Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

At the same time, the ground around the black fire lotus turned scorched black, and even crimson magma appeared. Nearby vegetation spontaneously combusted, and a sea of ​​fire quickly rose within a radius of 100 meters.

Amidst the sea of ​​fire, Uchiha Homura strolled leisurely like a fire god, seemingly unaffected.

Suddenly, the ground behind him rose up, and a humanoid puppet dressed in white jumped out, its right palm piercing a poisoned blade, which went straight into Uchiha Homura's heart.

"Pfft~"

The sharp blade pierced Uchiha Homura's heart, but not a single drop of blood flowed.

Uchiha Homura exploded instantly, turning into a black flame that enveloped the humanoid puppet.

The poisoned blade instantly turned into molten iron, and the humanoid puppet's body, which was mostly made of wood, spontaneously combusted and quickly turned into a charred corpse.

In less than a second, Chiyo's high-level puppet, one of the Chikamatsu Ten, which had been rebuilt at great expense, was completely destroyed.

Uchiha Homura had already thoroughly understood Kagutsuchi, the Mangekyou Sharingan eye technique that could enhance the power of Fire Release ninjutsu and allow for free control of flames, and had even successfully developed his own unique Fire Clone Technique using it.

Furthermore, when he activates the Kagutsuchi destiny, he can temporarily transform into fire and hide within the flames.

In this sea of ​​fire, Uchiha Homura is the spirit of fire, and unless the enemy can use a powerful water-style ninjutsu, they cannot do anything to him.

Chiyo understood this principle. After her puppet was instantly burned, she crawled out of the ground in a disheveled state and rushed towards the distant coast with three humanoid puppets.

She looked extremely disheveled and terrifying. Her left hand, left side, and half of her face were covered in burns. Her beautiful hair was ruined, and her burned skin was covered with dense blisters. The former beauty of Sunagakure had suddenly become a hideous creature.

Chiyo wanted to escape, but Uchiha Homura, who was hiding in the flames, wouldn't allow it. He emerged from the flames of a blazing tree, and the tomoe pattern in his left Sharingan rotated slightly. The flames in the surrounding forest quickly gathered together to form a wall of fire, blocking Chiyo's path.

"Get out of my way!"

Chiyo shouted, and with a flick of her right finger, a mechanism appeared on the right hand of a humanoid puppet with a spell mark on its forehead, generating a chakra shield to protect it and Chiyo.

Puppet Technique: Mechanical Light Shield Seal.

Relying on the defensive power of the chakra shield generated by the Machine Light Shield, Chiyo planned to force her way through.

But to her utter surprise, the invisible wall of fire in front of her was as solid as steel, and she was directly blocked.

At the same time, a terrifying heatwave was approaching from behind, filling her with intense fear.

Uchiha Yan made another move, still using a simple Fire Release ninjutsu: Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.

Chiyo could only turn around and control the puppet to use Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall and Water Release: Water Formation Wall to resist, but it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and she could not stop Uchiha Homura's Great Fire Annihilation attack enhanced by the Mangekyou Sharingan eye technique and the Earth Spirit.

Only the chakra shield formed by the Puppet Technique: Machine Light Shield Seal could barely withstand it.

However, while the chakra shield can block the attack of flames, it cannot block the high temperature brought by the flames.

Chiyo had already experienced the danger of this technique, and she used Water Release: Water Prison Technique to defend herself within her chakra shield. However, the water formed by the Water Prison Technique boiled up almost instantly and evaporated rapidly, causing her immense pain while she was in the boiling water.

As for the puppets she relied on for survival, they had already turned to ashes in the black flames.

Chiyo was filled with hatred. She hated Konoha for its ruthless extermination, hated that Uchiha Homura had mastered such an unreasonable fire-style ninjutsu, making her puppet so vulnerable, and hated her own lack of water-style ninjutsu skills.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, in a few seconds, even if she isn't burned to death by the flames, she will die in agony from the boiling water.

But she still refused to give up and wait to die. She created a large amount of water-attribute chakra to form chakra threads that wrapped around herself, using this to put up a last-ditch effort and try to find a glimmer of hope.

"You've done quite well to force me to use my Mangekyou Sharingan, Chiyo of Sunagakure."

