Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice.
Behind him lay Konoha. He was the Hokage.
Retreat wasn't in his vocabulary.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bomb!"
He ignited every last bit of Chakra inside him. What erupted from his throat was no longer a stream of flames, but a monstrous dragon made of lava and fire!
The ruined office was vaporized in an instant. The scorching waves of heat warped the air as the roaring fire dragon opened its jaws, intent on burning this madman who dared profane a legend to ash!
This was the pinnacle attack of the "Professor of Ninjutsu," powerful enough to flatten a small mountain.
Yet, faced with an attack that could melt almost anything, the man Lin Feng was playing—Uchiha Madara—simply stood still.
He didn't even lower his arms, still folded across his chest.
"Hmph. The monkey's fire is still as warm as ever."
A contemptuous murmur.
Just before the world-destroying fire dragon could touch the hem of his clothes,
four words slipped indifferently from his lips.
"Shinra Tensei."
Humm—
It was as if the world's sounds had been drained away in that instant.
There was no earth-shaking boom, no dazzling flash of light.
An invisible, intangible force of repulsion, so overwhelming it defied all reason, erupted around him!
The enormous fire dragon, powerful enough to burn down an entire city block, hit that force and stopped dead, like a bull charging into an invisible mountain.
Then, under the horrified gaze of Sarutobi Hiruzen and every Anbu present,
the mighty fire dragon was crushed inward by an irresistible force, twisted, folded...
Finally, with a soft pop, it burst like a water balloon pricked by a mischievous child, scattering into sparks that quickly fizzled out.
But that was only the beginning.
The invisible force didn't let up. It kept expanding wildly in every direction!
"Watch out!" Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. He tried to warn the men behind him, but it was already too late.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
A string of muffled bone-crunching sounds rang out.
The eleven Anbu elites who had been bristling with killing intent moments ago were as fragile as paper before that repulsive force. The overwhelming force slammed into them. Before they could even cry out, they vomited blood and went flying in all directions, smashing through the remaining walls and ceiling before losing consciousness.
Rumble—
The entire Hokage Building groaned under the force. Countless cracks spread outward from Madara's feet, covering the whole structure like a spiderweb.
Sarutobi Hiruzen drove his feet into the ground with all his might, but the force still shoved him backward, step by step. His feet carved two deep furrows through the hard stone floor, and the bones in his legs groaned under the strain.
He looked up, his cloudy eyes filled with utter disbelief.
So this was... Madara's power?
With a single move, without even lifting a hand, he had nullified Hiruzen's signature Fire Style jutsu and taken out Konoha's elite Anbu, the force he was so proud of!
This wasn't even a fight between equals!
The repulsive force faded, and dust filled the air.
Uchiha Madara slowly lowered his arms. The ground within three feet of his body was the only part of the entire floor that remained intact.
"Is that your answer, little monkey?" he asked indifferently. "Putting on a dance like that to entertain me is far too dull."
Sarutobi Hiruzen clutched his aching chest. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth as he stared at the man. "You... What do you want?"
He was stunned, but his mind was still working as the Hokage.
This man wielded such terrifying power, yet hadn't immediately tried to kill him.
He had to want more than simply to destroy everything!
"What do I want?"
Lin Feng relaxed slightly inside. The first head-on clash had gone perfectly, and the effect had been explosive.
He kept up Madara's icy tone while racking his brain for his next line.
He couldn't exactly say, "I'm carrying out the Eye of the Moon Plan. Everyone, line up for the genjutsu," could he? That would be ridiculous and completely wrong for this point in the story.
He needed a reason—one that fit the character, would keep the other man quiet for now, and could set up what came next.
Got it! Madara's obsession!
He took two steps forward and looked around at the office, now completely reduced to ruins. His voice carried a trace of disappointment, like a traveler returning home only to find it in shambles.
"I merely came back to see what had become of the village Hashirama and I built together."
He walked to the shattered window and looked down at Konoha, still prosperous but now in an uproar. His voice was distant and somber.
"The result... is disgusting."
"Shinobi no longer fight to protect their convictions. They've become politicians, scrabbling for power. This so-called peace is built on false compromises and endless schemes."
"And the Uchiha, the pride of my clan, seem to have been forgotten in some corner of the village."
Every word struck Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart like a poisoned needle!
His face turned deathly pale.
He couldn't refute any of it.
It was all true! The power struggles among the village leaders, their suspicions and exclusion of the Uchiha Clan... These things were real, and they were among the shadows he had allowed to persist!
"You..."
"Silence."
Madara cut him off coldly. "I have no interest in hearing your excuses. Nor did I come here to play house with a brat like you."
He looked down at the village, his Rinnegan inscrutable.
"I came only to make one announcement."
Sarutobi Hiruzen and the few Anbu in the distant ruins who were struggling to get up all held their breath.
"This world needs to be reshaped. Its order needs to be rebuilt."
"From this day on, let Asura guide your way forward."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a cold, powerful surge of Chakra rushed toward them from outside the Hokage Building!
"That Chakra... It's Danzo!" Sarutobi Hiruzen thought, his heart tightening. "This is bad."
An old man leaning on a cane, with a bandage over his right eye and a sinister expression, appeared in the ruins of the office with several Root shinobi whose presence was as lifeless as corpses.
"Sarutobi! What happened here?"
It was Shimura Danzō. The moment he appeared, his lone exposed eye fixed on the figure by the window.
When he recognized the long-extinct armor from the Warring States era and that wild, unmistakable mane of hair, even his usually impassive, cold face betrayed a trace of shock.
"Uchiha... Madara?"
"Oh? Another rat crawling out of the shadows."
Madara slowly turned around, his magnificent purple Rinnegan calmly meeting Danzo's exposed eye.
Danzo felt his heart jolt. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp.
But he had spent his life dealing in schemes and darkness. His resolve was far fiercer than most, and he quickly regained his composure with a cold laugh.
"Quit your theatrics! Uchiha Madara died at the Valley of the End! You're an impostor. Do you think you can fool my eyes?"
The Root shinobi behind him immediately spread out. Expressionless as puppets, they held short blades glinting with poison and began forming a new encirclement.
Sarutobi Hiruzen groaned inwardly.
Danzo's nature would only drive an already disastrous situation straight into the abyss!
But Madara didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled.
It was the smile of someone who saw through every little trick of an insect, full of boundless mockery.
"Your eyes?"
His voice held a trace of amusement. His gaze seemed to pierce through every obstacle and settle on the thick bandages covering Danzo's face.
"You mean... the Sharingan hidden beneath those bandages, the one that doesn't belong to you?"
At those words,
the cold smile on Shimura Danzō's face, along with all his malice and scorn, froze in place.
It was as if he'd been struck by lightning. He stood rigid, a look of shock and fear appearing on his face for the first time—he looked even more shaken than Sarutobi Hiruzen had moments ago.
His greatest secret. The trump card that kept him safe. The greatest thing he relied on in his bid for the Hokage Position!
This man...
How did he know?!
Before you continue