Dead?
Mizushiro dragged Uchiha Tsuruha with him into the underworld?
What kind of sick joke was this?
Saru felt his heart plunge into icy despair, as if someone had dumped a bucket of freezing water mixed with crushed ice straight over his head in the dead of winter. The cold seeped from head to toe, from his organs to his skin, even into the gaps between his bones. A bone-deep chill spread through him, and he had no idea how he was supposed to explain this once they returned to the village.
The rift between the village and the Uchiha clan would very likely deepen once again because of Uchiha Tsuruha's death.
Mizushiro… no, a Kumo shinobi.
The Kumo shinobi had clearly prepared two contingency plans.
If they had not been intercepted, then Mizushiro and the other Kumo shinobi would have abducted Uchiha Tsuruha back to Kumogakure. After ten or twenty years, perhaps the Sharingan, this kekkei genkai, would have become something shared by two villages, just like Magnet Release or Boil Release.
But that possibility had already been completely shattered the moment Saru and the others caught up.
So,
Mizushiro, the Kumo spy planted within Kirigakure, had decisively activated the second plan. That was to die together with Uchiha Tsuruha, using their deaths to widen and deepen the hostility between the Uchiha clan and the Hokage's faction. If manipulated properly, it might even ignite a civil war within Konoha one day.
"Damn it!!!"
Saru cursed viciously.
His thoughts were in total chaos. He had no idea what he should do at this point.
And besides,
what was with that guy who suddenly burst out of the bushes, shouting at the top of his lungs?
When Uchiha Hatoha rushed out,
everyone noticed him.
But—
everyone was already fully engaged, with no spare hands to deal with this unidentified and unknown individual.
"Saru, the Kumo shinobi are escaping!"
An ANBU shouted loudly.
The black-skinned and pale-skinned pair of Kumo shinobi, looking like a pair of black-and-white demons, immediately broke free at the cost of injury after Mizushiro chose mutual destruction with Uchiha Tsuruha. At the same time, Saru's focus wavered because of Tsuruha's death.
That moment of hesitation was enough.
The two Kumo shinobi successfully slipped out of the ANBU encirclement and broke northward.
Hearing his subordinate's shout,
Saru snapped back to his senses. Now was not the time to stand around in a daze.
What had already happened could not be changed, but the future was still full of uncertainty. If he seized the opportunity now, it might still be possible to avoid the worst possible outcome. And the first opportunity was right in front of him, those two Kumo shinobi.
Uchiha Tsuruha's death could indeed be blamed on their failure to protect him properly.
But,
there was no denying that Tsuruha had been killed by Mizushiro, a Kumo spy embedded in Kirigakure. As long as those two Kumo shinobi were captured and the narrative guided correctly, it was entirely possible to redirect the Uchiha clan's fury toward Kumogakure or even Kirigakure.
"Kenshira, take them down…"
Saru shouted.
However—
"No one is leaving!!!"
Hatoha's furious roar drowned out everything else.
His eyes were blood-red.
Blood streamed down from the corners of his eyes.
Within his pupils, the pitch-black tomoe fused together, forming the pattern of a nine-pointed star.
The next instant,
purple-black chakra surged out of his body like dense fog. In less than a blink, it outlined skeletal shapes, ribs, arm bones, hand bones, each different in form. The ribs encased Hatoha within them.
The arm and hand bones, meanwhile, formed a gigantic arm.
Boom!
The massive hand swept horizontally.
Trees were snapped in half, ripped out by the roots. The two Kumo shinobi attempting to flee were caught squarely by the enormous palm. Fortunately, both were veteran jōnin who had seen countless battles. They used the Substitution Technique in time, narrowly escaping an attack that would have pulverized them completely.
But before they could even feel relieved,
another gigantic hand descended from above.
At this moment, Susanoo was visibly evolving from its initial state toward its first form, its appearance now resembling the upper body of a skeletal giant.
"Lightning Release: Scattered Strike - Muryuudou!"
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
The two Kumo shinobi launched a counterattack.
The Substitution Technique was not something that could be used at will. It required prior preparation. After prolonged combat with Konoha, they had already exhausted nearly all such preparations. That earlier substitution had been their last.
If they wanted to use it again, they would need time to set it up anew.
And clearly, there was no time for that now.
As for using the Body Flicker Technique to evade…
Unfortunately, the Body Flicker had a limited range. At best, it could barely escape the direct strike of Susanoo's attack. Based on their judgment, even if they fled with the Body Flicker, they would likely be gravely injured by the shockwave generated by Susanoo's palm.
And at this moment,
serious injury was effectively the same as death.
So,
instead of fleeing, they chose to fight back with ninjutsu.
With the two of them working together,
it was not impossible to shatter this descending giant palm.
Boom!!!
A raging torrent wrapped in lightning crashed into Susanoo's hand. Dense cracks immediately spread across the purple-black skeletal hand, and the overwhelming downward momentum slowed. The palm halted in midair, no longer falling.
The two Kumo shinobi could not help but show flickers of joy on their faces.
As expected,
this monster looked terrifying.
But it was not truly invincible. It could be damaged. As long as the attack was powerful enough, it was not impossible to break through it.
However—
the very next second,
before everyone's eyes, the dense cracks on Susanoo's palm were instantly filled and erased as thick purple-black chakra surged in like fog. On top of the skeletal structure, chakra-formed meridians and flesh rapidly grew.
At the same time,
a layer of chakra like an outer cloak wrapped around it.
Hatoha's Susanoo began evolving toward its second form.
The gigantic palm, now reinforced with chakra flesh and meridians, slammed down once more.
"Lightning Release: Scattered Strike - Muryuudou!"
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
The two Kumo shinobi repeated their earlier tactic.
Unfortunately,
the strength of Susanoo's palm had undergone a dramatic leap compared to before. The attacks that had worked moments ago now achieved little effect. If not for the Kumo shinobi accelerating themselves with Lightning Release chakra, they would have already been flattened into paste.
Even so,
they were still caught by the shockwave when the palm struck the ground. It was like being hit by a galloping horse. Both spat blood as their physical condition plummeted sharply.
After that,
there was nothing more to say.
The two Kumo shinobi ultimately failed to escape this fatal calamity.
Susanoo swung its hand once again,
as casually as swatting flies,
pressing both Kumo shinobi heavily beneath its palm. When the purple-black hand finally lifted, a massive and clearly defined handprint remained on the ground. At the center of the palm, two vivid red blooms spread out like roses in full, passionate bloom.
On the other side,
the Konoha ANBU stared dumbfounded at the purple-black behemoth before them, watching it crush and kill the two formidable Kumo shinobi with absolute dominance.