Bonus for 10 reviews uploaded. Next at 20, I guess.
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"Yamano.
The ceremony continues."
Arashi's calm voice rippled across the bloody square.
Yamano, who had collapsed on the ground, shivered and scrambled to his feet, his legs trembling uncontrollably with fear.
Continue the enthronement ceremony in this situation?
But when he looked up and met Arashi's gaze, all hesitation and fear vanished.
He picked up the scroll of the congratulatory message with shaking hands, forced himself not to look around, and raised his voice.
His sharp voice echoed clearly across the silent square.
"By the will of the Land of Fire and its people."
The moment his voice rang out, hundreds of Anbu became Shinigami harvesting lives.
No command, no roar.
Aono Saku, leading them, simply made a small waving gesture.
The slaughter began.
Pfft.
A black blade sliced across a desperado's throat, blood gushing like a spring.
The man clutched his neck, unable to even scream.
"Today, Arashi-sama, whose wisdom and resolve have won the people's trust, ascends to the throne of the Land of Fire."
Yamano's voice trembled.
On the other side, a Root ninja had just finished forming a hand sign when a poisoned black blade pierced his chest.
He looked down at the tip through his torso, his lips moved, then he fell straight down.
"He reformed the court and purged its corruption."
Two Anbu attacked from left and right, their long blades crossing.
A head flew into the air, madness still frozen on its face.
The headless body swayed twice, then crashed to the ground.
Yamano closed his eyes, not daring to look, mechanically reciting the congratulatory message.
The sounds of slaughter behind him made him afraid to listen.
"He brought peace to the people and prosperity to the land."
The sound of blades entering flesh, the crisp snap of bones, and dying screams.
All of it mixed with the solemn eulogy from his mouth.
On one side was praise for the new king's virtue, on the other was a hell of severed limbs.
This jarring scene left everyone on the viewing platform speechless.
When the last rebel was beheaded, only wails and heavy breathing remained in the square.
Just then, in Konoha's viewing area, the Anbu leader who had stopped the Konoha shinobi slowly turned around.
His gaze was like a torch, passing over Minato, bypassing Hiruzen, and finally locking onto the ashen-faced man.
The one-eyed Shimura Danzō, his eye bloodshot with anger and terror.
"Fourth Hokage-sama," his voice was cold and emotionless, "the rebellion has appeared. It is up to you, Konoha, to cleanse your own house."
The Konoha shinobi were stunned.
All eyes fixed on Danzō.
"Danzō!!" Hiruzen let out a roar of grief and indignation.
The moment he was named, Danzō knew it was over.
Without hesitation, he turned and fled.
"Stop him!"
"For Konoha!"
Several quick-reacting Konoha shinobi roared and gave chase.
Among them were Hyuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Aburame, and others who had long been dissatisfied with Danzō.
This was the best chance to show loyalty to the new Daimyo.
"Protect Danzō-sama!"
Around Danzō, the few remaining Root operatives screamed and turned to face their pursuers without hesitation.
"Wind Release, Vacuum Wave!"
"Secret Technique, Mind Body Switch Technique!"
But they faced dozens of furious comrades from Konoha.
A Root ninja had just spewed wind blades when a Hyuga's Gentle Fist struck all his vital tenketsu, his chakra stagnating instantly.
A moment later, three or four kunai pierced his throat.
Another Root ninja from the Yamanaka clan tried to seize control of his opponent's mind but was kicked in the head.
His skull caved in, and blood and brain matter splattered.
The battle started fast and ended even faster.
In just over a dozen breaths, all those Root operatives lay in pools of blood.
Danzō was surrounded in the center of the square.
He clutched his bleeding right arm, panting heavily, his single eye sweeping venomously over everyone around him.
"Danzō! You bastard! What are you trying to do!" Utatane Koharu trembled with rage, pointing at him and sharply questioning him.
"You have shamed Konoha completely! Surrender now!" Mitokado Homura's old face flushed, filled with pain and indignation.
Hiruzen walked forward step by step.
He looked at his lifelong comrade, both friend and foe, now so wretched, and his heart tangled with emotion.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Strike him?
His mind flashed back to the war-torn years, two young men back to back, sharing their last soldier pill.
"Hiruzen, keep going, you must survive."
"Danzō, we will protect this village together, until death."
The vows of old still echoed in his ears, yet now he had to personally kill the close friend who had grown up with him.
He could not do it.
The massacre in the square had ended.
Yamano's recitation had reached its last sentence.
"Now he ascends the throne to rule the realm. May the Will of Fire shine across the land."
After he finished, his legs gave out and he collapsed.
The entire square fell into eerie silence again.
Arashi took the scroll.
He held the National Stone in one hand and the congratulatory message in the other, slowly walking to the edge of the high platform.
"Hey, is it not over yet?"
In an instant, all eyes converged on him.
The next moment, they focused again on Danzō, who was surrounded, and Hiruzen, who continued walking toward him.
At this moment of heightened attention, the Anbu leader appeared beside Hiruzen like a ghost.
"Third Hokage-sama," his voice was not loud, but it pierced Hiruzen's heart, "this is an internal affair of your Konoha, a calamity you indulged."
He raised a hand and pointed.
First to the civilians trampled to death in the chaos, then to the four nations' delegations.
The faces of those delegates wore the expressions of spectators.
"Everyone is watching."
"It is you who must cut out this cancer and prove to the world that Konoha can still be saved."
"Or do you want my liege to take action personally and cleanse your house for you?"
"To declare to the world that you Konoha shinobi cannot even deal with your own traitors?"
The words were damning.
Hiruzen's body trembled, his vision blurred.
He understood the meaning.
If he did not act, the Daimyo would.
For the Daimyo to personally clean up a Hokage Advisor would be an immense humiliation.
He could feel the gazes from the delegations around him.
Pity, schadenfreude, and disdain.
Konoha's glory, the Hokage's dignity, were shattered at this moment.
The Anbu leader's voice rang out again, not loud, but very clear.
"Show your aura as a ninja hero, Sarutobi Hiruzen."
"Let everyone see whether your fangs have truly been worn down by time."
"This is for Konoha."
For Konoha.
Those words pierced Hiruzen's last line of defense.
For those words, he had compromised his entire life, and endured it.
Now, for those words, he had to kill his good friend with his own hands.
The Konoha shinobi around him did not speak, but the killing intent of some was no longer hidden.
"Do it, Hiruzen." At the end of the road, Danzō, who had seen through the situation, let out a resigned laugh.
The smile held relief, unwillingness, and self-mockery.
He straightened his hunched back, as if returning to those war-torn years, standing shoulder to shoulder with his close friend.
"To die by your hand, I have no complaints."
A thunderous sound echoed in Hiruzen's mind, countless fragments of memory exploding before his eyes.
The vows made as boys, sharing rice balls back to back, were crushed by reality.
He suddenly looked up, and in his cloudy eyes, all tenderness vanished, leaving only endless sorrow and fury.
"A Kage-level chakra burst forth with a thunderous roar."
Shinobi nearby stumbled and retreated under the pressure.
A suppressed wail, mixed with anger, echoed through the sky.
"Danzō!!!"
(To be continued.)
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◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
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