Ulquiorra Descends

The arriving Anbu members conveyed the Hokage's orders.

Strangely, Uchiha Ryūha accepted them submissively.

Wait until the attack is over to defect; that will deal a greater blow to the Third Hokage.

It would also be a perfect opportunity to refine the background of the faction he was establishing.

More importantly, it provided a perfect alibi.

Returning was out of the question.

The conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha clan was irreconcilable.

Since he couldn't just slaughter the entire Hokage faction, becoming a rogue ninja would make it much easier to stir up trouble.

With this thought, Uchiha Ryūha summoned his system panel.

[Karma Point: 21000]

[Current Long-term Mission: Alter the original plot trajectory; rewards will be granted based on the degree of impact.]

[Main Mission: Become the true controller of the Uchiha clan (Current progress: 90%)]

"Summoning Zaraki Kenpachi to forcibly pack them up and take them away should count as control, right?"

The night sky was moonless, with thick clouds like ink shrouding all of Konoha in an oppressive silence.

Ordinary households had long since extinguished their lights and gone to sleep.

Only the estates of ninja clans had sporadic lights flickering, where ninjas on night watch studied scrolls.

Or perhaps a mother waited for a husband or son who had yet to return.

No one noticed that on the edge of the village's northeast corner, above the dense forest designated as a "restricted area," the air was beginning to distort unnaturally.

At first, it was just a ripple in the breeze, resembling the shimmering heat waves of Natsuhi.

But soon, the ripples began to expand and deepen, like an invisible mirror struck by a massive force, its surface webbed with cracks.

The cracks spread, silent and soundless.

And then—

"Crack."

A faint sound, like glass shattering, rang out in the silent night sky.

The space above the forest was torn asunder.

It was a massive, irregular black fissure.

Its edges flowed with viscous, ink-like darkness, while its interior was a deeper void that seemed capable of swallowing all light.

The fissure slowly opened, like a demonic eye from the abyss, coldly overlooking the forest below that hid countless secrets.

The Root headquarters was built beneath this very forest.

Fifty meters underground, in the Root command room.

The flame of an oil lamp suddenly flickered violently.

Shimura Danzō, who had been hunched over reviewing documents, suddenly looked up, a sharp glint flashing in his single eye.

He felt it almost instantly—that heart-stopping sense of oppression coming from above.

It was not Chakra.

It was some kind of more primitive, colder power, filled with the aura of death.

"Someone!" Shimura Danzō shouted in a low voice.

Two masked Root ninjas appeared in the room via Body Flicker, kneeling on one knee.

"There is an abnormal energy reaction on the surface; send men immediately..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

"BOOM—!!!!!"

The entire underground base shook violently!

It wasn't the rhythmic swaying of an earthquake, but a jolt as if the base had been gripped by an invisible giant hand and shaken fiercely.

Dust fell from the ceiling, walls cracked, and oil lamps toppled over.

The moment the fire went out, the command room plunged into darkness.

"Enemy attack—!!!"

A shrill alarm blared through the corridors of every level of the base.

The well-trained Root ninjas entered combat status within three seconds.

Countless black shadows surged from various rooms, training grounds, and laboratories, sprinting toward the emergency tunnels leading to the surface.

But the moment they rushed out of the tunnel entrance, they all froze in their tracks.

The forest was gone.

Or rather, the forest they were familiar with, filled with barriers and traps, was gone.

It had been replaced by a bizarre sight.

Centered on that black rift, the trees, rocks, and earth within a radius of hundreds of meters were all covered in a layer of bone-pale color.

It was not snow, nor frost, but a more thorough "fading."

It was as if the life force, color, and even the very existence of this area had been forcibly extracted and overwritten by some power.

Pale earth, pale withered trees, pale sky.

And in the center of that pale expanse, before the rift, stood a person.

No, perhaps he could not be called a "person."

His skin, pale to the point of transparency, emitted a cold, eerie luster against the backdrop of darkness.

His short, ink-green hair was meticulously combed back, revealing a smooth forehead and those... hollow eyes that chilled one to the bone.

His emerald-green pupils were accented by two ink-green tear marks at the corners of his eyes.

What should have been bewitchingly beautiful was instead terrifying due to the complete lack of emotion within his gaze.

A fist-sized hole pierced through his chest, its edges smooth, devoid of blood, containing only pure nothingness.

He wore a white robe that hung to his ankles, cinched at the waist by a wide black belt.

He stood there, motionless.

Yet, he caused every Root ninja who saw him to feel an instinctive, uncontrollable fear rising from the depths of their souls.

It was the most primitive trembling of a creature at the bottom of the food chain facing an apex predator.

Ulquiorra Cifer.

One of the Espada, a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande who governed "Nothingness," had descended here.

He slowly lifted his eyelids, his emerald pupils sweeping over the group of frozen humans below.

Wherever his gaze touched, the air seemed to solidify, and even the wind ceased to flow.

"This," his voice was calm, devoid of inflection, yet it reached every person's ears clearly, "is the target location."

The words fell.

"Kill--!!!"

Root ninja were, after all, death-sworn soldiers who had undergone brutal training; after the brief moment of fear, their instinct for slaughter overcame everything else.

The first twelve Jonin of Root to rush out launched their attacks simultaneously!

There were no shouts or communication, only coordination that had reached the peak of perfection.

Six charged from the front, kunai, shuriken, and poisoned senbon pouring down like a rainstorm, sealing off all angles of evasion.

Three flanked from the left and right, their hand seals already completed: "Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Lightning Release: Earth Flash!"

The final three leaped high into the air, pressing their hands to the ground: "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

The pale ground instantly turned into a muddy swamp, attempting to restrict the enemy's movement.

A perfect combined attack.

It was enough to instantly shred an elite Jonin.

Ulquiorra did not even look at them.

He simply stood there quietly, until the very moment the attacks were about to strike him--

His figure blurred for an instant.

In that moment, he "vanished."

It was not the afterimage of a Body Flicker Technique, but a more thorough "disappearance" that defied the laws of physics.

Then, in the same instant, he appeared in the... very center of the twelve Root ninja.

"Sonido."