Uchiha Homura looked coldly at Chiyo, who was struggling to survive in the boiling water sphere, and said with a ruthless expression.

To deal with Chiyo, he had used Kagutsuchi three times in a row, which had greatly depleted his eye power and chakra. His aging body was also starting to feel the strain, and he had also revealed his Mangekyou Sharingan and one of its eye techniques in the process.

However, it was all worth it. As long as Chiyo died, he would have done a great service for Konoha and secured more benefits for the future survival and development of his clan.

Meanwhile, Sakumo Hatake, who had been hiding nearby to prevent any accidents, was experiencing a great deal of turmoil.

He had witnessed the entire battle between Uchiha Homura and Chiyo. He knew that Uchiha Homura was very strong and that defeating Chiyo should not be a problem. However, he never expected that Uchiha Homura would be able to defeat Chiyo so easily after Chiyo broke through his most powerful genjutsu.

"Is this the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan? It's truly terrifying. No wonder the Third Hokage and the others were so wary of the Uchiha clan. No wonder the Uchiha clan has stood firm despite being ostracized by other clans in the village. With this clan leader, the Uchiha clan has nothing to fear from suppression and ostracism."

As Sakumo Hatake watched Chiyo about to be killed by Homura Uchiha, he finally understood just how powerful the Uchiha clan was.

Although he used to think that the Uchiha clan ninjas were very strong, after he became a Kage-level ninja and mastered the techniques of concealment, swordsmanship, and body sleight of hand, killing Jonin as easily as killing chickens, he no longer thought much of the Uchiha clan ninjas.

Because the Uchiha clan's signature fire-style techniques and genjutsu are almost useless against him, a ninja who excels at assassinating from the shadows. As long as he can't be detected, even an elite Jonin-level Uchiha ninja can be killed with a single slash.

He had been accidentally caught in Uchiha Homura's genjutsu, but he hadn't really taken it to heart. He had simply made eye contact with Uchiha Homura without realizing it was an enemy, which lowered his guard and made him fall for the trick.

But that won't be the case now. Judging from the battle before us, this Uchiha clan leader's genjutsu can obviously be triggered without eye contact, and his expertise in genjutsu is not limited to visual genjutsu.

If you're not careful, you could easily get infected.

As the leader of the martial arts faction in Sunagakure, Chiyo was undoubtedly an unyielding ninja. When she realized that she had no hope of escaping from the boiling water but did not die quickly, she immediately understood Uchiha Homura's plan and sneered in her heart: "Want to capture me alive? Dream on."

Then, without hesitation, she took out a kunai from her body and stabbed it into her head.

Even if it meant death, she would not allow the people of Konoha to obtain the information about Sunagakure.

Seeing this, Uchiha Homura sighed inwardly, knowing that he could not possibly capture this fiercely independent puppeteer alive. He then stopped his chakra output and ended Kagutsuchi.

Regardless of the circumstances, Chiyo was a respectable enemy.

Since the other party chose to commit suicide, he decided to leave the other party with a complete body.

But soon, he realized something was wrong. He discovered that Chiyo's corpse had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, accompanied by a strong sense of crisis that he hadn't felt in a long time.

Without the slightest hesitation.

A dark red chakra skeleton, only half-body, appeared instantly and protected him.

Susanoo - First Stage!

The next moment, a water gun shot out from behind him and hit the chakra skeleton.

Then, the chakra skull, whose defensive power was comparable to chakra metal, was actually pierced through, which greatly surprised Uchiha Homura.

Fortunately, the chakra skeleton formed by the first stage of Susanoo bought Uchiha Homura some time to dodge, thus avoiding the crisis of having her heart pierced. However, she was still grazed by the water gun, and a large chunk of flesh was sliced ​​off from her right armpit.

"Who's there!"

Ignoring his injuries, Uchiha Homura immediately turned around, shouted, and then used Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique without any hand seals, followed by Kagutsuchi.

The Fireball Technique was enhanced, and a huge black fireball rushed towards the direction from which the water gun was coming.

However, to Uchiha Homura's dismay, a giant water dragon directly shattered his enhanced Fireball Jutsu using Kagutsuchi, and then continued to charge at him menacingly.

This shows that the mysterious enemy's water-based abilities are terrifyingly strong.

