Upon reaching Earth Master Level 10, Qiu Xia did not immediately choose to merge his Three Souls and Seven Po. Instead, he continued to use astral power to refine them. He felt that his Three Souls and Seven Po had not yet been polished to their absolute limit.
It wouldn't be too late to break through once he reached that pinnacle; after all, he wasn't in a desperate rush to increase his cultivation level at the moment.
Itachi Uchiha, Danzo Shimura, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado the latter two often spoken of in the same breath had already been cursed to death by Qiu Xia's curse technique.
Had Jiraiya and Tsunade not been away from the village, Qiu Xia likely would have cursed Hiruzen Sarutobi to death as well. The crisis of the Uchiha Clan Downfall wasn't completely resolved for Konoha, but a large part of it had been dealt with. All that remained was Obito Uchiha's side.
Obito's Inner Kamui was a top-tier ultimate technique to others, but to Qiu Xia, it was nothing. If Obito dared to show his face around the Uchiha clan, Qiu Xia would beat his head in.
While Qiu Xia was working hard on his cultivation, Jiraiya and Tsunade received the news from Konoha. After some thought, Jiraiya chose to return to the village to see for himself. On the other hand, when Tsunade learned of the deaths of Danzo, Koharu, and Homura, she couldn't help but laugh heartily.
The reasons Tsunade had left Konoha were many besides her hemophobia, she detested the darkness of the village. And what was that darkness? It was the Konoha F4, the high-level elders centered around Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Now that only Hiruzen remained of those four, Tsunade felt that more than half of her old grudges had been settled. In an excellent mood, she went straight to a tavern to celebrate. Of course, if she had the choice, she would have preferred a gambling den, but she had run out of money recently, so drinking was her only option.
It took Jiraiya three days from receiving the news to return to the village. The moment he stepped back into Konoha, he felt a suffocating oppression. He didn't even have the heart to look for "material" for his books and went straight to the Hokage's Office.
"Old man, what on earth happened in Konoha while I was gone?"
Hearing Jiraiya's voice, a look of melancholy appeared on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face. "Konoha has been plagued by disasters lately. First, over a month ago, Shisui Uchiha disappeared. Initially, I thought Danzo had made a move, but after Danzo's own mysterious death, I went to check the Root headquarters and found it wasn't his doing."
Jiraiya looked at Hiruzen with an uncomprehending gaze. "What do you mean by 'mysterious death'?"
"It means we have absolutely no idea what method the opponent used to kill them. Everyone, including Danzo, died in a very bizarre manner. Among the four who died this way, Itachi Uchiha had his eyes destroyed before being killed by a thrust through the heart. Koharu and Homura died from attacks to their hearts and their weak spots."
"As for Danzo... he died the most miserable death of all. It was as if someone had used a blade to stab him repeatedly until he was nothing more than a sieve!" Even with Hiruzen's vast experience and composure,
he couldn't help but shudder when he recalled Danzo's corpse. What kind of hatred could lead to such a thing? To turn a body into that state... the grudge must have been immense.
A simple death was frightening enough for Hiruzen, but a death involving such torture deepened his fear even further. Consequently, his aging process had accelerated noticeably during this period.
Before these events, he possessed about sixty to seventy percent of his peak strength. Now, shaken by fear, he was likely down to twenty or thirty percent.
After taking a sip of tea to calm his nerves, Hiruzen continued, "The deaths of those four were trouble enough. But following that, Konoha's Hokage Rock was blown up, and the Scroll of Seals was stolen."
As Hiruzen mentioned this, Jiraiya looked out the window. He noticed that of the four stone heads originally carved into the mountain, only two remained. One was the First Hokage, and the other was his own disciple, the Fourth Hokage. The two in the middle the Second and Third had vanished.
"What means did the enemy use to destroy the Hokage Rock?"
"Explosive Tags!"
"Explosive Tags? That's impossible. If it were Explosive Tags, the First and Fourth's faces couldn't have remained intact at such a close distance. And if they had set up a barrier at those two locations, someone would have noticed."
Hiruzen nodded. "You have a point. I thought the same thing. But the fact is, after a thorough search, I found not a single trace left on the two remaining faces."
"Furthermore, the Scroll of Seals has a Summoning Jutsu left behind by the Second Hokage. A special summoning can be used to bring the scroll back. However, I have tried it multiple times during this period, and I cannot summon it back."
The mounting troubles of Konoha made Jiraiya's head ache. Regarding the three elders, Koharu and Homura rarely left the village. If they had offended someone, that person must be within Konoha.
As for Danzo, his enemies were legion; practically everyone was his enemy. Itachi Uchiha was unknown to outsiders, but within the village, his enemies were mostly among the younger generation though they weren't really enemies, just people who disliked him.
If they couldn't deduce the culprit through their enemies, then looking at the destruction of the Second and Third Hokage's faces while protecting the First and Fourth's... why target the middle two? It was very likely that the Second and Third had encroached upon the culprit's interests, perhaps even the interests of a family.
There was no specific individual targeted by the Second and Third. If it was a family, it had to be the Uchiha clan. Years ago, the person who released and controlled the Nine-Tails was an Uchiha. Therefore, either there was a hidden master among the Uchiha in Konoha, or there was a powerful Uchiha lurking outside the village.
Regardless of which it was, it didn't bode well for Konoha, as the intent was purely malicious. If one assumed the killer was an Uchiha, then all these deaths became explainable. The missing Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha could both be considered part of the Hokage's faction.
Danzo constantly targeted the Uchiha clan, so it was natural for him to die so miserably. Perhaps the other two elders had also targeted the clan, or maybe the killer simply killed them because they were the Second Hokage's students.
The killer was likely an Uchiha, but it remained unknown if they were from within the village or outside. If they were an insider, how should they be dealt with? Judging by their methods, they were clearly insane.
After all, Shisui was one thing, but Itachi was so young, yet he was blinded and killed outright. The opponent had such bizarre methods; if they went to the Uchiha clan and really tried to root them out, Hiruzen Sarutobi might end up dying a bizarre death himself.
If the culprit was from outside the village, it was even more troublesome. They couldn't even find the person, let alone catch them. If they truly were an outsider, they were likely the same person who released the Nine-Tails, as only that person could enter Konoha's barrier in such a strange way.
"Old man, before we look for the killer and the Scroll of Seals, the most important thing is to stabilize the people's hearts. Look at the recent movements of the Anbu and Root; the whole village is uneasy.
Even the other four villages have dispatched people to patrol their borders. If this continues, the Fourth Shinobi World War might break out."
Jiraiya's words made a lot of sense to Hiruzen. Consequently, besides keeping some Anbu ninja hidden in the shadows, he had the rest of the ninja lurk secretly outside the Uchiha compound. Hiruzen originally wanted to remain vigilant against the Uchiha to prevent them from rebelling before he could react.
However, Hiruzen's move was effectively forcing the Uchiha clan into a corner. What was the meaning of this? Was the previous surveillance not enough?
Why move so many ninja into the shadows? What did they want to do? Were they planning to strike? Konoha must have decided to eliminate the Uchiha family.
Given the situation, the Uchiha family immediately convened a clan meeting. Everyone who had awakened the Sharingan was to gather at the Naka Shrine.
The Uchiha clan misunderstood the presence of the Anbu ninja, while Hiruzen Sarutobi misunderstood the sudden clan meeting. In the past, they at least had Shisui and Itachi acting as microphones to relay the situation of the meetings, but now, they had no one.
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