"Today, let this unworthy student of yours settle accounts with you for the blood debts you owe the Uchiha over the years!"
Uchiha Itachi's icy voice, like a drawn blade, instantly tore apart the "teacher" authority that Hiruzen Sarutobi had just established with his thunderous attack.
The air at the summit of Hokage Rock seemed to freeze at that moment.
On one side is Hokage legendary Hokage, wielding a divine weapon and burning with the final " Will of Fire."
On the other side is a genius missing-nin burdened with a blood feud, whose eyes reflect the depths of hell.
Once the most admired master and disciple pair in Konoha, they now stand on opposite sides of destiny, about to stage a final showdown concerning two eras and two wills!
Billions of viewers around the world held their breath, watching this scene with bated breath through the giant light screen in the sky.
Hiruzen Sarutobi Sarutobi's old face, which had just been filled with majesty and determination, visibly stiffened after hearing Itachi's words.
A flicker of undisguised pain and struggle flashed in his cloudy eyes.
"Itachi, even you're going to use such words to accuse me?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice became somewhat hoarse. "You know better than anyone that if it weren't for—"
"I know?" Itachi interrupted him rudely with a cold laugh. "Yes, I know perfectly well!"
Itachi took a step forward, his Mangekyō Sharingan like two bottomless blood-red abysses, locking onto Hiruzen Sarutobi!
"I clearly remember how, after the Nine-Tails' Attack, without any evidence whatsoever, the Konoha High Command immediately turned their suspicions toward the Uchiha!"
"I clearly remember how you, under the guise of 'protecting the villagers,' forcibly drove our entire Uchiha Clan from the center of our ancestral village to that corner that symbolized surveillance and exclusion!"
"I clearly remember how much effort my father, Uchiha Fugaku, put into maintaining the stability of the village as the captain of the Konoha Military Police Force, only to be met with your repeated suspicion and suppression! The power of the Konoha Military Police Force has been repeatedly weakened, and the dignity of the Uchiha has been trampled under your feet step by step!"
Every word Itachi said was like a heavy hammer blow, striking Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart with devastating force, and was clearly transmitted to the ears of everyone in the world through the live broadcast!
Those viewers who had initially felt sympathy and admiration for Hiruzen Sarutobi began to show expressions of doubt and wavering.
So, beneath the so-called brilliance of the " Will of Fire," there's a hidden side to it?
"Shut up, Itachi!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened, and he shouted sharply, "I did that for the sake of the village's stability! To prevent greater conflict! The Uchiha Clan is inherently arrogant, and their power is too great; if they are not restrained, they could easily—"
"Restraints?" Itachi's sarcasm deepened. "How high-sounding of you to say, Teacher Sarutobi!"
"Is your 'restraint' just allowing that cancerous tumor Danzo to recklessly spy on, divide, and persecute our Uchiha?!"
"Your 'restraint' is that when we Uchiha were cornered and forced to roar for survival, you conspired with Danzo to orchestrate that inhumane massacre of our clan?!"
boom!
The words "genocide" exploded in everyone's minds like a thunderclap from the heavens!
The expressions on the faces of Uchiha Shō, Uchiha Yōko, and the other thousand new generation members froze instantly!
Although they had learned more or less about that dark past in their history classes at " Hope Academy," the impact of hearing the word "genocide" uttered by their most respected instructor, Weasel, in such a sorrowful and tearful manner, was something that no cold text in any textbook could match!
An uncontrollable surge of anger and sorrow, originating from the depths of their blood, instantly swept over their entire bodies!
At this moment, all one thousand pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan simultaneously ignited an even more violent and bloodthirsty crimson light!
At this moment, audiences around the world were completely in an uproar!
"Extermination of the Uchiha clan?! The Uchiha Clan was wiped out by Konoha itself?!"
"Oh my god! I always thought the Uchiha had defected! So this is the truth?!"
"That's too cruel! That was an entire family!"
