Unlike the Nine-Tails Rebellion years ago, when Konoha had at least some semblance of a warning, the village was completely defenseless this time.
Combined with the sheer, unprecedented ferocity of the blaze, many civilians didn't even have time to evacuate.
Countless souls were instantly consumed by the sea of fire. Because the fire rain generated by Uchiha Kaede was laced with a strange, ominous blue flame, the fire was incredibly difficult to suppress, rendering normal firefighting efforts utterly futile.
Amidst the chaos, Sarutobi Asuma stared up at the terrifying sun dominating the sky, his face entirely pale. "Has the Uchiha clan... really launched a rebellion?"
Beside him, Hatake Kakashi was actively assisting in the rescue operations. He shook his head grimly at Asuma's question. "To unleash a Fire Style technique of that magnitude... Uchiha Kaede is the only one capable of it."
"The Lord Third..."
"He should be engaging Uchiha Kaede in battle right now."
Kakashi had already uncovered his Sharingan, his gaze locked dead onto the clash of the two figures high up in the sky.
In an environment like that, where an ordinary person would find it difficult even to stand, Lord Third was actually facing off against Uchiha Kaede entirely on his own...
"What's the situation on the Uchiha side right now?"
"I'm afraid it's an equally brutal, bloody battle..."
Flames soared into the sky over the Uchiha compound. It was glaringly obvious that the father-and-son duo of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Itachi had finally begun a head-on, lethal confrontation.
To think the Uchiha and the village would finally reach this point...
A trace of deep sorrow inadvertently flickered in Kakashi's eyes. The current Konoha was already weak and declining; why did they still have to engage in such meaningless internal strife?
In the original timeline, Uchiha Fugaku had already resolved himself to die, calmly accepting his fate without offering a shred of resistance against Itachi.
This time, however, the reality was entirely different. Fugaku manifested his own Mangekyo Sharingan and directly summoned his Susanoo, launching a ferocious, unyielding assault against Uchiha Itachi.
Although Fugaku's Susanoo was in an incomplete state, both Itachi and Obito were forced to continuously evade his strikes.
Obito had absolutely no desire to overcommit his own strength to this clash, while Itachi harbored a profound hesitation.
This hesitation stemmed from facing his own father, from facing his own flesh and blood.
However, the moment the image of his younger brother flashed through his mind, followed by the sight of the village outside engulfed in a raging sea of fire, Itachi's gaze hardened. He hesitated no longer.
Sensing the shift in Itachi's gaze, Fugaku felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of grief in his heart. He knew all too well that this was the resolve his son manifested when preparing to deliver a killing blow.
For some reason, while this absolute resolve caused him immense heartache, it also brought a faint sense of grim pride.
"Father... I am sorry."
As Itachi's own Susanoo abruptly manifested, he closed the distance with a blinding Body Flicker. Amidst a thunderous, explosive impact, Fugaku coughed up a mouthful of blood, his Susanoo forced backward by several staggering steps.
In terms of raw power, Itachi was stronger. Furthermore, his Susanoo possessed other specialized, highly dangerous capabilities.
His odds of winning this battle were exceptionally low.
Yet, Uchiha Fugaku refused to back down. He was the head of the Uchiha clan; if he broke and retreated now, the fate of the remaining clansmen would be utterly unthinkable.
Before the fateful battle began, Kaede had deliberately sought him out, explicitly stating that Sunagakure was willing to accept the Uchiha clan.
"The roots of the Uchiha have long been buried in the Land of Fire... what meaning is there in leaving? However, the children and the elderly of our clan are entirely innocent."
Fugaku had let out a long sigh back then. He didn't pry into the specifics of Kaede's cooperation with the Sand; instead, he rapidly adjusted his strategy. He tasked Kaede with leading a portion of the clan out of Konoha to seek asylum and live in Sunagakure.
Currently, the Uchiha clansmen who had willingly evacuated to seek refuge in the Sand consisted mostly of women and children.
The vast majority of the able-bodied youth and warriors chose to stay behind, resolved to live or die alongside the Uchiha name.
The pride inherent to the Uchiha would never allow them to flee Konoha Village with their tails between their legs.
