Chapter 145: Miscalculation Led to a Further Escalation of the Battle
Kenichi knew very well that a village like Konoha would not simply compromise because of a few threats and an unfamiliar ninjutsu. That was why, when he could not spot Danzo anywhere, he had stayed alert from the start.
Danzo was that kind of man. He had spent his entire life doing two things: taking blame when it was convenient, and carrying out filthy schemes when it was not. Kenichi still remembered that Danzo might have already sent Yakushi Kabuto to deal with the woman who once saved him.
Danzo was skilled at killing by destroying the spirit, and he had completely manipulated the Uchiha.
So the moment Danzo did not appear, Kenichi had already taken note.
And yet, Danzo still managed to strike silently in the end.
The timing was so sharp that if Kenichi had not been prepared, he might have actually taken the hit.
No wonder Black Zetsu used the same method when dealing with Madara Uchiha. A shinobi charging from the front drew everyone's eyes. A blade from behind was what people failed to guard against.
"Kenichi Amamiya," Danzo said, stepping out from behind Konoha Hospital with a group of Root shinobi. "You are the one threatening the village that raised you."
He glanced at the dark clouds overhead and the thunder dragon coiled within them. A flash of gloom crossed his face.
He had never imagined that the brat who followed Orochimaru back then, the boy who stood there like a servant, would grow into this.
If only he had…
At that moment, the thunder dragon's claws touched Konoha's defensive barrier.
The barrier instantly trembled violently.
Kenichi raised an eyebrow. Konoha really was clever. The barrier did not just cover the ground anymore. It sealed the sky as well, forming a hemispherical shell over the village.
If he had tried to drift in on something as ridiculous as a hot air balloon, who knew what other defenses Konoha would have revealed.
Kenichi ignored Danzo and looked back at Hiruzen.
"Lord Third," Kenichi said, voice steady. "Hand over Anko, or I will not mind letting this jutsu fall on Konoha's head."
Above him, the thunder dragon pulled its claws back and hovered in the storm clouds, ready to strike.
Kenichi was already straining to keep it under control. If it expanded any further, he would lose his grip on it, and even if he did not want to, he would have to choose a place for it to crash down.
Still, Kenichi felt that achieving his goal today should not be too difficult.
He had come alone, and leaving would be troublesome, but the moment he realized Konoha was in the rainy season, he understood the opening he had been waiting for.
He could cause chaos, and in this weather, he could still escape cleanly.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had once been praised as a hero among shinobi. He owed Naruto a great deal, and his life was full of flaws, but one fact could not be denied. He cared about the village, and he was the kind of Hokage who would sacrifice himself for it.
Orochimaru's evaluation of him echoed in Kenichi's mind.
The teacher always compromised. Always backed down. It avoided sacrifices, but he never understood that respect was earned through battle and blood.
Kenichi had always agreed.
Yet right now, Hiruzen's habit of compromise would actually be convenient. It would let Kenichi take Anko, leave with Shinno, and vanish.
Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe, smoke spilling out and blurring his eyes.
"Hmph. Kenichi Amamiya," Hiruzen said. "Do you think I will let you leave after you have already invaded Konoha?"
Kenichi froze.
That was not right.
That was not Hiruzen's usual style.
Before Kenichi could process it, four figures snapped into position around him. Their hands moved in unison, seals flashing, and five ninjutsu attacks erupted toward Kenichi in rapid succession.
Kenichi's shock turned into fury.
He had not expected Hiruzen, the man who always hesitated on the battlefield, to strike without hesitation now.
Did he truly not care about the lives of Konoha's shinobi and civilians at all?
In that instant, Kenichi made his choice.
He called the thunder dragon down without hesitation.
Even if he was within its range too, the moment Konoha attacked first, if he held back, would that not prove he was bluffing?
"Summoning Jutsu! Multiple Rashomon!"
As the thunder dragon roared and lunged toward the village, countless defensive techniques rose at the same time.
Kenichi even saw Multiple Rashomon gates appear, one after another, their massive frames slamming into place.
