To pick up Mikoto?
For that Uchiha girl under house arrest?
He actually dared to invade the Uchiha clan alone for the sake of one woman?
Arrogant. Unbelievably arrogant.
"Outrageous!" Uchiha Setsuna's voice rang out like ice.
Surrounded by several elders and elite guards, the white-haired elder stepped out slowly.
His face was deeply lined by time, but his eyes were sharp like a hawk. At this moment, they were filled with both fury and disbelief.
He stared daggers at Ryo, as if he wanted to devour him alive.
"Kamiyama Ryo, you destroy our clan gate, trespass on our land, and now you spout such arrogance? Do you truly think the Uchiha have no one to stop you?"
Ryo did not respond. His gaze turned cold. A wave of terrifying, soul-shaking pressure burst forth from his body, sweeping directly across every Uchiha standing in front of him.
It was a targeted release of Conqueror's Haki.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Like being struck by invisible hammers, every Uchiha who wasn't at least Jōnin-level collapsed with eyes rolled back, unconscious before they could react. They dropped like wheat in a harvest.
The once-crowded space was instantly thinned by more than half. Only a few Jōnin and elite shinobi remained barely standing. Their faces turned pale. Their Sharingan eyes were filled with shock and dread.
This force... directly targeted their spirits. It bypassed their pride and their dōjutsu.
Fugaku stood behind Setsuna. His expression was grim, his anger barely hiding the growing panic in his eyes.
He hadn't expected Ryo to actually show up, much less in such a dominant, uncompromising manner. He hadn't imagined that just Ryo's aura alone could shatter the clan's fighting strength in seconds.
Ryo's gaze settled on Setsuna. That look made the old war relic tense up instinctively.
"Gates?" Ryo's tone was still flat, yet carried an air of supreme indifference. "If they're in the way, there's no need for them to exist."
He paused, his gaze sweeping to Fugaku, then over the few Jōnin still standing, before settling back on Setsuna.
"And you think you can stop me?"
The words were like sparks falling into gunpowder. The rage of the remaining Uchiha exploded instantly. Their Sharingan spun wildly. The crimson glow lit up the survivors' eyes.
They were Uchiha. The proud bearers of the strongest dōjutsu. When had they ever been looked down on like this?
Even if most had fallen, the ones left were boiling with fury.
"Arrogant!"
"Kill him!"
"Together! Show him the power of the Uchiha!"
Shouts rang out in succession. Several hot-headed Jōnin could no longer hold back. They moved at once, weaving hand seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Massive fireballs, fiery shuriken, and howling gales merged into a violent storm of chakra and destruction, sweeping toward Ryo. The sky turned crimson. The heat twisted the very air.
It was the wrath of the Uchiha. A desperate counterattack at full power.
But Ryo didn't flinch. He didn't even blink.
As the storm closed in, he finally moved.
He didn't dodge. He didn't block. He simply raised his right hand. Fingers spread.
Then he pressed down.
A surge of invisible, overwhelming power erupted from the center of his palm.
Time seemed to freeze.
That devastating storm, enough to incinerate a forest, crashed against an unseen, immovable wall a few meters from his palm. It was as if it had struck a wall of air itself.
Boom.
A deafening explosion shattered the air. Flames, blades of wind, shuriken—all the attacks twisted and cracked under the crushing force.
Then they were blasted backward, exploding violently in midair.
As if a giant invisible hand had crushed them, the techniques disintegrated into sparks and fragments.
The reverse shockwave swept through the front lines. Several Uchiha Jōnin were flung backward like rag dolls, crashing to the ground, coughing blood, severely injured on the spot.
The dust cleared.
The entire Uchiha compound fell into silence.
Aside from the unconscious bodies on the ground, the standing shinobi were frozen, their voices stuck in their throats. Every shout and roar had been silenced.
Those who had planned to charge forward stood stiffly in place.
The rage in their Sharingan was drowned by sheer terror and disbelief.
What... kind of power was that?
No hand seals. No ninjutsu. Just a single hand movement, and it shattered everything?
This was beyond anything they could comprehend.
And with the earlier Conqueror's Haki that knocked out half the clan…
This was not a shinobi's strength. This was something else entirely.
Setsuna's pupils shrank to pinpoints. His face twisted in utter shock. He had seen monsters. He had heard legends of Madara and Hashirama.
But this…
Even he couldn't understand it. A mental shock that bypassed Sharingan. A force barrier that stopped high-level ninjutsu. What sort of terrifying power system was this?
Fugaku turned ghostly pale. His body trembled uncontrollably. For the first time, he truly understood just how vast the gap between him and Ryo was.
It wasn't a difference of skill. It was a chasm. An unbridgeable gulf.
His pride in his Sharingan meant nothing in front of absolute strength.
The field was covered in unconscious clan members. And the dread in his heart only deepened.
Ryo looked once more over the fearful, silent survivors and the scattered bodies. His gaze finally returned to Setsuna and Fugaku.
His voice remained calm, but carried a coldness that chilled the soul.
"Where is Mikoto?"
This time, no one dared shout. No one dared move.