The flames of war consumed the entirety of the Uchiha compound. With a furious roar from Fugaku, his Susanoo clashed violently with Itachi's, generating powerful shockwaves that threw the entire estate into absolute chaos.
High above on the massive, blood-red sun, Kaede directed a cold sneer toward the Third Hokage opposite him.
The existence of the Third Hokage was an immense obstacle for Sunagakure. This elderly man, well into his seventies, was using his unshakable will and philosophy to continuously shape and inspire the next generation of Konoha's youth.
Renowned far and wide and crowned with the title of the "Professor of Shinobi," the Third Hokage had dedicated his entire life to the construction and development of the village.
His influence was exponentially more potent than that of characters like Danzo; he was the spiritual pillar for countless people in Konoha.
Under his profound influence, even peerless Uchiha geniuses like Shisui and Itachi had been swayed, going so far as to sacrifice everything they had for his ideals.
Shiraishi would never allow such a formidable adversary to continue living. Long ago, Orochimaru's failed Konoha Crush plan had prompted Shiraishi to deduce how a true devastation of Konoha should be executed.
The Uchiha Clan Extermination Night served as the ultimate catalyst. While Konoha calculated how to subvert the Uchiha, Sunagakure countered by calculating how to utilize this exact event to bleed Konoha dry and shatter its foundation.
As the fire rain pelted the earth, a cold light flashed across Kaede's eyes. Gripping his dual blades, he unleashed a barrage of sharp, crescent-shaped fiery shockwaves, slicing directly toward the Third Hokage.
As the Third Hokage twisted his body to evade the barrage, Kaede immediately utilized Flame Charge to instantly close the distance between them.
His frame suddenly seemed to expand in a trick of the light, completely blotting out the Third Hokage's line of sight.
Raising his right hand, he delivered a crushing chop from above, his hand snapping down like a predatory claw, whipping up a violent gale.
The intense flames surged alongside a roar akin to a tiger's cry—a strike capable of scattering a hundred beasts!
Faced with such a ferocious onslaught, the Third Hokage dared not be careless. Swinging his massive staff, he precisely intercepted Kaede's burning wrist, attempting to halt the descending strike.
However, at that exact millisecond, Kaede's fist abruptly snapped open, his index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers thrusting directly toward the Third Hokage's face like a feline baring its razor-sharp claws!
They pierced the air with a piercing, high-pitched screech, sounding exactly like bullets tearing out of a rifle barrel. If this strike connected cleanly, the Third Hokage's face would be riddled with bloody craters.
Finger Flick: Bullet Strike!
Right at that critical juncture, Enma's arms manifested directly from the staff, locking around Kaede's hand. Capitalizing on the split-second block, the Third Hokage fluidly pivoted to the side, breaking the grapple and retreating instantly!
The seamless coordination between the Third Hokage and Enma was truly formidable. Although his physical stamina had deteriorated considerably compared to their clash in the Hidden Sand years ago, his fighting spirit and absolute resolve had significantly amplified.
Is it because he is carrying the weight of his duties as Hokage?
While the two were locked in their lethal close-quarters dance, the massive blood-red sun below them finally expanded to its limit.
It abruptly discharged sixteen smaller, crimson fireballs that plummeted toward multiple sectors of Konoha Village. Kaede, the instigator, instantly formed a hand seal. "Release!"
"Fire Style: Blazing Purgatory!"
In an instant, the fireballs erupted into towering pillars of flame, reducing the surrounding areas to scorched, desolate earth. Under this single move from Kaede, a full quarter of Konoha's entire infrastructure was instantly leveled to the ground!
"Damn you... you bastard!"
"Does your heart bleed?"
Kaede engaged the Third Hokage in the most treacherous close-quarters combat.
He was intimately familiar with the destructive potential of the Adamantine Staff manifested by Enma, which was precisely why he pushed the energy of the blood-red sun to its absolute absolute peak.
The combined force of the Ending Earth terrain and his Turbo Flame capability surged violently once more, forcing the ambient temperature of the battlefield to spike past a staggering thousand degrees!
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: Patreon.com/kazama677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 100 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.