"Y-you… you…!"
Uchiha Kagami stabbed a trembling finger toward Hokuto, a cold chill crawling up his spine.
So it was real.
Someone really could wear a mask for over a decade—deceiving all of Konoha, fooling even Tobirama-sensei—and that someone was an Uchiha from his own clan.
Terrifying didn't even begin to describe it.
Hokuto looked at him with a strange, faintly amused expression, as though Kagami had swallowed something foul and couldn't spit it out.
His stammering only made him look more pitiful—like a broken record skipping on the same note.
"Speak," Kagami snapped, eyes blazing. "How did you know Tobirama-sama was dead?"
The fury he'd been suppressing finally erupted.
He'd been forced to carry a black pot he didn't deserve. He'd been humiliated inside the Senju compound. And now he realized Hokuto had been acting for years—smiling, upright, convincing everyone he embodied the Will of Fire itself.
Kagami felt like a clown.
He couldn't swallow this.
Hokuto's lips curved slightly.
"What rank are you, that you think you can interrogate me?"
"Gold."
"And you? You're just Tobirama's dog."
"A dog that abandoned its master."
Kagami's face twisted ugly with rage.
The Hokuto standing before him—this sharp-tongued, merciless Hokuto—moved exactly like the clan's hawks.
No.
He was even worse than they were.
A dog?
He was Tobirama's disciple.
Kagami's entire body trembled. His teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached.
"I'm starting to think Tobirama-sama's death had something to do with you!"
The words burst out like a roar.
If Hokuto could deceive everyone for so long—deceive Kagami, deceive Tobirama, deceive the entire village—then his mind was far more frightening than Kagami had ever imagined.
And Tobirama's death had been an absolute secret.
Yet Hokuto had obtained the news first—fast enough to spread it across Konoha in a single afternoon.
How could Kagami not suspect him?
Hokuto nearly choked.
"Defamation," he snapped, voice rising sharply. "You're slandering me!"
"I'm the Captain of the Uchiha Police Force. I bled for Konoha on the battlefield. Every bit of my merit was earned!"
His expression tightened—then hardened into cold steel.
A black pot this heavy was not something he would ever let land on his head.
So that's your play?
On the surface Kagami looked righteous and upright, but the moment pressure hit, he was ready to shove the blame onto Hokuto in a single breath.
Hokuto's decision formed instantly.
Strike first.
Within the Uchiha, morals and righteousness were fine—until fists started talking. He'd spent years being "easygoing," being "friendly," and all it had done was invite idiots to test him.
Now he was aiming for the Hokage's seat.
That old mask was no longer useful.
If he wanted to stand at the top, then anyone who refused to kneel had to be smashed flat.
And to set the pole, you picked a hard target.
Perfect.
"Let's go," Hokuto said flatly.
Hand seals flashed.
A ninja blade seemed to appear in his grasp out of thin air.
Azure lightning exploded along the edge—violent, razor-bright—followed by a shrill howl as the air itself split apart.
"Swift Lightning Flash!"
His three-tomoe Sharingan spun at high speed. This strike demanded dynamic vision—instant read, instant kill.
Clang!
Blue lightning smashed into a shower of sparks.
Kagami barely managed to wrench out a kunai to block. The ground beneath his feet cracked in a spiderweb pattern, and a dull shock slammed into his chest.
He staggered—then forced one hand into seals.
Body Flicker!
He had no intention of trading blades with a monster like Hokuto at close range. The number of shinobi who had died under Hokuto's sword easily reached triple digits.
"Fast reaction," Hokuto said with a mocking curl of his lips. "Gold."
He'd expected at least to draw blood with that opening cut.
No matter.
He hadn't planned to kill Kagami in a single strike anyway.
Kagami landed at a distance, eyes icy, killing intent surging.
"You're guilty. You're trying to silence me!"
Hokuto's grin widened.
Kagami formed seals, chakra surging hot in his throat.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
Flames erupted violently—an enormous fire dragon, dozens of meters long, spiraling through the air before plunging straight toward Hokuto.
Now this is interesting.
Hokuto tightened his grip on the hilt. Lightning snapped across his body, electric chakra stimulating every muscle fiber and driving his speed to an inhuman extreme.
He shot forward.
A single flash of steel—
The fire dragon split cleanly down the middle.
The two halves scattered into collapsing flames and falling embers, sparks raining through the pale morning mist.
"Die."
Hokuto was already there.
In the blink between breaths, he closed the distance and drove Kagami back under a storm of blade-light.
His speed was monstrous. His swordwork was vicious.
Every cut angled for a vital point—throat, ribs, tendons, arteries—forcing Kagami into frantic retreats and desperate parries.
Kagami's injuries from the previous night hadn't even stabilized.
This was torture.
No—this can't go on.
Even as he defended, Kagami's fingers moved—subtle, hidden inside the chaos.
A quiet seal.
A stolen opening.
Sharingan met Sharingan.
"Ninja Art: Binding Immobilization!"
Hokuto's gaze dulled.
The three tomoe in his eyes slowed… then stopped.
His raised blade lowered.
His body went rigid—standing there like a puppet with its strings cut.
Kagami finally failed to hold his breathing steady.
"Ha… ha…!"
Then he coughed violently.
Blood sprayed from his lips.
That first ambush strike had already injured him internally—he'd been holding himself together by sheer will alone.
Hokuto's blade was terrifying. If Kagami had endured even a few more exchanges, he would've died on the spot.
Good.
I caught him.
But there was no time to rest.
His genjutsu wouldn't bind Hokuto for long.
He had to restrain him—now—and deliver him to Lady Mito.
Only then could Kagami clear his name.
He wiped the blood from his mouth, gritted his teeth, and stepped toward Hokuto.
And the instant he closed in—
"Hawk Return!"
Hokuto's blade snapped upward in a reversing arc, faster than thought.
Kagami didn't even have time to react.
The cut landed clean.
A savage, tearing slash ripped across his chest. Flesh split wide, bone flashing white—and something warm and horrific spilled free.
His intestines.
Kagami froze, eyes blown wide, mouth opening soundlessly as the world tilted and slid away.
Hokuto leaned in close, his voice dripping with cruel amusement.
"You didn't actually think I got caught by your genjutsu, did you?"
"I was playing with you."
"I've been guarding against that trick from the very start."
Kagami's lips trembled.
"Y-you…"
The words never finished.
His eyes rolled back. The light drained from them as his body collapsed.
He hit the ground.
Silence.
Hokuto looked down at him, calm and satisfied.
A clean wound—crippling, but not immediately fatal.
Good.
Kagami needed to be removed as an obstacle, not turned into a martyr. Killing a clansman casually wasn't Hokuto's style—he still intended to become clan head.
He crouched, palm glowing with a soft green light.
Medical ninjutsu.
First, stop the bleeding. Then a rough wrap to keep him alive long enough.
The rest could be handled by the clan medics.
Hokuto straightened, his eyes narrowing as his thoughts shifted—already moving past Kagami.
A new game had begun.
And if someone wanted to throw black pots at him—
They'd better be ready to lose an arm for it.
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