That icy voice wishing her well sounded to Utatane Koharu like the vengeful wail of a spirit coming to claim her life.
It made her scalp crawl and filled her with terror.
Instinctively, she tried to dodge and counterattack.
Unfortunately, compared to Natsume's blinding speed,
she was far too slow...
Decades ago, when she had served as one of Second Tobirama's personal guards,
she had been a full-fledged elite jonin.
But now, she was old and past her prime.
Her strength was nowhere near what it had once been.
A ninja's strength was largely tied to taijutsu and ninjutsu.
She was old enough that her bones were nearly as brittle as thin ice.
Her cells had lost much of their vitality, and she could barely extract any chakra.
How much of her strength could she possibly have left?
Her waning strength was one of the reasons Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had become advisers.
In short, with her strength as it was, this old hag had no chance of dodging Natsume's attack.
And Natsume had no intention of showing mercy to this vile old hag, who had bad-mouthed the Uchiha Clan behind their backs countless times and urged the higher-ups to target them.
In an instant, he used Third-Stage Eight-Fold Speed [Setsuna] to appear behind her.
With a single hand strike, he broke Utatane Koharu's spine and crippled both her hands.
He stripped her of any ability to fight back.
"Lady Adviser!"
"Lady Koharu!"
The other Anbu Ninja nearby were horrified and cried out in alarm.
They all prepared to attack Natsume.
But would Natsume let these Anbu lackeys go?
The next moment,
the Divine Blade left its sheath.
A scorching red flash streaked by.
"Swish, swish, swish—"
Several sharp sounds tore through the air.
In barely an instant, all