Land of Bears, Star Ninja Village.
It was a village nestled among the mountains.
At that moment, the clearing in the center of the village, normally used for training, lay in ruins.
Dozens of ninja wearing Star Ninja uniforms and star-shaped forehead protectors lay sprawled across the ground. Some groaned in pain, while others lay unconscious, all bearing obvious burns and signs of blunt-force trauma.
Beyond the pain in their eyes, there was an unmistakable terror and despair.
And the source of it all,
the purple Susanoo hovering in the sky like a demon god, was slowly fading away.
Sasuke Uchiha released his Susanoo and landed steadily on the ground.
He wore a dark blue, high-collared shirt with the Uchiha Clan emblem on its back, and a ninja blade hung at his waist. His black hair stirred gently in the breeze left in the battle's wake.
His expression was cold. His scarlet eyes, like those of an asura from hell, swept over the incapacitated Star Ninja without the slightest flicker of emotion, as though he were merely looking at a swarm of insignificant ants.
Finally, his gaze settled on the middle-aged ninja closest to him, who was struggling to get up.
He was the current leader of Star Ninja Village, the acting Hoshikage, Akahoshi.
Without expression, Sasuke took two steps forward, then raised his right foot and planted it on Akahoshi's head.
Thud!
Akahoshi's face was driven hard into the dirt with a dull thud.
Looking down at him, Sasuke spoke slowly, his voice icy and thick with contempt:
"Who do you think you are? A mere jonin from some tiny village, and you dare call yourself 'Hoshikage'?"
His voice was quiet, yet every person present heard it clearly. The conscious Star Ninja flushed, then paled, humiliation welling up within