Chapter 456: The Wrath of Father and Son
The tense standoff between the Konoha forces and the Allied Shinobi Forces had dragged on for three agonizing days. Throughout this period, both factions maintained a tacit, suffocating restraint. Only small, agile scouting teams dared to probe the contested borders, exchanging brief clashes before retreating into the shadows.
However...
That fragile calm shattered on the night of the third day. The enemy struck without a single warning sign.
Outside the perimeter of the Konoha encampment...
The barren, leveled earth suddenly bulged. Something massive writhed beneath the soil. Clods of dirt churned and cracked apart, emitting a grating, agonizing screech that tore through the quiet night.
Crrrk... Under the pale, indifferent moonlight, several pitch-black, heavy wooden coffins slowly breached the surface. They rose from the depths of the earth, standing upright like jagged tombstones upon the desolate plain.
Inside the designated rest area of the Konoha camp...
A rhythmic, obnoxious snoring echoed through the canvas tent. Uzumaki Naruto lay sprawled haphazardly half out of his sleeping bag. A massive snot-bubble swelled and shrank at his nostril with every deep breath. Deep within his dreams, he was charging headfirst toward a steaming bowl of Ichiraku Ramen that towered taller than a mountain.
Just as his imaginary chopsticks were about to spear a glorious, glistening slice of chashu pork...
A dull, heavy shockwave blasted across the plains, shaking the canvas tent violently.
"Who stole my pork?!" Naruto jerked upright, his voice a bleary, furious roar as he frantically wiped a trail of drool from his chin.
In the sleeping bag right beside him, the reaction was entirely different.
Sasuke's eyes snapped open. In the pitch-black confines of the tent, his dark irises caught the faint moonlight, flashing with a predatory, cold light. He sprang to his feet in a single, fluid motion, landing in a crouch like a startled leopard ready to strike.
"Enemy attack." Sasuke's voice was absolute ice. Not a single trace of drowsiness lingered in his tone. His hand was already resting on the hilt of his blade.
Naruto rubbed his eyes, his blonde hair an absolute mess as he looked around in utter bewilderment.
"In the middle of the night? Don't these jerks ever sleep?"
Outside the camp...
A Hyuga sentry stood frozen on a high watchtower, his Byakugan fully activated. Veins bulged around his pale eyes as he stared in absolute terror at the towering wooden boxes.
"That is..." The sentry's breath hitched. "Edo Tensei!"
Before he could even draw breath to sound the alarm...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The heavy wooden lids blasted outward, crashing violently onto the cracked earth and kicking up thick, choking clouds of dust.
Five figures stepped out from the shadows of the coffins, their movements stiff, their skin cracked and pale like dry porcelain.
"This place is..." The white-haired man standing in the center slowly opened his eyes. He swept a dazed, hollow gaze across the desolate surroundings. A short, white-gleaming tanto rested securely against his back, the Konoha forehead protector wrapped around it looking battered and worn by time.
"The world of the living?" he murmured, looking down at his own cracked hands. "Summoned again by Edo Tensei?"
At that exact moment...
High in the canopy nearby, leaves rustled sharply. Two figures flashed into existence, landing silently on a thick branch overlooking the clearing. It was the night-patrol duo: Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy.
"That is..." Kakashi's signature lazy, drooping eye widened, the pupil shrinking to a pin-point the absolute instant he registered the white-haired man below.
That face. That hair. The very figure he had encountered in countless agonizing dreams, the ghost he had tried desperately, countless times, to forget.
"F... Father..." Kakashi's voice broke, trembling in a way it had not in decades.
Konoha's White Fang. Sakumo Hatake.
Sensing the shift in the air, Sakumo tilted his head, looking up toward the concealed branch. A faint flicker of human emotion stirred within those dark, cloudy, reanimated eyes.
"Kakashi?" Sakumo's voice was hoarse, carrying the weight of the grave. "All grown up, I see..."
"Kakashi, keep it together!" Guy clamped a heavy, grounding hand onto his rival's shoulder. The usually boisterous Taijutsu master wore an expression graver than death itself.
Guy's sharp gaze swept past Sakumo, analyzing the other four figures. Every single one of them was a legendary powerhouse.
Kinkaku. Ginkaku. The Gold and Silver Brothers from Kumogakure, the absolute monsters who had somehow survived being swallowed into the belly of the Nine-Tails.
His eyes shifted to a man with long, pale-blue hair. Kato Dan.
Beside him stood the stoic, tragic figure of Hyuga Hizashi.
And the last figure... wrapped in a high-collared cloak, his dark eyes carrying a terrifying stillness. Uchiha Itachi.
