With Jiraiya's barrier technique successfully landing its surprise attack, Uchiha Yoru vanished from within Susanoo.
His figure turned into a streak of light and flowed like water into the mouth of the toad beside Jiraiya's feet.
Only then did Uchiha Fugaku notice the toad's existence.
He also finally sensed the barrier aura emanating from its mouth.
The narrow-waisted toad then raised one hand and used the wooden stopper it was holding to plug its own mouth.
At the same instant, Uchiha Yoru's aura and the barrier's aura both disappeared.
Jiraiya was overjoyed.
"We did it!"
"I caught Uchiha Yoru!"
Uchiha Fugaku finally relaxed.
He deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan and dispersed the crimson tengu Susanoo.
His body immediately began falling from high in the air.
Jiraiya didn't harbor the same malice toward the Uchiha as the Third Hokage did.
Without hesitation, he patted Gamabunta on the head, signaling him to save Fugaku.
Gamabunta had personally participated in the battle and deeply respected Uchiha Fugaku, who had controlled the crimson tengu Susanoo.
He had no objection to Jiraiya's request.
He immediately stretched out a hand and caught Fugaku, then lightly landed on the ground without even causing much of a tremor.
At this point, Jiraiya had completely exhausted his senjutsu chakra.
His Sage Mode dissipated as well.
Fatigue surged over him like a tide.
His legs went weak, and he collapsed onto Gamabunta's head.
Sweat quickly soaked through his clothes and gathered beneath him into a large puddle.
"That really wasn't easy."
"The Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan and Susanoo are ridiculously powerful."
"Fugaku-senpai, you're seriously amazing too."
Jiraiya sincerely praised Fugaku as Gamabunta brought him over.
"If you hadn't held Uchiha Yoru back this time, I never would've been able to get close to him."
Jiraiya had likewise been one of the main forces in this battle.
The strength he displayed in Sage Mode was sufficient to stand on the same level as Susanoo.
Praise from such a powerful shinobi—and the strongest fighter in the Third Hokage's faction at that—made the Uchiha clan head extremely pleased.
Fugaku naturally returned the compliment.
"Myōboku Mountain's Sage Mode has been famous for a long time, yet I've never heard of anyone successfully mastering it."
"Your performance today proves that senjutsu truly is a power far beyond ordinary ninjutsu."
The two shinobi continued flattering each other for quite some time.
By the time the Third Hokage approached with the remaining ANBU, the two had practically become close friends.
Fugaku invited Jiraiya to visit his home.
Jiraiya readily agreed.
The Third Hokage overheard the exchange and felt displeased.
However, after this battle, he had witnessed Uchiha Fugaku's true strength.
No matter what, he could no longer afford to speak harshly toward him.
Instead, Hiruzen put on a smile and praised him several times.
Uchiha Fugaku, whose senses had become sluggish, failed to perceive the Third Hokage's true thoughts.
A simple smile and a few words of praise were enough to satisfy him immensely.
Fugaku's attitude remained exactly as it had always been.
Faced with the Third Hokage's praise, he was exceedingly polite, repeatedly offering humble and pleasant responses.
"You're too kind."
"You exaggerate."
"You were the commander of this battle, Hokage-sama."
"The greatest credit naturally belongs to you."
The Third Hokage found those words extremely pleasing.
His impression of Fugaku improved considerably.
By contrast, Uchiha Setsuna, who had barely contributed anything, stood proudly behind the clan head.
He looked around with his nostrils practically pointed at everyone, even appearing to look down on the Third Hokage.
The Sarutobi clan's ANBU naturally found him irritating.
But because he stood behind Uchiha Fugaku, none of them dared glare at him for fear that Fugaku might misunderstand.
Amid the seemingly harmonious atmosphere—beneath which hidden currents surged—one ANBU suddenly raised his head.
He saw the golden Susanoo still floating in the sky.
He asked curiously,
"Strange."
"That giant is still there."
"When is it going to disappear?"
Jiraiya, Uchiha Fugaku, the Third Hokage, Homura Mitokado, and Uchiha Setsuna all changed expressions at once.
They abruptly looked upward.
Seeing the golden Susanoo, Jiraiya solemnly asked,
"Fugaku-senpai, can Susanoo remain active for a while after the shinobi disappears?"
Uchiha Fugaku's face turned corpse-pale.
His body trembled as he replied,
"No."
"That has never happened."
"But Uchiha Yoru can use Susanoo's power without activating the Sharingan."
