"The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan..."
Chiya murmured under his breath and put away the flame-patterned Gunbai that symbolized the Uchiha's glory.
In the gloomy basement, flickering candlelight stretched his shadow long, like a demon god poised to devour the world.
He was in no hurry to take Sasuke's eyes, just as a farmer would not harvest crops the moment they sprouted. The seed of hatred had only just been planted in Sasuke. It still needed time and fear to nurture it before it could bear the fruit called "eternity."
"System, open my status panel."
[Host: Chiya Uchiha] [Strength: Super Kage Level (perfect fusion of reiatsu and chakra)] [Zanpakuto: Ryūjin Jakka (Shikai fully mastered; Bankai, Zanka no Tachi, unlock progress: 40%)] [Special abilities: Perfect Wood Release, Kotoamatsukami (right eye), space-time aptitude (beginner), Kamui Fragment x1] [Kill points: 124,000 (enough for one advanced draw or physical enhancement)]
As he looked at his staggering kill points, the smile on Chiya's lips grew colder.
Power.
That was the only truth that mattered for survival in this man-eat-man shinobi world.
"All right. Time to meet those 'big shots' who are still trembling."
Chiya turned, pushed open the doors of the Naka Shrine, and headed toward the center of Konoha's power-the Hokage Building.
[Hokage Building · Supreme Conference Room]
This had once been where successive Hokage and their Advisors discussed the village's most important affairs. The calligraphy of the character for "fire" hanging on the wall still bore bold, powerful strokes.
But now, the atmosphere in the conference room was suffocating, as though the air were filled with solidified mercury.
Every remaining member of Konoha's top fighting force sat along the two sides of the long table.
Hyuga Hiashi, Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Akimichi Chōza, Shibi Aburame, Tsume Inuzuka...
These clan heads, whose slightest actions could normally shake all of Konoha, now looked like schoolchildren waiting for a lecture. Each sat rigidly upright, not even daring to breathe loudly.
At the head of the table, the Hokage's chair stood empty.
No one dared sit in it.
Thud.
The doors swung open.
Every clan head shuddered and rose to their feet in perfect unison, as though they had rehearsed it countless times.
Chiya walked in.
He had not changed into formal clothing. He still wore his bloodstained Uchiha Attire, with Ryūjin Jakka hanging at his waist. Yet to everyone present, this outfit was more intimidating than any Hokage's robe.
Chiya walked straight to the head of the table.
But instead of taking the chair, he planted one foot on it, then sat directly on the broad desk, looking down at everyone from above.
"Sit."
Chiya casually picked up the red-and-white Hokage hat on the desk and spun it around in his hand.
Only then did the others dare sit down cautiously, barely perching on the edges of their chairs.
"Lord Chiya..."
As Konoha's strategist, Shikaku Nara steeled himself and spoke first. He glanced at the hat in Chiya's hand and chose his words carefully.
"The village has no leader now. The Third Hokage... Hiruzen Sarutobi is dead, and the Advisors Council has been wiped out. To reassure our people and deter outside enemies, we need a new leader."
At that, Shikaku drew a deep breath, stood up, and bowed deeply to Chiya.
"All the clan heads present agree that, whether in strength or... methods, you are the only choice for Fifth Hokage!"
"Please succeed as the Fifth Hokage, Lord Chiya! Lead Konoha!"
"Please accept the position, Lord Chiya!"
Hyuga Hiashi followed immediately, and then every clan head stood and called out together.
Were they sincere?
Perhaps half of it came from fear, but the other half was grounded in reality. In a world where strength ruled supreme, only a monster like Chiya, who could slay the Death God, could keep things under control after such upheaval.
Yet...
"Hokage?"
Chiya stopped spinning the hat, a faint, ambiguous smile crossing his face.
Smack!
He casually tossed the Hokage hat, coveted by countless people, onto the corner of the desk with a sharp crack.
"Shikaku, do you think I have nothing better to do?"
Chiya leaned back, bracing both hands against the desktop. His gaze was languid, but dangerous.
"Become Hokage? Spend every day buried under a mountain of paperwork? Send people out because some neighboring village lost a cat? Play along with that stupid pig of a daimyo?"
"Whoever wants that lousy job babysitting the entire village can have it."
"I'm not interested."
The room fell into stunned silence.
Everyone froze. This was the position of Hokage-the pinnacle of the ninja world! Chiya had actually refused because it was "too much trouble"?
But only Chiya knew that, beyond the inconvenience, the more important reason was the system.
His path to greater strength was [Slaughter and Plunder].
