Sasuke Killed a Few Enemies? You Look Pretty Pleased

Yuan casually crushed a shattered mask that had belonged to a Root ninja underfoot. He paid no further attention to Shikaku, who was still gasping for breath, and leaped straight up, shooting through the huge hole blasted in the dome overhead and vanishing into the night.

At the same time, dozens of kilometers outside Konoha, in another surviving Root stronghold hidden inside a mountain.

This was the last supply transfer station Danzo had left behind, garrisoned by a dozen diehard Root loyalists. But now, this secret base had become a slaughterhouse of blood and fire.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge mass of orange-red flame exploded in the narrow stone tunnel, its terrifying heat instantly burning two Root ninjas who had tried to close in for hand-to-hand combat into charred skeletons.

In the firelight, a boy in a dark blue high-collared shirt knelt on one knee, his chest heaving violently. It was Sasuke Uchiha.

His left shoulder had been viciously pierced through by a barbed kunai, and blood dripped down his arm onto the ground. His once-handsome face was now smeared with mud and blood, making him look savage and wretched. At the back of his neck, the three-tomoe curse mark Yuan had forcibly suppressed was faintly burning from the excessive drain on his chakra, wisps of ominous black markings trying to crawl up along his neck.

"Cough, cough..." Sasuke coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. His black eyes had already turned crimson, two tomoe spinning rapidly in his pupils as he locked onto the last remaining Root squad captain in the center of the stronghold's hall.

"Uchiha brat... you actually found this place alone..." The Root squad captain gripped a chipped ninja blade and looked at the corpses of his comrades scattered around him, anger and disbelief both in his eyes. "That monster called Yuan didn't come with you. Do you think with that pitiful bit of strength, you can imitate him and massacre Root?"

"Shut up." Sasuke's voice was as cold as ice.

Enduring the tearing pain in his shoulder, he slowly stood and gripped the kunai in a reverse hold with his right hand. Why had he come alone? Because he was going mad. These past few days, he had watched Yuan kill the higher-ups like he was crushing ants, trample the Anbu, and blow Orochimaru apart. Every time Yuan slaughtered his way through everyone, Sasuke could only stand on a distant rooftop like trash and watch!

He was a survivor of the Uchiha clan. His hatred was no less than Yuan's! Why should he only be a hothouse flower hiding under Yuan's wings, protected by him?

I don't need anyone to avenge me! Sasuke let out a hysterical roar in his heart.

Whoosh! Chakra erupted beneath Sasuke's feet, and he charged forward with no regard for anything else.

"You're courting death!" The Root squad captain swung his blade in a horizontal slash, aiming straight for Sasuke's throat.

Just as the blade was about to touch him, the twin tomoe in Sasuke's eyes abruptly contracted, his dynamic vision forced to its limit in an instant. His body bent backward at an unbelievable angle, and the blade brushed past the tip of his nose, cutting off a few strands of black hair.

Immediately after, Sasuke flipped his right wrist, and the kunai carrying all his hatred and chakra stabbed viciously up through the Root squad captain's chin like a viper flicking out its tongue, piercing straight into his skull and through his brain!

"Uh..." The squad captain's movements froze instantly. His ninja blade fell to the ground with a clang, and his corpse collapsed heavily.

The stronghold had been cleared.

Sasuke collapsed weakly into the blood pooled across the floor, panting in great gulps. He looked at his blood-covered hands and suddenly let out a low, neurotic laugh. He had done it. He had finally killed his enemies by his own strength. But... why did he still feel so empty?

"You killed a few third-rate pieces of trash, and that made you this happy?"

A familiar, extremely grating, indifferent voice suddenly rang out above the empty stone hall.

Sasuke abruptly raised his head.