Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

The shadow beneath his feet scattered and split into five, tightly binding the five masked assassins and forcibly delaying the formation of the sealing array. Having exhausted a large amount of chakra, his face was deathly pale, and he shouted without turning his head:

"My days are numbered; I will stay to buy you time!"

"Third Hokage, Jonin Momoka, you must leave now!"

Nara Hiroshi chose not to die, but to cover the retreat with his own body.

Shen Er was somewhat surprised, and the parasitic seal that had been poised to strike quietly dissipated from his hand.

Since Nara Hiroshi has chosen to die willingly, let us grant his wish.

He immediately switched to the secret technique of stacking, strengthening his physical body.

Secret Technique: Body Revitalization!

Lightning Release: Thunder God Armor!

Aside from not wearing the tailed beast cloak, Shen'er's physical amplification reached its limit, and he immediately grabbed Senju Momoka's wrist with his other hand.

"Benefactor, please, please take me with you." Compassion blocked the only way, her voice trembling as she tried to grasp at Shen'er as a lifeline.

However, Shen Er merely glanced at him expressionlessly.

call out!

Even a light touch of the toes caused the ground beneath one's feet to crack inch by inch, creating a sunken pit.

The two figures vanished from their original spot and instantly reappeared on an open space a hundred meters away. The body of the one who sent out the distress signal also disappeared from the spot, only turning into a pool of blood mist that dripped to the ground.

With the combination of two secret techniques, Shen Er can be considered the fastest in the ninja world.

The Instantaneous Movement technique is almost like teleportation; over short distances, it's comparable to even the Flying Thor.

The pulling force generated by this extreme speed was something an ordinary ninja's body simply couldn't withstand. Senju Momoka's blood vessels ruptured, her skin was covered in bruises, and her body endured extremely severe damage.

But the shock she felt was far greater than the physical pain.

How is this going?

This movement speed, far exceeding that of a normal Body Flicker Technique, and even the faint arcs of electricity flickering around her body, all reminded Senju Momoka that her Third Hokage was no ordinary person...

He is not as weak as he appears.

However, before she could even ask a question...

A sharp pain shot through her heart. Senju Momoka looked down and saw that the Heavenly Compassion Thread had pierced her heart.

Tao Hua looked completely bewildered, and then muttered to herself, "Take a deep breath, it'll be over soon."

Earthly resentment is parasitic!

Fire Temple, 100 meters away.

Despite burning through his own life force and exhausting his chakra, Nara Hiroshi managed to delay the enemy for less than two seconds, and the five assassins' Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Formation was still completed.

The sealing runes floated in mid-air, transforming into a semi-transparent black sphere that rapidly expanded, completely sealing off Nara Hiroshi's surroundings. Any civilians inside the temple who couldn't escape were erased from the world without a trace the black sphere could touch, as if wiped off the face of the earth.

Looking at the black orb of light so close to him, Nara Hiroshi chuckled softly, "At a time like this, it would be nice to have a smoke."

"Hyōzō, Shūshō, I've come to see you."

next moment.

The black sphere engulfed his figure, and along with the Mercy that had turned into blood on the ground, it was erased from the ninja world.

The black sphere began to expand at a slower rate, eventually stopping just an inch away from Shen and the other two. Then, it suddenly shrank inward and flowed back into the bodies of the five ninjas who had cast the spell.

Shen Er calmly watched this scene unfold. The once bustling temple, with its hundreds of worshippers and Buddha statues, had all been sealed away and erased. A giant crater with a radius of 50 meters had appeared in the ground below.

After the Four Symbols Seal was activated, everything except the five assassins' corpses vanished into nothingness.

This corpse is the biggest flaw in the Inner Four Symbols Seal: the spell does not seal the caster along with the spell, leaving the complete corpse at the scene.

Simply removing the mask would confirm the assassin's identity. Bringing him back to Konoha would then provide irrefutable evidence of Danzo's rebellion, enough to execute him in front of a great audience.

The Heavenly Compassionate Tentacle that had pierced into Senju Momoka's body slowly retracted.

Senju Momoka's eyes were vacant and unfocused, clearly indicating that she had been implanted with the parasitic mark. However, Shen Er did not immediately control her senses or alter her memories that were detrimental to him.

the reason is simple.

Put yourself in his shoes; if he were Danzo, he would surely know the flaws in the Inner Four Symbols Seal.

Danzo wanted to kill him in order to become Hokage, and he would definitely find a way to eliminate the flaw of revealing his identity. Only by leaving no trace of his body and no way to prove his innocence could he act with peace of mind.

With such a commotion at the Fire Temple, Danzo's backup plan to clean up the bodies must be coming soon.

as predicted.

Just as Shen Er made his judgment, a faint rustling sound came from the woods opposite the ruins.

