As night fell, the crimson glow of sunset dyed the sky a deep, blood-red hue.
In the heart of the Land of Grass, amid the ruins of the anti-Konoha coalition's headquarters—
After just one day and one night of brutal fighting, the so-called savior army that had gathered the elite of the entire ninja world had utterly collapsed.
Under Konoha's overwhelming technological firepower and the rampage of Uchiha Madara's complete Susanoo, corpses carpeted the wasteland and rivers ran thick with blood.
Iwagakure's once-unbreakable defensive line had been crushed flat by Orochimaru's mechanical legions.
Kumogakure's elite assault unit had been reduced to pulp beneath Madara's feet.
Kirigakure's naval fleet never even reached the shoreline before being swallowed by the Second Hokage's Water Release.
…
Deep within the shattered command center, inside a tent that somehow still stood.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat alone on a dust-covered chair.
His robes were torn and ragged, exposing the bloodstained combat gear beneath. In his hand rested the Vajra Ruyi staff that had accompanied him throughout his life. Tactical maps lay scattered at his feet.
Outside, the cries of fleeing soldiers and the distant thunder of artillery echoed endlessly.
"The war… is over."
Hiruzen's clouded old eyes held no fear—only a weary sense of finality.
He drew out his pipe, lit it with trembling fingers, and took a deep breath. The sharp smoke burned his throat, yet it did nothing to ease the bitterness in his heart.
Buzz—
Without warning, the space inside the tent twisted and distorted.
As the spatial ripples faded, three figures appeared out of thin air.
At the front stood Tobirama.
Behind him were two men, their eyes bloodshot, bodies trembling with barely restrained fury—
Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Asuma Sarutobi.
"Monkey," Tobirama said calmly, hands in his pockets as he looked down at the former Third Hokage. "It seems you're enjoying your final moments."
"The Allied Forces are finished. What remains is your curtain call."
Hiruzen slowly exhaled a ring of smoke and raised his head.
His gaze passed over Tobirama and settled on the two young men behind him—their faces twisted beyond recognition.
His sons.
The bloodline he had sworn to protect, even if it meant bearing eternal infamy.
"Shinnosuke… Asuma…"
Hiruzen called their names hoarsely.
"Shut up!!"
"You're not worthy to call us by our names!!"
Asuma erupted like an ignited powder keg. He drew his chakra blade and roared hysterically.
"You traitor! You monster!"
"Do you know how we lived in the village after what you did?! Because of you, our family was ruined! Mother died with her eyes wide open! Every night I dream of dead clansmen clawing at me! The villagers look at us like filth—like a stain on Konoha!"
"You were the Third Hokage! Why did you slaughter your own clan?! Why did you betray Konoha?! Why did you join those scum and turn your blade on the village?!"
His voice broke as he screamed, tears and mucus streaming down his face—raw agony and hatred laid bare.
Shinnosuke, standing beside him, said nothing.
Yet his grip on the blade was so tight that his palm split open, blood dripping silently to the ground.
The calm once in his eyes was gone, replaced by nothing but frozen killing intent.
"Father… no," he said coldly. "Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"Mother refused to close her eyes even at the end."
"Today, we will take your head—to offer it to her spirit, and to cleanse the shame of the Sarutobi clan."
Each word struck like a blade.
For a brief instant, pain tore through Hiruzen's heart—
Then his expression changed.
The guilt and tenderness vanished without a trace, replaced by a feral, twisted sneer.
"Hahahahaha!!"
Hiruzen burst into wild laughter, tears streaming as he suddenly stood and crushed the pipe in his hand.
Chakra erupted from his body in a violent surge—the last flare of the so-called Professor of the Ninja World.
"Disgrace? Your mother?"
"Idiots. Absolute idiots."
He pointed the Vajra staff at his sons, contempt dripping from his face.
"Why do you think I defected?"
"I did it for power. For myself."
"If I won this war, I would have become the king of a new world—free to do whatever I pleased!"
"As for that old woman dying?" He sneered. "So what if she's dead? A useless woman like that only held me back from ascending to godhood!"
The words pierced deeper than any blade.
"What… what did you say…?"
Asuma's pupils shrank violently. "You said Mother… was useless?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Hiruzen replied coldly, looking at them as though they were insects.
"And you two pieces of trash as well."
"I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was hailed as the strongest Hokage in history. How could I have given birth to such worthless failures?"
"You want revenge? You want to wash away your shame?"
Boom!
His chakra flared again, a terrifying pressure exploding outward and blasting the tent apart.
Like an aging lion king, he bared his fangs.
"Then come and kill me!!"
"Use those blades to cut off my head!"
"If you lack the courage—if you lack the resolve to die—then you deserve nothing but to live as dogs, burdened forever by the infamy of being traitors' sons!"
"Come on!!"
That roar shattered the final threads of restraint in their hearts.
"I'll kill you!!!"
"I'll kill you!!!"
Asuma completely lost himself. His chakra went berserk as he charged forward with reckless fury, blade raised high.
"I will never forgive you!"
Shinnosuke gritted his teeth. The Body Flicker Technique activated, his form blurring into motion as he struck straight for Hiruzen's back.
The battle between father and sons erupted in an instant.
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