All of it had one purpose.
Stop the thunder dragon.
"Kenichi Amamiya!" Hiruzen's voice boomed. "Did your teacher never teach you not to lose focus in a fight?!"
In the blink of an eye, Kenichi took a heavy blow to the chest.
A golden staff struck him and sent him flying backward.
At the same time, scorching flames swept past him.
Hiruzen had used the Sarutobi clan's fire technique, a fierce blaze that surged like a wall.
Kenichi's lips twitched.
"You actually came in person?"
To be honest, he truly had not expected Hiruzen to refuse him with a smile and then attack without hesitation.
The Hiruzen of today was not the frail old man he would become a decade from now. He had aged, yes, but his strength had not declined nearly as much.
Kenichi could not hide his strength anymore.
The three tomoe Sharingan spun into existence in his eyes.
Genjutsu flared.
At the same time, lightning gathered between Kenichi's hands, brilliant and violent. His own technique, Lightning Flash, modified from Chidori, burst forward at terrifying speed, aiming straight for Hiruzen.
But the Ninja Professor lived up to the name.
Hiruzen shattered the genjutsu's influence almost instantly, then used Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, the gust forcing his body to shift just enough to barely avoid the lightning strike.
"You transplanted the Sharingan?" Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, surprise flickering across his face, though not for long. "Of course… it would be strange if Orochimaru's disciple did not."
"Aren't you the same, Third Hokage?" Kenichi sneered, his gaze sweeping across Hiruzen's left hand, the meaning obvious.
While Kenichi and Hiruzen fought, the thunder dragon above smashed through layers of defenses. It tore through barrier techniques and crashed into Konoha's defensive shell.
"Reinforce the defenses!"
"Where are the barrier teams? Hurry!"
Konoha erupted into chaos, but the shinobi were still fighting to defend. They threw up defensive jutsu again and again, trying to divert and blunt the dragon's strike.
In the end, the thunder dragon became a streak of light, and the barrier beneath it fractured.
The defensive barrier was breached.
But the thunder dragon was already running out of force. It was stopped by the defensive techniques used by Danzo and his Root, and it did not cause any damage inside the village.
Kenichi's eyes hardened.
"If one Konoha can hold," he said coldly, "what about two?"
A massive amount of chakra surged upward again.
The storm clouds twisted.
Then, with a roar that shook the air itself, another thunder dragon pushed out from the clouds and stared down at Konoha.
Hiruzen's brows tightened.
He knew how his disciples viewed him. He had always believed they simply did not understand him. He had retreated in battles because he did not want more people in the village to die. He had lived through too many wars. He knew that pain.
That was why he had always believed harmony mattered most.
But today was different.
If the outside world learned that someone could stroll into Konoha, threaten the village with a powerful jutsu, and walk away after getting what they wanted, then Konoha would be mocked endlessly.
That precedent could not be allowed.
So he had acted without hesitation, determined to keep Kenichi here.
Yet once the battle began, Hiruzen realized something bitter.
He was old.
Or perhaps it was that he was too old to understand this young man in front of him, just as he could not understand how Kenichi's chakra could be so vast.
The thunder dragon's destruction was real. Even with the barrier reinforced, it had still been breached.
Hiruzen had judged, based on experience, that after such a massive technique, Kenichi could not have much chakra left.
A shinobi could refine chakra, yes, but they could not spend it endlessly. Completely draining chakra meant death. So Hiruzen had believed Kenichi would not be able to keep going.
He had even thought that if they captured Kenichi, they could have Orochimaru find a way to ransom his disciple, and they could also warn anyone else who wanted to cause trouble.
Konoha was not a village you could threaten at will.
But Kenichi's strength had shattered that assumption.
The Sharingan itself was not the surprising part. Hiruzen knew what kind of research Orochimaru did. With Kakashi as an example, obtaining a pair of Sharingan was not impossible.
What shocked him was something else entirely.
Kenichi could deactivate the Sharingan.
That was an ability usually reserved for those with Uchiha blood, something outsiders could not truly master.
And yet Kenichi could shut it down.
