Ambush

"All right! Danzo, now is not the time for anger!"

"I called you here to find a solution. Given Fugaku's attitude at the time, this should be the result of the entire Uchiha clan's agreement. If we refuse, the Uchiha will definitely make trouble with the village, with Zetsu involved."

The Third Hokage spoke with deeply furrowed brows, his tone full of displeasure at the Uchiha's lack of regard for the bigger picture.

"Hmph! Let them make trouble. With nothing but old, weak, and wounded men left in the Uchiha clan, what right do they have to negotiate terms with the village?" A trace of disdain flashed through Danzo's eyes.

"Danzo, if we fall out with the Uchiha now, do you want the number of ninja at the border to be drastically reduced?"

"Don't forget, the village is still at war. If the Uchiha withdraw or slack off over the relocation of their clan grounds, how will we defend the Land of Lightning border?"

The Third Hokage harshly rebuked Danzo for his thoughtless words.

Danzo's expression darkened further, but he did not refute Sarutobi's words. The Legendary Sannin had either defected or wandered off. The only one still in Konoha, Jiraiya, had restless thoughts as well. If not for the war at the Land of Lightning border tying him down, who knew where he would have gone to gather material by now.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Danzo retorted stubbornly.

Sarutobi also fell silent, continuously puffing on the pipe in his hand.

Utatane Koharu, standing to the side, stepped forward instead. "Why not agree to their demands first? It won't be too late to go back on our word later."

The others' eyes lit up.

The next day, the Third Hokage summoned Fugaku and told him the result of the Elder Council's discussion.

Fugaku nodded after listening.

"Fugaku, that is the situation. You may leave now."

However, after Sarutobi finished reviewing a document and looked up, he found Fugaku still standing there. A hint of confusion flashed through his eyes. "Is there anything else, Fugaku?"

Fugaku recalled what his eldest son had told him that morning. "Father, when you go to see the Hokage this time, if he agrees to the clan's relocation plan, you must make him provide an official document approved by the Hokage."

"Why?" Confusion flashed through Fugaku's eyes.

Hane smiled and said only four words. "Words alone prove Nothingness." With that, Hane took Itachi to school.

Coming back to himself, Fugaku looked at the Third Hokage. After steadying his gaze, he decided to trust his son. "Lord Hokage, I hope you can provide an official Hokage document."

Sarutobi's expression darkened. "Fugaku, are you saying you do not trust me, the Hokage?"

"No, Lord Hokage. With an official document, I will be able to explain things to the clan." Fugaku spoke respectfully.

The Third Hokage cast a gloomy glance at Fugaku, who was still standing there, then sighed. "Sigh, it seems I have not done well enough as Hokage. I actually forgot something this important."

He then casually took a blank document from the side and rapidly wrote on it. Before long, he had finished the document, stamped it with the Hokage's seal, and slowly handed it to Fugaku.

Fugaku took the document and checked its contents. Finding no issue, he gave a slight bow. "Lord Hokage, then I will take my leave."

With that, Fugaku headed for the door. At that moment, Sarutobi, still in the Hokage Building, could no longer suppress the darkness on his face.

At the same time, a figure emerged from the shadows behind Sarutobi. "They harbor the ambitions of wolves. The Uchiha clan truly cannot be trusted."

"Have you investigated it? The specific circumstances of the Uchiha clan meeting?"

Danzo nodded. "The one who proposed the compensation this time was Fugaku's eldest son. What a fine display of unity from top to bottom."

"The little brat who questioned the Will of Fire? Isn't he only six years old? Would those arrogant Uchiha really listen to a child?"

Sarutobi asked somewhat incredulously.

"Hmph! That is why I say the Uchiha harbor the ambitions of wolves. If our spy had not revealed the truth, how would we have known that Fugaku, who usually seemed so honest, had such a card hidden away? It is said that his eldest son defeated an elder from the Uchiha hardliners during the clan meeting and seemed to have awakened a new Bloodline Limit."

A cold gleam flashed through Danzo's eyes as he spoke.

"Troubled times indeed." Sarutobi took a deep puff from his pipe, exhaled, and gazed at the drifting smoke as he sighed.

"Sarutobi, we need to test that little bastard's strength." Danzo stared fixedly at Sarutobi with a sinister gaze.

Sarutobi was silent for a long time. "Do not go too far."

Danzo said nothing more and slowly disappeared into the darkness.

At night, a pale full moon hung in the sky. Hane walked along a secluded path in the Uchiha clan grounds with Itachi and Izumi, each of them holding a skewer of dango.

"Hane, why is yours different from mine this time?" Izumi asked, her lips pouting slightly.

"Because Izumi is too sweet, and I suddenly felt like having something salty," Hane answered teasingly.

Izumi's little face turned red. "No, I want to eat Hane's salty one too." With that, she opened her little mouth and bit toward the savory three-color dango in Hane's hand.

Hane did not suddenly pull it away. Instead, he looked fondly at Izumi as she puffed out her cheeks.

"If you want some, then eat more."

Itachi quietly watched the scene. He lowered his head and looked at the three-color dango in his own hand. Suddenly, he felt that even this dango with double the sugar was not so sweet anymore.

