Chapter 46

"So you are telling me that they were around five thousand?" Hiruzen asked us with a stern voice

"Yes." I replied my hand behind my back and my gaze directed to him

"And the three of you decided to engage a battle against them?" he added as his voice got slightly louder

"Yes." the three of us replied without flinching

"And you almost killed them all?" he asked with a surprised tone now

"Yes." all of us replied again as Hiruzen was massaging his temples after learning about our deeds

*sigh*

"One part of me wants to punish you for disobeying my orders... But at the same time, you accomplished something incredible that greatly reduced our losses." Hiruzen declared conflicted as he shifted his gaze between us

"Yuichi doing so didn't surprise me that much... But I didn't expect you two to join him in his crazy idea." Hiruzen said which made Dai embarrassed as he started to scratch the back of his head, while Shikuro stayed silent but looked away discreetly

"Come on old man, I wouldn't have suggested this to them if I didn't know that they could keep up... Shikuro may be a perfect assassin, but he can easily take care of himself in such a battle." I first testified

'I helped him train his endurance back then because he was getting tired too quickly'

"As for Dai, well, with the level those shinobi had, he could have taken care of them alone, not without a heavy backlash but that's not the point." I added which made a tear of joy appear on the face of Dai

"I know that both of you are strong but, how should I say this, even if you accomplished many missions since you became shinobi, I didn't expect such drastic action for your first time in a war." he explained

'What did you expect? They are stronger than they should have ever been in the canon' I thought with a smirk visible on my face

"You also fought against one of their Jinchūriki, right? Iwa seemed distressed by this." he then asked which surprised me

"It was the Four-Tails Jinchūriki whom I killed and is now sealed and kept within my summon until we need it." I replied half lying

Obviously, the first thing he thought was who will be its Jinchūriki and more importantly how to make him loyal to Konoha.

He wants to pull off yet another scheme like the one he did to Kushina...

'He won't have the time anyway' I thought as he replied "Good, we won't use it for now, so I will leave it to you."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." I politely replied before he ordered "You three will stay on standby for a while at the camp, you are dismissed."

"Yes." we replied in unison before leaving the Hokage's tent

Back to our previous raid, it sure was an interesting battle.

Shikuro had no difficulty until their number reduced so he had to evade more powerful Ninjutsu, not giving him time to get many kills after that.

Dai started using his Kinjutsu when he saw me speeding up and did an amazing amount of destruction among them.

He was not someone scared by Ninjutsu and would either evade or kick anything coming toward him.

But out of the five thousand, and one, shinobi from Iwa, Shikuro slaughtered 628, Dai took care of 1642 of them while I killed 2136.

Less than six hundred of them fled at some point, giving the horrible news to Iwa, but I still won the bet in the end.

I also made my wing appear which greatly enhanced my maneuvering ability, and should have deeply affected those who fled.

If we didn't do so, we would have lost many shinobi... It is always better to take care of it by yourself when you can do it.

I used the countless corpses as fertilizer for my cute creatures and now could ask anything from Dai and Shikuro as the winner.

'I will think about something later' I thought before looking at Dai, and asked him "Hey Dai, do you like monkeys?"

====================

*Some months later*

"I will locate him for you, Hokage-sama." I said to Hiruzen as I was to his right, both of us followed by many shinobi from Konoha

"Thank you Yuichi." Hiruzen shortly replied as he stayed serious

Not many days ago, Mū appeared at one of the multiple skirmishes we had against them and erased a large amount of shinobi from our side with a sneak attack.

His title, the 'Non-Person' is fitting since he can hide his physical form AND his chakra signature, making him impossible to be found with Dōjutsu or almost any sensing technique.

But luckily, I developed a way to locate something or someone that has no chakra or physical form back at my Chūnin exam.

I just need to talk to the trees by merging a bit with them and they will show me where he is.

Nothing can escape them so I just need to relay the information to Hiruzen with a clone and the two Kage will be able to start their confrontation.

Honestly, I wonder how in the canon Konoha struggled so long in the second war when Hiruzen was still competent enough.

I mean, he is only 44 years old which is past his peak strength, yes, but not too diminished.

The title of 'God of Shinobi' is not to be laughed at.

The canon only showed an old and weakened Hiruzen, but the man that taught the Sannin was far stronger than that.

I'm not even sure that he can die against Mū if he goes all out... A small help was needed just to be sure.

Once we were near enough yet still out of danger, I made a small clone that would stay on Hiruzen's shoulder, then got close to one of the bigger trees.

I laid my hand on it and closed my eyes before calming my mind and body.

The tree then generated thin branches that slowly crawled on my hand and arm, while roots started to emerge from my feet, spreading under the ground.

The feeling it gave me was as intoxicating as ever, but I had to stay focused.

I felt the heartbeat of nature itself, the whistling of the leaves whispering words to my ear, and the vision that the trees shared with me.

