Triumphant Return and Reckoning: Sosuke Rebukes the Hidden Leaf Elders

The night wind surged violently through the breach in the wall, instantly scattering the choking smoke and dust indoors.

Dressed in white, Sosuke carried the unconscious Kushina Uzumaki in his arms. Stepping over shattered floorboards and broken bricks, he entered the office that symbolized the highest authority of the Hidden Leaf with steady strides. The crack of wood breaking beneath his feet sounded especially piercing in the pin-drop silence of the room.

The pipe in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand suddenly trembled. Scalding tobacco fell onto the back of his hand, leaving a red burn, yet he seemed not to feel it at all. His clouded eyes remained fixed on the young man before him, who should have died in the Hidden Cloud ambush.

"Y-you... why are you here?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice cracked with extreme shock.

Shimura Danzō, standing in the shadows, had his eye twitching furiously. Veins bulged across the back of the hand gripping his cane. The Thunder Beast Squad was Hidden Cloud Village's finest assassination unit. Even a Kage-level expert could not have escaped their encirclement unscathed in such a short time. Yet Sosuke did not have so much as a drop of blood on him. His pure white haori snapped in the night wind, so spotless it sent a chill down one's spine.

"That's an interesting question, Lord Hokage." A gentle smile curved Sosuke's lips, but his eyes were filled with icy malice. "If I'm not here, should I be out in some desolate wilderness at the border, getting carved into pieces by the Hidden Cloud elites you so carefully arranged?"

Before his words had even faded, Sosuke supported Kushina's waist with one hand, casually reached into his wide sleeve with the other, and flung his arm forward.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several cold flashes carrying a heavy stench of blood tore through the air, shooting straight for Hiruzen Sarutobi's face.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed drastically as he instinctively mobilized chakra and jerked his head aside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several metal forehead protectors smeared with scraps of flesh and viscous blood embedded themselves deep in the solid wooden wall behind him like sharp kunai. One grazed his cheek as it flew past, its fierce wind carving a bloody cut across his aged face.

They were Hidden Cloud Village forehead protectors. Every one of them still carried a nauseating stench.

"So this is the Hidden Leaf's impregnable defense?" The smile vanished completely from Sosuke's face, replaced by cold superiority. "Even the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, a strategic weapon on par with a nuclear bomb, could be openly bundled up and taken away by a few Hidden Cloud trash. Third Hokage, did your barrier unit collectively go blind, or did they receive some higher-up's 'special orders' to deliberately leave the door wide open?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not even bother wiping the blood from his face. His complexion shifted between green and white. With that filthy truth exposed before everyone, he could no longer maintain the kindly facade on his old face.

"Sosuke! Watch your words!" Hiruzen Sarutobi forced himself to maintain the Hokage's dignity and shouted sternly, "The Hidden Cloud is cunning. They exploited the gap during a barrier rotation to infiltrate. That was the Defense Department's failure, and I will hold them accountable. But as the Western Front advisor, you disregarded military orders and abandoned the main force to return to the village. What crime should you face for that?"

"Military orders?"

As if he had heard the greatest joke in the world, Sosuke could not help but laugh softly. His laughter echoed through the empty office, filled with undisguised mockery.

He suddenly took a step forward, and the Yang Release chakra of his perfected Sage Body erupted without restraint.

Boom!

A tangible emerald-green pressure swept through the entire room like a tsunami. The already unsteady desk let out a cracking groan under the crushing weight, while the glass windows exploded one after another into glittering dust.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo felt as though a massive hammer had slammed into their chests. Their breathing abruptly stopped. That pure, domineering chakra, brimming with endless vitality, instantly reminded them of the man whom the entire ninja world had called the God of Shinobi decades ago.

"On the Western Front, I led those defeated remnants you treated as expendable pawns and crushed Hidden Sand's puppet master forces head-on. With one hand, I pinned the One-Tail Shukaku into the sand and drained its essence dry. I beat that old hag Chiyo until she fled like a stray dog. I forced Uchiha Fugaku to sign a contract of servitude and turned the entire Uchiha clan into dogs beneath my Senju Clan!"

