At the same time.
Konoha.
The prosperous district that had once belonged to the Uchiha Clan had now vanished completely from the map.
In its place was a terrifying, bottomless crater over a thousand meters in diameter!
Purple arcs left by the shattered space still lingered around the crater's rim, crackling and radiating a terrifying aura that could destroy everything.
Any ninja who tried to approach would instantly be torn to pieces by that residual spatial power!
All of Konoha was shrouded in deathly silence and panic.
Every villager and ninja stared at the enormous crater, which looked as though it had been struck by a god's wrath, with the awe and fear they would show a monster.
"Cough, cough, cough."
At the edge of the crater, Hiruzen Sarutobi crawled out of the rubble in a sorry state.
His Hokage robes were in tatters. His face and hands were covered in scrapes and burns, and a trace of blood still hung at the corner of his mouth.
Behind him, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and over a hundred surviving Konoha ninja were all covered in dust and grime. Many were injured, their eyes filled with the terror and bewilderment of having narrowly escaped death.
Just moments earlier, at the instant Uchiha Gen'yō had detonated the entire clan compound.
Had Hiruzen Sarutobi not summoned Enma in time and used the Adamantine Prison Wall to defend to the utmost, not a single person present would likely have survived!
"Hiruzen! Are you all right?!"
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura hurried forward to support him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not answer.
He simply stared fixedly at the enormous crater before him, his cloudy old eyes bloodshot.
His body trembled slightly.
Not from pain, but from a bone-deep anger, humiliation, and a trace of regret that even he refused to acknowledge!
He had lost!
He had suffered a crushing defeat!
As the Third Hokage, hailed as the Shinobi Hero, he had led Konoha's entire elite force. Yet not only had he failed to keep the Uchiha Clan there, they had delivered a resounding slap to his face in the most devastating, uncompromising way!
The Uchiha Clan Compound was gone!
All of southeastern Konoha had been reduced to rubble in that explosion!
Over a fifth of the village had been erased from the map!
More importantly, the Uchiha Clan's thousand-plus pairs of powerful Sharingan had vanished into thin air right under his nose!
"Aah!"
A beastlike roar came from the rubble on the other side.
Shimura Danzō struggled to his feet. He looked even more wretched than Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The arm he took such pride in, implanted with countless Sharingan, had actually had half of it blown off by the explosion's shock wave!
The scarlet eyes upon it were now dull, having completely lost their function!
"Uchiha Gen'yō!"
"I'll tear you to pieces!!"
Danzo's eyes were filled with crazed venom and resentment!
He had schemed his entire life, biding his time his entire life! All to obtain the Uchiha Clan's power! To obtain those eyes!
Now, not only had his sure prize escaped, it had also blown him, the man preparing to claim it, into a state of serious injury!
How could he possibly accept this?!
"Enough, Danzo!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi whipped his head around and looked at him with an unprecedentedly cold gaze.
"If you hadn't taken it upon yourself to send Root to launch a sneak attack, how could things have come to this?!"
"Are you satisfied now?!"
"Hiruzen! Are you blaming me?"
Danzo was so furious that he laughed.
"I told you long ago! We cannot show the slightest mercy toward a cancer like the Uchiha! It was you! Your repeated compromises and hesitation gave them their chance!"
"If you had listened to me from the start and launched the clan extermination plan outright, Konoha's storerooms would already be piled high with intact Sharingan!"
Konoha's two highest authorities dropped all pretense at that moment, blaming each other in front of all their subordinates.
The ninja around them kept their heads lowered, not daring to make a sound.
Their hearts, too, were filled with disappointment and doubts about these two leaders.
Especially the Anbu who had witnessed the power of Uchiha Gen'yō's Kamui.
They knew very well that even if Konoha had launched the extermination earlier, against that monster, the ultimate result would likely only have been even heavier losses for Konoha.
Just then, a ninja responsible for communications ran over, his face deathly pale.
"L-Lord Hokage! Terrible news!"
"Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure-the four great ninja villages have all sent us urgent inquiries at the same time!"
"They're all asking what caused the massive explosion in Konoha just now!"
"And some information brokers looking to stir up trouble have already spread word throughout the Shinobi World that the Uchiha Clan is suspected of having defected en masse during internal strife in Konoha!"
"Now the entire Shinobi World is laughing at us!"
Pfft!
Upon hearing the news, Hiruzen Sarutobi could no longer suppress the blood surging within him. He violently spat out a mouthful of blood!
It was over!
Konoha's reputation had hit rock bottom!
What authority could a ninja village possibly have when it could not even keep its own powerful clan in check and had let them escape before the eyes of the entire Shinobi World?
He could practically foresee just how turbulent the Land of Fire's borders would become in the days ahead!
Those enemies who had once feared Konoha would rush in like sharks scenting blood, frantically testing its defenses!
"Ha ha, hahahaha."
Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed bitterly.
His body swayed, as though he had aged ten years in an instant.
He looked at the enormous crater. The calm yet overbearing words Uchiha Gen'yō had spoken before leaving echoed endlessly in his mind.
"Since Konoha thinks the Uchiha are a cancer, we'll go be someone else's cherished treasure."
Regret!
Endless regret engulfed him like a tide!
He suddenly realized just what a terrifying force he had pushed away with his own hands-a force capable of changing the world's balance of power!
For the sake of the so-called stability of the village, for that nebulous Will of Fire, what a foolish decision he had made!
A cloudy tear slowly slipped from the corner of the Shinobi Hero's eye.
"Pass on my orders."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was hoarse to the extreme.
"Announce to the outside world that the Uchiha Clan suffered an unfortunate accident while conducting experiments to develop a new large-scale ninjutsu. The entire clan gave their lives for the village in a heroic sacrifice."
This was the only story he could currently think of to salvage Konoha's last shred of dignity.
"Furthermore."
He paused, then used every ounce of his strength to announce a decision that everyone present who knew the truth found utterly ironic.
"In light of the Uchiha Clan's great sacrifice."
"The Konoha Military Police Force is officially disbanded as of today. Its duties will be taken over by the Anbu directly under the Hokage."
"This will commemorate our eternal comrades, the Uchiha Clan."
As his words fell, deathly silence settled over everyone.
Meanwhile, in the shadows of the enormous crater, where no one noticed.
A plant resembling a pitcher plant slowly rose from underground.
The half-black, half-white figure gazed at the spectacular masterpiece before him and exclaimed in wonder.
"Well, well, what a spectacular sight! That fellow called Uchiha Gen'yō is much more interesting than we imagined!"
White Zetsu spoke in a lighthearted tone.
"His Space-Time Ninjutsu is very unusual."
Black Zetsu's voice remained as low and raspy as ever.
"It seems even purer and more overbearing than Obito's Kamui."
"We must report this information to Pain and Obito immediately."
"A Uchiha force this powerful, outside our control-we absolutely cannot let them affect our Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Who do you think they'll choose to join? Ōnoki of Iwagakure, or A of Kumogakure?"
White Zetsu asked curiously.
Black Zetsu fell silent for a moment before slowly uttering a few words.
"Or perhaps."
"Us."