"Mito-sama?"
"You...!"
The flush on Hiruzen's face instantly faded into ashen despair.
He had never imagined that Mito would stab him in the back at such a critical moment.
Hadn't she said she would deal with the Uchiha?
At this point, Hiruzen no longer believed that even if he defeated Haru, Mito would stand on his side. She would only stand with the Senju Clan.
Hiruzen swept his gaze across the room, his eyes red.
Among all these dignified men, there was not a single loyal servant of Konoha.
Not one of them was willing to obey the Hokage's dying wish.
Haru grinned.
At this moment, Hiruzen looked like he had been completely isolated, just waiting to be butchered.
"Hiruzen, if you don't dare, then get down here already. Stop wasting everyone's time!"
Haru looked at Hiruzen with an icy stare, pressing him to make his choice.
Truthfully, Haru did not want Hiruzen to back down.
The blood debt the Uchiha had suffered in that other world was something Hiruzen still had to shoulder a portion of.
"Fine. Then the two of us will settle this head-on!"
At this point, there was no way Hiruzen could retreat.
Even if he died, he had to die on the road to becoming Hokage. Otherwise, how would he face his teacher Tobirama after death?
"Very good!"
"Then let me make this clear in advance. In a ninja duel, blades have no eyes. If someone dies, then it only means they were inferior. Everyone here can bear witness!"
Haru activated his three-tomoe Sharingan and fixed his gaze on Hiruzen like a hunter staring at prey, waiting for Hiruzen's answer.
Everyone present sucked in a breath.
Haru clearly intended to kill him.
But no one stepped forward to preach some nonsense about stopping at the right point.
A battle for the seat of Hokage was no different from princes fighting over the daimyo's throne.
Brothers killing brothers, kin slaughtering kin, those were ordinary things.
This was a struggle where one side lived and the other died. It was not a dinner party.
Hiruzen naturally agreed.
Now that it had come this far, there was no room left to retreat.
...
The scene shifted to the duel arena, where Haru and Hiruzen stood facing each other.
Hiruzen kicked off the ground, his body shooting forward like an arrow at astonishing speed. As if by magic, several shuriken appeared in his hand and flew toward Haru all at once.
"Trying to show off in front of an expert."
Haru let out a mocking laugh and moved lightly, not taking the incoming shuriken seriously at all.
Under the dynamic vision of his three-tomoe Sharingan, every movement of Hiruzen's hand looked as slow as a staged replay.
"Got you!"
Hiruzen smiled in triumph.
As Kagami's teammate, he had sparred with him dozens of times or more. He understood the Sharingan better than most.
And Haru's careless dodging had just given him the chance he wanted.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
Hiruzen gave Haru no room to evade. The giant shuriken multiplied more than tenfold in an instant.
The space around Haru was completely sealed off.
"It's over!"
A pleased smile appeared on Hiruzen's face, and for a moment he basked in the joy of impending victory. It reminded him of one of Tobirama's lessons.
Arrogance was the Uchiha's common sickness.
Tobirama had spoken more than once about how he had personally killed Izuna, Madara's younger brother.
Feign weakness.
Uchiha with the Sharingan had grown arrogant to the extreme when it came to kunai and shuriken. As long as you exploited that arrogance just a little, you could kill them in one strike.
Whenever Tobirama spoke of it, his tone was filled with pride.
Killing Izuna alone had been one of his proudest achievements, the kind of thing a man could boast about for the rest of his life.
"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique!"
Haru spat out molten spheres that instantly melted the more than ten giant shuriken flying at him.
Lava Release possessed a terrifying heat and corrosive property that ordinary Fire Release could not match. It could reduce iron to nothing with ease.
What?
The smile on Hiruzen's face vanished instantly.
The technique Haru had just used was Lava Release?
Hiruzen had followed Tobirama all over the ninja world and had seen most bloodline limits that existed. He knew full well how dangerous Lava Release was. It came with both extreme heat and terrifying corrosive power. Once touched, flesh would begin to melt away.
Without treatment from a medical ninja, the wound would only fester, rot, and end in a miserable death.
But how could Haru possibly use Lava Release?
Wasn't the Uchiha bloodline limit supposed to be the Sharingan?
The onlookers were also staring in shock.
What kind of luck had the Uchiha walked into?
They already possessed one of the strongest bloodline limits in the ninja world by inheritance, and now one of them had also awakened Lava Release?
Didn't that mean the Uchiha might one day produce someone with two powerful bloodline limits at once?
Was the Uchiha Clan the Sage of Six Paths' real favorite child or something?
Did heaven really have to favor the Uchiha this much?
The Sage of Six Paths was unfair!
"How can you have Lava Release?!"
"This isn't fair at all!!!"
Hiruzen roared at Haru.
A man with two bloodline limits made him so jealous he could barely keep his mind straight.
Hiruzen knew better than anyone how hard it was for a ninja without a bloodline limit to become strong. If he had been given even one of Haru's bloodline powers, he would have soared to the heavens.
"Lava Release: Lava Solidification Technique!"
Haru had no interest in answering Hiruzen's question.
Right now, all he wanted was to cut Hiruzen in half.
He spat out yellow-brown molten fluid that instantly hardened the moment it touched the ground. If it stuck to an opponent, it would pin them in place.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!!!"
Hiruzen fled in a panic under Haru's Lava Release, not daring to slack off for even a moment. If he slowed down even slightly, the battle would be over.
"What kind of skill is it to rely on a bloodline limit? If you've got guts, come fight me in taijutsu!"
Hiruzen shouted while running, already starting to lose control.
This was practically cheating.
He had never even heard of a person possessing two bloodline limits.
Idiot.
That word flashed through the minds of the onlookers all at once.
If you didn't use a bloodline limit, then what was it there for?
That was heaven's gift to a ninja.
Fight him in taijutsu?
If a ninjutsu could solve the enemy, who in their right mind would choose to fight hand-to-hand instead?
Was that not madness?
So this was the mental caliber of the man Tobirama had chosen as the Third Hokage?
The crowd might have been jealous of Haru, but that did not stop them from looking down on Hiruzen.
Hiruzen was already panting hard, his breathing ragged, his movements slowing little by little, but he still forced himself to keep going.
A cruel smile spread across Haru's face.
The time was about right.
What was the point of simply pinning Hiruzen in place with ninjutsu and killing him like that?
What Haru enjoyed more was letting the prey reach the point where it was almost out of strength, yet still had just enough left to keep trying to run.
It was just like the way Manji played with mice.
He enjoyed the fear of prey fleeing on the edge of death, always wearing it down until it was completely exhausted before eating it one bite at a time.
After spending so much time with Manji, Haru had picked up a few habits from him.
Sometimes he used them as a way to vent the unhappiness in his heart.
But not this time.
This time, it was a performance.
A show for every ninja clan in Konoha.
(End of Chapter)
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