This is putting Sarutobi Hiruzen on the spot

Chapter 32: This Was Putting Sarutobi Hiruzen Over a Fire—Two Hours After Registration Ended

At Konoha's gates, more than four thousand ninja stood ready to depart.

Uchiha Fugaku stood atop a raised platform, his long black hair billowing in the wind. His deep, powerful voice rang across the entire square.

The ninja below fell silent at once, every gaze fixed upon him.

"We are about to march to the Kirigakure battlefield!"

"Bring our children home!"

"Avenge our fallen comrades!"

"Konoha's glory—we will reclaim it with our own hands!"

His right hand slashed downward. "Move out!"

Boom... boom...!!

More than four thousand ninja leaped into the air at once, surging out through Konoha's gates like a black torrent.

The streets on both sides were packed with villagers seeing them off.

An elderly woman with a head full of silver hair staggered out of the crowd and stuffed a bouquet of wild chrysanthemums still wet with morning dew into the hands of an Uchiha ninja she knew.

Her withered fingers clutched tightly at the ninja's sleeve. "Please... please make sure Xiao Ming comes back... My grandson loves the rice balls I make most..."

The ninja solemnly accepted the flowers and nodded. Then he leaped onto the treetops and vanished into the ranks.

Some of the Uchiha Clan members seeing them off shouted loudly, "Konoha will win! The Uchiha Clan will win!"

Amid the cheers, a red-haired little girl suddenly broke free from her mother's hand and chased after the group for more than ten meters before a Chūnin on duty stopped her.

"Dad! You have to come back!" Her tearful cry pierced through the clamor...

Once they entered the dense forest, their marching speed abruptly increased.

The ninja flickered through the canopy like a group of silent ghosts.

Uchiha Fugaku did not slow at all. He slightly turned his head toward the person beside him. "Sanpo, are you sure the Kirigakure ninja will raid Nansha City?"

Uchiha Sanpo leaped over from the side. "There are only three cities along the southern coast of the Land of Fire—Bear City, White Bird City, and Nansha City. Bear City is the richest and has already been raided many times. White Bird City lies in the middle, and the frequency of recent attacks there has also increased. Nansha City is near the Land of Hot Water. After they loot White Bird City, they will definitely pass through the Land of Hot Water and flee to the Land of Water."

Clan Head Kurama caught up from behind and said gravely, "Why not head straight to Nansha City and intercept them?"

Uchiha Sanpo shook his head. "No. We go to Bear City first."

Clan Head Kazami frowned. "Wouldn't that waste too much time?"

Uchiha Sanpo's gaze was sharp as a blade. "Sarutobi Hiruzen had the children graduate early and formed an army of three thousand children and elderly people. The casualties are already this severe."

Uchiha Fugaku pondered for a moment. "You mean..."

"First, save the children in Bear City. Send part of our forces to escort them back to Konoha, and bring back the children's bodies as well. Let Konoha's people see with their own eyes what kind of Hell their Hokage sent those children into."

"Then we go to White Bird City and do the same. Finally, we take only three hundred Jōnin and rush at full speed to Nansha City to intercept Kirigakure's main force!"

Clan Head Kazami still had doubts. "Three hundred Jōnin... isn't that too risky?"

"The reason Kirigakure's more than three thousand ninja have been so difficult to eliminate is because they have no base. They roam around committing crimes, fleeing as soon as they finish looting. Now that they have taken enough, their will to fight has long since declined."

Uchiha Fugaku's Sharingan flickered faintly. "Fine. We'll do as Sanpo says."

Eleven hours later, Bear City.

The setting sun was like blood, shining over this once-prosperous coastal city.

The city walls were damaged, and uncollected ninja tools and bloodstains lay scattered across the streets. The air was filled with the scorched stench of blood.

Five children under ten had fallen in a fan-shaped formation. The one farthest away still clutched an unlit signal flare in his hand.

Clan Head Kurama's voice trembled. "Squad Forty-Seven has been wiped out. This is already the seventh group we've encountered today..."

Clan Head Kazami slammed his fist into a tree trunk. "That old bastard Sarutobi Hiruzen!"

Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan slowly turned as his gaze fell on the tiny corpse hugging a rag doll. "Collect all the bodies..."

Inside Konoha's stronghold in Bear City, only fifty-three people remained from the original force of one thousand.

On the empty training ground, several dirt-covered children huddled in a corner with vacant eyes.

An Uchiha Chūnin missing an arm staggered forward, his voice hoarse. "Lord Fugaku... You finally came..."

Uchiha Fugaku's gaze swept across the surroundings, and his Sharingan instantly caught the lingering traces of battle.

The Chūnin gritted his teeth. "The Kirigakure ninja came two days ago. They... they took all the supplies. Everyone who refused to surrender was killed..."

Uchiha Sanpo's fists clenched until they crackled. "What about the children?"

"The living ones... are all here..."

A little girl who appeared to be under ten timidly walked over, clutching a bloodstained photograph.

"Uncle... can my dad... still come back?"

Uchiha Sanpo crouched down and gently stroked her head. "We will make those people... pay the price."

"Report: the figures have been compiled. Eight hundred forty-one bodies have been recovered, including seven hundred fifty-four children and eighty-seven adults. Another forty-three bodies are too badly damaged, and fifty-nine people are still missing."

Clan Head Kurama walked over and said, "Sanpo, it's time to head to White Bird City. We'll leave two thousand people behind to handle the aftermath. They'll take care of the rest."

Uchiha Sanpo said coldly, "Have those two thousand escort the fifty-three survivors back to Konoha. Also, bring these bodies with them. Before entering Konoha's gates, have them take the bodies out of the Storage Scrolls and carry them on stretchers to the square at the Ninja Academy. Then notify the families to come claim the bodies."

Clan Head Kurama sucked in a sharp breath after hearing that. If people merely heard that several hundred had died, many would have no real sense of it.

But if they really followed Uchiha Sanpo's plan and carried them to the academy square on stretchers, with two people per body and stretcher, the eight hundred eighty-four bodies would form a line nearly two thousand meters long. When Konoha's people along the streets saw that endless procession of corpses... their reaction was hard to imagine.

Uchiha Sanpo looked toward Konoha, his voice cold and filled with killing intent. "I want them to see clearly that every small corpse is a nail hammered into Sarutobi Hiruzen's coffin."

Clan Head Kazami suddenly laughed, and that smile was chilling. "Displaying the bodies in the Ninja Academy's square... What a brilliant idea. Sarutobi Hiruzen is the headmaster of the Ninja Academy, and he was the one who ordered the students to graduate early. This is putting Sarutobi Hiruzen over a fire!"

At that, Uchiha Fugaku gave the order in an unquestionable voice. "Carry it out. Let the Third Hokage... see his masterpiece with his own eyes."

Every small corpse was a nail hammered into Sarutobi Hiruzen's coffin.

Ninja Academy training ground