Chapter 257: The Will of Fire (4k-word chapter, please subscribe)

Uchiha Obito, wearing a swirl mask, looked at the young man blocking his path, his voice turning cold.

"Uchiha... Shisui, you aren't helping Konoha Village or the Uchiha Clan survive today's calamity, yet you are waiting for me here?"

The sound of explosions in the distance sent Konoha into alert mode; a large number of residents began taking their families to hide inside their homes, bolting their doors tight, while Chunin and Genin-level ninja were currently rapidly evacuating residents near the Hokage Building.

At the same time, they were also attempting to protect others they were responsible for guarding.

In a small building, young Naruto wore goggles, hiding alone in his home; he could not see that on his rooftop, two powerful ninja were confronting each other.

Uchiha Shisui took a deep breath, looking at the clear Three-Tomoe in the single eye revealed by that swirl mask, and he finally confirmed that everything Tao Baibai had said was the truth.

He shook his head.

"Itachi has already made his choice; no one can stop today's slaughter, but as for you... Senior Obito, do you really not intend to spare even the final orphans of your own master and mistress?!"

Although people of the Uchiha Clan were prone to extremes, Shisui had never in his life seen anyone as extreme as this—because he had suffered misfortune, he wanted to make everyone else miserable; even the master and mistress who had once treated him with such kindness were killed by him all the same, and now, for the sake of a Tailed Beast, he had set his sights on their orphan.

This behavior made Uchiha Shisui feel a wave of nausea.

He watched Uchiha Obito quietly with his two Three-Tomoe Sharingan, a short blade appearing in his hand.

Seeing Uchiha Shisui's movements, Uchiha Obito knew that this rising star of the clan had likely obtained some intelligence and had come specifically to protect Uzumaki Naruto.

Relying on the information he witnessed during the Nine-Tails Incident, he could roughly deduce that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was the child of Master Minato Namikaze, but the child's specific identity had remained unknown until a while ago, when some intelligence from within Konoha Village informed him of Uzumaki Naruto's identity.

Therefore, upon seeing Nagato "bewitched" by Tao Baibai, Obito reacted immediately and followed the group into Konoha Village in secret; he prepared to capture the Nine-Tails while the members of 【Akatsuki】 carried out the "Konoha Destruction Plan."

In this way, the most difficult Tailed Beast to obtain could be acquired without anyone knowing, and at the same time, when the war broke out later, even without the members of 【Akatsuki】, he could use the distraction caused by this group to complete the Tailed Beast collection plan.

But he had not expected that the strongest of the contemporary Uchiha Clan would be guarding this place.

The reason for Uchiha Obito's gloomy expression was that this meant his actions had already been factored into the plans of that Tao Baibai.

"Does Tao Baibai really think that you alone can stop me?"

Uchiha Obito looked at Uchiha Shisui, who was preparing to strike, and laughed mockingly.

"Or is it that you, the number one powerhouse of the contemporary Uchiha, really think you are the strongest Uchiha?"

Swoosh!

Shisui appeared instantly behind Uchiha Obito, a short blade stabbing into Obito's chest, but Obito paid it no mind; the place where the blade struck was empty.

But Uchiha Shisui ignored this entirely, and one after another, figures that were indistinguishable as either clones or the real body continuously thrust toward Obito.

Seeing this, Obito's eyes grew colder; he had a premonition that the abilities of his Mangekyo Sharingan had likely already been discovered.

And in the current Ninja World, those who could know such things could be counted on one hand.

Pfft!

Wood Spikes suddenly erupted from the roof's surface, directly piercing several clones and sprouting again within them; in just an instant, a large number of clones and illusions vanished one after another.

Uchiha Shisui's figure also appeared at the edge of the rooftop.

His expression was grave; Uchiha Obito's strength was indeed terrifying, and even though he had the advantage of Intelligence, that fellow Tao Baibai clearly had no intention of describing the opponent's intelligence in great detail; Shisui only knew that Uchiha Obito possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan called 【Kamui】, which could turn him into a state of Voidification to completely avoid any attack, and could also teleport himself and those around him into the Shenwei Kongjian.

This was the most bizarre type of space-time Mangekyo Sharingan ability.

And at this moment, Shisui discovered that Obito not only mastered the Mangekyo Sharingan but also possessed the legendary Wood Release, a Bloodline Limit whose lineage had been severed in Konoha ever since the death of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

Obito looked at Uchiha Shisui, who was guarding against him, sneered twice, and his body sank naturally, disappearing from the roof and entering Uzumaki Naruto's room directly.

He did not deliberately toy with these ninja today because, in truth, he was not in a good mood either.

Even though he had lost patience with this world after seeing too much of the darkness of the Ninja World and wanted to use the 【Infinite Tsukuyomi】 to let the world truly attain eternal peace.

But returning to this homeland and seeing familiar people and things still caused turbulent emotions to surge in his heart once again.

