Chapter 72: Shinnosuke’s Demise, Hiruzen’s Wrath

Inside the Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was anxiously waiting.

For some reason, he had always had an ominous feeling.

As if something bad was about to happen.

"It must just be me overthinking things. Hopefully, things are going smoothly on Shinnosuke’s side."

Hiruzen reassured himself.

With Uchiha Itachi, who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, using his Mangekyo techniques to eliminate the troublesome Uchiha Reiji in advance, there were also two ANBU squads and a large number of elite shinobi from the Sarutobi clan.

And there was also that mysterious man mentioned by Uchiha Itachi.

With so many people attacking the Uchiha clan together, there was no way to look at it where the Uchiha clan had any chance of survival.

Suddenly.

A commotion broke out.

There was a great deal of noise outside, and Hiruzen had no idea what was happening.

His thoughts became chaotic, and the ominous feeling he had just suppressed rose again.

Bang!

An ANBU shinobi outside directly pushed open the door to the Hokage’s office and hurriedly said:

"Hokage-sama, this is bad! Uchiha Reiji is outside, and he has... he has the ANBU Captain in his hands!"

Boom!

Hiruzen suddenly stood up, knocking over the chair behind him.

He looked outside through the window of the Hokage Building and, sure enough, saw Uchiha Reiji’s figure. He appeared to be holding someone in his hand.

The person in his grasp looked utterly miserable. His four limbs hung limply as if they no longer had any bones, while his face was covered in blood and grime. There was hardly any expression left on his face.

But even so, Hiruzen immediately recognized him.

It was his eldest son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke!

Almost instantly, Hiruzen’s eyes turned red, and fury shot straight to the top of his head!

Uchiha Reiji!

How dare he?!

Shinnosuke was his eldest son, the one he had been counting on to succeed him as Hokage!

Crash!

Consumed by rage, Hiruzen smashed through the window glass and jumped down!

"Uchiha Reiji, release Shinnosuke!"

The two stood facing each other more than ten meters apart. Hiruzen forcibly suppressed his anger and spoke.

"Oh?"

Reiji wore a playful smile. He held a kunai against Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s neck and casually moved it back and forth twice.

"If I don’t release him, what does the Hokage-sama plan to do?"

"Don’t scare me. What if I get startled and my hand slips?"

"The ANBU Captain’s life is currently being protected by me, after all."

Seeing this, Hiruzen felt his blood rush straight to his head, and he could barely suppress his rage.

He had occupied the position of Hokage in Konoha for decades.

When had he ever been threatened like this?!

In his own village, right in front of the Hokage Building, by a young shinobi from his own village!

And yet, the other side happened to have his son as a hostage. For a moment, he could do nothing about it.

After taking several deep breaths and forcibly suppressing his fury, Hiruzen spoke with a dark expression:

"As long as you don’t harm Shinnosuke, then we can discuss anything."

In his mind, Uchiha Reiji had captured Shinnosuke and come here to confront him because he wanted to negotiate.

He wanted to use Shinnosuke’s life to threaten him into stopping the extermination operation.

However, after seeing Reiji’s actions, Hiruzen’s determination to exterminate the Uchiha clan only became stronger.

And even more than that!

Afterward, he would gather the strength of the entire village and turn the evil Uchiha clan into history!

Of course, before that, he could only exchange pleasantries with Reiji and stall for time, saving Shinnosuke first.

"I’m not allowed to hurt your precious son?"

Reiji’s eyes flickered.

The kunai in his hand immediately plunged into Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s thigh!

Shinnosuke, whose consciousness had been hazy, instantly became completely awake.

When he saw his father standing opposite him, hope suddenly appeared in his eyes. He struggled weakly and cried out miserably:

"Father, save me! Please, save me..."

"Uchiha Reiji!"

Hiruzen roared.

"What exactly do you want? Do you have any humanity left?!"