All of a sudden, Hane sensed an intense feeling of being watched and stopped walking. His powerful spiritual sense instantly spread out, and he saw four ninja wearing cat-faced masks hiding in the surrounding darkness.

"Brother, what is it?" Itachi looked at Hane, who had stopped, in confusion.

Hane smiled faintly at the puzzled Itachi and Izumi, whose little mouth was still chewing.

"Itachi, I left something at school. I need to go back and get it." Hane casually made up an excuse to brush them off.

"Then we'll wait for you, Hane!" Izumi said, blinking her adorable big eyes.

However, just as Hane was about to refuse Izumi, Zetsu appeared, and the four ninja moved.

"Forget it! Itachi! Stay alert, there are enemies!"

Hane shouted, and the Five Emperor Swords inside him instantly transformed into five figures, surrounding Izumi and Itachi.

At the same time, Itachi opened his Two-Tomoe Sharingan. Sure enough, he saw four figures rushing toward them at incredible speed.

Boom!

Before Itachi could do anything, he saw his brother transform into a fiery form once more.

Eyes scarlet as blazing flames, strands of fiery hair drifting in the heat wave—it was as if a fire god had descended upon the world.

In an instant, scorching heat like that of midsummer rose into the air.

"Heh, a pack of rats hiding in the gutter." Killing intent flashed through Hane's eyes.

He had originally intended to let Itachi and the others leave first, but the enemies clearly did not have that patience. Obviously, Izumi and Itachi had not been taken seriously at all.

"Enough nonsense. Kill him!"

With that, the four cat-faced ninja swiftly drew kunai and hurled them at Hane. The four kunai shot toward his vital points from different, tricky angles, slicing through the air with shrill whistles.

Hane looked disdainfully at the incoming kunai and ignored them. The flames around his body instantly blazed even more fiercely, their crimson glow illuminating dozens of meters around him.

The searing heat made Izumi and Itachi, standing nearby, feel as though they were being roasted beneath a blazing sun.

Before the kunai could even approach Hane, they melted into thick molten iron. The four Root ninja were shocked at the sight. What kind of technique is this?! But there was no time for wild thoughts.

Hane slightly raised a single-handed seal. A violent wind appeared from nowhere, stirring the flames around him. Sparks began drifting in every direction, like a dreamlike shower of starlight descending upon the world.

Itachi and Izumi stared at the scene in utter shock.

"So beautiful," Izumi murmured blankly.

The fire clone beside Izumi quickly stepped forward and drew a circle around Itachi and Izumi. "Remember, do not leave this circle under any circumstances—not even because of Zetsu!"

The fire clone swiftly spoke to Itachi and Izumi, then recited an incantation. "Fire-Repelling Shield."

The circle the fire clone had drawn became surrounded by densely packed talismans floating around Itachi and Izumi. In an instant, the unbearable heat they had felt vanished, and they felt much cooler.

At that moment, Hane coldly glanced at the cat-faced ninja still charging at him. "Dao Art, Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain!"

Boom!

All the red sparks drifting through the sky suddenly pulsed violently like beating hearts.

The nail-sized sparks instantly swelled, turning into a sea of fire that descended over the entire street. Except for the circle drawn by Izumi and Itachi's clone, purple flames raged everywhere, trapping every Root ninja present.

The Root ninja had not thought much of the sparks filling the sky, but they instantly transformed into a volcano and spread toward them.

The scorching heat immediately ignited their clothing and began burning their bodies.

"Not good! Get out of here!" the Root ninja leading the group shouted.

Having realized that these flames were far from ordinary, the Root ninja no longer dared to charge at Hane. One after another, they hurriedly used the Body Flicker Technique, while one ninja rapidly formed hand seals.

"Water Style, Water Wall!"

He attempted to surround himself with the water from the Water Wall and extinguish the flames on his body.

However, to his horror, the Water Wall did not put out the purple flames as he had imagined. Instead, the incoming fire made it boil, releasing huge clouds of white steam.

In an instant, the self-righteous Root ninja was boiled alive by the scalding water. He let out a heart-wrenching scream before passing out from the agony.

His reddened body slowly fell into the sea of flames and gradually turned to ash beneath the burning fire.

The others were no better off. Every Root ninja touched by the sparks found the flames on their bodies burning even more fiercely. They screamed and rolled across the ground, trying to extinguish the purple fire in this way.

Yet apart from leaving behind clusters of lingering purple flame and burning the street into blackened, pitted craters, it achieved Nothingness whatsoever.

They could only watch helplessly as the flames burned them away bit by bit. The process was incomparably agonizing.

The flames Hane was using were no ordinary fire. Though they could not compare to Samadhi True Fire, they were already infinitely close to Six Ding Jia Fire, flames cultivators specifically used to refine pills and forge artifacts.

Their temperature was incredibly high, and once someone was touched by them, without a fire-avoidance art or Extreme Yin Water, there was no hope of extinguishing them.

Of the four cat-faced ninja, three had already been eliminated. The only one left was the Root captain, who had initially entered using a Shadow Clone to gather intelligence.

The Root captain, hiding in the darkness and observing everything, watched with his pupils contracting sharply. A chilling fear rose within him.

"Is this the Uchiha genius? He is simply a monster. No, I must hurry back and report this intelligence to Lord Danzo."