Chapter 75 – Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi Die!
Renji said all that simply to claim the moral high ground.
Even though many clans already had some idea of the truth, today wasn't just about destroying the reputation of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others—it was also about killing all four of them.
"After this, I will abdicate. I don't want to see internal strife in Konoha, and I don't want to kill anyone in the village myself."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes froze after hearing Renji's words. After saying this, he seemed to age significantly.
In truth, he already knew that after this incident, there was no way he could continue serving as Hokage.
"You're wrong, Third. It's not you killing me—it's me taking all of you down. And don't think this whole farce will end just because you plan to step down.
Besides, every Hokage has died in battle. The First, the Second, and the Fourth—every one of them. And you, Third? After making so many mistakes, you plan to just quietly step down and wait for death? Don't let me look down on you, Third!"
Renji spoke calmly, but his words were like fire roasting Hiruzen alive.
Indeed, as Renji said, every Kage had died in battle. Most Kage from other villages did as well. If he chose to cower and survive, Hiruzen knew his reputation would be completely ruined.
Someone who didn't even dare face death.
"I understand now, Renji."
Hiruzen took a deep breath, then immediately summoned Enma. He was prepared to fight Renji with everything he had.
If he won today, he would step down and kill Renji—but he would never again harm the Uchiha clan.
If he lost, he would die in battle like all the other Kage. Though his past was full of mistakes, at least he wouldn't die a coward.
"Hiruzen, let me help you. It's been a long time since we fought side by side."
"Danzo, you…"
Hiruzen hesitated. Danzo looked like he wouldn't last much longer.
Was he really going to do this?
"Don't worry, I'm not dead yet!"
"Count us in!"
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado understood clearly.
Renji wasn't going to spare them. Rather than wait for death, they might as well fight alongside Hiruzen.
"Four against one? Then let me finish you all at once!"
Renji crossed his arms and looked at them arrogantly.
So they were finally ready to fight before death?
Maybe it was because so many people were watching.
"Have your people fall back!"
Renji waved his hand, signaling the Uchiha to retreat. The battle might affect them.
"Clan leader, are you really going to fight four at once?"
"Four? If there were ten, I'd fight ten!"
"…"
Right.
Clan leader's showing off again.
Uchiha Setsuna and Uchiha Jin exchanged glances but said nothing, directing the Uchiha clan to fall back.
The other clans, seeing this, also moved aside.
This was a conflict between the Uchiha and Hiruzen's faction—it had nothing to do with them. If Renji won, they'd stand with the Uchiha. If Hiruzen won, while trust would be broken, they could still elect a new Hokage after he stepped down.
They didn't care who was Hokage. Whoever won would become Hokage!
"Renji, my only mistake in this life was not moving against the Uchiha sooner!"
"Enough with the nonsense, you fossil!"
Renji slashed at Danzo. Danzo didn't even try to dodge. When Renji's blade pierced his heart, Danzo grabbed Renji's arm tightly: "Hiruzen, run!"
Even if Renji saw through it, since Renji came to him, he would use the Reverse Four Symbols Seal to seal him away.
Seeing that Renji was caught, Danzo's eyes flashed with wild joy.
"Danzo…"
Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock. His heart was filled with pain. If he had listened to Danzo back then, would things have ended differently?
And now, Danzo chose to sacrifice himself and drag Renji down with him.
"Is it really going to end this easily?"
People nearby suddenly felt uneasy. They all knew the Reverse Four Symbols Seal—once activated, even the caster's body would be annihilated.
"You know why I let you grab me, Danzo? Maybe you thought, just like before, that there was still hope. But in the end… all you'll see is this world as hell."
Renji suddenly erupted with a surge of lightning, severing Danzo's arm, and then vanished with a flash.
Looking at Danzo's location, Renji raised his hand and muttered, "Danzo, even though using the Reverse Four Symbols Seal means death… I'll still be the one to kill you. Divine Judgment!"
Thunder rained down from the sky, striking Danzo over and over. This wasn't the One Piece world—ninjas were fragile, and lightning like this was essentially a death sentence.
Renji had no intention of letting Danzo live.
"DANZO!!!!"
Hiruzen's eyes were filled with anguish. He knew that with a few bolts of lightning—plus Danzo's earlier condition—there was no way he could've survived.
And to die in such a cruel way—to be given hope, only to be crushed with despair.
"Isn't that exactly what you did before? Giving the Uchiha hope, then destroying it? I'm just using your methods on you. And now you can't take it?"
Seeing the once-kind Hiruzen's eyes now filled with killing intent, Renji didn't care at all. He even joked with a smile.
This was what they had done before.
"Evil Uchiha brat…"
In his final moments, Danzo looked at Renji, then at Hiruzen.
It felt like he'd always lost to him.
Ever since ninja school, he had been inferior to Hiruzen. Even when they were chosen as Tobirama's students, he still couldn't compare. And during the final retreat, he kept thinking—if only he had been a little braver back then, maybe the Hokage seat would've been his.
Hokage…
It became Danzo's obsession. For that title, he was willing to do anything.
He thought for sure he would be chosen after the Fourth's death—but Hiruzen stepped in again.
"Hiruzen… I guess I really lost to you completely in this life…"
Danzo's vision blurred. The Reverse Four Symbols Seal engulfed him and everything around him.
Even in death, he never became Hokage…
Sensei, was I truly wrong?
Just before death, he seemed to see Tobirama Senju, as well as Torifu Akimichi and Kagami Uchiha. Then his consciousness gradually dissolved, and everything that remained of his existence in this world was completely devoured by the Reverse Four Symbols Seal.
