101: A fire broke out in Konoha's backyard, and the third generation ordered to release the people with tears!

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood rooted to the spot, the shadow of his Hokage hat unable to conceal the twitching of his facial muscles.

His gaze, as if nailed, was firmly locked on Danzo's right arm.

That arm, which should have been tightly wrapped in bandages, was now exposed to the air without any cover. Between the grotesque scar tissue, crimson Sharingan were brutally embedded in the flesh, like ripe but highly poisonous fruits.

They didn't blink, showing no glimmer of life, just quietly and greedily observing the world.

The air solidified, and the Hokage's office was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"Danzo..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was dry and hoarse, each word seemingly forced from deep within his throat.

"The eyes on your body, what exactly is going on with this?!"

Facing this question, which was almost equivalent to a judgment, Danzo's expression remained unchanged, not even making a move to cover that arm.

He simply looked back calmly at his "close friend" of many years, responding in a formulaic tone.

"As you can see, Hokage-sama, merely some necessary sacrifices."

Sacrifices?

"You... you actually dared to do such a heinous thing! They are your Konoha comrades!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi could no longer maintain the Hokage's dignity, his suppressed rage erupting with a roar.

"Comrades?" Danzo's lips twisted into a cruel, shallow smile, more like a sneer. "A group of rebellious elements with ulterior motives, do they even qualify as comrades? Hiruzen, your naive rhetoric will only drag Konoha into the abyss."

He slowly raised that repulsive arm, his movements so natural as if he were displaying a proud work of art.

"Look at them, Hiruzen. They are now shining and contributing to Konoha's survival, which is far more useful than staying in the eye sockets of those Uchiha rebels."

"You...!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi trembled with anger, his finger pointing at Danzo shaking uncontrollably, for a moment so choked by this twisted logic that he couldn't speak.

What did he see?

He saw his old friend's madness, and beneath Konoha's glamorous exterior, a festering sore that had long since rotted and bred maggots.

He had always known that Danzo operated in the shadows, but he had never imagined that this darkness was so bottomless, so... disgusting!

"Enough."

Before the words finished, Armor · Fortification's iron fist, the size of a cooking pot, struck again.

Danzo's figure appeared dozens of meters away, and he stumbled a step.

A faint sensation of numbness came from his arm, and the flow of Chakra seemed to be blocked for an instant.

He looked up and saw Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose suppressed rage instantly erupted into a hoarse roar.

"Hiruzen! Ignore them! Go after the Uchiha! They are Konoha's traitors, a cancerous growth that must be eradicated!"

His single eye was fixed on the retreating figures of the Uchiha Clan members, venom practically overflowing.

"If you let them leave today, Konoha will have another enemy clan!"

Tang Yan watched this good show with indifference.

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had arrived.

His objective was already achieved.

The Uchiha, this fierce tiger, had been released from its cage; Danzo, this old dog, had been poisoned; and the existing cracks within Konoha's high command had been torn open to their widest by his own hands.

Staying any longer would only increase the risk.

"Mission complete, time to withdraw."

Shanxiao - Giyan and Armor · Fortification, who were frantically suppressing Danzo, abruptly halted their movements.

The next second, a sudden change occurred.

"Earth Vein Submersion."

The ground beneath the two behemoths collapsed without warning.

Shanxiao - Giyan's eight blade-like legs inverted downwards, transforming into terrifying drills, frantically digging through the earth.

Armor · Fortification was even simpler and cruder; with the Ninjutsu activated, it directly plunged into the ground.

The ground returned to normal.

Under everyone's astonished gaze, the two massive war machines simply sank into the earth and vanished without a trace.

The ground quickly closed, leaving only two bottomless pits and a deathly silence.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the two black holes, then at the Uchiha Clan members about to disappear from sight, feeling as if he had been struck by lightning.

This was the most painful decision he had faced since becoming Hokage.

Pursue?

Or not pursue?

To pursue meant he would have to personally order Leaf Ninja to slaughter another group of Leaf Ninja. The Anbu, the Police Force, the Uchiha... Konoha's most elite forces would bleed rivers in this self-inflicted massacre. At that time, the four allied nations, eyeing them from outside, would pounce like sharks smelling blood, gnawing Konoha to nothing but bones.

Not to pursue?