That alone gave Hiruzen new thoughts he did not want to admit.
"…Take Anko and leave Konoha," Hiruzen finally said, staring up at the furious dragon in the clouds. "That is the bottom line."
If Kenichi struck again, Konoha would suffer heavy casualties.
Hiruzen had misjudged this.
Kenichi's chakra was monstrous. His combat ability was terrifying. And those markings around his eyes…
Hiruzen had never trained in Sage Mode, but he understood it. Jiraiya had pursued that path.
Yet Kenichi's appearance did not resemble the Sage Mode of Mount Myoboku or Ryuchi Cave.
"And Shinno," Kenichi said, voice flat. "I'm taking him too."
Hiruzen took another draw from his pipe.
"Alright."
He gave Kenichi a long, heavy look.
Then he bent slightly, letting Enma work his back as if he were exhausted.
"Getting old," Hiruzen sighed.
Kenichi's lips twitched.
This old man really knew how to act. The strike from that golden staff earlier had been anything but weak.
Hiruzen turned and ordered the ANBU to retrieve someone.
Soon, Anko was brought out.
She looked panicked, fear trembling in her eyes.
And the one escorting her was someone Kenichi knew well.
Kakashi.
Kenichi looked at him and forced an awkward smile.
"Kakashi… I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye back then."
He had approached Kakashi with a purpose, but he could not deny the truth. He could see it clearly in Kakashi's attitude.
Kakashi had truly considered him a friend.
That was why Kenichi could never bring himself to be ruthless every time they met. Perhaps Obito had felt the same way, even if Obito eventually chose violence.
Kakashi removed his mask.
Beneath the silver hair, his eye watched Kenichi in silence.
Kenichi felt the weight of that gaze, awkward enough that he reached out and ruffled Anko's hair.
Anko stared up at him, trembling.
She did not recognize the older brother in front of her.
And yet, for some reason, looking at him made her feel safe.
She did not understand why.
Kenichi had thought Kakashi might say something dry, something like Chidori had improved.
But Kakashi said nothing.
He only nodded once.
Then he put his mask back on and watched.
Kenichi did not dare delay.
Maintaining the thunder dragon was already pushing him to the limit.
He grabbed Anko with one hand, and with the other he took hold of the half dead Shinno who had been thrown over earlier.
Then he turned and left Konoha.
Before he crossed the village boundary, he looked back once.
He had not achieved one of his goals today.
He still had not seen Naruto.
But that day would not be far off.
The moment Kenichi left, the thunder dragon in the sky shot toward a distant mountain.
The next second, an explosion erupted, and blinding light flashed across Hiruzen's face.
Danzo stormed up, furious.
"Hiruzen! You disappoint me! Facing a rogue ninja, you actually…"
"Raise Kenichi Amamiya's rogue ninja ranking," Hiruzen said coldly, cutting him off. "Issue a kill order."
Danzo froze.
Hiruzen's gaze was sharp and threatening, and Danzo swallowed whatever else he wanted to say.
After the Orochimaru incident, Hiruzen had struck Root hard, shattering its authority in the village. Danzo was still licking those wounds. That was why he hated Orochimaru, and why he hated Kenichi as well.
"Hmph!" Danzo turned and stormed away.
He would become Hokage sooner or later.
He definitely would.
Hiruzen did not bother looking after him.
He knew perfectly well what Danzo wanted, what Danzo planned, and even that Danzo had once tried to assassinate him.
But Danzo was not suited to be Hokage.
That had been true in the past. It was true now. It would be true in the future.
Hiruzen took another slow draw from his pipe.
"What a pity," he murmured. "Such a promising talent."
Kenichi's vast chakra, and that powerful state that resembled Sage Mode, reminded him of the First Hokage, the man who made Konoha a force the world could not ignore.
If a child like that could have been nurtured properly, if he could have been taught the Will of Fire, it was hard to say he could not have become the Fifth Hokage one day.
What a pity.
Hiruzen had countless flaws, but as Hokage, he still had merits that could not be denied.
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