"The next ones are you two!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was the one Renji had deliberately saved for last—forcing him to watch all his comrades die before his eyes.
Feeling the sudden murderous intent locked onto them by Renji, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado tensed up. Instinctively, they wanted to resist, but it had been far too long since they'd last fought. Ever since becoming Konoha's elders, they had slowly neglected their training.
Though once elite jōnin, they likely couldn't even defeat a regular jōnin now.
And to someone like Renji, who possessed power at the super-Kage level, killing them was far too easy.
"Stop!!"
Snapping out of his grief, Hiruzen Sarutobi grabbed the Adamantine Staff formed by Enma and rushed forward to block Renji.
He hadn't protected Danzo earlier, and now that Renji was going after Koharu and Homura, he couldn't let it happen. He knew full well they stood no chance against Renji—if Renji made a move, they would die.
But in the very next second, he watched Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado get instantly killed by Renji.
Though they managed to assume a defensive stance, they hadn't fought in years—and age had caught up with them.
They had known they might lose, but not that it would be so fast.
Even in death, their faces were frozen with confusion. After all these years in Konoha, was this really how they died?
"You can't protect anyone, Hiruzen Sarutobi. It's always been this way. In your hands, anyone could become a sacrifice. You're too weak—and too old."
Back during the era of the Legendary Shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi had indeed been formidable. But with age, his strength and will had long since faded.
"Renji, your thinking has become dangerous. Even if I've made many mistakes, this time—no matter what—it ends with dragging you to hell!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath, staring at Renji with solemn eyes.
He admitted he had done many wrong things. But today, the one thing he believed he had to do was take Renji down.
Renji's thinking had grown too extreme. If Hiruzen died, then the Sarutobi, Shimura, Mitokado, and Utatane clans would undoubtedly face Renji's purge.
So at this point, Hiruzen had made up his mind—he would stop Renji. He couldn't let him run rampant any longer.
"Drag me to hell? You sure are confident in yourself."
Renji curled his lip with disdain. He already had a rough idea what Hiruzen was planning.
Wasn't this just about learning the Reaper Death Seal after seeing Minato Namikaze use it to trade his life for sealing the Nine-Tails?
After witnessing Minato's one-for-one technique, he too had studied it afterward.
But now, none of his other abilities could do anything against Renji.
"By the way, did you forget something?"
"What?"
Hiruzen asked instinctively.
"When fighting a Uchiha one-on-one—don't look into his eyes. If it's two-on-one, find a chance to strike from behind. So who gave you the courage to stare straight into mine?"
Hiruzen had been making eye contact with him all this time. Had he forgotten the danger of Uchiha abilities because it had been so long since he'd fought one? Or was he simply too confident in his genjutsu resistance?
"No way. I couldn't have…"
Before he could finish, Hiruzen's words caught in his throat.
Because suddenly, he wasn't so sure anymore.
"When did you fall under the illusion that you weren't under my genjutsu?"
In the real world, Renji suddenly sliced off Hiruzen Sarutobi's left arm.
Enma urgently shouted, "Monkey, snap out of it!"
He was under genjutsu!
Even Enma couldn't wake him!
But the pain in reality jolted Hiruzen back to awareness.
"A 'Professor of Ninjutsu' like you—how will you cast jutsu without your left arm?"
Renji's calm words made everyone around shiver.
Renji really was ruthless!
With Danzo, he first gave him hope, then plunged him into despair.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi, he made him watch his companions die one by one, then hacked off his arm.
Brutal—but oddly satisfying to some.
Hiruzen's gaze darkened. Without his left arm, many ninjutsu were no longer usable.
"A criminal like you should be eternally judged in the depths of the Black Tide, not allowed to remain in this world. Third Hokage—you'll be the first to witness this power. From now on, your soul shall never reincarnate."
Renji's left eye rippled with power.
Suddenly, dark water surged around Hiruzen Sarutobi, engulfing him completely.
Ōnami-no-Mikoto!
Those swallowed by it would have their souls trapped forever.
Hiruzen tried to escape, but the black water had already surrounded him.
"What is this?! Even moving feels ten times harder than normal!"
A flicker of shock passed through Hiruzen's eyes. His body felt like it was weighed down by immense gravity.
In the past, he would've easily dodged—but now he couldn't move an inch.
"Die. Today, the grudge between Konoha and the Uchiha ends. With the decayed roots removed, Konoha will only grow stronger. Third… today, everything returns to dust and ashes."
Renji looked at the Third with a trace of emotion in his eyes.
His era had ended. The relics of the past needed to fade away.
"That's Renji's dōjutsu!!!"
From afar, Black Zetsu silently committed Renji's eye technique to memory.
Mangekyō Sharingan abilities were all unique, but this one didn't seem especially dangerous.
To him, only Kotoamatsukami and Kamui truly posed a threat.
Still, he had been wary of Renji's power before.
"Hmm… the old man was swallowed… Is that gravitational force? It looks like he was pinned down… And that black water, it's retracting now along with him…"
Black Zetsu carefully studied the technique.
The opened dimension reclaimed the black water—taking Hiruzen Sarutobi with it.
"He… he's really gone?!"
"Lord Third is dead? What do we do now?"
"Konoha's internal conflict ended with the Uchiha's victory… but…"
Everyone present was dazed as they watched Renji kill Hiruzen Sarutobi and the rest of Konoha's elders.
No one could help but feel lost.
The Uchiha… really did it.
Even the Uchiha themselves hadn't believed Renji could actually do it.
But now, with Hiruzen and the others dead, Konoha faced a string of problems—and many clans would have to choose sides.
(End of Chapter)
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