Sparks burst in showers as steel split the air; the sharp clang of blades ricocheted through the central district.
Most clans watched from within shuttered compounds, silent and tense. Only a few houses—those with deep Senju ties—stepped in to help the Sarutobi, trading blows with Uchiha-aligned vassal clans. Their skirmishes were fierce but curiously restrained: they all understood this was not their war to decide.
What escalated beyond control was the clash between the ANBU and the Uchiha Police Force. One misstep would ignite a bloodbath no one could contain.
A masked ANBU captain—codename Tiger—parried a downward strike from a three-tomoe Uchiha, spun, and attempted a killing thrust. His blade met another three-tomoe's interception. Tiger reeled, forced backward by sheer numbers.
Even a shadow-level ANBU like Tiger dared not take chances when surrounded by dozens of Sharingan. One wrong movement and he would be caught in a genjutsu—one heartbeat of stillness meant death.
The battlefield groaned with collapsing rooftops and cracking walls.
"Tiger — we're here!"
ANBU reinforcements poured in from the shadows, easing Tiger's precarious stance.
At that moment, the massive Purple Flame Array shuddered—and dispersed.
Uchiha from inside the Sarutobi compound emerged in organized rows. Tiger saw Uchiha Baru, Uchiha Naka, and other veteran elites among them.
His heart dropped.
(The raid inside… is complete.)
Sarutobi Sasuke had been the clan's last pillar. Seeing the compound overrun told the ANBU captains everything:
The Uchiha had broken the Sarutobi.
"Shall we continue, Tiger?"
Uchiha Zhili, the northern squad captain—purple hair, black coat, fan crest across her back—stood blade-drawn, eyes cold. ANBU and Uchiha formed two lines facing each other, wounded being dragged behind either side.
The ANBU captains—Tiger, Baku, and Ox—still bled fury. Their comrades had fallen; retreat was no longer an option.
"Continue?" one Uchiha scoffed. "You ANBU attacked our operation first!"
"You Uchiha attacked a village clan without Hokage authorization!" Baku snapped. "Under ANBU charter, I will arrest every one of you for treason!"
The Uchiha jeered.
"Treason? Under which Hokage? Hashirama? Tobirama? They're both dead."
"The next Hokage will be Uchiha Soren."
"All you ANBU ghosts will vanish with them!"
Uchiha Rei—hot-blooded and reckless—unleashed his three-tomoe, chakra flaring. He lunged forward.
The street exploded into chaos.
Steel, kunai, fire, panic—it all converged as Uchiha and ANBU smashed into each other in a storm of blades. Blood painted walls; bodies crashed through fences. Soren approached calmly, Mangekyō glowing, Juno tucked lazily in his arm.
At Soren's presence, the Uchiha fought even harder.
Then Sarutobi Sasuke appeared—bound, injured, alive.
The ANBU captains froze.
(He's alive? Then the Uchiha didn't massacre the clan…)
(This isn't an uprising—it's a police operation turned violent…)
The realization crushed their justification for escalation.
Ox cursed and dodged a strike from Uchiha Baru, then fired a flare straight into the sky.
A white explosion lit the heavens.
Before the flare fully bloomed, a suffocating wave of chakra thundered across the district.
A cloak of Nine-Tails chakra tore through the streets, bending trees and shattering tiles.
Uzumaki Mito arrived in a blur of red, her face cold as winter steel.
Just as she crashed onto the battlefield—
A whisper slid beside ANBU Captain Ox's ear.
"If you run from a fight… at least try dying once."
A blade flashed.
A gasp escaped Ox.
He collapsed, dead before hitting the ground.
The Mangekyō Sharingan dimmed in the afterimage.
"Ox!" Tiger shouted, horrified.
The loss of a shadow-level ANBU detonated the battle.
Jutsu erupted everywhere—Fire Release spirals, Wind blades, sealing talismans. Buildings collapsed; civilians screamed; clans fortified their compounds; Byakugan spread wide; sensing teams locked down the battlefield.
Soren walked through falling embers like a man taking a stroll, casually back-handing reckless ANBU chūnin aside as if they were insects.
He turned slightly, eyes tracking Uchiha Zhili's blade dance—elegant and fatal—then felt Mito's titanic chakra bearing down.
He moved.
No sound.
No light.
Only a blur faster than sight.
He appeared behind ANBU Captain Baku, who was locked blade-to-blade with Uchiha Zhili.
Juno yawned in Soren's arm.
One cut.
A clean, perfect arc.
Blood sprayed.
Baku collapsed lifelessly.
"Thank you, Minister."
Uchiha Zhili bowed deeply.
Before Soren could reply, the air itself screamed.
A giant pressure crashed across the street. The clash froze. Shinobi staggered. Civilians fainted. Genjutsu illusions broke under sheer killing aura.
"Uchiha Soren!"
Mito's voice cracked like a divine whip.
She stood amid bodies and fire—Nine-Tails chakra swirling around her like a burning vortex, eyes narrowed into hawk-cut slits of merciless judgment.
"You have caused an uproar."
"So many slain."
"Are you prepared to die, Uchiha Soren?"
Her final words shook the entire district.
And the street held its breath—
Waiting for Soren's answer.
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