Sensing imminent danger, Shin immediately activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
With his eye technique, Amatsunomi, he redirected the tip of Hiro's shuriken into a molten lava-filled alternate dimension.
Back when Shin first saw his son's corpse, the grief nearly drove him mad. Overwhelmed by the desire to destroy everything he laid eyes on, Amatsunomi was born from that very hatred.
Amatsunomi could open a rift into a searing magma-filled alternate realm.
Any space he locked his gaze on would temporarily tear open, and whatever lay within would be sliced and shifted into the dimension housed in his eyes.
However, the jutsu came with severe limitations. The wider the rift, the heavier the load, and the more chakra and ocular power Shin expended, at great cost to his own body.
This time, Shin only needed to open a narrow spatial rift.
Using the spatial distortion's cutting force, he removed just the tip of the shuriken, saving the person beneath its edge. The entire process completed in a split second.
At that moment, Hiro, resigned to death, suddenly felt the blade in his hand lighten unnaturally. What was left of the shuriken barely grazed the skin on his neck.
In the blink of an eye, Hiro pulled out another shuriken and drove it toward his chest.
Shin had no choice but to once again bear the immense strain of his technique, diverting most of the shuriken's blade to alternate space.
Even so, a small portion of the blade still pierced deep into Hiro's chest. Blood gushed from the wound, pouring freely.
Though his injury looked grave, thankfully, his heart had not been damaged.
After three failed suicide attempts, Hiro gave up the struggle. Persisting now would only make his atonement a joke, nothing more than self-inflicted humiliation.
To the many onlookers, it felt as if they had just blinked or opened their mouths to speak, and before they could even sigh, Hiro was already gravely wounded, slumped in place, blood streaming from his chest.
Uchiha Ken and Uchiha Kawa had been standing just behind Hiro. They could only watch helplessly as he attempted to take his life.
Yet, in that fleeting moment, their Sharingan clearly registered that both shuriken had been disrupted by some invisible force.
There was no time for awe. They rushed to Hiro's side and began treating his wound.
Hiruzen and the others had also noticed Shin intervening. It was clear he had used his Mangekyo Sharingan to prevent Hiro's suicide.
Though the technique seemed overwhelmingly powerful, capable of slicing stone and cleaving jade, the dull, lifeless look in Shin's eyes revealed the immense burden it placed on him.
As a result, though they were wary of Shin's power, none of them were truly afraid.
Now that both sides had ceased fighting, and the remaining three hawkish Uchiha elders had lost their will to resist, Hiruzen saw no need to press the matter.
The three would naturally surrender.
Standing not far from the injured Hiro, Hiruzen gazed at the white-haired, broken old man and said with compassion, "Elder Hiro, since you've already come to terms with things, I won't say more. This incident has brought shame to both sides. Please, don't resist any further."
Hiro panted briefly before speaking in a frail voice.
"We accept the consequences. The Uchiha were in the wrong this time.
But with the dead, the debt is paid. Let the past stay in the past.
Without us stubborn old fools in the way, perhaps the Uchiha can rise again. Once we've settled our affairs, you may do as you will."
Kawa started to protest, but Hiro quickly silenced him.
Hiro's eyes swept over the battlefield, his heart aching at the sight of fallen Uchiha. So many talented youths had perished.
Turning with effort, he looked at his eldest son with deep guilt and said, "It's a shame ... .your future was bright, but we old fools held you back."
Then his gaze shifted toward the Uchiha clan shrine as he murmured, "Sinners of the Uchiha cannot be buried there… No matter. Mistakes made must be carried, even in death."
At that moment, Shin felt a profound sorrow. The future of the Uchiha seemed so uncertain, and he found himself lost.
The Senju clan, once their greatest rivals, had long since integrated into the village.
Their younger generations were thriving, even if most had dropped the Senju name, only a few direct descendants still bore it.
