Sarutobi Hiruzen's face turned deathly pale.
He had barely snatched his own life back from Senju Haruto's hands—was that not already fortune enough?
And now the Daimyō wanted him to kill Haruto?
What kind of joke was this?
Yes, he was the Third Hokage, but he was no longer the strongest man in the village.
I can't defeat him…
Before Hiruzen could even think about getting the Daimyō out of this den of disaster, Nara Shikaku—who had been holding Haruto with the Shadow Possession Jutsu—suddenly began to sway on his feet.
A crushing drowsiness swept through him, his eyelids growing unbearably heavy.
The truth was, Haruto never overlooked a single detail.
The information he held surpassed what any shinobi in this room could imagine.
Even Black Zetsu himself did not understand Konoha, its history, and its shinobi as deeply as Senju Haruto.
Knowing full well that the Nara clan's secret art controlled opponents through their shadows, how could he possibly have left his guard open?
The truth was—Shikaku had only caught him because Haruto had allowed it.
At the very instant the shadow crept under his feet, Haruto's Sharingan had already spun to life, slipping an illusion straight into Shikaku's mind.
His intellect might have been sharp, but against such overwhelming power, Shikaku never stood a chance.
Thud!
With a dull crash, his body pitched forward stiffly, collapsing face-first to the floor. His vision went black, and he sank instantly into unconsciousness.
As he fell, the shadow binding Haruto melted away, freed the moment its caster's mind shut down.
The Daimyō—who had only a heartbeat ago been barking orders with arrogant fury—fell silent once again.
His eyes bulged, frozen on Haruto.
He could not comprehend what had just happened.
"What was that… the Sharingan?!"
Koharu and Homura—who had crossed blades with the Uchiha clan more than once—caught the glint in Haruto's eyes, and their hearts jolted with shock.
It was already unbelievable that he had inherited the First Hokage's Wood Release.
But now… not only Wood Release—he had awakened the Sharingan as well.
This man—
—was the fusion of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara!
And yet, Haruto's strength went further still.
Locking eyes on Hiruzen, the tomoe in his Sharingan began to spin.
The three tomoe rotated faster, blurring—until in the blink of an eye, they reshaped into something new.
Koharu and Homura both gasped sharply, their voices slipping out in disbelief:
"The Mangekyō Sharingan!"
To awaken the Mangekyō was to step into an entirely new realm of power.
At that sight, Koharu and Homura faltered, instinctively taking steps backward.
"Koharu! Homura!"
Hiruzen noticed his teammates wavering and cried out to them, desperate for help.
Whatever else, Haruto had to be stopped here.
He could not—he would not—stand by and watch him fall so far astray.
But just as he called out, the Adamantine Prison Wall behind him gave a loud bang and dissolved into smoke.
Hiruzen's eyes flew wide.
Impossible.
What was Enma doing?
He turned, only to see his lifelong companion standing blank-eyed and slack-jawed, his face vacant, his will snared in an illusion.
Haruto stepped forward slowly, unhurried.
There was no need for haste.
No matter what they tried, none of them could possibly resist his power.
The Daimyō, watching his final shield vanish before his eyes, went utterly blank.
"Hi–Hiruzen, do something! Quickly!"
His voice quavered as he stumbled backward, retreating step after step, desperate to escape Haruto's gaze—desperate never to see this man again.
But the walls hemmed him in. Within moments his back struck the stone, and there was nowhere left to run.
Seeing this, Hiruzen clenched his jaw, his hands already beginning to form seals.
He would drive Haruto back if it cost him everything.
But Haruto's genjutsu was swifter than any jutsu Hiruzen could weave.
Before the second seal was even finished, the world tilted violently.
The table before him wavered into mist.
The bodies of those slain, the shinobi blasted aside by Haruto's chakra, Shikaku, Koharu, Homura—one by one, they shimmered and faded into unreality.
Then Hiruzen snapped his head around—
And there before him, the Daimyō lay slumped in a grotesque parody of death.
"This is… a genjutsu? Impossible! I never even looked into Haruto's eyes…"
Because of Shisui, Hiruzen knew better than most how the Sharingan's illusions worked.
That was why he had avoided Haruto's gaze at all costs.
It should have been impossible to be caught.
But suddenly his knees buckled, crashing to the ground with a heavy thud.
He shook his head violently, forcing his chakra into disarray, struggling to tear through the illusion—
—but no matter how desperately he fought, nothing changed.
"Koharu… Homura…"
Sweat poured down his brow as he gritted his teeth, clinging to hope that his teammates could break the jutsu.
But the illusion did not shatter.
In the real world—
Koharu and Homura exchanged a glance.
They knew the truth.
Even if they tried, their strength was nowhere near enough to restrain Senju Haruto.
And yet—that was not the true reason.
As Haruto's steps carried him closer and closer, the two of them silently shifted aside, leaving the Daimyō fully exposed before him.
Haruto looked at them, eyes glinting with a faint smile.
A silent question hung in the air: You would leave him to me?
"You won't stop me?" he asked aloud, almost amused, making no rush to strike.
The Daimyō, meanwhile, had broken completely.
His legs gave out, and he slumped to the ground bonelessly.
With Hiruzen crumpled, his last thread of hope snapped.
A spreading wet stain marked his trousers.
Gone was his arrogance, gone the pretense of dignity, gone the untouchable authority he had wielded like a blade.
His eyes were wide with terror, streaming with tears as he begged Haruto for mercy.
Anything—anything to be spared.
The Hokage's seat, the wealth of the Fire Country—whatever Haruto wished, he could grant.
"Listen to him," Haruto said softly, almost chuckling at the sight.
"The great Daimyō of the Land of Fire, reduced to this. If he were truly a man, demanding a clean death—I might even grant it."
"Stop you? Do we have the power to stop you?" Homura murmured, his gaze flicking briefly to the cowering wreck at his feet. "And besides… how could the tide of history be stopped by human hands?"
"Koharu, Hiruzen was always cunning in politics, but his nature was too soft," he continued. "Time and again, he compromised before the Daimyō's demands."
"Which is why," Koharu added, "we will not stop you."
Their voices joined together at the end, as though they had long been waiting for this moment.
Seeing this, Haruto's lips curved slightly.
The tomoe in his eyes faded away, the Sharingan slipping closed.
In the next instant, a blade of Wind Release chakra flashed from his hand.
Shhhk!
The Daimyō's head rolled to the floor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🚀 Stay ahead of the story with early access to 100 chapters and bonus exclusive content—only on Patreon.
👉 patreon.com/Rawink00