"Perhaps… perhaps his Susanoo is special…"
Fugaku's voice grew quieter and quieter.
Even he couldn't convince himself with that explanation.
Which meant—
Uchiha Yoru was still here!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The shinobi who had been unable to interfere in the battle immediately scattered in all directions.
Only Gamabunta, Jiraiya, and Uchiha Fugaku remained.
But all three had already exhausted most of their strength.
They were incapable of fighting again.
The two men could only look at each other, not knowing what to do.
Jiraiya gritted his teeth and shouted,
"Uchiha Yoru!"
"How did you escape my barrier technique?"
Uchiha Yoru's figure appeared atop the golden Susanoo's head.
He smiled.
"Shadow Clone Technique."
"It's merely standard ninjutsu among jōnin."
"Nothing worth mentioning."
"If we're talking about something interesting, the mutual flattery between you two was far more entertaining."
"And so were the subtle little exchanges between the Third Hokage and Homura Mitokado."
"My dear clan head, you really are blind."
"They were exchanging looks right in front of you, and you didn't notice a thing."
"The Uchiha clan ending up in its current state really can't be blamed entirely on outsiders."
Suddenly, Yoru seemed to realize something.
He glanced at Fugaku's eyes.
"Oh, I see."
"You're already on the verge of blindness."
"Can you only make out vague shapes and light now?"
"Tsk, tsk."
"Looks like it's time for the Uchiha clan to change clan heads."
He patted his own chest without the slightest modesty.
"As for me…"
"I'm obviously the undisputed first choice in the clan right now."
"I suppose I'll reluctantly take the position for ten years."
"Then once Uchiha Shisui grows up, I'll hand it over to him."
Uchiha Fugaku growled,
"Don't even think about it!"
"If you become clan head, how is the Uchiha clan supposed to survive in Konoha?"
"How are we supposed to face the Hokage's wrath?"
"Do you intend to take the Uchiha clan and defect?"
Uchiha Yoru shook his head in surprise.
"Defect?"
"How could that possibly happen?"
"I was born and raised in Konoha."
"Of course I'm staying in Konoha."
Fugaku frowned.
"You're delusional."
"The Third Hokage will never allow you to remain in the village."
Yoru shook his head even harder.
He even raised his index finger and waved it side to side for emphasis.
"No."
"Completely wrong."
"Clan Head Fugaku, your thinking really is far too rigid."
"At the end of the day, I simply have a bad relationship with our Third Hokage."
"That doesn't mean I can't get along with every Hokage."
He smiled warmly, showing eight white teeth.
"All we need to do is replace the Third Hokage with the Fourth."
"Then every problem disappears."
From Uchiha Yoru's warm smile, Jiraiya felt killing intent that wasn't cold at all—
Yet was as firm and unyielding as diamond.
Even though Jiraiya hadn't witnessed Yoru drawing the circle and forbidding the Third Hokage from leaving, he now understood.
Uchiha Yoru intended to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi.
He patted Gamabunta beneath his feet, signaling him to stand again.
Then Jiraiya looked down at Uchiha Yoru and declared,
"If you want to kill my teacher, you'll have to kill me first!"
Uchiha Yoru laughed.
He lightly floated upward until he was level with Jiraiya.
Then he asked,
"Jiraiya-senpai, my respect for you isn't fake."
"But what makes you think I won't kill you?"
"You came here under Gamamaru's orders to cause trouble for me."
"Maybe you personally didn't intend to kill me."
"But does that mean you aren't my enemy?"
"Does that mean I'm supposed to spare you?"
Yoru's smile faded.
He continued coldly,
"What a joke."
"You may not want to kill me, but your actions are directly helping the Third Hokage and Gamamaru kill me."
"That alone gives me every reason to kill you!"
Jiraiya steeled his heart and snorted.
"My teacher is an extremely kind person."
"And the Great Toad Sage is the best of sages."
"He already said he doesn't want you dead."
"He only wants you to stay on Myōboku Mountain until the transformation of the world is over."
Uchiha Yoru sneered.
"So because you say it's true, it must be true?"
"Jiraiya, you're far too naive."
"You could say a hundred times that the Third Hokage is kind."
"But the owners of those dozens of Sharingan stored in Root's laboratory won't come back to life."
"Those hundreds of child test subjects won't come back to life."
"Sakumo Hatake won't come back to life!"
"Jiraiya!"
"You think moving your lips is enough to erase all those lives?"
"You think far too highly of yourself."
Jiraiya's expression turned ugly.