Uchiha Obito landed in the room, where only a young boy was trembling on the bed, but with just one glance, he saw that this was a clone.

Seeing that Uchiha Shisui had not pursued him, he understood that the other party had already hidden Uzumaki Naruto in advance.

Obito sighed, returned to the rooftop, and looked at Uchiha Shisui, asking in confusion,

"Just because of a few words from that Tao Baibai, you are going to sacrifice your life for the other party's orders?!"

On his hands, the Wood Release: Cutting Technique appeared naturally; if possible, he did not want to kill Uchiha Shisui so early, as he had intended to harvest the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan at a more suitable time.

But now, since his goal had been discovered by Tao Baibai, he could only complete his goal as quickly as possible, and then... kill everyone, it seemed.

Uchiha Shisui recalled Tao Baibai's words, and for the first time, a clear fighting spirit appeared in his eyes as he looked at Uchiha Obito.

If the person before him was truly the person hiding behind the 【Akatsuki】 organization, the culprit who had triggered the 【Nine-Tails Incident】 back then, causing the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, and causing the Uchiha Clan to be loathed by Konoha once again.

Then today, he must defeat this person to resolve the clan's predicament.

Uchiha Shisui closed his eyes, and Uchiha Obito appeared before him in an instant, the terrifying Wood Release: Cutting Technique thrusting toward his body.

But the next moment, Uchiha Shisui opened his eyes, and the Tomoe in his pupils connected instantly, transforming into the shape of a Shuriken.

Mangekyo Sharingan!

At the same time, green Chakra erupted violently from his body, and the Wood Cutting Technique collided with that overwhelming green Chakra, shattering instantly.

Uchiha Obito turned into a state of Voidification and leaped backward instantly.

A massive skeleton appeared, and then, as if wrapped in green flames, the Uchiha's strongest secret technique, known as 【Susanoo】, began to manifest.

Uchiha Shisui stood calmly on the roof of the building; the appearance of that Susanoo was sensed by every powerhouse in Konoha Village sensitive to Chakra in an instant.

It was a scene of a top-tier powerhouse displaying their power without reservation, a sight Konoha had not seen in decades.

The Uchiha Clan's supreme secret technique that had once galloped through the Warring States era—Susanoo—had appeared in the world once more!

Uchiha Obito was also slightly stunned, floating backward several hundred meters.

He covered his mask; at this moment, his body was wrapped in White Zetsu, and although his physical capabilities had been enhanced, the missing Sharingan had not been replenished.

Without a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, he could not activate Susanoo, so even with his Wood Release ability, he did not want to fight Uchiha Shisui head-on at this time.

Obito began to retreat instantly, but once Uchiha Shisui had activated Susanoo, he was prepared for a death match; he blocked Uchiha Obito's path almost instantly.

Susanoo's arms spread wide, and an intense pressure bore down.

Obito knew that Kakashi was in the village at this moment, and his Kamui ability was special; even if Susanoo was powerful, it would not be difficult for him to protect himself, so he led Uchiha Shisui's Susanoo toward the battlefield.

Seeing this, Uchiha Shisui approached the battlefield as if he had noticed nothing; the reason he did not choose to release 【Kotoamatsukami】 was, first, that he still harbored the thought of wanting to use 【Kotoamatsukami】 to protect Konoha at a critical moment.

Between that Tao Baibai and Pein, as well as the Uchiha Obito before him, he could not judge who was more dangerous, and therefore could not choose to use 【Kotoamatsukami】 at this moment.

Furthermore, after he activated Susanoo, he possessed nearly peerless frontal combat power; it was not that he didn't harbor the intention of approaching the main battlefield to restrict the 【Akatsuki】 organization and Tao Baibai.

——

After the Konoha building collapsed with a boom, a large number of Jonin and Anbu instantly split up the few members of the 【Akatsuki】 organization; these people separated everyone with almost no regard for casualties.

At the same time, the medical team began to intervene, and someone dug out the heavily injured Hyuga Hiashi.

Through the eyes of Pein, Nagato saw Tao Baibai facing off against the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen; that youth of the Uchiha Clan was blocked by Uchiha Fugaku, while Orochimaru was held back by several Anbu working together.

Only Konan and the Pein Liudao remained, confronting those nearly one hundred ninja.

Ninja from various departments of Konoha were still gathering continuously; these people attempted to use human-wave tactics to form formations and release higher-level Ninja Arts to stop him.

Pein shook his head indifferently.

The average quality of Konoha's ninja was indeed high, but compared to their prime, the number of powerhouses today was unexpectedly small.

Those Bloodline Limit families of the past, it seemed the Senju, Kurama, and Moonlight clans had all withered away.

"Ninja of Konoha, feel the pain of war happening in your own village."

He grabbed casually, and an Anbu fell into his hand; a Black Receiver instantly pierced the opponent's heart, and then he discarded the body casually.

