Ragnarok: Konoha F4's Collective Breakdown

Amid the ruins outside Naka Shrine, dark purple and green chakra rose in tangled streams beneath the deep night.

Dozens of elite ninja in black combat uniforms gripped their weapons as they slowly tightened the encirclement. Every coldly gleaming blade was aimed at the boy in the center—the boy who had Uchiha Itachi beneath his foot.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stood before them. His Ruyi Jingu Bang slammed heavily into the scorched earth, kicking up a ring of fine dust.

His gaze swept over the barely breathing Itachi before he raised his head. Only sorrow and authority remained on his age-spotted face.

"Uchiha Ye! Look... look at the clansman beneath your feet!"

"Not only did you openly defect, but you've laid such a cruel hand on your own people. Is there... is there even a shred of the Will of Fire left in your heart?!"

The Third Hokage poured chakra into his voice, his words carrying across the silent night. He wanted both to suppress Ye's momentum and establish the righteous cause for the Anbu present.

Taking half a step forward, he tightened his grip on the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"Put down your weapon! Surrender immediately!"

"Considering you were misled, the village might even leave you an intact corpse. Otherwise, you won't be flying out of here tonight, even with wings!"

"Heh..."

A soft laugh escaped Ye's throat as he lowered his head.

The laughter began low, then grew louder, until it echoed through the ruins. The surging air stirred up dust, while the chakra pressure crushed the rubble at his feet into powder.

"An old bastard is still an old bastard. You're already at death's door, yet you're still... still standing there preaching."

As the laughter gradually faded, Ye tilted his head slightly. His gaze passed over the Third Hokage's face before settling on Danzo.

"Always going on about slaughtering your fellow villagers, always blabbering about the Will of Fire."

"Don't tell me you really think a few shouted slogans can cover up all the rotten things you've done?"

A completely black scroll dropped into his palm. With a turn of his wrist, the Root-exclusive sealing formula inscribed on its surface came into view.

After clearing out Root's outer perimeter and searching Orochimaru's abandoned base, he had taken this top-secret intelligence file with him.

Danzo's eyelid twitched violently. His single eye locked onto the scroll, and the hand resting on his cane tightened as well.

Even from dozens of meters away, he recognized where the scroll had come from.

It was a top-level classified Root archive.

"What exactly is inside this thing? You two old men ought to know far better than I do."

Ye gave them no time to react. His five fingers closed, and a massive amount of chakra poured directly into the scroll.

The scroll let out a muffled crack, its casing shattering on the spot. There was no fire and no shockwave—only countless sheets of paper scattering into the air.

A whirlwind rose close to the ground. Ye's hands rapidly formed seals, and hundreds of confidential documents were carried over the ruins by the wind, raining down around the Anbu and Root ninja.

A sheet bearing Konoha's high-level seal landed at the feet of an Anbu wearing a cat mask. The wind unfolded one corner, and the firelight revealed the red lettering upon it.

An order to collect and remove the Sharingan from Uchiha Clan corpses was written clearly on the page. The executor was Root, and the approver was Shimura Danzō.

Another Anbu reached out and caught an order drifting toward his mask. The instant he saw its contents, his eyes widened behind it.

Should the Uchiha launch a coup, Anbu squad captain Uchiha Itachi was authorized to carry out a plan to exterminate the entire clan. All potential threats were to be eliminated completely, with civilians also included on the purge list. The signatory was Sarutobi Hiruzen.

No one in the ruins spoke any longer.

The sound of pages fluttering continued as the scattered papers shifted in the wind. The faces of the Third Hokage and Danzo gradually darkened.

The Anbu formation wavered. The blades they had held level slowly lowered. Some sucked in cold breaths, while others turned to look at the Third Hokage, who usually appeared so gentle. Their eyes were filled with confusion.

Behind the Will of Fire they had been willing to defend with their lives, there had actually been such secret dealings in slaughter.

Even unarmed civilians had been written into Konoha's highest authorities' kill list.

"Open your damn eyes and look!"

That broken body rolled several meters across the rubble. Ye kicked Itachi away, leaving a clear trail of blood behind him.

"The seals are all there, and the signatures are plain as day! Danzo ordered them to dig out Sharingan, while that old fox Sarutobi Hiruzen tacitly allowed Itachi to slaughter civilians!"

"On one side, you had Itachi kill off every last man, woman, and child of his clan. On the other... on the other, you hid behind him, turning over corpses and gouging out eyes. You old bastards who never stop talking about righteousness and morality—what gives you the nerve to lecture me about the Will of Fire?!"

The documents lay scattered across the ground, their seals and signatures displayed before everyone. No matter what Konoha's two high-ranking officials said, they could not change the words written on them.

Danzo's face twitched, his single eye bloodshot. He struck the ground repeatedly with his cane, his voice turning shrill.

"Bullshit! This is nothing but malicious deception... It's all forged!"

"Don't listen to his lies! Root, heed my command... Everything in his hands is fake!"

Raising his cane, Danzo pointed its tip toward the still-forming center of chakra.

"At any cost... kill him! He absolutely cannot be allowed to escape alive!"

The dozens of Root ninja under Danzo's control acted first. Without the slightest hesitation, dozens of figures leaped into the air at once.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

The two ninjutsu collided in midair, merging into a mass of flames more than twenty meters wide. Hundreds of poison-coated kunai were hidden within, plunging straight down with a wave of searing heat.

This wide-area attack sealed off every direction, leaving no route for retreat.

Facing the vast sea of flames, Ye's expression did not change. His arms hung at his sides while the chakra system within him operated at full capacity.

"You want to kill me? With... with trash like you?"

A deep sound came from Ye's body. The ground beneath his feet collapsed as a massive amount of chakra surged out.

Dark purple light flickered through the night. Tangible chakra spread outward and crashed directly into the falling flames, blasting apart and scattering both the fire and the kunai.

The air around them churned violently, and fierce winds swept through the ruins. Everyone looked up to see an enormous figure rising from the dispersing firelight.

A gigantic dark purple skeleton appeared first. Red muscle tissue rapidly covered its surface, thick chakra tendons attached themselves to the frame, and heavy outer armor closed over it.

The enormous Susanoo continued to grow, rising from ten meters to twenty, then surpassing forty. Its shadow covered more than half the ruins.

A half-complete Susanoo appeared before everyone.

This enormous chakra entity stood upon the ruins of Naka Shrine, its colossal body blocking out the moonlight and everyone's view.

Their legs went weak. The overwhelming pressure made the Root ninja feel as if their chests were being crushed. Some could not even hold their kunai, and their weapons slipped from their hands.

Ye stood upon the crystal at Susanoo's forehead and looked down. The Third Hokage and Danzo stood at the feet of the entity, dozens of meters tall, so tiny that they seemed as though a single slap could crush them.

A gigantic blade over thirty meters long rapidly formed. Susanoo raised its right arm as dark purple chakra gathered in great quantities within its palm.

The resulting gale tore down the remaining rooftops around them. The blade swept through the night sky, carving a massive semicircle as countless roof tiles spiraled into the distance.

The sword's tip passed over row after row of buildings before finally pointing toward Konoha's most obvious symbol of authority—the place many ninja regarded as their faith.

It was Hokage Rock.

Ye laughed. The Mangekyō Sharingan spun in his eye sockets, and his icy words, carried by chakra, rang out over Konoha.

"Old bastards! Since you... you love this worthless village so much and treat those lousy rocks like some kind of faith, then today, I'll leave you a little keepsake—one memorial you'll never forget!"

Before the final word had finished echoing through the night, the chakra greatsword roared and cleaved directly toward Hokage Rock!