He tried to explain,
"That was all Root and Danzō…"
Uchiha Yoru cut him off.
"Danzō has been dead for a long time."
"But Root still exists."
"The experiments still continue."
"And the child test subjects are still dying!"
Jiraiya opened his mouth.
But he could no longer say a single word.
"And as for Gamamaru…"
"You believe anything it says."
"I absolutely won't."
"Even if what it said were true, it would still mean severing my path to immortality and blocking my Dao."
"That only makes it even more deserving of death!"
Before the words had even finished—
Golden chakra surged around Uchiha Yoru.
The golden Susanoo suddenly overlapped with his body.
Its enormous fist rose high into the air.
It aimed directly at Gamabunta's head.
And began descending.
Jiraiya shouted,
"Bunta, jump!"
But Gamabunta discovered in horror that his feet had somehow been trapped by the earth.
Layer upon layer of soil, driven by tremendous natural energy, continued surging upward.
It tried to bury his legs entirely.
Gamabunta struggled with all his strength.
He couldn't break free.
As the enormous fist descended toward him, he shouted desperately,
"I can't!"
"My feet are trapped!"
"I can't move at all!"
Hearing that, Uchiha Fugaku struggled desperately.
But he couldn't squeeze even a trace of chakra from his body.
Forget activating Susanoo again—
He couldn't even leave the top of Gamabunta's head.
Ninja Art: Needle Jizō!
In desperation, Jiraiya formed seals.
His white hair moved without wind.
It wrapped around both himself and Fugaku.
In an instant, the two became a spiked ball atop Gamabunta's head.
But they both knew—
This amount of defense, without senjutsu strengthening it, was meaningless.
Once the golden fist landed—
The inevitable result would be the death of two men and one toad.
But the fist never came down.
Even Senju Hashirama in the distance couldn't help clasping his hands together.
Yet before his Wood Release technique could activate, he stopped midway.
Because a hundred-meter-tall giant tree had been broken from its roots by someone—
Then hurled over like a spear.
Uchiha Yoru stopped because he noticed that the tree wasn't aimed at him.
It was aimed at the gap between himself and Gamabunta.
The newcomer wanted to stop the fight.
Not attack him.
With that stance, that attitude, and such monstrous physical strength—
There was no need to guess who had arrived.
Tsunade…
And Orochimaru.
Uchiha Yoru glanced at the golden-haired figure with a column of pollen erupting into the sky behind her.
Then he turned his head toward another direction, where another cloud of pollen had exploded.
Relying entirely on intuition, he reached his conclusion.
Orochimaru had arrived too.
And under the current circumstances—
The person truly capable of replacing the Third Hokage had arrived.
Uchiha Yoru slowly withdrew his fist.
He hadn't expected so many people to gather at this pass today.
Since everyone who needed to be here had arrived—
Perhaps Hiruzen Sarutobi's death no longer required Yoru to personally deliver the final blow.
Suddenly—
Yoru slapped his forehead.
He had remembered something.
Actually, not everyone was here yet.
There were still people who ought to make an appearance.
Otherwise, the scene would feel incomplete.
What a pity.
In this grand trial of the Third Hokage, there were several true parties involved whom he simply had no way to summon.
Otherwise, things would be even livelier.
Uchiha Yoru didn't dispel Susanoo.
That made Tsunade extremely nervous.
The moment she approached, she thrust a hand forward and performed a summoning technique.
A massive cloud of white smoke exploded.
Almost simultaneously—
Another enormous cloud of white smoke erupted beside it.
A blue-white slug and a crimson giant snake appeared on either side of Gamabunta.
Tsunade stood atop the slug.
Orochimaru stood atop the giant snake.
Uchiha Yoru couldn't help laughing in exasperation.
He looked at Orochimaru.
"Tsunade-senpai doesn't know me well."
"So I can understand her cautiously summoning Katsuyu-sama."
"But Orochimaru…"
"What are you joining in for?"
Orochimaru smiled.
"Oh my."
"I haven't seen my two classmates in such a long time."
"Now that we finally meet again, can't I eagerly show off my new contracted summon?"
Tsunade tilted her head and looked toward Orochimaru.
She asked suspiciously,
"You really changed snakes?"
"Where's Manda?"
Orochimaru spread his hands.
"Naturally, I killed him."
"Otherwise, he never would have tolerated me signing a contract with Garaga."
At that moment—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
One shinobi after another appeared behind Orochimaru.
They were arranged in groups of four.
Four groups formed a squad.