Sosuke's voice was not loud, yet every word struck the faces of the Hidden Leaf's highest rulers like a resounding slap.

"I won this unwinnable war for the Hidden Leaf, only to turn around and find that someone had hollowed out the village's heart." Sosuke's gaze was like a blade as he stared Hiruzen Sarutobi down. "You old fools hiding safely in the rear, who don't even know what the soil on the front lines smells like—what right do you have to lecture me about military orders?"

The barrage of questions and those terrifying achievements left Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind completely blank.

Suppress the One-Tail alone? Subdue the Uchiha?

How was that possible? The intelligence clearly stated that he had only begun awakening Wood Release. How could he possess such terrifying strength?

"Outrageous!"

Danzo, who had remained hidden in the shadows, finally could not hold back any longer. He strode forward with his cane, his one remaining eye gleaming with venom and madness.

"Senju Sosuke! Don't think that a little military merit gives you the right to disrespect your elders! The one in your arms is the Hidden Leaf's Nine-Tails jinchūriki! Hand her over to me immediately, then get to ANBU for an interrogation and explain your crime of abandoning your post! Otherwise—"

"Otherwise what?" Sosuke tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping contemptuously over Danzo's gloomy face. "Old dog, do you think your scheme was so clever? You withdrew Root's hidden sentries, let the Hidden Cloud enter and kidnap Kushina, then used the red hair she left along the way as bait to lure me to my death?"

Danzo's pupil abruptly contracted, and he instinctively tightened his grip on his cane. He had never expected the young man before him to see through his supposedly flawless chain of schemes at a glance, even stripping it bare before everyone.

Watching Danzo's furious expression, the mockery at the corner of Sosuke's mouth grew even stronger.

"Unfortunately, you overestimated those Hidden Cloud fools and underestimated me." Sosuke lowered his gaze to the red-haired girl in his arms, sleeping peacefully under the nourishment of Yang Release, then raised his head and delivered his final judgment.

"From today onward, Kushina Uzumaki is no longer under the Hidden Leaf's jurisdiction. She—and the Nine-Tails inside her—are both the private property of my Senju Clan."

"You incompetent trash couldn't protect her. I will."

"Whoever dares lay a hand on her, I'll chop them up from the roots. Whether it's the Hidden Cloud, or..." Sosuke's gaze shifted back and forth between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo, his voice as cold as ice from the far north, "you."

"You dare rebel!" Danzo finally snapped. His old face twisted grotesquely with extreme rage.

The Nine-Tails was the Hidden Leaf's final trump card. If even the jinchūriki fell under the Senju Clan's control, then elders like them would truly become ants who could be crushed to death at any moment.

"Hiruzen! What are you waiting for? This brat has completely lost his mind—he wants to overthrow the Hidden Leaf!" Danzo roared himself hoarse.

Hiruzen Sarutobi clenched his teeth, cold sweat beading densely across his forehead. He knew that if he failed to suppress Sosuke today, the Hokage's authority would be utterly destroyed. But he also knew that against a Wood Release wielder with strength comparable to the First Hokage's, once a battle broke out here, the entire Hokage Building—perhaps even half the Hidden Leaf—would be reduced to ruins.

During the brief seconds of Hiruzen Sarutobi's hesitation, Danzo's patience finally ran out. He could not stand by and watch the Senju Clan climb over his head once more.

"Since the Hokage cannot make up his mind, then this old man will cleanse the Hidden Leaf himself!"

A flash of utter madness and ruthlessness appeared in Danzo's eyes. He abruptly raised his cane and slammed it heavily against the cracked floor.

Thud!

A dull, strange sound rang out.

In an instant, dozens of extremely concealed yet deadly killing intents erupted without warning from the walls around the Hokage's office, the ceiling, and even the shadows cast by the wreckage littering the floor.