One Slash, a Hundred Cut in Half!

At the same time.

Sarutobi Hiyori noticed it.

The people around him were also looking over with surprise, bewilderment, and shock in their eyes.

As though something unexpected had happened to him.

"What's going on?"

Sarutobi Hiyori felt his thoughts growing heavier, his eyelids beginning to droop.

Gurgle.

His head fell to the ground and rolled gently.

That roll brought a bit of clarity back to his consciousness, and he saw a headless body in front of him.

That headless body looked exceptionally familiar.

"Wait, that's... me?"

Sarutobi Hiyori's eyes widened slightly as he thought in disbelief, Did they cut off my head?

At that very moment.

His life came to an end, the astonished expression frozen on his face.

Gurgle...

The head of the Sarutobi jonin beside Sarutobi Hiyori also fell to the ground, rolling before coming to a stop.

The same bewilderment was frozen on that head's face.

The situation had reversed.

Yoshikichi, who should have died, was standing perfectly unharmed where he was.

Instead, Sarutobi Hiyori and a jonin of his own clan, who had launched the attack, had their heads severed in an instant.

The entire scene fell silent.

Everyone stared in horror at the young man who had suddenly appeared.

The young man held a long straight sword. Its blade bore vivid, blood-red flowing patterns that vaguely formed eyes as vicious as those of an evil spirit.

At that moment, the blade was covered in blood.

Yet strangely, the blood did not drip to the ground. Instead, it slowly evaporated, as if the blade were swallowing it.

"H-He killed Elder Hiyori!"

"When did he draw his sword?"

"I don't know!"

"Too fast! I couldn't see it at all!"

"I didn't even know when he got here!"

On Konoha's side, the Anbu, Root, and Sarutobi Clan all felt chills run through their hearts.

Too fast.

They had not seen what had just happened at all.

One second earlier, Sarutobi Hiyori had victory firmly in his grasp.

The next second.

It was as though the scene had skipped a frame. Elder Hiyori's head and that Sarutobi jonin's head had fallen to the ground.

A sword-wielding young man had appeared out of nowhere.

It was an utterly terrifying thing.

They had not seen the young man move, which meant that any one of them could end up just like Elder Hiyori and that Sarutobi jonin...

Their heads cut off in an instant by the young man before they even realized it!

"You're... Junichi?"

Someone among the Uchiha Clan recognized the young man.

But they did not dare be certain.

Aside from the faint traces of familiarity in his features, the young man before them was completely different from Junichi Uchiha!

"It's me."

Junichi turned around and calmly looked at the gathered Uchiha.

Fugaku, the elders, the elite three-tomoe Sharingan users...

The identities of his clansmen surfaced in his mind one by one, matching his memories.

As his gaze swept across them.

A powerful aura of ocular power emanated from Junichi's eyes, one that utterly surpassed the three-tomoe Sharingan!

The prism-shaped patterns in his pupils, so unlike the three tomoe, were also clearly seen by his clansmen as they met his gaze.

"The Mangekyō!?"

"Another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"Did you take care of Itachi, Junichi?"

"Was that slash that cut down Susanoo yours?"

His clansmen asked in disbelief.

Meanwhile.

Some people who knew Junichi quietly introduced his identity to the others.

In the past.

Junichi had been an invisible figure within the clan. He had not even been qualified to attend clan meetings, so naturally, few people knew him.

As Yoshikichi and Fugaku listened to the introductions from the clansmen, their expressions turned exceptionally astonished.

Looking at Junichi, Fugaku asked, "You... really are Junichi?"

"Of course." Junichi nodded and casually said, "The change in my build is because I used a special technique. I awakened the Mangekyō long ago and kept it hidden. That's about it."

The explanation was thoroughly perfunctory.

Quite a few clansmen's mouths twitched.

But Yoshikichi merely gave Junichi a deep look before nodding. "If you say that's how it is, then that's how it is."

The truth was not important.

What mattered was that a clansman with astonishing swordsmanship and the Mangekyō Sharingan stood on their side.

That was enough!

"Junichi, I'm counting on you." Fugaku understood this as well and bowed.

"Mm."

Junichi nodded lightly, then turned to look at the Third Hokage's faction opposite him.

"Don't get too full of yourselves!" A middle-aged ninja from the Sarutobi Clan shouted furiously as he formed hand seals with both hands.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Flame Technique!"

He took a fierce breath, then expelled the aura of refined Fire Release chakra.

Whoosh!

A scorching, dazzling fire dragon swiftly took shape.

The other surrounding ninja also formed hand seals.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Spear!"

Swish!

But Junichi merely raised his hand lightly and slashed once.

A red line flashed through the air.

The next instant.

A sharp wave of sword energy shot forth, cutting both the fire dragon and the Sarutobi ninja who had cast it in half.

And that was not all.

The slash did not lose any of its power, flying more than a hundred meters at incredible speed.

Splurt, splurt, splurt...

Blood sprayed from the waists of the Third Hokage's ninja.

"Impossible!"

They widened their eyes in disbelief as their upper bodies slowly slid down and fell to the ground.

Within a hundred-meter radius.

All 132 ninja standing on the ground had been cut in half at the waist.

"Ah...!!"

At once, the ninja left with only half their bodies fell to the ground, their agonized screams filling the air.

Blood gushed from their severed waists.

On the main road.

Even the air seemed to have been stained a faint red.

"It hurts!"

"My waist!"

"Medical ninja! Is there a medical ninja?!"

Hearing their comrades' agonized cries.

The ninja from the Third Hokage's side in the distance all felt their hair stand on end, their limbs turning cold.

What a terrifying slash!

With just one strike, it had swept through more than seventy ninja within a hundred-meter range.

Most of them were jonin.

They were elite private forces sent by the Third Hokage, as well as elite Anbu and Root ninja!

"Is this the slash that cut down Susanoo?"

Behind them, the Uchiha Clan members also drew sharp breaths.

"Swordsmanship can actually reach such a level!"

"I can't understand it at all!"

"Forget understanding it—I didn't even see Junichi move."

"He must be a god of the sword!"

The clansmen were utterly stunned.

"Elder Yoshikichi, have you ever seen swordsmanship like this?" Fugaku asked in a low voice.

"No!"

Yoshikichi shook his head with a grave expression. "I've never heard of it, never seen it. It's inconceivable!"

"Not even a sword saint could reach such a level!"

"He hid himself far too well!"

Hearing the sigh.

Fugaku nodded in agreement and sighed as well. "Yes, who could have imagined that a youth who had remained unknown for fifteen years possessed such terrifying strength—enough to destroy Susanoo and sweep across the battlefield?"

Both of them believed Junichi had been hiding himself since he was very young.

He had been quietly growing stronger in the shadows all along. If not for this crisis threatening the clan's destruction, they likely would never have known Junichi was so powerful.

Up ahead.

Junichi took a step forward, walking past the half-bodied ninja on the ground.

With every step he took.

The ninja before him instinctively took a step back.

"Afraid now?"

Junichi looked at them expressionlessly. "It's already too late."