As Aozora and the two others slowly advanced, the four Anbu placed their hands on their ninja tool pouches, their killing intent radiating outward.
In an instant, the air grew heavy with a bone-chilling presence—colder than the icy wind swirling around them.
"I suggest you don't make a move! Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety!"
As he spoke, Aozora's chakra, hot like molten lava, surged violently within his body. Waves of heat radiated from him, distorting the space around like a mirage.
The four Anbu stared at Aozora approaching them as though watching a volcano drawing closer. Their hearts pounded in fear, and the hands resting on their pouches didn't dare move.
They couldn't afford to risk facing the aftermath of that volcanic blast!
Behind Aozora, Junping and Guy also felt the overwhelming pressure emanating from him. Although it wasn't aimed directly at them, they still felt suffocated by its intensity.
Yamato, stirred by Aozora's aura, instinctively crossed his hands in front of his chest.
He realized that this bloodthirsty Uchiha, Aozora, was far more powerful than ordinary ninja.
Aozora was no longer the rookie fresh out of the Ninja Academy. Through countless brutal battles and clashes with formidable foes, he had forged a terrifying aura of his own.
Surging chakra, raging battle will, and ruthless killing intent—all of these were enough to suppress most average ninja.
However, Yamato was not an average ninja. Originally an Elite Jonin, after absorbing Hashirama's Cells, both his chakra reserves and the power of his Wood Release techniques had significantly increased. His current strength might have already reached the Kage-level.
Faced with Aozora's tense and nearly eruptive aura, Yamato's expression remained calm as he warned, "Stop right there! Take another step forward and I won't hold back!"
Without hesitation, Aozora continued walking forward. The three tomoe in his left eye began spinning rapidly, locking tightly onto Yamato's every movement.
Thud! Thud!—
Aozora and his companions' footsteps landed softly yet ominously on the muddy ground.
The Anbu with the cat mask tensed his muscles, assumed a fighting stance, and kept glancing urgently at Yamato, hoping he would strike first.
Yet Yamato hesitated while watching the trio approach steadily.
"Move!"
Aozora shot a glance at Yamato. Chakra erupted beneath his feet as he rushed past him directly, heading toward the Temporary Command Post.
Junping and Guy ignored Yamato and the four Anbu entirely and followed Aozora closely behind.
When he saw Yamato made no move to stop them, the masked cat-faced Anbu's eyes darkened beneath his mask. He quickly formed seals and cast a jutsu toward the unguarded backs of Aozora and his group.
[Fire Release: Homura's Fire Release Technique!]
With chakra-infused oil spewing from his mouth, it instantly transformed into a massive fireball hurtling toward Aozora and the others.
Though weaker than the Great Fireball Jutsu, the Homura's Fire Release Technique required very little time to prepare. At such close range, even a Jonin wouldn't be able to dodge.
Aozora sensed the sudden surge of fire-type chakra behind him and immediately spun around, dashing to stand behind Junping and Guy. Without forming any hand seals, he expelled an intense torrent of blazing fire from his mouth.
[Fire Release – Great Fireball Technique!]
An orange fireball of Homura Chakra erupted from Aozora's mouth. Like magma surging forward, the fiery stream swelled into a massive ball of blazing orange flames—a fallen sun on earth that scorched the weeds, tore through the ground, and blasted toward the Anbu with the cat mask.
Boom!
The fireball smashed through Homura's fire release technique without slowing down, sweeping forward with scorching heat straight at the cat-faced ninja.
Yamato had finally regained his senses. Without time to scold the Anbu, he quickly formed hand seals.
[Wood Release – Wood Encampment Wall!]
In an instant, thick wooden pillars burst from the ground, twisting together to form a protective dome around the cat-masked Anbu.
Boom!
The blazing fireball struck the wooden shield head-on, causing a violent explosion that sent up clouds of dust and scattered flaming debris in all directions.
Once the smoke cleared, Yamato's wooden dome stood cracked and damaged, its surface littered with orange fireballs.
Before Yamato could even smile in relief, cries for help rang out from beneath the barrier. "Save me! I don't want to die!"
Yamato quickly performed the release seal, retracting the wooden pillars into the ground, revealing the cat-faced Anbu whose right arm was now engulfed in orange flames.
His arm blazed like a torch as the Anbu desperately slapped it against the ground, but the fire only spread further.
"Ahhh—s-stop—it—please save me—"
Hearing the Anbu's pained screams, one of his comrades reacted immediately, unleashing a Water Release technique. A torrent of water burst from his mouth like a waterfall, drenching the flaming ninja.
Seeing this, Yamato shouted in alarm, "No!"
But it was too late. The water did nothing to extinguish the flames. Instead, it turned into searing steam that burned the cat-faced Anbu even worse.
Realizing this, Yamato swiftly made a decision—he stepped forward and cleanly sliced off the Anbu's burning arm, then ordered another Anbu to tend to the wounded man.
After taking care of the injured Anbu, Yamato turned to face Aozora and the others.
Seeing the fury on Yamato's face, Aozora guessed his intent and spoke first. "Is this how Anbu operate—ambushing village ninja?"
Yamato hesitated, his tone softening slightly. "Even if Bobcat acted recklessly, why use such deadly force? You could have—"
"If that flame attack had hit Junping or Guy, they'd be seriously injured—or dead!" Aozora cut in sharply. "I warned you. If you make a move, I won't guarantee your safety."
Yamato glared angrily at Aozora. "You—!"
Aozora met his gaze unflinchingly. Slowly, he said, "Go ahead. Try attacking. See how many of you survive my wrath."
With that, he turned to Guy and Junping. "Let's go."
As the trio once again turned their backs on them and walked away, Yamato slammed his fist hard into the ground.
"Hmph!"
He exhaled sharply, then pointed at the wounded Anbu on the ground and ordered the remaining three Anbu, "Take Bobcat and return to Headquarters!"
On the way to Headquarters, Guy finally calmed down after the frustration of being wrongly accused and nervously asked, "Aozora, do you think it's wise for us to provoke Anbu like this?"
He knew that without Aozora's intervention, he might have been seriously hurt by Homura's fireball technique, so he didn't blame Aozora for striking hard against Nyanko. Still, out of the deep respect he'd always held for the Hokage, he couldn't shake off the unease.
Aozora calmly replied, "Those who take lives shall have their own taken in return."
He could've spared the masked Anbu, but after being played like a pawn all this way, he carried a storm of rage within.
Earlier, Yamato had already backed down, but the cat-masked Anbu still refused to let go—finally pushing Aozora past his breaking point.
Since the Anbu attacked first, Aozora was merely defending himself—legally, that wouldn't weigh heavily against him.
By taking down an Anbu agent, Aozora could spotlight the growing rift between the Uchiha clan and the Hokage Faction, which would prove crucial later on.
So far, Hiruzen Sarutobi had remained behind the scenes, revealing no weaknesses whatsoever.
They knew that upon returning to the village, the three of them would inevitably face interrogation and questioning.
As Hokage, Sarutobi would naturally become the arbitrator.
But when the arbiter himself takes sides in a contest, there are countless ways for him to manipulate the outcome.
Therefore, Aozora chose to seriously injure one Anbu member, thus exposing the conflict between himself and the Hokage Faction, placing this contradiction right before all Konoha's mid- to high-level officials in plain sight.
With existing tensions toward the Uchiha clan, even if Hiruzen Sarutobi took on the role of judge, every move he made would be viewed with suspicion by everyone.
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