The forces split into four divisions and moved simultaneously.
Most of the shinobi were assigned to secure the village, guarding key locations and routes. Only Uchiha Ran led the elite chūnin from various clans straight toward the Hokage Building.
As if responding to the coming chaos, the sky darkened without warning. Thick clouds rolled in, swallowing the sun. Ordinary villagers looked up in confusion as the daylight dimmed, unaware that a storm—far greater than rain—was about to break over Konoha.
Uchiha Ran and his unit arrived before the Hokage Building at high speed.
ANBU immediately intercepted them.
"Identify yourselves! This is the Hokage's office. Unauthorized personnel are forbidden to enter!"
Ran did not answer.
He casually swung the Uchiha Flame Fan.
The ANBU was sent flying, smashing through the air and vanishing into the distance.
The remaining ANBU froze.
Before they could react, Uchiha shinobi surged forward. Blades flashed, chakra flared, and the entrance became a battlefield in an instant.
Both sides clashed fiercely.
Whenever the fight stalled, Ran stepped forward and swept the battlefield with his fan, blasting ANBU away one after another. Life or death was left to their fate.
---
Hokage Office
Inside the building, Danzō Shimura sat upright behind the Hokage's desk.
The ceremonial robe bearing the words Fifth Hokage rested on his shoulders. His fingers moved across the documents, his lips curved in satisfaction.
So this was the seat Sarutobi had clung to for decades.
A sudden knock shattered the silence—rapid, irregular, urgent.
Danzō's expression darkened.
"Who's knocking like this?"
Before he could finish speaking, the knocking stopped.
A chill ran down his spine.
He immediately formed hand seals, chakra surging.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
The door exploded inward.
The compressed wind blast shot forward like a cannonball.
Ran's eyes narrowed. He raised the Flame Fan and braced himself.
The Wind Release collided with the fan, grinding against it with terrifying force before being forcibly dispersed.
At that moment, blue chakra erupted around Ran.
A towering skeletal form manifested—
Then muscle, armor, and form followed.
Susanoo stood complete.
Danzō's pupils shrank.
"Susanoo…!"
Without hesitation, he raised a signal flare and fired it through the window while letting out a sharp whistle.
Root shinobi flooded toward the Hokage Building from all directions.
Danzō sneered.
He had prepared for this. Thousands of Root operatives stood ready. Killing them all in front of the village would brand Ran as a butcher—something even the Uchiha could not afford.
Ran looked down at him from within Susanoo.
"Preparation won't save you."
Susanoo raised its blade and brought it down.
Danzō's face turned pale.
At the last moment, he tore away the bandages from his right arm.
The pale, lifeless limb was revealed—embedded with multiple Sharingan, writhing unnaturally.
He slammed his palm into the floor.
"Wood Release: Burst Growth!"
Roots erupted from the ground, surging upward and binding Susanoo in layers.
Wood Release—Hashirama's power.
It suppressed tailed beasts.
And it restrained Susanoo.
Danzō laughed, confidence surging.
"Even the First Hokage—"
Before he could finish, Susanoo roared.
The sound alone shattered the roots.
A violent shockwave burst outward.
Danzō was thrown back, blood spraying from his mouth as his ears rang violently.
He hadn't even been struck directly.
Ran no longer tested him.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Flames poured from Ran's mouth like a tidal wave.
At the same time, he swung the Flame Fan.
The wind fed the fire.
The inferno expanded instantly, swallowing the upper floors of the Hokage Building.
The night sky over Konoha was lit crimson.
Fire raged, illuminating the village—and burning away the rot that had festered within it for far too long.
------
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