The Kage Guard's Varied Thoughts

Hiruzen Sarutobi was greatly alarmed—Shimura Danzō's death could still be dismissed as carelessness born of rage, but Kagami Uchiha's demise cast an inescapable shadow over his heart: the Butcher of Humans' strength was far beyond what Elite Jonin could describe!

It was absolutely Kage-level strength!

(But I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, am no slouch either!)

"Wind Style: Cyclone!"

Without pausing his one-handed seal, Hiruzen Sarutobi joined forces with Enma, layering two Wind Style ninjutsu together. The man and beast spat out two small tornadoes from their mouths, which merged midair, swelling and thickening as they swept toward Uchiha Takeyasu's position.

Before it could even fall from the branch, Kagami Uchiha's headless body wobbled, then was caught tight by the oncoming cyclone. Together with the surrounding branches, leaves, mud, grass, and the corpse of Shimura Danzō below, it formed a blood-colored tornado that rampaged through the forest.

The sheer spectacle made Uchiha Takeyasu, who had dodged aside, click his tongue in wonder.

"That Kagami Uchiha fellow is truly pitiful—loyal to the Senju Clan to the very end, only to have his bones destroyed by his own comrades."

"And poor Shimura Danzō, but no matter—you'll all die here."

"Come to think of it, you should thank me. I'm sparing you the loneliness of walking the road to Yomi alone."

The mocking voice echoed in their ears. Hiruzen Sarutobi gripped the Adamantine Staff with both hands, maintaining a defensive stance as he fixed his gaze on Uchiha Takeyasu standing on a nearby branch. With his Summoning Beast Enma at his side, Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't afraid to lock eyes with a Three Tomoe Uchiha—the moment he fell into a genjutsu, Enma would pull him out.

Yet, the Sharingan in Uchiha Takeyasu's eyes—so different from Kagami's, both gorgeous and sinister—made Hiruzen Sarutobi, no stranger to rare sights, instantly drop his gaze, daring not to meet it again.

"Don't look into his eyes!"

"Uchiha Takeyasu has the Mangekyo Sharingan!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted, the foreboding in his heart growing ever stronger.

(Of all the eyes in legend, why did I have to be unlucky enough to run into them?)

The Mangekyo Sharingan!

Listed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, as the Uchiha Clan's most powerful forbidden power.

The Asura of the Shinobi World, Madara Uchiha—who ended the thousand-year chaos of the shinobi world and, alongside the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, pioneered the village system—possessed these godlike eyes, said to be invincible.

(How old is Uchiha Takeyasu this year? Even an adult? His strength has already surpassed mine.)

(Uchiha... Uchiha!)

(Teacher Tobirama was right—the Uchiha are the village's greatest destabilizing factor.)

With the past as a lesson and the future as a guide—Shimura Danzō and Kagami Uchiha dead, their ashes still flying through the air—Hiruzen Sarutobi dared not act rashly. Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Torifu Akimichi gathered around him, their faces grim.

"Hiruzen, we can't delay any longer. With all this commotion, the Kumogakure rogue ninja pursuers will be here soon."

Utatane Koharu, who had squeezed into the ranks of the Second Hokage's disciples as a woman, naturally had her own merits—she excelled at calm analysis. The current situation was already heavily against them; one misstep and they'd all be buried here.

So she lowered her voice, "Hiruzen, it's time to make a decision."

(A decision? What decision?)

(Do I retreat alone? Or do you cover my strategic withdrawal?)

(Or do we each flee for our lives in the face of disaster?)

Seeing the radiant future ahead, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no desire to die here. Once back in Konoha, he would be the Third Hokage—the center of attention, wielding authority, commanding the strongest shinobi village!

Die here?

Don't be ridiculous!

Sensing Hiruzen Sarutobi's hesitation and the unease of the other three, Uchiha Takeyasu curled the faintest smile at the corner of his mouth. He stroked Tachibana, who had burrowed into his collar, her eyes practically sparkling, savoring the "wonderful" looks of Konoha's future high brass—wanting to kill him but afraid to act—and spoke slowly.

"I came here purely to cause trouble for Kumogakure. It just so happened I ran into you here."

"Even more coincidentally, among you there's a reckless Shimura Danzō and a white-eyed wolf with a traitor's bone."

"With those two I hate most dead, I don't hold that much ill will toward the rest of you."

"After all, I'm no demon—I don't go around slaughtering the innocent."

The four of them—Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Torifu Akimichi—felt their hearts leap, their expressions shifting, and a shared joy welled up inside them. Then, in the next sentence from Uchiha Takeyasu, their spirits plummeted into the abyss.

