
Before obtaining the complete Mangekyo Sharingan, there was no need to provoke Rei Kaguya, who was far away in Kirigakure, and force him to arrive early using the backup measure he had surely given to his trusted subordinate.
"Watch carefully, Shisui Uchiha…"
"This is the battle that will split the world in two. After today, no one can continue swaying from side to side. No nation can continue remaining neutral. If they do not choose you, then they can only choose us."
"And the ruins of Konoha Village will be the best proof to make them understand that fact deeply."
As he spoke, Obito Uchiha's figure leisurely, almost casually, entered the Kamui dimension and disappeared from Shisui Uchiha's sight.
And falling together with the end of his words were three Tailed Beast Balls fired one after another from Konoha's outskirts, making it impossible for them to be broken all at once like before.
And a fourth Tailed Beast Ball.
Descending like the sun from directly above Konoha Village, impossible for anyone to neutralize in time.
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