Chapter 16 - Ascension

''Elder Marani, did something happen?'' One of the older people in the masses asked as he looked at the elder on the stage who was deep in thought.

The people finally stopped talking amongst themselves and looked at Marani who didn't say anything for a while as she looked into the rainy distance.

After a whole minute, she finally turned towards them and sighed, ''You will see soon''

Everyone was confused as to what she meant but didn't get a chance to think as Sukuna and Akai landed on the ground, their gazes turned towards the as a heavy feeling filled their throats.

Sukuna's expression at the moment was like it was vacant of emotions to an inhuman extent, his clothes were drenched of a mixture of blood and rain as he held two bloody cloth bags in his hands.

Marani looked at Sukuna from behind him and looked at the cloth bags in his hand, her mind filled with shock as her old body trembled as she realized what just played out.

She opened her mouth, but no words managed to come out, she closed her eyes with an expression filled with pain as she knew she shouldn't say anything.

He had clearly known before today, he could've sent others to do it yet he choose to do it prior to his ascension.... It was not her place to interfere anymore.

She sighed and wished she had known sooner, she had only known of one of the traitors. Although Sukuna's father was suspicious, he never left his house and merely locked himself up. As she thought about, it made sense. The one that shared the information should've been Julia then....

'Child, I'm sorry' Marani internally apologized as she rest her elbow on her armrest and covered her face with one hand to prevent tears from falling out.

The guilt of pushing a child into killing his own parents made her think about her own family and what she would've done. She knew she would be unable to end it all yet she had pushed Sukuna to do it.

Ofcourse, that's how she felt. Sukuna had already made it clear, he choose this path... And he was going to finish it...

He looked towards the people underneath the stage and scanned their appearance, all of these people were checked.

To be honest, he just wanted to be done with this bs and go home right now. There was no joy in this occasion anymore at the moment.

Under everyone's gazes, Sukuna's icy voice sounded out, ''All of you know why you are here, many of you have questions regarding my ability and ability to lead. I can give you pretty words but words are just merely that.... words''

Many of the people nodded to his statement, pretty words were worth nothing in this world. They weren't going to save anyone, neither were they going to kill anyone.

''I won't waste everyone's time. I only have one new rule....''

Sukuna's words confused many people as his next words shocked everyone there since it threw their customs, tradition and everything else straight out the window...

''From now on, children under the age of 16 excluding me will only take D-rank missions inside the village. They banned from leaving the village for the timing being''

Many voices sounded out as a female voice finally yelled, ''ENOUGH!''

It finally quieted down as the old voice revealed itself, a woman of around 40 years old walked in front of the stage and asked Sukuna straight-forward, ''This would result in the Senju's economic decline AND strength decline over time. Your plan is childish and unrealistic''

Sumure and Satori's face soured as they looked at her but Akai stopped them.

''Childish? Unrealistic? Fool, they can't even protect themselves from the people hunting the Senju like we are some cattle. I never said they weren't allowed to train, but they will be assigned capable people according to their strong points. Most of the time, these will be Jonin's'' Sukuna said coldly to which the woman finally lost her cool.

''Jonin's?! If you waste their strength on teaching children instead of missions, then the income of the clan won't even be able to sustain itself for two months!''

''Wrong Shiseru'' Marani's voice sounded out before Sukuna could say anything, her face unusually cold as she spoke, ''Sukuna has already made a plan to cover the cost, the items I showed you were made by him. There is already a deal with the Land of Stone and the Land of Swamps which is already 150% of what we need. His plans are enough that within a year, none of us would need to focus on high paying missions and could solely focus in improving our strength''

Shiseru opened her mouth but eventually gritted her teeth and didn't say anything. However, Sukuna wasn't done and spoke up,

''I can imagine that you doubt my ability to lead everyone. Elder Marani gave me a task, to find the traitor and deal with it however I see fit''

Sukuna's words succesfully gained everyone's interest as they waited for him to continue talking, instead of talking however, he threw one of the blood bags towards Shiseru who caught it in dismay as Sukuna merely said, ''Open it, that's how I lead''

Shiseru squinted her eyes as she opened the bag in dismay, as she opened the bag, a female head appeared in front of her.

Although shocked, she still thought it was a good example yet someone close to her muttered, ''Impossible... absolutely impossible...''

''What is?'' Shiseru questioned as she looked at the person... It was Yurito.