When I gently asked for the position of Mū, without the need to describe him, my vision began to quickly shift between each one of them, until it stopped right behind an invisible silhouette I recognized as Mū.

My clone then warned Hiruzen about my discovery so he could start moving toward him, while the shinobi, led by someone else, moved toward Iwa's corps a bit further.

Only a few ANBU stayed around me, to 'protect' me if I was found by Iwa.

"He's staying hidden right behind the hill further, between the rock formation." I said to Hiruzen by using my small clone to talk

Hiruzen nodded as he sped up, not hiding his presence since Mū was an extremely skilled sensor.

Still, Hiruzen did some quick hand signs and summoned Enma, the Monkey King, who was already in the Adamantine Staff form, which was bigger than Hiruzen.

The moment he crossed the top of the hill, he quickly plunged where I sensed Mū, the staff enlarging, and slammed it down at him.

Hiruzen didn't want to waste any time by talking since he knew that the Tsuchikage would simply scheme something since he was full of energy.

The sheer force made dust fly everywhere, but the staff was seemingly blocked by something.

Behind the dust cloud, a man covered from head to toe by bandages, wearing only pants, a flat jacket, and the Iwa forehead protector, blocked the strike with two big swords.

The Tsuchikage was wielding a pair of two-handed swords, with a long bandaged grip, a guard the same size as the base of the blade, which was two-edged and rectangular until the end of the blade which was shaped like an axe.

[Something like this]

The only way to wield such swords without trouble was to do like he surely did, which was to reduce the weight of the swords with a Jutsu.

Mū then repelled Hiruzen's staff, forcing him to fall back, and dashed at Hiruzen with his two swords on his right, before landing a quick spinning attack.

You would expect it to not be powerful since he made himself light along with the swords, but right before the impact, I felt an alteration, judging by his muscle that suddenly contracted, unlike before.

The collision was unexpected by Hiruzen, the weight he had to parry being extremely high all of sudden.

This sent Hiruzen some meters away, making him collide with a nature-made wall of earth.

But he didn't waste any time and quickly threw a fūma shuriken that multiplied itself into a dozen.

Mū started evading them and even successfully parried some, but suddenly got clawed from behind by Enma who transformed himself into one of the shuriken Mū dodged.

This forced him to take care of the annoying monkey, allowing Hiruzen to launch a powerful fire attack from three different sides by using 'Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet'.

The three fire dragons surged toward Mū, without giving him a chance to dodge because of Enma, successfully hitting him.

A huge smoke emanated from the area while Enma jumped back towards Hiruzen before asking "Did we get him?"

Hiruzen who was still wary of his surroundings replied "No. He isn't the Second Tsuchikage for nothing."

I then sensed Mū who was invisible again try to take Hiruzen by surprise, so I exclaimed "Careful! On the left!"

Hiruzen quickly reacted as he also sensed a Water-based technique coming his way by using 'Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall' which blocked the incoming stream of pressured water.

However, a sudden crackling sound was heard and the wall started breaking down, revealing a powerful stream of water that was enhanced by lightning.

Hiruzen barely evaded the stream, made a clone, and, knowing where Mū was, prepared a powerful gust of wind combined with a stream of fire that was performed by his clone.

The combination and the size of the attack destroyed a huge area, exactly as Mū's earlier assault did.

A fight between two masters in Ninjutsu, who are both capable of using the five nature transformations with great capabilities...

Every time a Jutsu of a certain element was used by one, the naturally stronger one will be used to counter it by the other.

They would also continue to exchange blows with their weapons each time they neared the other.

But Mū didn't even show any signs of his Kekkei Tōta, the Dust Release, yet.

This is what can make a difference between them because even if Hiruzen is powerful, he has no access to any Kekkei at all or any extremely powerful secret technique.

He didn't even learn the 'Dead Demon Consuming Seal' yet.

Still, their exchange continued for a while, between clashes of weapons and Ninjutsu.

None showed any signs of tiredness.

Surprisingly, Hiruzen threw four fūma shuriken that were once again evaded by the Tsuchikage, but they reverted into four clones and each one of them began a technique from a different nature.

Hiruzen also did the same and a stream of each element was sent toward Mū surrounding him, and not able to evade the assault, it successfully reached him.

Both of us sensed the greatly wounded Mū in front of us, but I knew that something else happened.

'I guess it is soon time' I thought with a smirk that I kept deeply hidden in my mind

"I didn't expect you to be such a troublesome opponent, Third Hokage." the wounded Mū said as he had one knee on the ground

"And I expected you to use what made your reputation, Second Tsuchikage." Hiruzen replied as he slowly approached him before having Enma clone himself and imprison Mū with his 'Adamantine Prison Wall'

Mū chuckled as he replied "Do you really think I would have the time to prepare it while facing someone like you?"

It was true that the offensive technique from Dust Release needed quite a long preparation time without interruption, which was not going to happen against an opponent like Hiruzen who is wary of such a thing.