Compared to that, the Uchiha had grown more and more alienated from the village, estranged in spirit and unity alike. The contrast deepened Shin's despair.
He asked himself silently, 'Is Arima our only hope? What about Kaito? Isn't he part of the Uchiha's future too?'
That thought took root in Shin's heart. He suddenly felt a desperate urge to grow Kaito, so that before he returned to the earth, he might witness the Uchiha's resurgence.
With the village's internal crisis finally resolved, Hiruzen let out a long sigh of relief.
He ordered, "Gather the dead with care. Make sure they're returned home whole. At least honor the bonds we once shared."
Hiro and the others expressed their gratitude and began to leave that sorrowful place filled with the stench of death.
But just then, a clear voice rang out across the night sky. "Still too late, huh?"
Everyone instinctively looked up toward the dark sky. A chill crept down their spines, someone had approached them without a sound.
In the moonlight, they saw a faint figure hovering midair. Even elite shinobi like Hiruzen couldn't sense the person's presence without careful observation.
That figure floated alone in the sky like a ghost, motionless, silent, unnerving.
This was completely different from the Light–Weight Rock Technique of Iwagakure. Even Hiruzen couldn't identify the technique being used to achieve such a feat.
In all of Konoha, only Tsunade and two others had ever seen this ability demonstrated, by none other than Jigen. To the rest, it was utterly unknown.
As this mysterious presence appeared, Hiruzen instantly went on full alert and demanded, "Who are you? Why have you come to Konoha?"
The figure tilted their head and asked with puzzlement, "Hiruzen, it's me."
As he spoke, the figure began to descend slowly.
The people below tensed, ready to react to any movement.
Yet, the voice sounded strikingly familiar. But the chakra they sensed from the man was entirely foreign, completely unlike anything they'd felt before.
While most were still confused, Koharu suddenly smiled with joy and ran forward with light steps.
Hiruzen's heart sank. 'No good,' he thought, and quickly prepared to summon the Monkey King, Enma.
But what happened next left him utterly dumbfounded.
Koharu threw herself into the man's arms, clinging to him with deep longing.
She murmured, "Arima… it really is you. You're finally back!"
Everyone was stunned. Even more surprising, it was the first time Koharu had openly expressed her love for the Third Hokage, Arima.
Feeling the warmth of the woman in his arms, Arima couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.
He thought bitterly, 'If only love could be split in two, I'd give you your share without hesitation. But even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't do that…'
Realizing he couldn't escape without embarrassing her, he gently said, "I'm back, Koharu. We'll catch up later. Right now, I need to clean up the aftermath here."
His words snapped Koharu back to reality. She let go of him, but her face burned with embarrassment. She didn't dare meet his eyes.
Feigning a scolding tone, she said, "You show up out of nowhere in the middle of the night, you scared me half to death! But… why does your chakra feel so different now?"
Arima smiled apologetically. "Sorry…. a powerful shinobi invited me to his base for some research. The chakra stuff… it's a long story. I rushed back as fast as I could, but I was still too late."
Koharu asked instinctively, "What kind of research?"
Arima raised both hands helplessly. "I was the research."
Hearing that, Koharu immediately looked up in alarm. "How's your body now?"
Bathed in moonlight, she finally noticed the striking change in his right eye. The pupil and iris now shimmered with the pure color of the sky, ethereal and beautiful.
She gasped, "Arima, your eye…?"
He nodded. "That's why my chakra feels so different."
After their embrace ended, the rest finally dared to approach. One by one, they stepped forward to greet the long-missing Third Hokage.
Their minds were swirling with amazement, and more than a little gossip-fueled excitement.
With Tsunade in the mix, this trio's drama might be more entertaining than the Chunin Exams.
---------------
Guys do leave some power stones and reviews.
🤞pa treon . com / plotplanner🤞
Remove all the spaces in between and then search.
If you guys enjoy this story, you can support me on Patreon and get access to 30 Advance Chapters, it really helps me to work on new chapters.