"Quiet!!!"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke roared as he caught his wife—masked, bloodied, and on the brink of collapse—in his arms.
The other three Anbu lay strewn across the ground, cut down at vital points. Their faint, fading breaths already hovered at death's door.
Kenya sneered, his gaze settling on Shinnosuke, who was crouched over his dying wife.
"So it's true—you really came here intending to kill me. Good. That means I don't need to carry the burden of guilt."
He smiled coldly.
"But I'm still too weak. Against someone of your level, Shinnosuke, I couldn't risk using full hypnosis. The stronger the target, the more energy it consumes."
"Uchiha Kenya!!!" Shinnosuke's shout shook with fury and grief.
Kenya's eyes gleamed. "What exactly are you and Konoha's leaders plotting? Do you think I don't know?"
In a blur, he closed the distance.
Shinnosuke's teeth ground together. Reluctantly, he laid his wife gently aside and drew his short sword—slightly smaller than Kenya's Kyōka Suigetsu—to meet him.
Clang!
The blades clashed, sparks erupting into the night.
"You have no chance!" Shinnosuke roared. "Tonight, your Uchiha clan will be erased from history!"
Kenya's expression remained calm, lips curling into a mocking smile.
"Ridiculous. It's because of people like you that Konoha rots from the inside."
With a sharp twist of his wrist, Kenya sent Shinnosuke's blade flying wide.
Shinnosuke's eyes widened in shock behind his mask. Impossible. Kenya was just a Jōnin. I'm at the very peak of Jōnin… How could he overpower me so easily in mere months?!
Kenya's voice was cold as steel.
"Neither you, nor Sarutobi Hiruzen, nor Shimura Danzō have the right to decide who lives and who dies. If you wanted my death, you should have come with the power of Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha—not with backroom schemes and cowardly plots."
His contempt dripped from every word.
If this had been Hashirama's era, Kenya thought, he might have stood proudly alongside Konoha. But now, under the rule of politicians rather than sages, the village was willing to murder him in shadows.
And those same politicians had ordered his death tonight.
Kenya's eyes narrowed. The longer this battle dragged on, the more likely hidden Anbu or Root operatives would sense it.
He needed to end this—fast.
Whoosh!
With a flash of Shunpo, his figure vanished.
Shinnosuke's face tensed. Quickly, he spread his chakra perception outward.
"There!"
Forming a single-handed seal, chakra surged to his throat. "Fire Style: Fire—"
"Hadō #4: Byakurai."
Kenya's index finger pressed against Shinnosuke's shoulder before he could finish. A thin bolt of lightning pierced clean through.
Boom!
The beam extended further, carving a hole through the wall of a nearby house.
Kenya frowned. "Tch. Too loud."
But against someone of Shinnosuke's caliber, there was no avoiding commotion.
Despite the searing wound, Shinnosuke did not falter. His chakra swelled.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Technique!"
Flames roared forth, twisting into a dragon's head that tore across the street. The Sarutobi clan's mastery of Fire Style was second only to the Uchiha, and Shinnosuke's jutsu carried immense force.
Kenya's eyes flickered. "No wonder you're leading this mission."
Raising Kyōka Suigetsu, he slashed. A brilliant arc of sword light, silver and nearly ten meters long, cleaved the flaming dragon neatly in half.
Shinnosuke rolled aside, spitting a gale of chakra that enveloped his blade.
"Wind Style: Wind Slash!"
The wind blade shot forward like a spear, piercing Kenya's body clean through.
But Shinnosuke's triumph froze the moment it formed. Something was wrong. Too easy.
A whisper slipped into his ear, cold and mocking.
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu."
The world fractured like glass.
Shinnosuke's vision cleared—and horror struck. The wind blade in his hand had not impaled Kenya at all. It had pierced his own wife.
"Shinnosuke… why?"
Her tear-stained eyes met his one last time before her body went limp forever.
"Nooooo!!!"
Shinnosuke's anguished scream echoed through the night, loud enough to stir the Anbu lurking nearby.
Kenya's voice came from behind, dripping with finality.
"Don't worry. You'll be joining her soon."
Shinnosuke spun, rage blazing in his eyes—just in time to see Kyōka Suigetsu's edge descending toward him.
Slash!
Blood sprayed across the moonlit street. Shinnosuke's head tumbled free from his shoulders.
[Template character: Aizen Sōsuke — Unlock rate: 11.07%]
Kenya exhaled slowly. Already, he could sense multiple Anbu converging.
Glancing at the severed head, he muttered, "A shame… but survival comes first. At least this will buy me enough for food."
He sheathed Kyōka Suigetsu, hefted Shinnosuke's head, and disappeared into the darkness beyond Konoha's walls.
At that same hour, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the Hokage's office, quietly awaiting his son's report. The plan was simple: seal off the Uchiha compound, declare Uchiha Itachi wanted, and maintain control.
Moments later, an Anbu squad leader burst into the room, dropping to one knee. His voice trembled.
"Lord Hokage… the team led by… by Shinnosuke… All of them… slaughtered! And… and Shinnosuke's head… it's gone!"
Bang!
Hiruzen slammed his hands against the desk. His vision swam, and for a moment the Third Hokage nearly collapsed in shock.