After their last meeting, Marani's words had stabbed straight into his heart as he remembered his father's words. Yet he was very skeptical that a child had a heart like that....

Yet now....

''T...that's his mother'' Yurito said with a shocked expression which sparked a discussion in the crowd as Shiseru froze as she stared at the head before looking at Sukuna who simply nodded with a look devoid of emotion,

''Julia Senju shared information with Danzo Shimura that used that information to capture Senju's as test subjects or other purposes. As for this one, I will give you the honor of opening it...'' Sukuna said as he threw it towards Yurito who unbound the bag with trembling his hands.

Akai and Grandma Marani looked at Sukuna's back with pained expressions while Satori and Sumure wanted to tear something apart to get rid of this feeling of helplessness they were experiencing that they couldn't do anything for Sukuna.

His emotionless expression stirred their hearts as they vividly remembered his bright and teasing smile.

''Real name is Atsui Uchiha, kicked out of the clan years before the Uchiha Massacre. He lived because Danzo Shimura took him in and wanted to use him to infiltrate the Senju's through Julia Senju. You can open his eyes to confirm'' Sukuna said coldly as Yurito looked at the man's head with trembling hands.

He slowly opened the eyelids and a pair of bright red eyes with three blame Tomoe's revealed themselves, many people scurried over and tried to catch a glimpse out of curiosity.

Sukuna grabbed into his pockets and took out a stack of photo's, he looked at Shiseru who had already shut up, but he had to make sure everyone agreed full heartedly as he threw the stack of photo's across the crowd.

Many curious people grabbed the photo's and looked, some people turned white as snow while some straight-up started puking. The photo's contained images of many disturbing things...

''Do you now understand?'' Sukuna asked Shiseru who held a photo in her hands that contained a child of something that seemed around 12 years old as veins appeared on her head out of sheer anger.

However, the 'child' didn't have a single complete body part anymore....

''Sukuna-sama, please let me ask you one thing...'' An old voice sounded out as a disabled man with one leg and one arm humped over, his expression didn't seem to care about the rain hitting his body as he asked sincerely,

Sukuna nodded as he looked at the man, his name was Kunihisa, he ran the stores in the Land of Eart for the Senju's before being called back.

Although he looked old, he was merely 45 years old and had an amazing talent in handling paperwork which even Sukuna heavily respected despite many people overlooking it.

Seeing Sukuna nod, Kunihisa sincerely asked with burning curiosity, ''The Hyuuga Clan had to sacrifice their leader to the Cloud Village due to the Leaf wanting to avoid a war, what if Lord Third wants to sacrifice one of the Clan Members''

Sukuna looked at them man in with a sarcastic grin and asked, ''Are you joking?''

Many people wondered what Sukuna meant as Kunihisa shook his head to affirm he wasn't joking.

''They are asking me to sacrifice one of my people for their own interest? Like they did with the pictures on that photo? Do you all think Hiruzen is unaware of what is happening? Young, old, disabled, healthy, you name it! They will indiscriminately hunted yet this village didn't even bat an eye!''

Sukuna's voice got increasingly louder with more and more anger, even the people in the crowd felt their heart burn. The pictures that they just saw were their own people! The Senju's had built this village yet the village didn't regard any of them as family if they were weakened!

''Let me ask you.... What would YOU do?!'' Sukuna asked with a voice full of anger to which Kunihisa couldn't respond.

''Let me tell you....'' Sukuna's voice fell as his eyes sprung open as a red glint entered his eyes....

Slowly, his blue eyes turned blood red as a black water-like drop entered his eye.

Many people looked at it in fascination as their hearts burned in passion. However, before they could register the thought of a Senju having a Sharingan, another droplet appeared.

Many of the older people trembled as they knew more of the Sharingan as the younger generation. He skipped an entire maturity stage! This was unheard of, only leading figures of the Uchiha had managed such a feet before!

However, what happened next caused their hearts to jump into their throats, the two droplets moved as they seemed to be making space for something....

Soon, another droplet appeared.... Making his eye a 3-Tomoed Sharingan while it had just awakened!

Sukuna's body seemed to be reaching his limit as blood started pouring from his eyes. However, he finally felt the vision in his right be even better than before!

The younger people were confused as the older people got on one knee as Sukuna's voice imprinted into their hearts from this point on...

''My answer is simple..... Slaughter them all!''