If he became Hokage and let himself be shackled by political obligations like "protecting the village" and "peaceful diplomacy," how could he keep killing? How could he keep plundering? Was he supposed to hide in his shell like the Third Hokage?
What he wanted was absolute freedom-the right to kill without restraint!
"Then... what should we do about the village?" Shikaku asked, at a loss.
"Simple."
Chiya snapped his fingers. His expression instantly turned serious, and an ironclad resolve settled over the room.
"Starting today, the old 'Hokage and Advisors' system is abolished."
"Konoha is entering an era of military rule!"
Chiya raised one finger and traced a circle in the air.
"We'll establish the Konoha Supreme Council."
"Every clan head here will be a council member."
"And I..." Chiya pointed at himself. "Will serve as chairman, with veto power and final authority."
"In other words, whatever I want done, you do. Whoever I want dead, the whole village hands me the knife."
"As for all those trivial day-to-day matters..."
Chiya pointed at Hyuga Hiashi and Shikaku Nara.
"Hiashi will handle security and public order. Take over the former Anbu and the Konoha Military Police Force, impose a curfew, and kill anyone who dares cause trouble."
"Shikaku will handle administration and logistics. Running the village, assigning missions, arguing with the daimyo-all of that goes to you."
"You two answer directly to me."
That was Chiya's plan.
He did not want to be the figurehead called Hokage. He wanted to be the dictator behind the scenes!
As long as he controlled the military and had the final say, he could leave the rest of the petty work to these useful tools and let them work themselves to death.
"This..."
Hyuga Hiashi and Shikaku Nara exchanged a glance, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes.
This was nothing like a Hokage's rule. It was outright military dictatorship!
But on closer thought...
Though domineering, this system would be highly efficient! And the major ninja clans would gain more influence through the council than they had under the Third Hokage-as long as they did not defy Chiya's will.
"Understood?" Chiya asked coldly.
"Yes! We will obey the chairman's orders!"
Everyone answered in unison.
"As for the position of Fifth Hokage..."
Chiya rubbed his chin, a glint of mischievous malice flashing in his eyes.
"Leave it vacant for now."
"Or send someone to bring Tsunade back. That old woman has a foul temper, but she'd make a perfectly good figurehead to put on display."
"Until she returns, my word... is law in Konoha."
The meeting ended.
Under Chiya's iron fist, Konoha's new order was swiftly established.
Without the Third Hokage's indecision or Danzo's underhanded interference, the enormous war machine that was Konoha began operating with unprecedented efficiency.
Purges, suppression, restructuring.
In just three days, every destabilizing element within Konoha had been swept away.
Yet...
Even when the tree wished for stillness, the wind would not cease.
Though Konoha had settled its internal turmoil, news of the deaths of the Third Hokage and Danzo was like a chunk of bloody meat thrown into a shark-filled pond.
The entire shinobi world erupted.
[Land of Lightning · Kumogakure]
Inside the Raikage Building, raging Lightning Release chakra nearly blew the roof off.
"Dead?! Hiruzen Sarutobi, the so-called 'Shinobi Hero,' is really dead?!"
The Fourth Raikage A stood bare-chested, his muscles bulging as he gripped the urgent intelligence report from Konoha.
"Big bro, the intel's confirmed, you fool! You bastard!"
Killer B was still rapping, but a rare note of seriousness entered his voice. "That kid called Chiya is strong! Blazing hot! Burned the old Third Hokage to ash on the spot!"
"Hmph! Strong, my ass!"
The Raikage slammed his palm onto the desk, instantly reducing the sturdy piece of furniture to splinters.
"Konoha has no Hokage now, no Advisors, and even its Anbu have suffered heavy casualties!"
"This is a heaven-sent opportunity!"
"No matter how strong Chiya Uchiha is, he's still just some teenage brat! Can he stop Kumogakure's forces from trampling him?!"
Greed and bloodlust gleamed in the Raikage's eyes.
His last failed attempt to seize the Byakugan from Konoha-the Hizashi Hyuga incident-had always been a thorn in his side.
"Pass down my orders! Assemble Kumogakure's First and Second Combat Units!"
"Target: the Land of Fire's border!"
"Kick them while they're down! I'll crush that 'Flame Emperor's' skull myself and take every Sharingan and Byakugan!"
[Land of Earth · Iwagakure]
Inside the Tsuchikage's office.
The diminutive Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, floated in midair, studying the intelligence scroll in his hands. A sinister smile crept across his deeply wrinkled face.
"Heh heh heh... That old monkey Sarutobi actually died at the hands of his own people."