Only suffocating silence and fear-filled eyes remained.
Setsuna's lips trembled. He stared hard at Ryo, trying to find even the smallest sign of weakness.
But he found none. Ryo's aura was steady. His power unfathomable.
"Kamiyama Ryo…" Setsuna's voice was hoarse, laced with an uncontrollable tremor. "You, you think the Third Hokage will let this go?"
"Hiruzen?" Ryo's lips curved in a faint, bone-chilling smile. "If he wants to stop me, let him come himself."
Arrogance. Utter arrogance.
But at this moment, those words made every surviving Uchiha feel a deeper, bone-chilling fear.
They had no doubt.
If Hiruzen stood here right now, Ryo would say the exact same thing to his face.
"As for you," Ryo's gaze pierced through Setsuna and Fugaku like icy needles. "Hand over Mikoto. Or…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
But the rising wave of murderous intent behind his words said everything.
The temperature seemed to plummet. The Uchiha near him felt like their blood had frozen.
Fugaku couldn't bear the pressure. He instinctively took a step back. He looked toward Setsuna with eyes full of desperation.
Setsuna's face twisted through several emotions. Rage. Shock. And finally… despair.
All his plans. All his schemes. They meant nothing in front of overwhelming strength.
The so-called laws of Konoha. The authority of the clan. In Ryo's eyes, they were worthless.
He even began to doubt. Would Hiruzen really step in? Even if he did, could he actually stop this man?
He had once warned that Ryo's overbearing nature would be his downfall. But now he realized, he couldn't have been more wrong.
With this level of power, so what if he was overbearing?
Rules were always written by the strong.
Looking at the broken gate, the unconscious clan members, and the broken spirits of those still standing, Setsuna knew.
The Uchiha had completely lost today.
"In... in the west courtyard..." Fugaku's voice shook. In the dead silence, it was the only sound.
He couldn't hold on anymore.
He had no doubt. If he said anything else, he would die on the spot.
Ryo glanced at him.
Fugaku felt a chill shoot up from his feet to his scalp. He quickly added, "The innermost courtyard."
Ryo said nothing more. He turned and walked in the direction Fugaku indicated.
Every Uchiha still conscious instinctively stepped aside, as if parted by an invisible force. A wide path opened before him.
No one dared block him.
Those still standing kept their heads low. Their bodies rigid. The light in their Sharingan had dimmed. Only fear and humiliation remained.
Ryo walked forward, step by step, through the center of the compound.
His silhouette stretched long under the moonlight, burned into the minds of every Uchiha who witnessed this moment. An unforgettable nightmare.
Setsuna watched that figure disappear deeper into the compound. He looked around at the devastated battlefield. The broken morale. The fallen comrades.
His body swayed. He felt as if he had aged ten years in a single moment.
All his plans. His pride. Everything had been crushed beneath Ryo's absolute power.
He had miscalculated. Completely.
At the west courtyard, the guards had already been on edge from the explosions and silence that followed.
When they saw Ryo appear at the gate, their faces turned ghostly pale.
They were strong. That's why they hadn't passed out from the earlier Haki.
But now, the fear in their hearts was even worse than fainting.
"Sto—" one of them tried to speak, but Ryo's gaze swept over.
That look was cold. Indifferent. Like staring at two corpses.
The guard's voice stuck in his throat. His body froze, unable to move.
He could only watch as Ryo walked to the locked door.
Ryo didn't knock.
He gently pushed.
Click.
The latch snapped. The door creaked open.
In the dim light, Uchiha Mikoto knelt in the center of the room, facing away.
When she heard the door open, she spun around.
The moment she saw that familiar figure, she froze.
Tears blurred her vision. They fell down her cheeks uncontrollably.
"Ryo-kun?" Her voice trembled, filled with disbelief, as if afraid this was a dream.
Ryo stood in the doorway. Seeing the tears on her cheeks and the shock in her eyes, the cold in his expression finally melted.
"Yeah." He nodded softly. His voice was one he used for very few people. Gentle. "I came to get you."
Mikoto could no longer hold back. She rushed forward and threw herself into his arms.
All the pain. All the fear. All of it was swept away by the overwhelming joy of reunion. She buried her face in his chest, clinging tightly, crying into his robes.
Ryo gently wrapped his arms around her. His hand patted her back softly.
"It's over now," he said.
Then, holding Mikoto close, he turned and walked out.
He never looked at the two petrified guards again.
They walked through the Uchiha compound, filled with unconscious bodies and terrified survivors, heading for the shattered front gate.
Their shadows stretched long under the moonlight.
Fugaku stood at the front of the crowd. Watching Ryo walk away with Mikoto, unchallenged, his face twisted between blue and pale. His fists clenched. Fingernails dug deep into his palms. But in the end, he couldn't say a single word.
Setsuna remained frozen. He stared at the two figures disappearing through the ruined gate. His eyes were hollow.
They were the greatest humiliation he had ever known.
Ryo, with Mikoto in his arms, walked out of the Uchiha compound.
He never looked back.
And behind him, he left a devastated clan stripped of its pride and dignity.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)