"Are you kidding? At a time like this?" A cold, guttural laugh rang out in Uchiha Yue's voice.
At the same moment, adamantine chains clanked out from under the Third Hokage's feet and pierced his body, pinning him to the ground.
"No!" Hiruzen roared desperately. He twitched once, twice, but the chains held him in a death grip. Realizing he couldn't break free, he stopped struggling. The old man lowered his arms limply, concentrating his remaining chakra for his final, forbidden technique. His gaze, filled with deadly determination, pierced Yue.
Susanoo's gigantic hand closed, and the old man thrashed helplessly in its grip. A pair of scarlet, divinely indifferent eyes looked down at him.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, your time is up," a voice rumbled, seemingly emanating from the heavens themselves. Susanoo's fingers began to clench.
"You will die...! The seal..."
Hiruzen jerked his head up, the chakra in his body boiling, ready to burst forth. One more moment, and he would take this creature with him to the underworld...
There was a wet, sickening crunch.
Before the Third had time to complete the gesture, his body burst like an overripe fruit. In the last instant before the Death God Seal was activated, Uchiha Yue simply crushed him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, the great Third Hokage, hailed as the God of Shinobi... was dead.
Dying, he never learned the name of his killer. He only knew that Shimura Danzo and Uchiha Itachi were behind it all, and that it all happened with his silent, criminal consent.
Did he have time to repent in the final moments of his life?
History knows no subjunctive mood. Shimura Danzo, Uchiha Itachi, and Sarutobi Hiruzen himself—all were now dead.
"It was naive to think I wouldn't notice your pathetic attempt," Yue said contemptuously, releasing Susanoo's hand. His colossal figure began to slowly rise into the sky.
"Well, it's time to begin. World, meet your end!"
Yue lowered his head, impassively gazing at the earth below. He raised his hand, and a ring of pure golden light slowly formed from it.
Susanoo's second divine relic—the Ring of Concentration.
It slowly rose, expanding, and encircled the avatar's gigantic torso. Instantly, the world around him dimmed. Moonlight rushed toward Yue like a myriad of streams, and the air temperature began to plummet.
The Ring of Concentration carried no destructive power. Its only function was to greatly enhance energy absorption. While it was active, Yue was unable to move, but this was a small price to pay for the power it bestowed.
"Power..." the quiet laughter grew into a booming, maddened roar that shook the night sky. "It comes in an endless stream! Ha-ha-ha!"
Feeling the boundless ocean of chakra simmering and expanding within him, Yue reveled in his omnipotence. His ability to absorb energy knew no bounds. The more he absorbed, the more his body evolved, becoming more perfect. Strength, speed, chakra capacity, even lifespan—all of it grew, approaching infinity.
He absorbed not only moonlight but the very heat of the air. Within his field's radius, he could even draw energy from the bodies of other shinobi.
With each passing second, his power grew, and the shinobi world grew colder and darker. The light faded, and one day, this planet would become an ice ball, devoid of life and warmth.
Uchiha Yue's very existence was a catastrophe. He was a cancer on this world, a natural disaster that, if not destroyed, would sooner or later consume everything.
But no one yet comprehended this future. At that very moment, the Konoha ninja were panicking and organizing an evacuation, leading the inhabitants away from the doomed village.
The Hokage had fallen. Fighting such a monster was pointless. There was only one thing to do—run.
"What should we do? Lord Hokage... he's dead!"
"Do? Run! Find Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade! Konoha still has hope!"
"And find out everything! Now! What the hell happened?! Where is the Uchiha clan?"
"The Uchiha... they... they were slaughtered. They say it was Danzo's order!"
"The Sharingan... I saw it. In that monster's eyes... it's an Uchiha! Could it be that one of them survived and... went mad with grief?"
"It's all Danzo's fault! If that damned old man hadn't wiped out the Uchiha clan, would Konoha have reached this point?!"
Shouting out scraps of information, the shinobi pieced together the puzzle as they ran. As the picture became clearer, they were overcome with impotent rage. Everyone knew Shimura Danzo was an unprincipled fanatic, and only the Hokage's protection saved him from reprisal.
But no one could have imagined that this time his actions would lead to a catastrophe of such magnitude. He didn't just doom Konoha—he caused the death of the Hokage himself. And it would have been fine if he had died, but the monster remained unharmed!
They had lost their home. Never before had the Leaf ninja been such pitiful refugees.
And all this—because of that damned old man Danzo!
If they had known beforehand, they would have hunted him down themselves and hacked him to pieces. But now it was too late. They had become dogs without a home.
"Maybe... maybe we should try to negotiate with him?" one of the Hyuga ninja suddenly suggested timidly. "He's from Konoha too. If we talk, maybe he'll come to his senses?" We won't have to leave the village...
The others looked at him as if he were crazy. Negotiate? With a monster that had just pulverized their leader and hundreds of comrades? That revels in the destruction of their home?
"An interesting theory," the Nara shinobi said with icy calm. "You can test it yourself. We'll wait here."
The Hyuga ninja immediately turned pale and fell silent.