"What a disgraceful end."
Ōnoki rubbed his large red nose, a calculating gleam in his eyes.
"Chiya Uchiha... He subdued Konoha single-handedly? And drove back someone suspected to be Madara Uchiha?"
"Interesting. But young men are always too hotheaded."
"After a civil war, Konoha must have been badly weakened."
Ōnoki looked out the window at Iwagakure's Explosion Corps, fully equipped and ready to march.
"If I don't take my share now, what have I been doing all these years as Tsuchikage?"
"Send orders to Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, and Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki."
"Have them lead the troops out."
"That brute in Kumogakure is certain to act, so we'll follow behind."
"Once both sides have battered each other..."
Ōnoki made a grasping gesture, his eyes gleaming coldly.
"We'll swallow Konoha and Kumogakure together!"
[Land of Wind · Sunagakure]
"Something happened in Konoha?"
"Then our alliance..."
Granny Chiyo studied the intelligence report, her brow tightly furrowed.
"Alliance? In the face of profit, an alliance is just a worthless scrap of paper!"
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa looked at his village's meager resources, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
"If Konoha really is finished, perhaps we can bite off a rich piece of the Land of Fire and ease the village's financial crisis."
"Watch the situation! Once Kumogakure and Iwagakure act, we'll be ready to turn on Konoha at any moment!"
For a time, the shinobi world's balance shifted violently.
Kumogakure mobilized, Iwagakure marched, Sunagakure watched, and Kirigakure stirred restlessly.
The dark clouds of the Fourth Shinobi World War loomed over Konoha a full twenty years earlier than in the original story.
And this time...
There was no allied army of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
It was the entire world against Konoha!
[Konoha · Hokage Building rooftop]
The night breeze was cool.
Chiya sat on the edge of the rooftop, holding a flask of sake he had dug out of the Third Hokage's private stash, pouring and drinking alone.
"Lord Chiya!"
A dark figure appeared with the Body Flicker Technique. It was Shikaku Nara, who oversaw intelligence.
Shikaku's face was pale, sweat covered his forehead, and he tightly clutched several urgent reports that had just arrived.
"Something terrible has happened!"
"The Raikage of Kumogakure is personally leading a massive army toward our borders! Their vanguard has already broken through the Land of Hot Water and is heading straight for the Land of Fire's border!"
"Iwagakure has deployed both of its tailed beast jinchūriki! They're moving to flank us from the Land of Grass!"
"Kirigakure and Sunagakure are mobilizing their forces too..."
Shikaku Nara's voice trembled.
"My lord! This is... this is the Fourth Shinobi World War!!"
"Konoha has only just been through internal strife. We're short on troops, and morale is shaky... we're truly finished this time! Should we immediately ask the daimyo for aid? Or try diplomatic mediation?"
Faced with Shikaku's panic, Chiya remained astonishingly calm.
He tipped his head back, drained his cup, then slowly rose to his feet.
"Diplomacy?"
Chiya casually tossed the cup aside, letting it shatter on the ground.
He took the intelligence scrolls from Shikaku and merely glanced at them before the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.
That was not fear.
Nor was it worry.
It was a kind of... hunger.
The ravenous hunger and excitement of a beast watching herds of prey deliver themselves to its doorstep!
"Shikaku, haven't you got something wrong?"
The chakra within Chiya began to boil. A surge of dark red reiatsu shot into the sky, shredding the clouds overhead.
"Short on troops? Shaky morale?"
"Before absolute power, do numbers... mean anything?"
Chiya slowly drew Ryūjin Jakka.
The blade reflected a chilling gleam beneath the moonlight.
"Perfect."
"My blade has just been upgraded, and I was worried I wouldn't find a stone to test its edge on."
"Killing a few Advisors and rogue ninja couldn't possibly satisfy this blade's appetite."
Chiya turned toward the directions from which Kumogakure and Iwagakure were advancing. The Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes spun wildly, as though he could already see the rivers of blood to come.
"Since they want to come here to die..."
"Since they want to carve up Konoha..."
"Then let them have their wish!"
Chiya swung his blade sharply. A slash of flame tore through the night sky, like a declaration of war issued to the entire shinobi world.
He bared a savage, bloodthirsty smile, his voice booming like thunder:
"Relay my orders!"
"All of Konoha is to enter First-Level Combat Readiness!"
"Not defense, but-attack!!"
"Let the Fourth Shinobi World War begin!"
"This time, I'll make sure the Five Great Nations of this shinobi world..."
"Have only one color left!"
"And that will be-the color of fire!"
Before you continue