A Clash of Wills of Fire!

Drizzle...

Boom!

As water and fire collided, the already heavy rain clouds in the sky grew denser, with lightning brewing deep within the layers.

Sarutobi Hiruzen landed on a large tree opposite Uchiha Xiu, gripping his shrunken Adamantine Staff, his gaze complex.

Shisui, Fugaku.

He had expected those two to be the most difficult to deal with, but he never imagined... that the Wood Release ninja who killed Danzo would be Uchiha Xiu.

A ninja awaiting promotion to Chunin, with a record of eight D-rank, five C-rank, and two B-rank missions.

"Awaiting promotion" meant he hadn't been promoted yet; in Konoha's official records, Uchiha Xiu was still a Genin.

The strongest Genin!

"Seeking peace through struggle—a very wise sentiment indeed."

Sarutobi, who had struck silently right from the start, spoke, his voice laced with exhaustion:

"It is a pity that there is no place for an old man in this new era. If I were to live... even if I did nothing, I would still prevent Konoha from undergoing new changes."

"Regardless of how one puts it, the tragedy of the Uchiha launching a rebellion must be attributed to my own administrative failures."

Facing the scrutiny of the Third Hokage, Xiu, who had single-handedly pushed the Uchiha to this point since his return, grinned:

"Failure is treason; success is revolution!"

"Under the governance of a group of old men who should have stepped down long ago—men who are conservative and extreme in their thinking—Konoha has become stagnant and more fragile than ever."

Extreme?

Who could be more paranoid than the Uchiha!

However, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had intended to retort, thought of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage—that golden flash as radiant as the sun—as well as the red-hot habanero and the White Fang...

His eyes dimmed.

The palm gripping the Adamantine Staff trembled slightly.

Konoha had indeed declined severely.

Holding him, the Hokage, accountable was entirely justified; as the one who held supreme power, he was naturally responsible for everything.

"Uchiha Xiu, let us continue our battle. Prove your Will of Fire to me."

As expected, might makes right.

Talk-no-jutsu, "will," all of it was nonsense!

At this moment, Sarutobi had no intention of questioning the origin of the Wood Release, nor why a veteran Kage-level powerhouse like Danzo had been killed so rashly; it was meaningless.

He raised his hand and launched three shuriken.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

After throwing the shuriken, the Third quickly formed hand seals.

In the blink of an eye, they split from one into two, and two into four, expanding exponentially until they became hundreds in a heartbeat.

Not only that, but the whistling sound of the shuriken as they flew grew louder, clearly reinforced by some powerful Wind Release ninjutsu.

Watching the shuriken flying toward him, each accompanied by a piercing shriek, Uchiha Xiu's fingers danced, finishing with the Seal of the Snake.

The basic Wood Release copied from Danzo took effect.

Wood Wall!

Boom...

Boom...

Boom...

The shuriken slammed into the thick wall that had woven itself from the ground up, the impact sounding like large-caliber shells striking a bunker.

Air currents surged backward, and smoke billowed!

The reinforced vines within the Wood Wall snapped rapidly, and the wood, full of vitality and toughness, exploded.

Only when they were nearly touching his face, with only a thin layer of bark left between them and Uchiha Xiu, did the shuriken exhaust their momentum and fall to the ground.

Upon landing, these refined shuriken, coated in chakra, instantly shattered into pieces.

The power behind them was evident.

Crack...

At the very end, cracks appeared on the final layer of the Wood Wall, spreading wildly in all directions like a spiderweb.

Phew, managed to block it after all!

It seems the Third Hokage's total chakra reserves are not low; not as exaggerated as the Senju, but certainly more than that old dog Danzo.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted.

With a crisp bang.

The Adamantine Staff flew in from a blind spot, shattering the cracked Wood Release defense in front of him.

A large, furry hand reached out from the top of the staff!

Like a divine weapon descending from the heavens, it gripped Uchiha Xiu by the throat. Crack, crack, crack—the force was exaggerated, enough to crush the windpipe of any ordinary ninja.

At the same time.

Having anticipated this success, the Third Hokage completed a new round of hand seals. A Shadow Clone slammed its hands onto the ground, activating Earth Release.

In an instant, the mud beneath Uchiha Xiu's feet turned into a swamp.

Small earthen dragons soared upward, coiling around him and binding his lower body firmly in place.

Looking at the top-tier summoning beast that had shifted from its staff form back into the Great Monkey King, Uchiha Xiu, who had been feigning pain, narrowed his eyes with a mischievous glint.

He seemed to be smiling.

Glug!

Starting from his hair, his body melted, turning into the same sludge as the Yellow Spring Swamp beneath his feet.

