Rising Shadows: Uchiha's Wrath

Danzo noticed that Sarutobi Hiruzen was still hesitating, so he added a stronger incentive.

"Your arms are in bad shape—probably only Tsunade could fix them. But by the time you find her and convince her to come back, it'll be too late!"

"I have something that can not only fully restore your arms but also boost your combat abilities!"

"However, it's a risky procedure, requiring the Sharingan to suppress its effects."

"Do you really want to be useless for the rest of your life?"

Danzo's words struck a nerve with Sarutobi Hiruzen . He didn't want to be rendered useless, and he knew exactly what Danzo was referring to: the cells from the First Hokage!

Seeing that his words had an impact, Danzo continued, "You're the village's hope. You need to decide now!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Then, he nodded firmly.

"Alright, let's do it!"

***

"Boom!" "Boom!"…

The explosions were relentless, and hundreds of Anbu rushed towards Hokage Rock.

As they hurried through the village, they saw countless Konoha civilians waking up and heading toward the safe zones, led by some lower-ranking ninjas. The more powerful ninjas who hadn't joined Anbu were also awakened by the noise, joining the surge of bodies rushing toward the devastated Hokage Rock.

By the time they arrived, more than a thousand people were gathered, facing the rubble and destruction. Countless rocks continued to slide down, burying dozens of houses in their wake. Nara Shikaku quickly took charge, shouting orders to contain the chaos.

"We must stop these rocks from destroying Konoha! Everyone, listen to my command!"

"Ninjas proficient in Earth Release, use it to stop all the rocks heading down!"

"Yes!"

Hundreds of ninjas answered and immediately began sealing, slamming their hands to the ground.

"Earth Release? Earth Flow Wall!"

Earth walls rose quickly, slowing the avalanche of rocks in an instant.

"Keep going!" Nara Shikaku urged.

Konoha's position at the base of a mountain hundreds of meters high—where Hokage Rock stood—meant that the mountain's collapse had devastating potential. The Earth Release ninjas continued to work feverishly to halt the catastrophe.

"Earth Release? Earth Flow Wall!" "Earth Release? Earth Flow Wall!"…

After dozens of iterations, the mountain's collapse finally stopped.

"Good job! Now it's the Water Release ninjas' turn! We need to soak the soil and rocks behind the Earth Flow Walls!" Nara Shikaku instructed.

"Yes!"

The Earth Release ninjas stepped back, replaced by hundreds of Water Release ninjas who sent waves of water rushing into the rock piles.

"Water Release? Exploding Water Shock Wave!" "Water Release? Exploding Water Shock Wave!"…

The Water Release ninjas directed powerful waves of water into the rocks, compacting the loose debris.

"Next, use Thunder Release to shatter any remaining rocks!" Shikaku commanded.

...

"Now ninja who can use Wind and Fire Release, dry and solidify the area with your jutsu!"

...

"These guys are really capable, they stopped the rockslide that could've destroyed Konoha!" Kaito observed, smacking his lips.

"It's a shame, this will greatly reduce the damage to Konoha," Uchiha Tekka said, shaking his head with a sigh.

Kaito smiled mysteriously, saying, "Don't worry! The game has just begun!"

***

"Great, we did it!" The Konoha ninjas cheered as they saw the flow of stones in front of them becoming solid.

Nara Shikahisa was relieved to see this, but he didn't relax. He continued to shout to the group of ninjas, "Although the flow of stones has stopped, don't let your guard down, we..."

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"…

Before Nara Shikaku could finish speaking, more explosions echoed in the distance, this time from a residential area. The blasts were so consistent that they spread over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

"How could Konoha be filled with so many explosive tags?!" Shikaku thought, his eyes widening as a sudden realization struck him.

He shouted to the ninjas below, "Everyone, help evacuate the civilians! The entire Konoha could be engulfed in these explosions!"

"what?!"

The ninjas were shocked, unable to believe that someone could plant explosive tags throughout Konoha without anyone noticing. But the ongoing blasts made them believe it, and they quickly scattered to rescue the civilians.

Inside the Uchiha compound, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo were relieved to see the flow of stones halted, which could have destroyed Konoha. Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a smile, "It must be Nara Shikaku who's handling this. He's the one of my reliable ninjas !"

Danzo nodded, acknowledging Shikaku's renowned intelligence and planning skills. But before they could celebrate, more explosions erupted, casting firelight across the distance. In mere seconds, hundreds of fireballs lit up the sky.

The intense light and heat from the explosions made everyone feel like they were standing under a scorching sun. The blasts were spreading across Konoha, and it seemed there was nothing anyone could do to stop them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen stumbled backwards as the explosions grew louder, gripping his neck as if struggling to breathe. Danzo quickly supported him, and Sarutobi Hiruzen shouted to the sky in anguish, "Uchiha Kaito, I'll never forgive you for what you've done to Konoha!"

…

Meanwhile, Kaito watched from a distance with a slight smirk. Uchiha Feng laughed heartily, "Kaito, I didn't expect you'd manage to plant explosive tags all over Konoha! This is fantastic. Konoha won't recover for years!"

The other Uchiha clan members nodded with satisfaction. Konoha's plan to destroy their clan had turned into their own undoing.

Kaito shook his head with a smile, saying, "I didn't plant those explosive tags. I just took advantage of someone else's work!"

Seeing the puzzled expressions on his clansmen's faces, he explained, "Over the years, Konoha has made plenty of enemies. One of them was an architect whose son and hometown were destroyed by Konoha in the war. He infiltrated Konoha 30 years ago to prepare for revenge."

"At that time, Konoha was undergoing reconstruction, so he used his position as an architect to plant explosive tags throughout the village."

The clan members were amazed at the revelation, and Uchiha Feng sneered, "Thirty years without anyone noticing? Konoha's incompetence is laughable! The architect really helped us out, but it's a fitting revenge for his village and son."

Kaito smiled, knowing the full story. In the original timeline, the architect didn't detonate the explosive tags because Naruto's face reminded him of his son. But now, with Kaito in the mix, things were bound to be different.

Before the night of the Uchiha massacre, Kaito had found the detonating device the architect had designed, preventing Konoha from escaping disaster.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had planned to use Itachi to destroy the Uchiha clan, but it had backfired spectacularly, leaving Konoha in ruins.

But Kaito's plans weren't over yet.