He quickly retreated to dodge, but just as he successfully avoided the water dragon's attack, a boy with no eyebrows wearing a striped turtleneck coat descended from the sky and appeared in front of him. At that moment, a huge blade on the boy's right elbow was aimed at him and slashed down.

The boy without eyebrows was incredibly fast, and his timing was perfect. Uchiha Homura didn't have time to dodge and could only rely on his Susanoo to withstand the boy's sword attack.

"Clang!"

With a single slash, the eyebrowless boy created a deep gash on the surface of the chakra skull.

At the same time, Sakumo Hatake was also attacked by a mysterious enemy.

A mysterious ninja wearing armor in the style of the Warring States period and a mask with white characters on his face blocked his way to support Uchiha Homura. The powerful aura, chakra fluctuations, and attack stance emanating from the ninja made his scalp tingle.

He wasn't mistaken; this was clearly the attack stance of the Hyuga clan of Konoha when using Gentle Fist.

Is the other party a ninja from the Hyuga clan?

Why did the other party appear and stop him?

Has a traitor appeared within Konoha?

Sakumo Hatake had no time to ask the other party or think about what was going on, because the attack had already begun.

Suddenly, the opponent struck forward with a palm, and a powerful chakra shockwave instantly appeared.

Soft Fist - Bagua Empty Palm!

Hatake Sakumo quickly used his Body Flicker Technique to dodge and then appeared behind his opponent.

But before his white fang dagger could pierce the opponent's heart, he was sent flying by a powerful shockwave formed by a spiraling chakra.

A rapidly spinning ball of chakra appeared in Sakumo Hatake's eyes, which further confirmed his suspicion of the mysterious ninja's identity.

The other party is definitely a ninja from the Hyuga clan.

The move the opponent is using now is clearly the Gentle Fist: Rotation, a secret taijutsu technique of the Hyuga clan.

Chapter 236: Steaming Danger and Explosion

"Who exactly are you? You're a member of the Hyuga clan, aren't you? With your strength, you must be from the main branch. The Hyuga clan is a major clan in Konoha. Why are you stopping me? Do you want the Hyuga clan to suffer a great calamity?"

After confirming that the mysterious ninja in front of him was a member of the Hyuga clan, Hatake Sakumo immediately tried to persuade him again.

The opponent's strength was terrifying. His best assassination technique was almost completely transparent to the opponent's white eyes. The essence and power of assassination technique does not lie in speed, accuracy and ruthlessness, but in the word "stealth".

Only by being sufficiently secretive, so that the enemy cannot detect it, can a truly unexpected assassination be achieved.

But his stealth is now suppressed; the Byakugan's X-ray vision and dynamic eyesight are the biggest nemesis of an assassin-type ninja like him.

As an assassin-type ninja, he naturally had some knowledge of the Byakugan, a bloodline limit that severely countered his abilities. Therefore, he knew exactly where the Byakugan of the Hyuga branch family ninja with the Caged Bird Seal was weak.

That's why he had just decided to use this weakness to deal with the mysterious enemy in front of him.

The assassination attempt failed.

Therefore, it is clear that the other party could not be someone from the branch family, but only someone from the main family.

In his mind, the main branch of the Hyuga clan in Konoha should never betray Konoha, so why would this Hyuga main branch ninja do this?

Regardless of whether it will work or not, he has now decided to try to influence the other party with words in order to end this pointless infighting as quickly as possible.

He was aware of the internal conflicts within Konoha, but he personally had no desire to get involved in Konoha's infighting. In his view, it was pointless and harmful to Konoha.

Unfortunately, the mysterious Hyuga ninja showed no intention of communicating with him and instead struck him with a palm strike once more.

A powerful chakra shockwave struck again.

Hatake Sakumo quickly used the Body Flicker Technique again to dodge, but as soon as he finished dodging, the enemy's attack came again.

The enemy's movement speed was terrifying. Before his Body Flicker Technique could land, the enemy used pure physical strength combined with chakra to rush to the front, and a palm wrapped in chakra suddenly slammed into his chest.

"Such speed! The taijutsu of the Hyuga clan ninjas is indeed not to be underestimated."

Seeing this, Hatake Sakumo thought to himself.

The next moment, he was struck solidly by the enemy's palm.

With a loud "bang".