Amid the violent explosions.
Countless Kikaichū were blasted into the air, their severed remains scattering as insect pulp sprayed everywhere.
The air was thick with the foul, burnt stench of insects.
The ground was covered in huge, uneven craters, as if the world had ended.
Within the black smoke, Aburame Ryoma knelt on the ground and wept.
"It's over. It's all over!"
The tens of thousands of mutated Kikaichū he had painstakingly raised had all been blown to death.
For some reason, a brainwashing melody rang through his mind.
How humiliating. The insects he had painstakingly raised had all been burned to death!
Even the insects passed down from his father were gone.
His Fire Release was too powerful!
What hurt Aburame Ryoma the most was that, in order to save his own life, he had even summoned the mutated queen insect to block the fireballs.
Even the queen insect had died!
Without the queen insect, he could no longer breed any insects.
This mutated Kikaichū bloodline had gone extinct!
The chance of a Kikaichū mutation was one in several billion.
Most mutations were bad.
Only an extremely small number of Kikaichū underwent beneficial mutations.
He might never cultivate another mutated Kikaichū in his lifetime.
The loss was far too great!
Without those powerful mutated Kikaichū, his dream of proving the Aburame Clan's strength and becoming Hokage had been shattered.
At that moment, Aburame Ryoma's heart died!
Damn it!
It was all that Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat's fault! If not for that guy, I could have become Hokage!
Aburame Ryoma raised his head resentfully and looked at Uchiha Kurohane standing on the rooftop. Their eyes met.
Uchiha Kurohane mocked him disdainfully.
"So this is your army of thousands? Insects really are useless. Even if there are ten thousand of them, they're still just insects."
"Those worthless insects are a perfect match for someone like you who attacks girls!"
Hearing his most beloved insects being insulted, Aburame Ryoma clenched his fists so hard they bled.
"Don't get cocky. Even without my insects, I still have taijutsu!"
Aburame Ryoma formed a hand seal with one hand. With a whoosh, he vanished from where he knelt.
It was the Body Flicker Technique!
Aburame Ryoma appeared before Uchiha Kurohane and thrust a kunai at his heart.
The attack was incredibly fast, everything happening in the blink of an eye.
It was too fast for anyone to react!
Slash!
The kunai pierced Uchiha Kurohane's heart.
Aburame Ryoma's face filled with wild joy as he shouted.
"I got him!"
But in the next instant, Uchiha Kurohane turned into a puff of white smoke and vanished.
"What? A Shadow Clone?"
"You actually used a Shadow Clone to speak and pretended it was your real body?"
"You're too devious—Aah!"
At the instant Aburame Ryoma spoke, sharp pain shot through both sides of his waist.
Uchiha Kurohane's real body appeared behind him, driving two Giant Fuma Shuriken into both of his kidneys.
Double Kidney Strike!
One move, and both his kidneys were destroyed.
There was a reason Uchiha Kurohane had struck so ruthlessly.
He recognized the purple mark on Aburame Ryoma's right cheek and knew that he would later become Danzo's right-hand man.
When Danzo threatened Yakushi Nonō, he would stand behind Danzo alongside Orochimaru.
Everyone said Danzo was the only bad person in the world of Hokage.
But that was wrong. Those who served evil were accomplices to evil, and they were evil too.
So Aburame Ryoma, who had helped threaten Yakushi Nonō, was also a bad person.
Uchiha Kurohane would give him justice in advance.
[Gee~ The host defeated Aburame Ryoma and obtained the achievement "Defeat the Aburame Clan's Genius." Kekkei Genkai Yatagarasu has upgraded, obtaining the Entry "Yatagarasu: Main God Consciousness S".] (Yatagarasu: Main God Consciousness: The crows and clones summoned by the host will no longer possess independent consciousness and may be controlled freely by the host. When the host is not controlling them, they will only perform simple mechanical actions, and the clones' ability to act autonomously will decrease.)
After reading the ability description, Uchiha Kurohane was overjoyed.
Previously, he could only secretly give orders to the crows and Shadow Clones, directing their movements.
Since Shadow Clones possessed intelligence, they could understand Uchiha Kurohane's commands well, so coordinating with them was not a problem.
But crows were far less intelligent than humans and could not receive precise commands.
He could only make them fly behind an enemy, meaning Uchiha Kurohane could only appear behind them and could not control the exact distance or position.
Moreover, crows needed time to understand commands, which meant there was a delay in controlling them.
That time difference was not obvious against weak Genin, but when facing Jonin or even stronger ninja, it was fatal.
Now that he could directly control the crows, the Yatagarasu Substitute's effectiveness would increase dramatically.
In the future, he could directly control where the crows flew. Once Uchiha Kurohane exchanged positions with a crow, he could immediately launch an attack on the enemy.
In a sense, Yatagarasu's ability had now completely surpassed the Flying Thunder God!
Clap clap clap clap~
Just then, more than a dozen ninja clad in Anbu uniforms and animal masks suddenly appeared on the nearby rooftops.
Uchiha Kurohane's battle had caused too much commotion and alerted the Anbu ninja.
They crouched on the rooftops and immediately surveyed the scene. When they saw the cratered blast marks, they all sucked in a cold breath.
The Anbu captain at the front cried out in a trembling voice.
"Enemy attack!"
"We don't know the exact enemy, but at least one squad has infiltrated Konoha. The enemy's whereabouts are currently unknown. Sound the alarm and call for reinforcements!"
Bang bang bang!
Several Anbu ninja beside him launched signal flares into the sky at once.
A dazzling red glow burst across the sky, and Konoha instantly entered an emergency wartime state.
The security force and other Anbu immediately rushed toward the signal flares, while the other Chunin and Genin were assigned to evacuate the civilians.
Since the war had always been fought on the outskirts of the Land of Fire, Konoha's villagers had not been affected before now.
When they suddenly discovered that war had come, they were terrified and panicked.
Even though there had been drills before, everything was now in complete disarray.
The villagers ran wildly through the streets like headless flies, shouting in panic. Some were so frightened that they fell to their knees. All of Konoha was in chaos.
Uchiha Kurohane did not know whether to laugh or cry and hurriedly explained.
"You've misunderstood. There's no enemy attack. I was just fighting that guy."
The Anbu all thought he was joking and glared at Uchiha Kurohane angrily.
"This concerns Konoha's safety. This is not the time for jokes!"
"You were lucky to escape with your lives. Hurry and hide!"
Enduring the pain, Aburame Ryoma shouted.
"There are no invading enemies! He injured me with the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Pumpkin Head also shouted at that moment.
"Anbu-sama, there's no enemy attack here! That Uchiha brat attacked us. Hurry and arrest him!"
Since Aburame Ryoma and Pumpkin Head wore Genin forehead protectors, the Anbu were deeply puzzled when even Genin said the same thing.
"You mean the craters in this street were caused by his Fire Release Ninjutsu?"
"He's only a student. Is he really capable of that?"
Aburame Ryoma said resentfully.
"He's an evil Uchiha brat! The Uchiha Clan's abilities are just that terrifying!"
The Anbu exchanged glances.
As battle-hardened ninja, they had all witnessed the Uchiha Clan in combat.
Although the Uchiha Clan possessed the Sharingan, which could see through an enemy's movements, and excelled at Fire Release, what people truly feared was Genjutsu.
If even a child of the Uchiha Clan could unleash Fire Release with such power, no one would fear the Uchiha Clan's Genjutsu anymore.
If they were about to be burned to death, who would still be afraid of Genjutsu?
Everyone would start fearing the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release instead!
Before you continue