Battle-Crazed

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

A multitude of ninjutsu were unleashed by the elite ninja in an instant, but Deva Path Pain merely stood where he was. Preta Path Pain, who had accomplished nothing in his battle against Bai Cangshu, appeared before them and spread his arms in front of all the incoming ninjutsu.

An invisible barrier emerged. The various ninjutsu struck before him, rapidly weakening before being absorbed. The Rinnegan’s suppressive power over ordinary ninja was so immense that it defied reason.

An Anbu appeared before Preta Path Pain in an instant, his katana slashing down. Yet Preta Path Pain did not need to act; a laser had already pierced through the Anbu’s chest.

Under the Rinnegan’s insight, a Body Flicker Jutsu of this level could not escape detection at all.

Hyuga Hiashi’s Byakugan had fully grasped the situation. He stood before the powerful enemy known as Mercenary Tao, his hands assuming the Gentle Fist stance, yet he said,

"The terrain here is cramped. Protect the elders and get them out first."

Bai Cangshu took a step forward and vanished instantly. Hyuga Hiashi raised an arm, and Bai Cangshu appeared precisely in the direction he was guarding. Bai Cangshu threw a punch. Before the tremendous force had even erupted, it made the air emit a wail like ghosts crying and wolves howling.

Hyuga Hiashi swiftly jabbed at the side of Bai Cangshu’s arm. Gentle Fist was a style of acupuncture-point strikes. Using the Hyuga Clan’s constitution, which allowed them to release Chakra from throughout their bodies, together with the Byakugan’s ability to see through the body’s meridians, Gentle Fist could, to a certain extent, counter steel-fist-type opponents in taijutsu combat.

But when Hiashi struck with his palm, he saw that his opponent, whose tyrannical punch had clearly taken shape, suddenly halted it.

The fierce punch became an air strike.

Bang!

The air boomed with an explosive roar, as though it had been punched loose and hurled at Hiashi. At the same time, his Gentle Fist strike hit empty air.

Hiashi’s footwork shifted with equal speed. He stepped out with his left foot, shifting his center of gravity leftward, and seemed to cross two meters in an instant, evading the "air cannon" produced by that air strike while appearing at Bai Cangshu’s rear flank.

His hands were held high and low, front and back. His entire stance unfolded completely as Chakra circulated through every acupoint in his body, making him seem to stand within a massive Eight Trigrams formation.

Bai Cangshu merely tilted his head slightly. Catching sight of Hyuga Hiashi’s stance from the corner of his eye, the smile on his face deepened. This was what he liked about taijutsu ninja: compared to others, they possessed at least some ability to resist his movements.

Combat was a contest. Combat was slaughter.

Gentle Fist Art: Eighty Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!

Hyuga Hiashi stepped through the Eight Trigrams footwork and closed in behind Bai Cangshu in an instant. His hands became phantoms as they struck at acupoints all over Bai Cangshu’s body.

Under the Byakugan’s super-dynamic vision, he caught every one of Bai Cangshu’s movements, every twitch of his muscles. This was the key to Gentle Fist. Chakra gathered around his fists like sharp weapons ready at any moment to penetrate the body and strike the internal organs and acupoints.

Bang bang bang bang!

Countless fist shadows flew. Within the Eight Trigrams formation, Hyuga Hiashi’s expression changed drastically. Every palm he struck collided with the other’s fists and feet. It was as if his opponent possessed the Byakugan as well, seeing through all his movements completely.

This was the first time he had encountered an opponent who stood before him, allowed him to complete the entire Eighty Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, yet was not hit by a single palm.

Most other enemies would choose to use ninjutsu to widen the distance and avoid letting Gentle Fist get close.

After finishing the set, he looked through his Byakugan and saw his Chakra dissipating within the other’s hands and feet. His Chakra had indeed entered the opponent’s body, but that body was so unlike an ordinary person’s that it showed no sign of injury at all.

No, it was no longer merely a matter of being unlike an ordinary person. He could clearly see that the other had more than three thousand muscles, several times more than a normal human, while even his bones and joints differed from those of a human.

This was someone with a human appearance, but inwardly, he could no longer be considered an ordinary person at all.

Unlike taijutsu ninja, who relied on Chakra to strengthen their bodies in battle, this opponent’s body itself was a weapon.

Whoosh~

Flames ignited across Hyuga Hiashi’s body. The clinging flames reeked of sulfur and instantly set his clan’s white robe ablaze. The pain on his skin made Hyuga Hiashi react at once, and powerful Chakra burst forth.

Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!

He spun abruptly, Chakra wrapping around him like a whirlwind and extinguishing the flames on his body in an instant.

Watching Hyuga Hiashi use the same move again, Bai Cangshu suddenly stepped forward. Purple Satsui no Hado erupted fiercely from his right hand.

In that instant, his eyes were also dyed the color of Satsui no Hado. This special energy flowed through his body with incomparable smoothness.

Satsui no Hado enveloped Bai Cangshu, crossing the distance between them in a mere instant. His body fully extended into the most force-efficient posture, his waist twisting as all his strength concentrated in his right fist. A Flash lit up atop that fist.

Burst!

Boom!

Bai Cangshu’s fist thundered toward Hyuga Hiashi, who was using Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.

The terrifying force smashed into the rapidly rotating, powerful Chakra. The Hyuga Clan’s Chakra control was formidable, and the dense rotating Chakra was incredibly hard, like a barrier formed from air compressed to its limit.

That was why this move was called absolute defense.

The Hyuga Main Family’s ninja could use this secret technique to block nearly all ninjutsu and attacks.

Crack!

The air shattered in an instant. While spinning, Hyuga Hiashi could naturally observe the full 360-degree field of vision, and at this moment he clearly saw the other’s fist pierce into Revolving Heaven.