"If you still want to negotiate some kind of condition, then stop doing this!"

"Heh!"

Reiji sneered.

The kunai in his hand twisted inside Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s thigh, causing another miserable scream.

"Humanity? You think you have the right to talk about humanity?"

"From the moment you ordered the extermination of the Uchiha clan, you no longer have any right to mention that word!"

"What? Uchiha lives can be taken, but your son absolutely can’t be touched?"

Hiruzen’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he desperately tried to calm his rage.

"That’s not what I meant. There must be some misunderstanding behind today’s situation."

"As long as you stop, then whatever the matter is, we can sit down and discuss it properly."

"The most important thing now is for everyone to stop as quickly as possible. We shouldn’t increase the casualties any further."

"We should go to the Uchiha district now and make everyone stop. You don’t want your own clansmen to suffer more casualties, do you?"

Tsk, tsk!

Reiji shook his head, his face full of disdain.

"You think I came here because I want to negotiate some kind of condition with you?"

"I made preparations at the Uchiha district long ago. Otherwise, how do you think I managed to capture your son and bring him here?"

As soon as those words fell.

Hiruzen suddenly froze.

That’s right!

A moment ago, he had assumed that Uchiha Reiji had captured Shinnosuke amid the chaos and then come here, intending to use Shinnosuke as a hostage to negotiate with him and make him abandon the extermination operation.

But!

After arriving here, the other side wasn’t anxious in the slightest!

It was clearly an action that had been planned in advance!

"...Then what exactly do you want now?"

Hiruzen gritted his teeth.

"I just want revenge against you."

"I want you to personally experience everything you did to the Uchiha."

Reiji once again poked Sarutobi Shinnosuke several times with the kunai.

However, Shinnosuke no longer even had the strength to scream. He was completely on the verge of death.

"Tch. Your vitality is really weak."

As he spoke, Reiji began attaching one explosive tag after another to Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

"If you had really managed to exterminate the Uchiha clan, I wonder how many of my clansmen would first have watched their loved ones die before being killed themselves."

"Don’t you think the person who ordered the extermination should personally experience something like that too?"

As he spoke, he decisively ignited all the explosive tags.

"Stop!"

Hiruzen finally couldn’t endure it any longer and charged straight at Reiji.

This bastard!

Was he really planning to make Shinnosuke die right in front of him?

Damn evil Uchiha brat!

He reached out toward Shinnosuke, trying to rescue him.

If he tore the explosive tags off now, there was still time!

However.

How could Reiji give him such an opportunity?

With a delighted smile on his face, he leaped backward.

When the explosive tags had burned down to their ends and were about to detonate, Reiji finally threw Sarutobi Shinnosuke toward Hiruzen.

"Here, take him back. Make sure you catch him!"

Seeing the explosive tags that were about to detonate, Hiruzen instinctively retreated, avoiding the son thrown toward him.

’It’s over!’

At the same time as he dodged, he shot backward at full speed.

Boom!

Sarutobi Shinnosuke exploded in midair!

Flesh and severed limbs flew everywhere. His body was blown apart, torn into pieces and scattered across the area!

The ANBU Captain, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, had died on the spot!

A mist of blood splattered across Hiruzen’s face.

At this moment, Hiruzen’s mind had gone completely blank.

His son.

His eldest son, whom he had placed such high hopes on...

Had died just like that?

He had died right in front of him, in an utterly horrific manner.

Not even a complete corpse had been left behind.

A round of applause rang out.

Reiji stood there with a smile on his face.

"The Hokage-sama’s reaction speed really is impressive. You effortlessly avoided your own son."

"It’s just a shame that the ANBU Captain died before he could even become Hokage. What an unfortunate end."

Pfft!

Hiruzen spat out a mouthful of blood.

His entire body trembled as he pointed at Reiji, nearly fainting from sheer rage!

If you want to read 60 Chapters ahead of the public release, head over to: Patreon.com/RedString