"Enough with the useless talk, I want you to stop your multiple skirmishes against Konoha and sign a truce with us." Hiruzen declares, back to his usual peace-loving fuckery while Mū was dumbfounded

Hiruzen did tolerate every slaughter I did, but he isn't someone who enjoys conflict and would try to ask for peace instead of killing his enemies.

'And it is partly because of such beliefs that he is a failure of a Hokage' I thought since asking for peace like that would only give Mū another opportunity to assault the Land of Fire with even more preparation

I then sensed something extremely subtle being expanded above us, and to not bring any suspicion, I shouted "Be careful! Above us!" slightly later than I could have done

Hiruzen looked up and the only thing he saw was a pillar-shaped structure with a sphere in the center that dangerously approached us.

The Mū inside the cage smirked while Hiruzen quickly yelled "Enma! Go back now!" since he didn't have the time to grab him

Emma did as Hiruzen said, while Hiruzen started to leave the area, but the moment he could leave the range of the technique, he unexpectedly misstepped and fell.

The sphere then enlarged inside of the pillar and started obliterating everything inside of it.

"Argh!" Hiruzen exclaimed as he completely lost his lower body and was now heavily bleeding

The Mū that was previously imprisoned also died in the process, but the one who launched the technique levitated toward Hiruzen.

"It seems that the little thing that was on your shoulder couldn't sense what I did this time." Mū said as visible exhaustion was flooding him after performing the earlier technique while under the 'Fission Technique'

Hiruzen saw that my clone was nowhere and thought that it got caught in the previous attack.

"I should thank you, Third Hokage... Because your wish to have peace gave me the chance I needed, not without a high sacrifice though." Mū slowly explained as Hiruzen showed an ugly face because of the pain, the slyness of the Tsuchikage, and not understanding how he tripped

Mū then slowly took one of his swords and pointed it on top of Hiruzen's heart, before plunging it without giving him any mercy.

This action indicated the end of Hiruzen Sarutobi's reign over Konoha and the victory of Iwa against them, which was a first.

But before Mū could celebrate, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest.

Looking down, he saw a hand piercing him from behind, before spurting blood from his mouth.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mū-chan~." I jokingly said as it wasn't my clone but me who just performed the sneak attack

I quickly used Blood Release to blow his heart so he wouldn't start using a suicidal technique, effectively killing him as he fell close to Hiruzen's body.

Not willing to waste any time, I laid my hand on Mū and used Suijin, before doing the same on Hiruzen which completely absorbed everything from them, splattered blood included.

'The only village I didn't kill a Kage is Suna now' I thought with a small chuckle

What I did to come here was to swap my location with my clone, which I could do from afar, so I could absorb both Kage while my clone took my place, without showing any visible alteration that could make the guards that stayed around me suspicious of me.

My acting and direct connection with my clone enabled him to not move at all the moment we swapped.

I also forced Hiruzen to fall, by making his muscle fail him for an instant while he didn't even understand why.

I guess my last dish was deadly for him...

Thankfully, the surrounding was completely erased because of Mū, and that sort of attack would make everyone think that both Kage got disintegrated.

It was time for me to swap back with my clone before dispelling him.

The moment I came back, I voluntarily made myself convulsing as the roots that linked me to the ground and the tree receded.

I then intentionally fell on my butt as I showed a painful expression while putting my hand on my head.

"Y-Yuichi-sama, what happened?" one of the ANBU asked as he moved toward me to help me get up

"The battle between our Hokage and the Tsuchikage is... Over." I said with a grim tone as I slowly got up by grabbing his hand

"It is over? How did it end? Is Hokage-sama alright?" another one asked worryingly

They were all ANBU under Hiruzen and, even if they shouldn't show any emotion, they couldn't help but be concerned about Hiruzen's safety.

I started biting my lips, took a huge breath of air, and replied "The Tsuchikage launched a suicidal technique with his Dust Release... Everything in the perimeter got pulverized into nothingness."

They felt the grievance between my words but didn't want to believe it until I declared "Hiruzen Sarutobi and Mū both died in this battle." while my eyes moistened a little as I looked at everyone around me

Everyone went silent because of this statement but knew that we shouldn't waste time grieving until the skirmishes against Iwa are over.

The leader of this ANBU group then asked "What are your orders now, Yondaime-sama?" which made everyone realize what Hiruzen's death meant for me

They then all kneeled in front of me out of respect, waiting for my first order.

"One of you will go back to the village and report to the council, the quickest of you if possible, while another one does the same at our encampment. As for the rest, follow me to the frontline, we have a war to end." I announced as I took a serious expression that was more fitting for my new position

I finally got rid of the man who did a lot of stupid things during his lifetime... And prevented him from doing more.

Should I feel bad about it? Maybe for the little Asuma, but Konoha would be safer without him... And my family even more.