"Hah!"

Bai Cangshu exhaled with a shout. His punch was tyrannical and resolute. The powerful energy surrounding him surged as his fist and Revolving Heaven remained locked for a brief instant. Then, with a dreadful sound like an entire building being blasted apart, it erupted.

Boom!

The Blazing White Revolving Heaven suddenly shattered. The violent force hurled Bai Cangshu backward, while Hyuga Hiashi shot away like a dark shadow, smashing through the front wall of the Hokage Office and crashing into a distant building.

Bai Cangshu’s feet seemed rooted to the ground. The solid stone floor was instantly gouged with two trenches several meters long, and his shoes shattered as well. Yet though his feet crushed stone beneath them, they remained completely unharmed.

Clearly, Bai Cangshu’s flesh had already far surpassed ordinary "armor."

With a casual flick of his feet, he flung away the two ruined shoes. He realized that he was still "restraining" himself by the standards of an ordinary person.

Why did he wear shoes? Because ordinary people needed to protect their feet. But even if he walked on blades, he would not be harmed.

Likewise, normal temperature differences had no effect on him at all. The only reason he wore clothes was because human concepts still influenced him.

Bai Cangshu’s thoughts grew increasingly wild as purple Satsui no Hado completely engulfed him.

This exhilarating taijutsu battle continuously awakened his Satsui no Hado.

Satsui no Hado increased slightly. Current: Lv3 (44/1200)

"Not enough, not enough…"

Deva Path Pain frowned slightly. He could sense that Mercenary Tao seemed at risk of losing control, but before he could speak, an Enma violently rammed Preta Path Pain aside. Projectiles and taijutsu attacks had little effect on it.

Enma then transformed into a Vajra Staff, which Sarutobi Hiruzen seized and swung in a fierce sweep.

The Vajra Staff was incredibly hard. With that sweeping strike, it snapped the already damaged Hokage Office cleanly in half, and all the ninja took the opportunity to flee outside.

Deva Path Pain and Konan each took a step back, naturally dropping from the edge of the building.

But Mercenary Tao, already battle-crazed, neither dodged nor evaded. He simply raised one hand.

Thud!

After the Vajra Staff swept through the building, he caught it one-handed.

The terrifying force seemed to vanish in his grasp.

Sarutobi Hiruzen’s expression changed. The upper half of the building had already come crashing down, so he could only release the Vajra Staff and command Enma in his mind to cancel the transformation.

Rumble!

The building collapsed, burying Mercenary Tao beneath it. Enma was buried as well.

Sarutobi Hiruzen only glanced back once. He had no mind to concern himself with his old companion. The attackers today were terrifyingly powerful.

And besides…

"Uchiha Fugaku, is your Uchiha Clan truly going to betray Konoha?!"

He demanded sternly. Though his voice carried the frailty of age, its force made Uchiha Fugaku recall, for a moment, the Professor of Shinobi from his youth.

This Third Hokage was also a powerful Hokage who had risen through war. Was the Uchiha Clan truly prepared to fight to the death?

No, the Uchiha Clan was not prepared at all. Not every Uchiha was a ninja. There were ordinary people who could not master Chakra refinement, and ordinary ninja who could not awaken the Sharingan…

A coup and rebellion were absolutely not decisions one could make on a whim. One wrong choice would drag countless innocent clan members to their deaths.

"Lord Hokage, the Uchiha Clan has nothing to do with today’s rebellion."

A cool young voice rang out. Uchiha Itachi appeared before the Third Hokage with the blade that had just slain Konoha’s Hokage adviser, Utatane Koharu, in his hand, his eyelids lowered.

Blood dripped continuously from the blade. He lifted his eyes, and his Three-Tomoe Sharingan met Sarutobi Hiruzen’s gaze. The latter immediately looked away, toward the shadows.

Yet Uchiha Itachi did not activate Sharingan Genjutsu. He merely calmly tore off the lining beneath his combat uniform that bore the Uchiha clan emblem, then sliced the fan-shaped crest in two with one stroke.

"Today’s killing was entirely my decision, Uchiha Itachi’s alone. I believe that compared with allowing Konoha to be completely destroyed, having me cooperate with Mercenary Tao to selectively slaughter some of the higher-ups and ninja is the approach that causes the least harm to both Konoha and the Uchiha Clan."

"Lord Hokage, surely you can understand this way of thinking as well."

There was no mockery in his tone. He was rational, calm to a frightening degree.

Sarutobi Hiruzen’s heart sank continuously. He had indeed praised this boy, who had been dragged into brutal war at only four years old and possessed a perspective beyond the Uchiha Clan’s narrow vision, for having a Hokage’s way of thinking.

But… when that logic was applied to the current situation, it was so cruel and cold-blooded.

He turned his head and saw his old friend, only half his body exposed amid the collapsed ruins. After many years, that pain once again filled his heart.

A Hokage’s way of thinking… So this was how painful it was to be the one sacrificed…

Uchiha Itachi received no answer, and his heart grew colder still. He did not like Mercenary Tao, but Mercenary Tao’s words were being proven bit by bit by Konoha’s higher-ups.

So, this world truly was all about profit…

"Heh…"

"Lord Hokage, it seems neither of us has sufficient capacity."

Ring!

The blade lit up again. The next moment, a figure suddenly blocked Uchiha Itachi’s path. Uchiha Fugaku, holding a kunai, precisely blocked Uchiha Itachi’s sword. Their Three-Tomoe Sharingan met, and their ocular powers seemed to clash as well.

Uchiha Fugaku’s face was dark as water. He could hardly believe that his eldest son, so kind, sensitive, and exceptionally intelligent, had reached this point.

"What exactly happened to you… Itachi."

"Where is Shisui? What did Mercenary Tao do to Shisui?!"