Each group spread out in a diamond formation.
The distance between them was wide, yet their auras faintly connected with one another, forming a seamless whole.
Their disciplined presence and coordinated movements drew the attention of Uchiha Yoru and the others.
More importantly—
They were actually able to stand directly before three giant summons and an even larger Susanoo without losing out in momentum.
Seeing his two classmates, Jiraiya's courage and confidence immediately returned to full.
He laughed loudly.
"Great!"
"You two came too!"
"Now Sensei won't be in danger!"
Hearing Jiraiya's words—
Tsunade's expression immediately darkened.
Orochimaru continued smiling.
Only his eyes turned slightly colder.
Tsunade spoke first.
"Jiraiya."
"You're still this naive."
"I came here, yes."
"But I won't stop anyone from attacking Sarutobi-sensei."
Orochimaru smiled and followed,
"Same here."
Jiraiya was shocked.
He stared at his two classmates in disbelief.
"Why?"
"Why?"
Tsunade's emotions became complicated as she saw Jiraiya's astonished expression.
But she still spoke.
"For Grandmother's grievances."
"For Nawaki's death."
"For Dan's death."
"If you don't know anything, then shut your mouth!"
"Jiraiya, if you stand on the Third Hokage's side, I'll knock you down myself so you don't get in the way!"
Orochimaru was still smiling.
"Same here."
His head rotated one hundred and eighty degrees.
He looked toward the trunk of a broken tree.
"I was Nawaki's teacher, after all."
"He died right in front of me."
"I watched him step into a trap that even I failed to detect."
"I watched him get blown apart alive."
"Nawaki's death affected me no less than it did Tsunade."
"Sarutobi-sensei…"
"You know that, don't you?"
The Third Hokage walked out from the shadow of the tree trunk.
He was still wearing his battle armor.
But none of the shinobi who had previously clustered around him remained at his side.
Orochimaru's dissatisfaction deepened.
He even complained disdainfully,
"Sarutobi-sensei."
"Sending only a shadow clone is rather boring."
The Third Hokage's shadow clone ignored Orochimaru's complaint.
Instead, he questioned him.
"Orochimaru."
"I don't remember permitting you to return to Konoha."
"Why are you here?"
"No, Sensei."
"You did permit it."
Orochimaru smiled.
"You gave me permission before I departed."
The Third Hokage didn't become angry.
Instead, he stared at Orochimaru in disbelief.
"You…"
Orochimaru's snake-like eyes curved into thin slits.
He clapped happily.
"You guessed correctly!"
"I completed the mission."
"The Sunagakure shinobi have fully withdrawn into the Land of Wind."
"Konoha's forces now completely occupy the southern region of the Land of Rivers."
"The mission is finished."
"So naturally, I returned to Konoha promptly to report its completion."
The Third Hokage frowned.
"Then why didn't you stay in the village and wait for my return?"
"Why did you secretly come here?"
"You misunderstand."
"A certain Uchiha promised me that once I returned to the village and met with him, he would help me complete the final procedure required to become Hokage."
Orochimaru spoke with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"Becoming Hokage…"
"That was Nawaki's dream."
"So naturally, I was a little impatient."
"But the person who made me that promise took far too long to return."
"So I came here to find Uchiha Yoru."
"Meeting you here instead…"
"That was the surprise."
The Third Hokage's shadow clone turned toward Susanoo.
He questioned,
"Uchiha Yoru."
"I originally thought you only developed killing intent toward me because of my actions today."
"So you intended to kill me from the beginning."
"What ambition."
Uchiha Yoru didn't show him the slightest respect.
He looked at the Third Hokage's shadow clone and snorted.
"How boring."
"What's there to discuss with a mere shadow clone?"
"Have the real you come speak."
The golden Susanoo punched downward.
The Third Hokage's shadow clone was flattened instantly.
Then the golden giant soared into the air and flew rapidly toward the nearby forest.
But halfway there—
Yoru turned around and came back.
The Third Hokage wasn't Shimura Danzō, after all.
Even if he was no match for Uchiha Yoru—
Even if his own disciples were filled with hostility toward him—
As Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't choose to flee.
He brought Homura Mitokado and the remaining ANBU with him.
They walked toward the place where the Konoha Sannin and the golden Susanoo now faced one another.
When the situation became completely irreversible—
Hiruzen Sarutobi was once again like the man he had been twenty years ago.
Without hesitation—
He stepped forward.
And voluntarily faced his "enemies."
It was just that this time—
There were rather a lot of them.
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