Farewell, Teacher Shinosuke

Sarutobi Shinosuke had kept diverting his attention to controlling the chakra inside his body, lessening the effects of Sharingan Genjutsu on him. All the while, he had avoided meeting Uchiha Chisen's eyes.

Yet he had still fallen victim to the other man's "Sharingan Genjutsu"!

When he saw even the last Anbu Ninja fall at Uchiha Chisen's hands...

Sarutobi Shinosuke's expression was one of shock and horror, and utterly grim.

The boy who had once been a Genin had now grown beyond the ability of even his Jonin instructor to suppress.

Sarutobi Shinosuke realized that he was now part of the old wave left stranded on the shore.

The half-length Ninja Sword remaining in his hand offered him no sense of security.

Uchiha Chisen asked, "Teacher Shinosuke, are you still refusing to see reason, even now?"

Sarutobi Shinosuke fell silent for a long moment, then suddenly let out a scoffing laugh.

"Uchiha Chisen."

He threw away the half-melted Ninja Sword in his hand and straightened up. His expression turned solemn as he properly formed the Seal of Confrontation. "Tonight, I'll correct your misguided justice. A ninja's justice must begin with the village's interests. Only justice that benefits the village is true justice."

"But your justice is nothing more than self-centered justice. No one in the entire Shinobi World will recognize it. Everything you're doing now has practically made the whole world your enemy!"

Uchiha Chisen also stood his ground, less than ten meters from Sarutobi Shinosuke.

He, too, formed a proper Seal of Confrontation.

"Teacher Shinosuke. My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror; everything I do is justice. Those words... I remember saying them to you a very, very long time ago, back when I was still a Genin."

Uchiha Chisen spoke calmly.

"Ha..." Sarutobi Shinosuke sighed. "You really are beyond saving. Someone like you will destroy Konoha someday."

Uchiha Chisen said, "You think of me as far too extreme, Teacher Shinosuke. You won't even make the effort to understand your own student. You know less about me than a trainee from the Konoha Military Police Force who's only followed me for a few days."

Sarutobi Shinosuke narrowed his eyes. "Then I'm afraid I'll never have another chance to understand you, because you'll be buried in the underworld."

As his words fell...

Sarutobi Shinosuke rapidly formed hand seals. His chest swelled sharply, and he opened his mouth to spit. "Fire Style: Red Earth Spider!!!"

Raging flames poured from his mouth, taking the shape of a giant spider that charged at Uchiha Chisen.

Uchiha Chisen did not rely on his "Lava Release Chakra Warrior Body" to ignore the flames.

He formed hand seals as well.

"Fire Style..."

"Great Fire Annihilation!!!"

Flames far greater in scale and temperature than Sarutobi Shinosuke's Fire Style erupted from Uchiha Chisen's mouth. Almost instantly, the blazing inferno swallowed the charging fire spider, then swept toward Sarutobi Shinosuke with unstoppable force.

Sarutobi Shinosuke immediately ducked around a corner to one side. The terrifying flames swept past almost against the tip of his nose, their heat even curling his eyelashes.

"Tch, you're still holding back in a fight against your teacher?! Uchiha Chisen! Has that self-centered justice of yours gone soft now?"

Sarutobi Shinosuke gritted his teeth, bit through his right thumb, and slammed his palm against the ground.

Dense summoning markings spread across the floor.

"Summoning Technique!"

"Great Ape!!!"

Poof-

A cloud of white smoke flashed, and a huge ape over three meters tall, covered in red fur, suddenly appeared. This was Sarutobi Shinosuke's strongest summon, a powerfully built ape whose strength rivaled a Konoha Jonin-the Great Ape!

The moment the Great Ape appeared, he saw the expanse of magma and the sea of fire before him, as well as Uchiha Chisen up ahead.

"Shinosuke, this isn't looking good! Should I stay out of this dispute between teacher and student?"

The Great Ape spoke in a deep, rumbling voice, his tone half teasing.

Sarutobi Shinosuke took a deep breath. "Great Ape, this is already a matter of life and death. Spare me the bad jokes."

The Great Ape stood behind Sarutobi Shinosuke.

He faced off against Uchiha Chisen.

"Uchiha Chisen's so-called absolute justice has already become a threat to Konoha," Sarutobi Shinosuke said gravely.

The Great Ape said, "Shouldn't you have seen this coming long ago? You've never been willing to understand this student of yours, but judging by the personality and methods he's shown, this confrontation was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn't it... Still, Shinosuke... do you really think this child has done something wrong?"

Sarutobi Shinosuke was silent for half a second before saying, "Justice that doesn't benefit Konoha is wrong. A ninja should stand with the village. Great Ape, let's settle this here today."

"...Understood."

Elsewhere, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was rushing toward the Secret Research Base with a group of Anbu Ninja, could already see the base, ravaged by magma.

He could also see the dense forest ahead, which had already become a sea of fire.

Though he had yet to draw close, he could smell the faint scent of sulfur in the air.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart sank.

"Get over there and put out the fire immediately!" he ordered decisively. "Don't let it spread to Konoha! And... stop this unnecessary conflict at once. Restrain both sides!"

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

The Anbu Ninja forced themselves to pick up speed. They all knew that the man stationed at the Secret Research Base was the Hokage's eldest son.

They also knew that the person who had forced his way into the Secret Research Base was a genius of the Uchiha Clan whom the Hokage thought highly of.

It seemed...

The Hokage was unwilling to give up either of them.

He wanted to stop tonight's confrontation just as he had stopped the conflict between Uchiha Chisen and Shimura Danzō...

A confrontation that was probably already too late to stop.

Inside the Secret Research Base, the battle between Uchiha Chisen, Sarutobi Shinosuke, and the summoned Great Ape had already reached fever pitch.

"Roar!!!"

The Great Ape hoisted a concrete pillar weighing over ten tons. With an enraged roar, he shouldered it and charged at Uchiha Chisen.

Meanwhile, Sarutobi Shinosuke circled behind Uchiha Chisen, gritting his teeth as lightning surged in his right palm.

"Lightning Release..."

"Lightning Blade Technique!"

The dazzling lightning formed a two-meter-long blade that slashed heavily toward Uchiha Chisen's back. At the same time, the massive concrete pillar, almost wide enough to cover his entire body, came crashing toward him from the front.

Whoosh!!!

Boom!!!

The lightning blade cut Uchiha Chisen's body "in two." The massive concrete pillar slammed down with a boom, driving the severed lower half of his body deep into the ground.

"Shinosuke, watch out! That didn't feel right! There's something strange about his body!" the Great Ape suddenly warned.

Sarutobi Shinosuke's eyes abruptly widened.

He saw Uchiha Chisen, whom he had cut in half, slowly "stand" back up as the magma of his body writhed.

"Water Transformation Technique?" Sarutobi Shinosuke froze. He had already lost count of how many hidden cards Uchiha Chisen had revealed.

"Shinosuke! Get out of the way!!!" came the Great Ape's urgent shout.

"If you were good at Water Style, you could have held out against me a little longer." Uchiha Chisen slightly curled the five fingers of his right hand. His right arm seemed to transform into an enormous Magma Demon Dog, its savage jaws gaping as it lunged to "bite" into Sarutobi Shinosuke's chest.

"Farewell, Teacher Shinosuke."

"Shinosuke! Get out of the way!!!" came the panicked cry of the Third Hokage, who had arrived too late.