Uchiha Yuzuru finished speaking and coldly swept his gaze over Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others, shouting, "Count them one by one—each crime is beyond recording. Do you still have anything to say?"
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had long since been scared out of their wits. They had even soiled themselves, a foul stench spreading through the air.
They wailed and kowtowed endlessly, begging for mercy.
"Spare us! We know we were wrong!"
"Don't kill us! We were only being forced by Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo!"
"Lord Yuzuru, we truly know our mistake—please don't lower yourself to our level!"
"As long as you let us live, we're willing to hand over all our assets! Our two clans will follow your command without question!"
"Please don't kill us, don't kill us…"
Seeing their display, disgust flashed through Yuzuru's eyes.
Konoha was such a massive ninja village, filled with countless outstanding shinobi—yet real power had been firmly gripped by trash like these two.
If he remembered correctly, even by the time Boruto reached adulthood, these two old bastards were still alive and well.
Truly pathetic.
But now that he was here, today would be the end of their lives.
Yuzuru did not hesitate. He raised his long blade and brought it down.
Slash!
Slash!
The pleas of Homura and Koharu ended abruptly.
Two pillars of blood shot skyward as their heads rolled down from the platform, faces frozen in terror and regret.
Yuzuru kicked their headless bodies off the platform, flicked the blood from his blade, and walked toward Shimura Danzo.
"Danzo, you're next."
Feeling that icy killing intent, Danzo's mouth went dry as fear rapidly magnified in his heart.
The last time he had been this close to death was when he served as a guard at Senju Tobirama's side…
"Uchiha Yuzuru, if Hiruzen hadn't been so indecisive back then, your Uchiha clan would have been wiped out by me long ago."
"If I die by your hand today, that's not my fault!"
Hearing this, Yuzuru let out a cold laugh. "Do you really think the power you few held could stand against the Uchiha clan?"
"If I hadn't wanted to minimize clan casualties, how could you possibly have lived until now?"
In the original history, the Uchiha clan's annihilation had come about because of Uchiha Shisui's death, Uchiha Itachi siding with the Hokage faction, Uchiha Fugaku abandoning resistance, and Uchiha Obito secretly aiding them…
Only then were the clan slaughtered overnight, completely unprepared.
Under normal circumstances, if the Hokage faction had gone to war with the Uchiha clan, the conflict would have dragged on for a long time.
Watching friends and family die one after another, who knew how many pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan would have awakened among the Uchiha?
After all, in ancient times, due to the forbidden technique Izanagi, the Uchiha clan had fallen into prolonged internal warfare.
Records stated that Mangekyō Sharingan were countless in number during that era.
It was only after Uchiha developed Izanami that the internal conflict was finally quelled.
If Danzo had truly launched the massacre early, the Uchiha clan would never have been so easily exterminated as in the original story.
Meeting Yuzuru's half-smiling gaze, Danzo knew there was no escape.
In front of his clan and his teacher, he refused to show his cowardice again and did not beg for mercy.
"Uchiha Yuzuru, do it."
Seeing Danzo prepared to die, Yuzuru had no intention of granting his wish.
He reached out, tore off the bandage over Danzo's eye, and violently plucked one out.
"So there really was another Sharingan."
Yuzuru snorted coldly and incinerated the three-tomoe Sharingan in his hand.
Now that the Uchiha clan had numerous members and cloning technology was steadily improving, he no longer needed to hoard Sharingan as life-saving trump cards.
Watching Danzo's face twist in agony, Yuzuru said coldly, "Shimura Danzo, as the ruler of Konoha, I now strip you of everything."
"You will be erased as if you never existed, completely forgotten by this world."
At those words, Danzo jerked his head up, hatred blazing in his remaining eye.
"No—you can't do this to me!"
"I am the Second Hokage's disciple, Konoha's shadow, the Fourth Hokage!!!"
He could endure humiliation, but not oblivion.
Everything he had done was for a single title—"Hokage."
Decades of scheming had finally granted him all he had ever dreamed of.
Though his time in office was short, his wish had at least been fulfilled.
In the future, whenever Konoha's Hokage were mentioned, people would think of Shimura Danzo.
But now, Yuzuru intended to strip him of that title and erase him from memory…
Absolutely not!!!
Seeing Danzo descend into hysteria, Yuzuru finally revealed a satisfied smile.
Wasn't this what he had done all this for?
Letting these people die in unwillingness and regret was the punishment they deserved.
With that thought, Yuzuru condensed a tiny Rasenshuriken at his fingertips.
With a light toss, it shattered the newly carved Hokage Rock.
"Uchiha Yuzuru! I'll kill you!!!"
Danzo roared as he tried to stand—only to suddenly lose control of his body.
When awareness returned, all he saw was a headless corpse tumbling from the platform.
Danzo forced his eyes wide open, a choking "heh, heh" escaping his throat as his consciousness sank into darkness.
"One left…"
Yuzuru appeared behind Sarutobi, his voice like a demon's whisper.
"Third Hokage, I won't treat you like Danzo."
"Your Hokage title will be stripped as well, but your story will be written into textbooks as a warning for all."
"You will stand as a negative example, nailed forever to Konoha's pillar of shame."
At this, Sarutobi's body trembled. Two streams of murky tears rolled down his face as he muttered repeatedly, "I won't accept this… I won't accept this…"
What he cherished most in life was his reputation, which was why he had always prioritized his image.
Yet all the effort he had spent building that image had been overturned in one stroke by Yuzuru.
Worse still, he would be nailed to the pillar of shame for eternity.
This punishment was ten thousand times more painful than death.
Sarutobi was filled with regret.
Why—why had he insisted on opposing the Uchiha clan back then?
With just a small concession, they would have been grateful. Why had he insisted on driving them to extinction?
Facing the hatred in the crowd's eyes, Sarutobi was overwhelmed with remorse.
If only he could start over…
Slash!
As Sarutobi's head rolled away, Yuzuru raised his long blade high.
"The four thieves are dead. Today, I, Uchiha Yuzuru, cleanse Konoha and restore its source."
"From this day forth, Konoha returns to the Uchiha clan!"