He, the Hokage, would personally allow the entire "renegade" Uchiha Clan to escape. This blemish would follow him his entire life, even being nailed to the pillar of shame in Konoha's history, making him the most incompetent and weakest Hokage.

The Village's survival, or personal reputation?

Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind went blank, a battle between heaven and man raging within him.

Just then, a dark figure instantly appeared before him at an extreme speed, dropping heavily to one knee, his masked face hitting the ground.

"Hokage-sama! North Line... North Line urgent report!"

The Anbu's voice had completely changed, laced with a sob and unconcealed despair.

"The defense line..."

"The third defense line... has been breached!"

"Ay, and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer Bee, are leading Kumogakure's main forces, pushing into the Village's heartland! Our defense line has fallen!"

These words, like an invisible iron hammer, struck Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart with immense force.

His usually upright body swayed violently, almost collapsing on the spot.

North Line breached...

Kumogakure's AB Combo...

Every word transformed into the sharpest of blades, cutting through all his hesitation and struggle. If he pursued the Uchiha, the Village would be stabbed in the back by Kumogakure; if he didn't pursue, Konoha still had a glimmer of hope.

This was no longer a choice, but a trade-off.

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, turbid tears streamed down the furrows of his face. In those eyes, personal emotions had completely died, leaving only the resolute and heavy burden of a Hokage.

He took one last look at the Uchiha Clan members' backs, about to disappear into the forest, and with all his might, issued a command that echoed across the battlefield.

"All units! Abandon pursuit of the Uchiha!"

"Repeat! Abandon pursuit!"

"All personnel turn around! Prioritize the defense of the Village above all else! Hold the line to the death!!!"

The command, amplified by Chakra, poured into the ears of every Leaf Ninja.

The venom on Danzo's face instantly froze, replaced by an extreme astonishment.

"Hiruzen! Are you crazy!?" he roared.

Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't turn to look at him, only stared fixedly at the northern sky with his bloodshot eyes, his voice hoarse but undeniable.

"This is the Hokage's order, Danzo."

The weight of these words was like a mountain, pressing down heavily on Danzo. He could only watch helplessly as the last Uchiha Clan member's back completely vanished from sight.

His fists clenched, bones cracking, and a monstrous rage and unwillingness surged within his chest, almost burning away his sanity.

He didn't even notice at first that the faint numbing sensation he had been ignoring had, at some point, spread to his entire right arm. He tried to raise his hand to point at Hiruzen Sarutobi, but found his arm's movement delayed by half a beat. A cold, alien Chakra was slowly but steadily climbing up his meridians.

...

At the same time.

Deep beneath Konoha, within an unknown secret base, the air was filled with the sweet, cloying scent of formalin mixed with fresh blood.

Orochimaru extended his long tongue, greedily licking his pale lips, his golden vertical pupils reflecting the "masterpiece" before him, filled with obsession and fanaticism.

It was a "person" lying on an operating table.

It possessed the flesh and blood texture of a human, but its skin was covered with slowly wriggling black curse marks like living things. Beneath the skin, faintly visible, were lines of emerald green meridians alternating between light and dark; these were the Eight Gates Released Formation's energy pathways, permanently solidified within this body using an incredible technique.

Sasori's true body stood beside him, and Hiruko's thick outer shell could not conceal his excitement at this moment.

They had succeeded.

They had merged four completely different systems—curse marks, Eight Gates Released Formation, living flesh, and puppet mastery—in an unprecedented way, into a single monster.

No, this wasn't a monster.

This was an eternally immortal... God of Combat that they could control at will.

"Sasori, my dear friend." Orochimaru's hoarse voice broke the silence, carrying the characteristic stickiness of a snake. "A supreme work of art has been born. Now, it's time to find a 'sacrifice' of sufficient weight for it."

Sasori said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

Orochimaru turned his head, his golden snake eyes looking at Hiruko, as if he could penetrate layers of disguise and see Sasori's true body.

"That old man known as 'Two-Scales,' the flying Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, Ōnoki."

"His Dust Release can decompose matter to an atomic level." Sasori's voice came from within Hiruko, devoid of emotion.

"That's what makes it interesting, isn't it?" Orochimaru chuckled. "Will his Dust Release be faster, or will our newborn 'God' be more resistant to so-called 'decomposition'?"

"To hone our artwork with the life of a Kage, don't you think that's the most perfect debut?"