"Even if I don't have a 'ton' of chakra, I have more than enough to employ a clone-based combat style."

A sweep of the Mangekyo, and Fugaku, who had been on edge, finally relaxed.

The young man who had stunned the entire Uchiha clan and was valued by both the moderate and hardline factions was still there.

A figure with the color of raw wood emerged from a large tree, and within two seconds of being exposed to the air, it regained its natural color.

The original body?

A Wood Clone?

An Earth Clone, or a Water Clone?

Go ahead and guess.

Even though Uchiha Xiu didn't speak, the onlookers still read the subtext.

"Hahaha, this old man has only just warmed up." Sarutobi Hiruzen, seemingly having let go of all reservations, laughed heartily.

Whoosh. The monkey raised his hand to catch it.

The staff returned to his palm.

"Shikaku, who do you think will win?" the red-haired, big-bellied man whispered.

Quietly, the heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, who had been responsible for intercepting the main Uchiha force, had returned.

The troops composed of Anbu, Root, the Sarutobi clan, and civilian ninjas were locked in a fierce battle with the Uchiha-led Konoha Military Police Force, with casualties mounting on both sides.

However, the overall scale and intensity remained within an acceptable range.

This was the best outcome Konoha's top strategist could devise on such short notice.

Fortunately, Kakashi was clever enough to have a sense of the big picture and cooperated with the plan in perfect sync...

"I don't know."

Facing the inquiry from his best friend Choza Akimichi, Nara Shikaku shook his head, then weighed the situation seriously:

"But, for a weakened Konoha to produce another figure like Uchiha Madara isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"Because this era lacks Lord Hashirama."

The God of Shinobi, the Asura of the Ninja World—he was the ultimate trump card when played alone.

"..." Inoichi Yamanaka remained silent, feeling a twinge of guilt in his heart.

Loyalty that isn't absolute is absolute disloyalty.

Deeply mired in the misfortune of this internal war, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had ultimately failed to stand firmly by the Third Hokage's side.

They had even secretly pushed for this "Jade General vs. King" dynamic—in Shogi, they are the same type of piece, with one representing the commander of the Red side and the other the commander of the Black side.

However, the Jade General they had expected to represent the Uchiha was the clan head, Fugaku.

They hadn't expected it to unexpectedly become a young Uchiha who had only recently risen to prominence.

"New blood, new atmosphere; perhaps Konoha will move toward a more beautiful rebirth and make the village great again."

"The prerequisite is... that this Uchiha who knows Wood Release isn't insane, that his mental state is relatively normal, or even just that his temperament is stable."

Nara Shikaku, who had presided over the Jonin meetings for many years, calculated in his heart while silently praying to the Sage of Six Paths.

On the tree opposite, Fugaku pondered—

After tonight, will I be the one to take office as the Fifth Hokage?

But Xiu's contributions are too great, and he seems to have won over Shisui as well. This child has shown great vision lately, possessing both strong decisiveness and execution.

He has mastered Wood Release and naturally carries a political advantage.

His only flaws are that he is too young and lacks seniority or military achievements abroad. Will he be able to hold the stage?

Of course, his flaws could also be his strengths.

There is reason to select several more Hokage assistants and advisors to balance the interests of all parties within the village.

This includes Lady Tsunade and Jiraiya, following their return.

--Right now, in his eyes, the Third Hokage, who was swinging his baton so aggressively, was effectively no different from a dead man.

He had not even made his move yet.

Of his two Mangekyo ocular techniques, only the ability to predict the future had been revealed, and that was only through the mouth of his rebellious son, Itachi.

"Moreover, Xiu has yet to show any signs of weakness."

In the heights where no one paid attention.

Within a small, swirling vortex of spatial turbulence, the masked man made a quiet entrance, his heart stirred by waves of shock:

"Xiu, that brat from childhood who would only spend time alone by the river, practicing water-walking like a fool, relying entirely on wasting time to train—how on earth did he cultivate such power!"

Obito, posing as Uchiha Madara, had logged on.

Behind him, Uchiha Itachi stood atop a deserted tower, his heart filled with complex emotions.

So, does the village belong to whichever side wins the coup?

Lord Third and Lord Danzo, who previously had the final say on everything, seemed unable to represent the village tonight.

The weasel could not fathom it.

If Xiu becomes Hokage, or if Father becomes Hokage, should I, this traitor, kneel and pledge my loyalty anew?

No, I will join the Akatsuki, to monitor the man who calls himself Madara, and also to monitor the development of Konoha.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!"

At this moment, the core battlefield below, which held everyone's attention, intensified, and a violent hurricane spread outward from the Third Hokage's position as the center.

Rain, mist, wood chips—everything that obstructed the line of sight was swept away, and the scene became clear.