Shinsuke's chest heaved violently, and the radiance of his Lightning Release Chakra Mode had lost its initial ferocity and grown noticeably dim.
Blood was seeping steadily from several newly opened wounds, staining Shinsuke's clothing red.
The dying counterstrikes of the Root jonin had ultimately left their mark across Shinsuke's body.
At this moment, Shinsuke was far from the overwhelming force he had been at the start of the battle.
But Shinsuke remained taut throughout his entire body, his three-tomoe Sharingan fixed unblinkingly on the only three Root jonin still standing.
Nine elite jonin, and now only three remained!
One of them was "Serpent," who had earlier attempted to cast a genjutsu only to suffer a devastating counterattack.
At this moment "Serpent's" eyes were blurred with bloody tears, his breathing feeble, clearly a spent arrow with nothing left.
The other two, codenamed "Dog" and "Wolf," stood back to back, breathing in ragged gasps, the hands gripping their weapons trembling faintly, their eyes fixed on Shinsuke and filled with dread.
"A monster... this guy... he's absolutely a monster!"
"Dog's" voice was heavy with profound despair.
They had assumed that the deployment of nine elite jonin made this mission, if not a guaranteed success, at least far from a failure, and that a twelve-year-old Uchiha kid could only be so strong, yet now, of the nine of them, Shinsuke had cut them down to three.
They were the sharpest blades in Lord Danzō's hand, having carried out countless assassination missions and faced all manner of powerful enemies.
Yet not once had any single person been able to, by themselves and in so short a time, slaughter their elite squads down to this!
The three Root ninja who remained had completely lost the will to fight.
The three exchanged glances.
"Re... retreat!"
"Split up!"
"Run, bring Lord Danzō intelligence on Uchiha Shinsuke!"
"Going somewhere?"
Shinsuke let out a thunderous shout.
"Too late!"
Shinsuke naturally could not let any one of them go, as he could not allow Danzō to get his hands on detailed intelligence about himself.
The lightning-natured chakra within Shinsuke surged to life once more, forcibly activating his Lightning Release Chakra Mode as his speed soared to its absolute limit, becoming a blurred afterimage that instantly caught up to "Dog," who was attempting to flee!
"Lightning Release: Chidori!"
Shinsuke's right hand, blazing with blinding lightning, pierced clean through "Dog's" back with ease.
"Pff..."
"Dog's" body went rigid with a jolt.
"Wolf... Serpent... run... I'll hold Uchiha Shinsuke off!"
These were the last words he would leave in this world.
Already run through the chest, he still tried to grab hold of Shinsuke, and was then kicked away outright, after which the light faded rapidly from his eyes and all signs of life vanished completely.
The next target was "Serpent."
With his eyes damaged, he was already moving with great difficulty and could not get far at all.
Shinsuke's figure flickered several times and he had already cut off his path.
"Damn you! I'll take you with me!"
"Serpent" let out a cry of anguished fury, swinging the short blade in his hand and launching a final desperate counterattack.
But with only himself, and a body already critically injured, the dying counterattack posed no great difficulty for Shinsuke.
After a brief exchange of taijutsu, Shinsuke caught an opening.
A ferociously swift close-range thrust, and the kunai in his hand traced a cold arc that cut precisely across "Serpent's" carotid artery.
"Pff..."
Blood gushed out like a fountain.
"How could I... fall here... Lord Danzō!"
"Serpent" pressed a hand to his throat and sank helplessly to his knees, his eyes filled with boundless regret, and finally his head drooped in unwillingness.
The last target was the Root jonin codenamed "Wolf."
He had already vanished from Shinsuke's line of sight.
But Shinsuke had the System, so there was no possibility of letting a Root jonin who had come to assassinate him escape.
[System target location updated.]
In his mind, the System's cold notification rang out clearly, marking the direction in which "Wolf" had fled.
To escape from someone who possessed the System was nothing but a pipe dream.
Shinsuke's figure moved, following the guidance provided by the System and giving chase at full speed.
Before long, at the edge of a relatively dense patch of forest, Shinsuke caught up to "Wolf."
Wolf sensed that suffocating killing intent closing in from behind him once more, and his eyes went wide with rage as his heart turned to ice.
He knew he could not escape.
This Uchiha Shinsuke was nothing less than a demon crawled up from the depths of hell!
Wolf stopped running and chose not to continue his futile flight.
He reached fiercely into his robes and pulled out a specially made scroll covered in explosive tags!
"Uchiha Shinsuke! Even in death! I'll drag you down with me!"
He intended to detonate all the explosive tags and take Shinsuke with him!
If that many explosive tags went off at once, the blast would be enough to level everything within a hundred meters!
And at the very instant he was about to activate the scroll, Shinsuke was one step faster!
One of Shinsuke's hands gripped with precision the wrist holding the scroll, and his other hand closed around his throat!
"Take me with you?"
"You don't have the right."
"No one has the right to take my life, not even the Sage of Six Paths!"
Crack!
A crisp sound of shattering bone rang out.
Wolf's wrist was crushed outright, and the specially made scroll dropped to the ground.
His throat was also snapped without mercy by Shinsuke.
"Urgh..."
"Wolf's" eyes filled with unwillingness and despair, and at last fell into deathly stillness.
...
The battle was over.
The surroundings were a scene of utter devastation, shattered trees, upturned earth, and the thick, lingering scent of blood hanging heavy in the air.
Nine elite Root jonin, all annihilated!
Shinsuke deactivated his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, and the blinding lightning faded from his body.
Shinsuke gasped hard, each breath pulling at his lungs and bringing a searing pain.
The sustained high-intensity fighting had drained Shinsuke enormously.
Although he had suffered no single fatal wound, several muscles throughout his body were severely strained, and his chakra had been nearly exhausted.
But most importantly, he, Uchiha Shinsuke, had survived.
And in one go, he had taken out nine elite Root jonin.
A loss like this, even for Danzō with his deep reserves, would surely be a source of pain for a long time!
Shinsuke raised his head and looked in the direction of Konoha, burning fury blazing in his eyes.
"Danzō! Just you wait! Your time to die is not far off, and when it comes, no one can save you, not even the Sage of Six Paths, I mean that!"