Pein, who possessed the Rinnegan, was inherently a master of taijutsu, not to mention he possessed hidden abilities like 【Universal Pull】, which ordinary ninja found difficult to resist.

Suddenly, the ground was shrouded by a huge shadow; Pein looked up and saw a giant Toad descending from the sky.

The Pein Liudao leaped backward instantly; Jiraiya had finally returned to Konoha with his Summoning Beast at the critical moment.

This caused Sarutobi Hiruzen to breathe a slight sigh of relief in his heart.

But this appearance of Sarutobi Hiruzen made Bai Cangshu's eyes turn cold.

"Fighting me, you actually still have the mind to pay attention to other places..."

"Tsk, it seems I have been playing with you for too long."

Bai Cangshu had lost interest in fighting Sarutobi Hiruzen; the opponent was rich in combat experience and performed very "slickly." After realizing Bai Cangshu's power was strong, he kept using the Body Flicker Technique, Body Replacement Technique, and Clone Technique to dodge, wanting to exhaust Bai Cangshu's strength.

But Bai Cangshu knew clearly that if they kept fighting like this, to the point of exhaustion, this "old geezer" would definitely not outlast him, but that kind of battle was insipid.

Purple Killing Intent Wave permeated his eyes; since Sarutobi Hiruzen chose such a perfunctory battle, he naturally had to let the opponent see how a beast that could not be satisfied would choose to act.

Bai Cangshu suddenly raised his left foot high; the exaggerated movement did not resemble ordinary taijutsu.

This movement with a huge opening seemed to foreshadow that he was about to adopt an exaggerated tactic.

Sarutobi Hiruzen subconsciously retreated again; in the battle with this Tao Baibai, he felt increasingly powerless. He had hit the opponent several times, but the opponent had no reaction at all.

Whether it was Shuriken or Ninja Arts, neither could cause effective damage to the opponent; instead, every time he attacked, he would suffer inexplicable Fire Release attacks.

This forced him to use various means to drag out the battle and attempt to collect Intelligence.

The next moment, that foot raised high landed fiercely on the ground.

Boom!

The ground shook violently, followed by the sound of cracking, and a moment later, the ground suddenly shattered.

Huge dust rose up.

Purple light flashed in the air for an instant.

Bang bang bang bang...

The terrifying sound of a large number of fists hammering into a human body appeared; Sarutobi Hiruzen was startled and immediately formed hand seals.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Whoosh~

The gale blew away the dust; the tall man was wrapped in purple energy that looked like flames, and that energy swayed continuously, appearing extremely eerie.

Subsequently, the opponent turned his head halfway to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen; his pupils were completely blank, and his face was full of a cruel smile.

And in his hand, his own old friend, Mito Kadone, who once had strength close to his own, had his chest pierced through by the opponent's fist, and blood kept flowing down from his mouth and nose.

The Kunai in Mito Kadone's hand also pierced Bai Cangshu's abdomen at the same time, but Bai Cangshu felt nothing, and he pulled out his arm casually.

A large amount of blood and internal organs flowed out instantly, and along with them, Mito Kadone's life slipped away.

This Konoha high-level official who had also galloped on the battlefield could only clutch his chest in vain at the last moment; his body grew colder and colder, and after trembling a few times, his consciousness fell into darkness forever.

He had chosen to attempt a life-for-a-life strike against Bai Cangshu in a desperate situation; this choice made Bai Cangshu look at him with slightly more respect, and he did not smash the corpse like he did with others, but instead left a whole body.

【You killed Hokage Advisor · Mito Kadone, gained 1000 Dimension Points】

【You gained E-rank Singularity *1】

【Your Reputation with Konoha has decreased, currently: Hatred (92/100)】

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the scene in astonishment; his disciple Orochimaru also slowly put away his combat stance. The ninja and Anbu who had surrounded the opponent were now nothing but severed limbs on the ground; about six or seven ninja had been cruelly killed in this short instant.

Sarutobi Hiruzen saw that Tao Baibai tilting his head to look at him at this moment, the cold purple luster in his eyes appearing like a Ghost, like an Asura.

"You... bloodthirsty beast..."

Bai Cangshu gave a cruel smile and then continued to charge toward the others, but Sarutobi Hiruzen had already blocked his path.

This Third Hokage, who had been worn down by politics for too long, had determination and calmness in his eyes.

"You want to fight, you want this old man's life..."

Bai Cangshu stopped his footsteps; he sensed the surging fighting spirit on the opponent, which was the best nourishment for the Killing Intent Wave.

Subsequently, the two of them flew directly toward the direction of the Hokage Rock.

This scene made Shimura Danzo, who was hiding in the shadows, have a complex expression, but in the end, he just turned away coldly, waved his hand, and the Root ninja and he walked together toward the Uchiha Clan compound.

Hiruzen, you are old after all, and your heart has softened...

(End of this chapter)