"This Third Hokage looks kind and gentle, but he's actually so vicious?!"
Doubt, anger, disbelief—all sorts of emotions spread like wildfire across the globe!
At that moment Hiruzen Sarutobi truly understood what it meant to be "pointed at by a thousand men."
His old face flushed red, his lips trembled as he tried to explain, but he found that any words seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the two heavy words "extermination of the race".
"That was to prevent Konoha from falling into civil war! It was to protect more villagers! It was a necessary sacrifice!" Hiruzen Sarutobi almost roared out this argument, which even he himself found hypocritical.
"Sacrifice?" Itachi's eyes blazed with bloodlust, and a terrifying eye power, a mixture of endless sorrow and overwhelming killing intent, erupted!
"We will use the lives of our entire Uchiha clan to fulfill your laughable name of ' Hokage '! To uphold your hypocritical 'peace'!"
" Hiruzen Sarutobi! What right do you have to decide who should be 'sacrificed'?!"
"What right do you have to talk about the word 'home'?!"
"You executioner who personally destroyed countless 'families'!"
Itachi suddenly waved his hand, Akatsuki cloak behind him fluttered without any wind!
Susanoo!
boom!
A towering Susanoo, hundreds of meters tall, entirely blood-red, wielding the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror, Perfect Susanoo from the ground! Its oppressive aura, filled with both divine and destructive power, was even stronger than Hiruzen Sarutobi's peak aura!
"Today, I will use these eyes, which you and Konoha forced out of me, to personally seek justice for my deceased parents and my deceased clan!"
" Hiruzen Sarutobi, prepare to die!"
However, just as Itachi Susanoo Setsuna...
"Hmph! Utter nonsense!"
"What right does this traitor, a liar, have to judge the Lord Hokage here!"
Two aged, arrogant, and furious shouts suddenly rang out from the sky not far away!
Immediately afterwards, two figures landed on either side of Hiruzen Sarutobi like ghosts!
They were a man and a woman, two elderly people who looked even older than Hiruzen Sarutobi. They were dressed in the robes of Konoha advisors, their faces etched with the wrinkles of time, but their eyes were filled with the indifference and judgment of the powerful and wealthy of the old era towards those in lower positions.
It was none other than Konoha's two advisor elders— Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu!
They're still alive! And judging from the faint Chakra fluctuations on their bodies, it seems Orochimaru has maintained them at their peak condition using some kind of weakened version of Impure World Reincarnation or other biotechnology!
"Itachi, you remnant of the Uchiha!" Utatane Koharu pointed at Itachi and shouted in a shrill voice, "If it weren't for the Uchiha Clan's wolfish ambitions to overthrow the village, how could you have ended up being wiped out! This is all your own fault!"
"That's right!" Mitokado Homura said righteously, leaning on his cane, " Hiruzen is the one who bore the most pain for the village! You guys who only know hatred can't possibly understand the greatness of the Lord Hokage!"
The two of them, working in unison, instantly shifted all the blame onto the Uchiha, portraying Hiruzen Sarutobi as a tragic hero who had to make painful sacrifices for the greater good.
These shameless remarks, which distorted the truth, not only enraged the Uchiha children, but also drew boos and curses from viewers around the world watching the live broadcast.
"What a perfect example of 'reaping what you sow'!"
"What a 'great' Hokage!"
Just then, a voice filled with utmost contempt and supreme majesty, seemingly emanating from the heavens, boomed down through the Divine Kingdom's amplification system!
The voice carried a lazy, playful tone, as if the person had just woken up.
"Hehe, interesting, really interesting."
"Old and young, male and female--"
"Now all the culprits have arrived."
" Hiruzen Sarutobi, you old codger, are you still playing your hypocritical political games?"
Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed drastically. He abruptly raised his head and roared at the massive light screen in the sky:
" Uchiha Gen'yō! You thief of this world! You have no right to judge the ' Will of Fire '!"