The moment I saw the person's face clearly.

Even Shen Er showed a rare expression of surprise; unexpectedly, the visitor was...

Chapter 182 Failure is treason, success is revolution

Before Shen could clearly see who it was, the perspective returned to Konoha.

News of the assassination at the Fire Temple has not yet reached Konoha.

The clouds above Konoha were thick and gloomy, and a downpour was brewing.

The villagers who had nothing to do finished work early and went home to avoid the rain; there were hardly any pedestrians on the road.

The evening breeze, carrying a damp and chilly scent, blew into the wooden huts on the edge of the Sarutobi tribe's territory.

With a violent storm approaching, Danzo did not stay at home, but instead went to Hiruzen's house, seemingly calmly brewing and tasting tea.

He stood ramrod straight, and a bolt of lightning struck outside the window, illuminating half of his profile. The grotesque X-shaped scar on his chin appeared even more terrifying in the slanted light of the lightning.

However, his slightly trembling hand holding the teacup revealed that his inner self was not as calm as he appeared.

Such behavior is more like a long-planned big event about to be realized, an excitement that cannot be suppressed, and an eagerness to find an equal listener to hear his joy.

As the rain pattered outside, Danzo, who had been holding back for a long time, finally spoke: "Our teacher left too soon, and we were too young, Hiruzen..."

"Yes."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with a sorrowful expression; his teacher's death was an unhealable wound in his heart.

He didn't notice Danzo's unusual behavior and naively thought that Danzo was just there to chat. So he started talking about his daily life over the past few days: "I went to visit my master's wife, but I didn't see her at home... Ken'yu said that she went out on a mission."

The seemingly casual remark caused Danzo to freeze.

The momentum that had been built up was shattered at this moment.

"What's wrong, Danzo?" Hiruzen asked, looking puzzled.

Danzo's face darkened. He took a sip of hot tea and shook his head to cover it up: "It's nothing."

But a storm was brewing in his heart.

The master's wife went out on a mission? Given her status and position, there's no way she would need to personally go on a mission. Considering that Zenji secretly left the village to meet the daimyo... Senju Momoka probably became her bodyguard.

The five assassins he sent out all had unfinished curse seals planted on them. Once they discovered the Zen Temple, the self-destruct program would be forcibly triggered, and they would uncontrollably unleash the Inner Four Symbols Seal.

If the master's wife had been right next to him in the Zen monastery, he would have been doomed.

Danzo hadn't intended to kill his master's wife as well. He didn't know this information beforehand, but even if he had, given the choice again, he would probably still have carried out the assassination.

Everything was for Konoha... to set things right... so that the teacher's will could be continued.

Danzo tried to find many reasons in his heart to calm himself down.

By the time he came to his senses, Hiruzen had been rambling on and on for most of the day.

Danzo didn't hear a word he said.

A teacher for a day is a father for life. It would be disgraceful for me to kill my teacher's wife if word got out.

At this moment, Danzo lost all interest in showing off in front of Hiruzen.

He stood up, put his hands behind his back, and said like a riddle teller, "Hiruzen, I only came to say one thing to you."

"Huh? What?"

"Failure is treason, success is revolution!"

Hiruzen frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Danzo, what are you talking about?"

Danzo offered no explanation, leaving Hiruzen with a shadowy silhouette before disappearing into the rain.

...

This was an extremely widespread rainstorm.

The ruins of the Fire Temple were also shrouded in torrential rain.

Shen'er's gaze pierced through the thick rain curtain, and he saw three figures walking out from the opposite side of the ruins.

Two of them were former students at the Ninja Academy. Because of their bullying of Orochimaru, they were expelled by Shinji under the pretext of reviving the Will of Fire. One of them was named Shimura Masayuki.

Both of them wore masks, but because Shen had been in close contact with them, he remembered their unique chakra aura.

The leader seemed quite confident in his own strength. He dared to walk through the dangerous Land of Fire without a mask or any other means of concealing his identity.

This person's identity is all too familiar to me.

The person who came was

Kakuzu.

After sixteen years, it was quite unexpected to meet Kakuzu in the Land of Fire.

There is an old Chinese saying: "A long drought meets sweet rain, and a foreign land meets an old friend."

The unexpected joy of encountering a fellow countryman in the isolated ninja world, with its poor transportation and communication, applies equally to Shen Er. The joy lies in the unexpectedness, not in seeing a friend; it's like adding a little surprise to a mundane life, which isn't so bad.

But then again.

There's an old Chinese saying: "When fellow villagers meet, they might stab each other in the back."

This statement applies even more to Shen Er, whose state of mind is different now than it was sixteen years ago.

At the time, he was just an ordinary Jonin who had just obtained a secret technique and was slightly stronger in taijutsu, but Takigakure praised him as the strongest duo.