Shinsuke's power was terrifyingly overwhelming.
The remaining rogue ninja instantly split into two groups.
Five of them lunged toward Uchiha Fugaku.
The rest scattered their formation and surrounded Shinsuke from all sides.
The greed that had once filled those rogue ninja's eyes had long since vanished, replaced entirely by deep wariness toward Shinsuke.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Three massive earthen walls erupted from the ground, attempting to cage Shinsuke in place.
A howling gale transformed into a blade and came crashing down from above.
A roaring water dragon surged and churned, sealing off the last remaining gap.
Jutsu of various elements collided in that confined space, weaving together into a lethal net with no way out.
"Die!"
A flash of madness crossed one of the explosion-style ninja's eyes as he slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Explosion Style: Landmine Fist!"
In an instant, invisible explosive tags blanketed the ground within a radius of several dozen meters, all centered on Shinsuke.
The moment his feet touched the earth, he would be blown apart without a trace.
Yet in the face of that encirclement, Shinsuke's expression did not change at all.
A blinding bolt of blue lightning erupted from Shinsuke's palm and instantly extended to five meters in length.
Chidori Sharp Spear.
The lightning lance tore through the air and, at a speed beyond visual tracking, pierced cleanly through the throat of a rogue ninja in the middle of forming hand seals.
Blood and electric sparks sprayed outward together.
"Second one."
Lightning Release Chakra Mode activated.
Without anyone noticing when it had appeared, Shinsuke's right palm now cradled a high-speed rotating sphere of energy, which he had already driven into the chest of another rogue ninja.
Lightning Flame Rasengan.
The speed was too fast to follow, and another rogue ninja fell dead in an instant.
"Third one."
A deafening explosion rang out.
From the very beginning, this battle had been nothing but a one-sided slaughter.
The jutsu those rogue ninja took such pride in were nothing but child's play against Shinsuke's absolute speed.
At the same time, atop the Guard headquarters building, a figure wearing an orange swirl mask materialized out of thin air and watched the slaughter unfolding on the street below with cold indifference.
"Oh?"
There was an almost imperceptible note of amusement in Uchiha Madara's voice.
"This Uchiha Shinsuke is rather interesting."
That razor-sharp decisiveness without a shred of hesitation, that masterful command of jutsu, had already far surpassed Madara's understanding of what the Uchiha were capable of.
Just as Madara watched with keen interest, Shinsuke, who was in the middle of the killing below, suddenly paused.
[WARNING! High-threat target detected: Masked Man, Uchiha Madara (Mangekyō Sharingan, Space-Time Ninjutsu)!]
Madara was here.
Shinsuke's gaze turned ice-cold in an instant.
That man's Kamui was a massive variable.
If Madara bypassed him and went straight for the shelter where the clan members were hiding, the consequences would be unthinkable.
'No more holding back.'
'Finish this fast.'
In that moment, the killing intent in Shinsuke's heart boiled over completely.
He held nothing back any longer.
"Chidori Current!"
The electric current swept outward in every direction with a piercing, frantic buzz.
Lightning Release Chakra Mode pushed to full power.
"Aaaaah!"
The remaining rogue ninja's souls went cold, and they spun around to flee, only to find their bodies utterly unable to move.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Within seconds, every one of those rogue ninja collapsed, all signs of life extinguished.
On the other side, the rogue ninja locked in combat with Fugaku witnessed this scene and felt their courage shatter completely.
Not a shred of will to fight remained in them, and they broke into a screaming scatter, fleeing in every direction.
"Stop playing around, Fugaku."
Shinsuke's voice carried over.
"The main act is about to begin."
Uchiha Fugaku's expression hardened instantly.
"Understood."
Fugaku let out a low growl, and within his eye sockets, three tomoe spun wildly within blood-red pupils before merging together into a pair of three-bladed pinwheels that radiated a cold, sinister aura.
Mangekyō Sharingan, open!
A vast and icy ocular power erupted with a thunderous burst.
An enormous skeletal warrior rose up from the ground.
Susano'o!
The giant skeletal arm swung down with unstoppable force, crushing two of the rogue ninja into a bloody smear.
Another slash followed, cutting down every last fleeing rogue ninja.
The battle was over.
More than twenty A-rank rogue ninja, once infamous throughout the ninja world, had been completely wiped out.
All that lingered in the air was a thick, inescapable stench of blood.
"Good, the warm-up is done."
Before long, the sound of light footsteps drifted from the far end of the street, and three figures slowly emerged from the darkness.
The one at the front wore the standard uniform of a Konoha ANBU operative, with a raccoon mask covering his face: Uchiha Itachi.
To Itachi's left stood a man with skin as pale as paper, his golden vertical-slit pupils radiating an eerie glow in the night.
It was Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Sannin.
The last figure, on the right, wore the headband and face mask of Takigakure.
The legendary bounty hunter, Kakuzu.
The moment Fugaku's eyes landed on the figure at the front, his breath seized completely.
He had sensed it coming.
But seeing Itachi truly appear before him, the grief inside Uchiha Fugaku was beyond words.
Itachi slowly raised a hand and removed the raccoon mask from his face.
"Itachi..."
Fugaku's voice was filled with anguish.
"Why?"
The Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes spun violently, driven by the force of his overwhelming emotions.
"Why did you betray the clan!"
Uchiha Itachi's gaze did not carry a single ripple.
He looked at his father, grief-stricken and furious before him, looked at those eyes so similar to his own yet so utterly different, and spoke in a flat, detached tone.
"Father."
"Your vision is too small."
"For the sake of the village's long-term peace, the Uchiha Clan's existence has become an obstacle."
"It must be eliminated."
"You ungrateful traitor!"
Fugaku let out a roar at the absolute peak of his fury, the veins on his neck bulging as his entire body trembled.
"I admit it, I once harbored unrealistic hopes in the Third Hokage, and I made decisions that harmed the clan's interests for the sake of so-called peace!"
"But I, Uchiha Fugaku!"
"I never once thought of betraying my own clan, never once thought of raising a blade against my own people!"
Itachi fell silent.
He made no further attempt to argue back with words.
Inside Uchiha Fugaku's heart, the last thread of an illusion, the hope that Itachi might have been coerced or might have his own hidden reasons, shattered completely in that moment.
The one standing before him was no longer his son.
He was an enemy who intended to erase the entire Uchiha from the face of this world.
Shinsuke stepped forward and fixed his gaze on Itachi, his voice cold.
"Uchiha Itachi."
"You have colluded with outsiders and forsaken your own bloodline."
"I, Uchiha Shinsuke, acting as the current head of the Uchiha Clan, hereby declare:"
"The traitor, Uchiha Itachi!"
"Is permanently banished from the Uchiha Clan!"
"Your name will be nailed to the Uchiha's pillar of shame for eternity."
"Every member of the Uchiha Clan will regard you with nothing but contempt!"