Inside the Uchiha Clan Grounds.
Anbu ninja had already gathered all surviving members of the Uchiha clan together, while the bodies of the rest had been collected and laid out in neat rows on the ground.
Kakashi approached Hiruzen Sarutobi and reported, "Third Hokage, we've accounted for everyone. But almost all the Sharingan eyes from the Uchiha bodies are gone."
Hiruzen stared solemnly at the stacked bodies, murmuring, "Danzo's Root Division ninja shouldn't have moved that quickly. Which means Chinya must have taken most of those Sharingans... Kakashi, did you see Chinya anywhere inside the Uchiha Clan grounds?"
"No, but—" Kakashi faltered.
Seeing Kakashi's discomfort, Hiruzen frowned and snapped, "Just speak!"
Kakashi continued reporting, "Some of the surviving Uchiha said... Chinya claimed he was following orders from Konoha's upper echelons to eliminate those involved in the coup."
Hiruzen's face immediately darkened.
Originally, this entire operation was supposed to be blamed entirely on Itachi Uchiha.
Now with what Chinya has said, it sounded like they—the village elders—had directly issued the command.
As Hiruzen recalled Kushina Uzumaki and Uzumaki Sōnagi also being missing, combined with Chinya's involvement in this plan, and his words to the Uchiha survivors...
His expression turned grim. "Ayumu! Seki! Both of you go immediately to Naruto's house! One team of Anbu ninja will stay behind here, the rest come with me!"
Hiruzen led the Anbu ninja in a hurried rush toward Konoha's main gates.
When they arrived at the village entrance, they just happened to meet Chinya—who was preparing to leave.
Or perhaps more accurately, Chinya was waiting for them.
Hiruzen looked at Chinya with an intense, shadowy gaze and demanded coldly, "Chinya, are you trying to betray Konoha?"
Smiling faintly, Chinya replied, "Hiruzen, it's pointless for us to speak like this now. Should I stick around just so you can purge me later? After dealing with the Uchiha, wouldn't I be next?
Since arriving in Konoha, I've never seen myself as your subordinate. Ours has always been a partnership. Now I've gotten what I wanted, finished what I needed to do. There's simply no reason for me to remain.
Therefore, our partnership is over. I'm leaving because I want to. Do I really need to ask you?"
Hiruzen snarled, "Chinya, there was never any partnership! You're a ninja of Konoha! What you're doing right now is outright betrayal!"
Sighing, Chinya replied, "You know, I've made my position this clear, yet you still try to hold me back using that title? Have you held power for too long that your mind's gone foggy?
If I really cared about that title, would I even be standing here now? Call it betrayal if you want. Honestly, I don't care either way.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, today I formally declare my defiance against Konoha. What are you going to do about it? Can you actually stop me? Or are you planning to rely on these useless Anbu ninja behind you?"
"Fine then, I'll give you time to gather your forces and hunt me down. I'll be waiting."
Chinya immediately activated Sage Mode. A dragon horn sprouted from his forehead, scales covered his body, and a layer of azure sage chakra surrounded him.
Then Chinya gathered sage chakra into his right fist and turned around, punching it directly at Konoha's main gate.
The great gate exploded and collapsed. At the same time, Konoha's barrier completely failed due to the influence of the sage chakra.
After the smoke cleared,
Yahiko, Pakura, Kurosuki Raiga, Zabuza, Haku, along with Kushina Uzumaki and Sōnagi Uzumaki, all wearing masks, stood outside the destroyed gate of Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi glared coldly at Yahiko and the others outside Konoha's gate.
Clearly, these people were definitely affiliated with Chinya.
The Fire Shadow roared angrily, "So it's true! You've formed your own organization outside the village! You've long planned to betray Konoha! That time when Uzumaki Miyuki defected—it was you and your group who helped her, wasn't it?"
Chinya turned back toward Hiruzen and said, "Don't talk like that. I only helped Miyuki escape from this prison. Remember this, Hiruzen Sarutobi—you betrayed Miyuki first. You always blame everything on others, never reflecting on what you yourselves have done. It's truly disgusting.
Go ahead and brand me a rogue ninja. As I've told you before, I made a pact with Mito Uzumaki: So long as Konoha doesn't become my enemy, I won't make myself Konoha's enemy. But the moment you brand me a rogue, that pact becomes void.
And once that agreement is broken—I'll tear this rotten village down from the inside out! Come on, Hiruzen! Do it! Declare me a Rogue Ninja!"
With Sage Mode still active, Chinya further activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
An overwhelming pressure swept across the area toward Hiruzen and his group.
Not only was Hiruzen's faction shocked, even Yahiko's team felt deeply alarmed.
Because none of them had ever seen their leader fight seriously before.
Yet now, the Hokage—the leader of Konoha, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages—stood frozen under Chinya's oppressive aura, unable to move a muscle.
That alone was all it took to prove Chinya's immense strength.
Particularly for newly joined member Zabuza, the current form of Chinya struck him the hardest; just the sheer pressure from his presence was astonishingly intense.
Initially, Zabuza had only joined Xiao organization intending to stay temporarily until he found a safe place to hide from Mist Anbu hunters.
Once the pursuit from the Hidden Mist grew less aggressive, he planned to leave the organization and go his own way.
But seeing how overwhelmingly powerful Xiao's leader—Chinya—actually was, maybe he should stick around longer and see how things unfolded.
Undoubtedly, being part of an organization provided significantly more advantage than fighting alone.
Looking at the unresponsive battle-ready stance of Hiruzen, Chinya mocked, "Hey, what's wrong? Aren't you going to call me a Rogue Ninja? Aren't you going to kill me here? Have you really gone soft and lost your spine?"
Seeing that Hiruzen still didn't budge, Chinya sighed, "How boring. You seek peace out of complacency, but the method you choose to maintain peace is to turn against your own people."
Acting meek and submissive to outsiders, yet striking down your own people with an iron fist. How typical of you! The Uchiha Clan was driven to a coup entirely because of bastards like you in Konoha's upper echelons. And yet you still have the nerve to show up here with that old face of yours, begging help from Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha. That's just shameless—no, disgraceful!
Now I'm standing completely on the opposite side, no longer part of Konoha. And yet you still act like a pushover toward me—how pitiful and laughable."
Chinya sneered at Hiruzen Sarutobi without restraint. Yet despite the storm brewing behind his darkened eyes, Hiruzen didn't so much as twitch a muscle.
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