Chapter 32: This Is Basically Putting Hiruzen Sarutobi on the Fire to Roast
Two hours after registration ended.
At the gates of Konoha Village, over four thousand ninjas stood ready in full gear.
Uchiha Fugaku stood on a high platform, his black long hair fluttering in the wind. His voice was low and powerful, piercing through the entire plaza.
The ninjas below instantly fell silent; every gaze focused on him.
"We are about to march to the Kirigakure front!"
"Rescue our children!"
"Avenge our fallen comrades!"
"The glory of Konoha—will be reclaimed by our own hands!"
His right hand swung down sharply: "Move out—now!"
"BOOM… BOOM…!!"
Over four thousand ninjas leaped forward simultaneously, surging out of Konoha's gates like a black flood.
On both sides of the street, crowds of villagers had gathered to see them off.
An elderly woman with silver hair staggered out from the crowd and shoved a bunch of wild chrysanthemums—still wet with morning dew—into the hands of a familiar Uchiha ninja.
Her thin, bony fingers clutched the ninja's sleeve desperately: "Please… please bring little Ming back… My grandson loves the rice balls I make for him the most…"
The ninja solemnly accepted the flowers, nodded, then leaped onto a treetop and vanished into the formation.
Some Uchiha clansmen who were seeing them off shouted loudly: "Konoha must win! Uchiha must win!"
Amid the cheers, a little red-haired girl suddenly broke free from her mother's hand and ran after the troops for a dozen meters until a patrolling chūnin stopped her.
"Daddy! You have to come back!" Her tearful, choked cry pierced through the noise…
Once they entered the dense forest, the marching speed suddenly increased.
Ninja figures flickered between the treetops like silent ghosts.
Uchiha Fugaku's steps never slowed. He slightly turned his head toward the side: "Sanpō, are you sure the Kirigakure ninjas will plunder Nansha City?"
Uchiha Sanpō leaped over from the flank: "On the southern coast of the Land of Fire, there are only three cities—Bear City, White Bird City, and Nansha City. Bear City is the richest and has already been plundered multiple times. White Bird City is in the middle; the frequency of attacks there has also been increasing recently. Nansha City is closest to the Land of Hot Springs. After looting White Bird City, they will definitely pass through the Land of Hot Springs to escape back to the Land of Water."
Clan Head Kurama caught up from behind and said gravely: "Why not go straight to Nansha City and block them?"
Uchiha Sanpō shook his head: "No, we go to Bear City first."
Clan Head Kazami frowned: "Won't that waste too much time?"
Uchiha Sanpō's gaze was sharp as a blade: "Hiruzen Sarutobi accelerated graduation of the children and formed a 3,000-strong army of the elderly, weak, women, and children. The casualties now are catastrophic."
Uchiha Fugaku pondered for a moment: "You mean…"
"First rescue the children in Bear City. Send a portion of the force to escort the survivors back to Konoha, and also bring back the bodies of the fallen children. Let the people of Konoha see with their own eyes what kind of hell their Hokage sent the children into."
"Then we repeat the same at White Bird City. Finally, take only 300 jōnin and rush at full speed to Nansha City to intercept Kirigakure's main force!"
Clan Head Kazami still had doubts: "300 jōnin… isn't that too risky?"
"The reason Kirigakure's 3,000+ ninjas have been so hard to exterminate is because they have no fixed base—they strike and run, looting and fleeing. Now that they've looted enough, their fighting will has already dropped sharply."
Uchiha Fugaku's Sharingan faintly glinted: "Good. We'll do it exactly as Sanpō said."
Eleven hours later—Bear City.
The setting sun was blood-red, shining on this once-prosperous coastal city.
The city walls were damaged; scattered ninja tools and bloodstains littered the streets. The air was thick with the smell of burning and blood.
Five children under ten years old lay in a fan-shaped pattern; the farthest one still clutched an unlit signal flare in his hand.
Clan Head Kurama's voice trembled: "Squad 47—wiped out. This is the seventh group we've found today…"
Clan Head Kazami smashed his fist into a tree trunk: "That old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi!"
Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō slowly spun; his gaze fell on a tiny body clutching a rag doll: "Collect all the remains…"
Inside Bear City's Konoha outpost—originally 1,000 ninjas—only 53 remained.
In the empty training ground, a few dirt-covered children huddled in the corner, eyes vacant.
A one-armed Uchiha chūnin staggered forward, voice hoarse: "Lord Fugaku… you finally came…"
Uchiha Fugaku's gaze swept the surroundings; his Sharingan instantly captured the lingering traces of battle.
The chūnin gritted his teeth: "Kirigakure ninjas came two days ago. They… they took all the supplies. Anyone who refused to surrender… died…"
Uchiha Sanpō's fists clenched with cracking sounds: "What about the children?"
"The survivors… are all here…"
A little girl who looked under ten timidly walked over, clutching a bloodstained photo.
"Uncle… will my daddy… come back?"
Uchiha Sanpō crouched down and gently patted her head: "We will make those people… pay the price."
"Report: Statistics complete. 841 bodies collected—754 child corpses, 87 adult corpses. Another 43 bodies too mutilated to identify, and 59 still missing."
Clan Head Kurama stepped forward: "Sanpō, we should head to White Bird City now. We'll leave 2,000 behind for cleanup—they'll handle the rest."
Uchiha Sanpō said coldly: "Have those 2,000 escort the 53 survivors back to Konoha. Also bring these bodies. Before entering Konoha's gates, have them take the bodies out of the storage scrolls and transport them on stretchers to the ninja academy plaza. Finally, notify the families to come collect the remains."
Clan Head Kurama sucked in a cold breath after hearing this: If they only heard "hundreds dead," many wouldn't feel the impact.
But if—exactly as Uchiha Sanpō said—the bodies were carried on stretchers to the ninja academy plaza, with two people per stretcher, these 884 bodies would form a procession nearly 2,000 meters long. When the people of Konoha along the streets saw this endless line of small corpses…
Uchiha Sanpō looked toward Konoha, his tone ice-cold and filled with killing intent: "I want them to see clearly—every single tiny corpse is a nail hammered into Hiruzen Sarutobi's coffin."
Clan Head Kazami suddenly laughed; the smile was chilling: "Placing the bodies in the ninja academy plaza… truly a brilliant idea. Hiruzen Sarutobi is the principal of the ninja academy, and he's the one who ordered the early graduation. This is literally putting Hiruzen Sarutobi on the fire to roast!"
Hearing this, Uchiha Fugaku gave the order in an unquestionable tone: "Execute it. Let the Third Hokage… personally witness his masterpiece."
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