"As long as you willingly leave two of yourselves behind to be my dogs, I suppose I could let you go."

Watching their faces cycle from gloom to joy, then shock, and finally pain, Uchiha Takeyasu found it immensely entertaining.

He remembered that in the original story, these bastards loved playing political games. The golden generation of Konoha's future was sent to their graves by them, just like the Qing Dynasty in the Celestial Empire. Especially Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu—they seemed to live forever, clinging to their positions as Konoha's elder advisors.

Heroes who died for the village and its people perished young; politicians who lived for themselves and their own interests lived long. How ironic.

Just cutting them down would be too merciful.

(Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat!)

Hiruzen Sarutobi cursed viciously in his heart. The demand from this Uchiha brat was nothing short of killing them with words.

But... he was indeed a little tempted.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were shinobi from minor clans. Their only claim to fame was being disciples of Senju Tobirama; their personal strength didn't rank high in Konoha, a village teeming with clans.

Meanwhile, he and Torifu Akimichi—from the secret technique Ino-Shika-Cho trio—could surely contribute to Konoha's development in ways others couldn't match. Their importance far exceeded that of Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.

Setting aside past bonds, Hiruzen Sarutobi, already thinking like a Hokage, felt the scales in his heart tipping rapidly.

But words of abandoning those two could never come from the mouth of the great, bright, and righteous Third Hokage. So Hiruzen Sarutobi, reminiscing about the dead Shimura Danzō, casually glanced at Torifu Akimichi.

"Everyone, don't believe his divisive nonsense. As long as we stand together, we can definitely return alive and see our beloved families!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the sharp-minded Utatane Koharu's heart sank, her eyes brimming with fury and bitterness—the phrase "beloved families" was nothing short of a cruel mockery.

(At this point, it looks like only Koharu and I will be the ones staying behind.)

Without expectations, there would be no despair. Mitokado Homura had survived this long without being a fool.

If he volunteered to stay, and Hiruzen Sarutobi successfully escaped, out of respect for their master-disciple bond, he would naturally treat their families well. If he abandoned them outright, they might even become enemies, playing right into Uchiha Takeyasu's hands and letting him enjoy the spectacle.

Besides, as long as he didn't die, whether he served as a dog for the Senju Clan or the Uchiha Clan made no difference.

Torifu Akimichi was a typical fat man of the Akimichi Clan, specializing in charging headlong into battle and acting as a meat shield to draw enemy fire. His sense of justice burned fiercely.

Faced with Hiruzen Sarutobi's hint, he had already resolved to hold off Uchiha Takeyasu alone. Sooner or later, he would die anyway. Where he died and for what reason—that was for Torifu Akimichi himself to decide!

The heavy silence was soon broken. To the astonishment of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two, Torifu Akimichi pulled out the clan's secret medicine, the [Red Pepper Pill], the last one remaining from the battle against the Kumogakure rebels. It could amplify his power a hundredfold, but the side effects were lethal—meant for a desperate, final stand.

The "fat pig" in the eyes of ordinary people swallowed it without a moment's hesitation. Gorgeous, radiant butterfly wings instantly unfurled behind him, the immense light of his chakra wings shaking Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, illuminating the dark corners of their hearts and their will to survive.

"You go first. I'll hold off Uchiha Takeyasu!"

"Torifu, hold on. We'll find reinforcements for you!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and fled without looking back. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, spared from becoming dogs or falling into a situation where life and death were out of their hands, immediately followed. Watching this scene, Uchiha Takeyasu fixed his gaze on Torifu Akimichi, who could briefly contend with Kage-level fighters and even potentially defeat them, and spoke softly.

"Is it worth it?"

"Uchiha Takeyasu, if everything in life is decided by whether it's worth it or not, that would be too pathetic."

Unparalleled power surged through his body. Torifu Akimichi knew this was but a fleeting moment—the more he used it, the faster he would die. Facing the Mangekyo Sharingan, which even Senju Tobirama dreaded, he had no intention of trying to match it.

His main task now was to stall Uchiha Takeyasu. As for the rest, he wouldn't be around to see it anyway.

Torifu Akimichi smiled freely and firmly. "Betraying my comrades' lives to crawl back and live in shame—that's not my Ninja Way!"

"In that case, I'll grant you a dignified death."

"Then I'll kill Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others one by one."

"Before these eyes, you are all merely struggling in vain."

Understanding the other's will to die, Uchiha Takeyasu naturally went along with it. As his crimson, dazzling Mangekyo Sharingan rotated, it radiated a coldness that slaughtered all things.