When dealing with Danzo, Uzumaki Shuji had used Ea's wide-area attack.
This ti, however, he concentrated all of its power into a single point.
It was a pure torrent of energy, like a devastating beam attack.
The crimson blast descended in an instant, engulfing the ninja gathered below.
More than a thousand shinobi faced the world-destroying attack head-on.
Red light swallowed them whole.
The ground split apart and collapsed.
A massive crimson mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
Only after the mushroom cloud had ford did the thunderous explosion erupt.
The shockwave from the detonation leveled the surrounding buildings.
Hashirama Senju watched everything unfold before his eyes.
Countless ninja were vaporized in an instant.
It was not that he did not want to save them.
He simply could not move.
Uzumaki Shuji had been on guard against him from the start.
With Madara Uchiha's example in mind, Uzumaki Shuji had no intention of being careless.
This was also his first ti using Impure World Reincarnation.
Who knew if the technique carried the sa flaws as Orochimaru's earliest version?
Even Hashirama was caught within the edge of the blast.
He felt the imnse power wash over him and was obliterated.
Fortunately for Uzumaki Shuji, the attack did not last long.
His magic reserves were insufficient.
After less than two seconds, the torrent ran dry.
"The destructive power is incredible…"
"But it burns through mana far too quickly."
Watching more than ten thousand points of mana vanish in an instant, Uzumaki Shuji once again felt that his reserves were nowhere near enough.
When the explosion finally subsided, the battlefield fell silent.
But Konoha itself was anything but quiet.
The villagers had endured explosion after explosion over the past several nights.
Many had ignored the tremors at first, assuming it was just another disturbance.
But the panicked screams outside forced them to open their windows.
The mont they looked outside, they froze.
"Surrender…"
"Or die."
Uzumaki Shuji's voice echoed over the battlefield as he addressed the thousand or so ninja who still remained.
The area destroyed by Ea had only been about two hundred ters across.
But that region had been the very center of Konoha's command structure.
Hiruzen and the other senior leaders had all been gathered there.
Clang.
Thud.
Many ninja were so shaken that they dropped the kunai from their hands.
As the first person fell to his knees, others quickly followed.
The being floating in the sky before them…
Was a god.
Gulp.
Fugaku Uchiha swallowed hard.
He was very grateful that he had retreated fast enough.
Otherwise, he would have been reduced to nothing.
The boy before him truly was the sa Uzumaki Shuji he had t before.
No disguise.
No impostor.
And yet he possessed such overwhelming power.
There was no longer any doubt in Fugaku's heart.
This child could rewrite the fate of the Uchiha.
Kakashi was equally stunned.
He had remained outside the attack zone, but with his Sharingan, he had seen the entire battle clearly.
He had never imagined that Uzumaki Shuji possessed strength on this level.
Staring at the obliterated center of the battlefield, he knew one thing.
Konoha was about to change forever.
At the sa ti, Uzumaki Shuji's system notifications continued ringing.
These were the rewards for the ninja who had submitted to him.
In an instant, he gained tens of thousands of points.
Their willingness to surrender was not based solely on fear.
Much of it stemd from Uzumaki Shuji's earlier accusations against Hiruzen.
The surviving ninja now knew that Uzumaki Shuji was the Fourth Hokage's son.
In their eyes, he was one of their own.
Combined with Hashirama's words, surrendering to him no longer felt like betraying Konoha.
Had he been an outsider, they would have fought to the death.
Hashirama soon regenerated.
Because he had only been grazed by the attack and offered no resistance, his body had been destroyed and restored almost instantly.
When he stood again, his eyes were filled with sorrow.
To him, everyone here was still just a child.
"This is the cruelty of the shinobi world."
"If nothing changes, war will continue forever."
"But if everyone belonged to the sa nation…"
"Then even conflict would no longer lead to such terrible slaughter."
Uzumaki Shuji slowly descended from the sky.
He landed beside Hashirama.
Fugaku hurried over at once.
He had completely accepted Uzumaki Shuji as his superior.
The gap between them was simply too vast.
And Uzumaki Shuji was still a child.
If the Uchiha followed him, they would one day stand at the pinnacle of the world.
"If people could truly understand one another…"
"Then battles like this would never happen."
Hashirama's face was grim.
If he had not been restrained, he would have dragged Uzumaki Shuji over and lectured him.
"You grew up in a world where the Uchiha were your only true enemies."
"You still had comrades by your side."
"But Naruto and I grew up surrounded by hatred."
"We had to live knowing that our so-called allies might use us as tools at any mont."
"We are the sons of heroes."
Uzumaki Shuji t Hashirama's gaze calmly.
Who didn't have hardships?
Mutual understanding?
What good was that alone?
Interests were what truly drove people.
Without overwhelming power to suppress greed, desire would eventually consu everything.
Hashirama could not refute him.
He knew exactly what it felt like to understand that sothing was wrong, yet be forced to accept it.
He had only realized that truth when he was already in his teens.
But Naruto and Uzumaki Shuji had reached that understanding before the age of ten.
Hashirama turned and looked toward the Hokage Monunt.
This village had been built together with Madara.
How had it beco this?
"Was I really wrong?"
For the first ti, Hashirama genuinely doubted the path he had chosen.
If he had listened to Madara back then…
Would the future have turned out differently?
The battlefield remained silent.
The remaining Konoha ninja were completely at a loss.