"This is..." Guy clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ground together. A bead of cold sweat slid down his temple. "One lousy reunion."
Inside the Konoha Headquarters tent...
Nara Shikaku stood over the tactical map, his face entirely cast in shadow as he read the freshly delivered intel scroll.
"Edo Tensei..." Shikaku muttered, his tactical mind racing through a hundred grim scenarios. "Sakumo. Hizashi. And Kumogakure's Kinkaku and Ginkaku."
He paused, the silence in the tent growing heavy. "There is one more."
Shikaku drew a slow, measured breath. He turned his gaze toward Uchiha Fugaku, who sat nearby in a high-backed chair, his eyes resting closed in quiet meditation.
"Uchiha Itachi."
The very air inside the command tent froze solid.
Several elite Uchiha guards standing along the perimeter, who had been methodically wiping down their kunai, froze mid-motion. The grinding of whetstones ceased instantly.
A suffocating, freezing killing intent erupted from Fugaku's seated form, dropping the temperature in the room to a glacial chill.
"Itachi..." Fugaku rose slowly, the wooden floorboards groaning under his sudden, oppressive weight. "That rebellious son... has been summoned as well?"
At that exact moment, the heavy canvas flap of the tent was violently torn aside.
Uchiha Sasuke burst into the command center. His face was twisted in pure, unadulterated murderous rage. His eyes were already bleeding crimson, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning wildly, tracking invisible threats in his frenzy.
"Where is he?!" Sasuke's roar echoed off the canvas walls, raw and guttural. "Where is that bastard?! I will kill him myself!!"
Sasuke was teetering on the absolute edge of losing control. To the modern Uchiha clan, Itachi was not merely a rogue ninja. He was the ultimate disgrace. A traitor who had betrayed his bloodline, discarded his honor, and attempted to butcher his own kin. Under the strict, iron-fisted teachings of Uchiha Akira, every living Uchiha now valued the clan's honor above their own breathing lives.
And Itachi was a vile stain. A stain that had to be brutally erased.
"Cool it, Sasuke!" Naruto rushed into the tent right on his heels, lunging forward to grab his teammate's arm.
"Get off me!!" Sasuke violently flung his arm out, throwing Naruto off balance and sending the blonde stumbling back two heavy steps.
"This is Uchiha business!" Sasuke snarled, his hand gripping the hilt of his chokuto so tightly his knuckles turned bone-white. "The trash that shamed our clan has to die by my hand!"
With his sword half-drawn from its scabbard, Sasuke spun on his heel, fully intending to charge straight out into the night.
"Halt."
A single, commanding voice rang out, carrying the absolute authority of the Clan Head.
Sasuke's feet froze in place. He slowly turned his head to look at the tall, imposing figure stepping out from the shadows.
"Father..."
Fugaku turned to face his youngest son. His eyes were no longer dark. They had shifted into the crimson, terrifying depths of the Mangekyo Sharingan. complex, bladed patterns slowly revolved within his irises, radiating an aura of absolute destruction.
"Do you want to die?" Fugaku regarded him coldly, his voice devoid of any paternal warmth.
Sasuke clenched his teeth, thick veins bulging against the skin of his neck. "I am not the kid I used to be! I have awakened the three tomoe, I have mastered the Chidori, I—"
"You are still not ready." Fugaku cut him off mercilessly, his tone slicing through Sasuke's pride like a blade.
He stepped directly in front of Sasuke, looking down at his proud, reckless youngest son. "That rebel had already awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan before he died. Even though he is the absolute sinner of our clan, his talent was terrifying. You must admit that."
Fugaku raised a hand, setting it heavily upon Sasuke's trembling shoulder. The grip was iron-tight.
"The gap between the three tomoe and the Mangekyo... is vastly bigger than you can possibly imagine. Go out there now, and you will only disgrace yourself. You will disgrace us."
Sasuke's hand shook violently over his sword hilt. He hated it. The frustration burned in his chest like acid, but he knew, deep down, that his father spoke the absolute truth.
"So we just watch?!" Sasuke yelled, his crimson eyes bloodshot with unshed, furious tears.
"Of course not." Fugaku withdrew his hand. He turned his back on Sasuke and strode purposefully toward the exit of the tent. With every single step he took, his oppressive aura climbed higher, suffocating everyone in the room.
"Since this disgrace was born of my blood," Fugaku declared, his voice echoing into the cold night, "let me, his father, send him back to hell."
He paused at the threshold, the Mangekyo spinning in the dark.
"It is a father's duty."
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