Those who had not surrendered no longer dared attack Uzumaki Shuji.
They feared death.
Only Uzumaki Shuji knew the full truth.
He had prepared contingencies from the very beginning.
If things turned against him, he planned to use the Chains of Heaven to plunder wealth and expand the Gate of Babylon, increasing his mana reserves as he fought.
The Chains of Heaven were originally ant to retrieve treasures launched from the Gate of Babylon.
Combat was not their primary purpose.
But because Uzumaki Shuji lacked enough offensive Noble Phantasms and his mana reserves were limited, the chains had beco his most practical weapon.
"What do you plan to do next?"
"Beco Hokage?"
Hashirama asked.
He understood better than anyone how devastating the loss of a Hokage could be.
Without a leader, Konoha could easily splinter apart and plunge back into endless war.
"Why would I want to be a village chief?"
"I will be the king of this world."
Uzumaki Shuji shook his head.
The position of Hokage ant nothing to him.
If Naruto wanted to beco Hokage in the future, Uzumaki Shuji would gladly hand the title over.
By then, he would likely already rule the entire shinobi world.
"You won't get that chance!"
At that mont, Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice rang out.
Everyone turned.
Hiruzen stood there, his face pale but his body surprisingly unhard.
After unleashing the Five Release Great Barrage, he had imdiately retreated rather than trying to withstand Ea head-on.
Several ANBU had bought him ti by erecting the Four Violet Flas Formation.
Since then, he had hidden in the shadows, swallowing soldier pills to restore his chakra.
And now, he had used his final forbidden technique.
The Reaper Death Seal.
"You should know this jutsu."
"Your father used it to seal the Nine-Tails into your brother."
Hiruzen clasped his hands together.
Behind him lood the terrifying phantom of the Shinigami.
"Hiruzen!"
Hashirama's eyes widened.
He knew exactly what this technique entailed.
He had never expected Hiruzen to go this far.
"I don't know how you obtained such power."
"Perhaps Minato left you so hidden legacy."
"But this ends here."
"As the Third Hokage, I possess the sa resolve to sacrifice myself for this village."
"Just like your father did."
Hiruzen's speech was so impassioned that he nearly moved himself to tears.
Many surrounding ninja were visibly affected.
So even began to sob.
"So tell …"
"Why did you treat the sons of the hero who saved this village like that?"
"Why did you allow your subordinates to spread the truth about the Nine-Tails so that Naruto and I would be hated?"
"Were you afraid that after I killed you, I would do to the Sarutobi clan what you did to the Senju and intended to do to the Uchiha?"
Uzumaki Shuji laughed softly.
Then he fired the question back.
If Hiruzen truly admired sacrifice so much, why had he treated the children of those heroes so cruelly?
Hiruzen was speechless.
His face darkened once again.
The surrounding ninja quickly realized that Uzumaki Shuji's question was entirely justified.
"The Uchiha rejected Madara and chose to remain in Konoha."
"And yet they were never trusted."
"Those who devoted themselves to the village were driven to their deaths."
"Your words disgust , Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"As king, I will never do what you have done."
"I repay kindness with kindness."
"And vengeance with vengeance."
"The king acknowledges."
"The king permits."
"The king bears the burden of the world."
"I am not trash like you."
Uzumaki Shuji's cold words struck Hiruzen like blades.
A self-righteous hypocrite.
There was nothing more revolting than a man who committed atrocities while convincing himself he was righteous.
Silence once again fell over the battlefield.
Even the remaining Konoha ninja found themselves persuaded by Uzumaki Shuji's words.
"Stop, Hiruzen."
Hashirama spoke at last.
Hiruzen was finished.
If Konoha was to survive the chaos to co, Uzumaki Shuji seed like a far better choice.
Perhaps this was his chance to correct the mistake he had made long ago.
"It's too late, First Hokage!"
"He is a demon!"
"He will drag the entire world into war!"
"Countless people will die!"
"Soone like him cannot be allowed to live!"
"Co with and be sealed forever!"
Hiruzen refused.
His hatred for Uzumaki Shuji burned too deeply.
He had been so close to eliminating the Uchiha.
Without Uzumaki Shuji's interference, none of this would have happened.
This child had destroyed him.
Destroyed Konoha.
If Uzumaki Shuji died, Konoha could still endure.
The Koharu and Homura who had accompanied him earlier were rely shadow clones.
After his death, they would carry on his will.
"I've been prepared for the Reaper Death Seal for a long ti."
"Without Hashirama and Madara, the only things in Konoha that could truly threaten were this technique and the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Let show you what real despair looks like."
Uzumaki Shuji smiled faintly.
He drew the Rule Breaker from his waist.
The anti-magecraft Noble Phantasm.
Its power had limits.
It could not negate overwhelming destructive force like Ea or Excalibur.
But against the Reaper Death Seal…
It was more than enough.
"I don't believe you!"
Hiruzen's face twisted with madness.
The Shinigami's arm plunged through his body, producing a sickening, sizzling sound.
The translucent hand shot toward Uzumaki Shuji.
Slash.
Uzumaki Shuji casually swept Rule Breaker forward.
The blade touched the Shinigami's claw.
Instantly, the spectral arm vanished.
The Shinigami disappeared along with it.
"Ahhh!"
Though no sound should have existed, everyone present felt as if they heard the death god's agonized scream.
"It's over."
Uzumaki Shuji looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose face was filled with utter despair.
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