The voice behind them sent a chill through the three Anbu ninjas, their instincts screaming danger. Their pupils contracted as they instinctively tried to scatter, but suddenly their vision skewed and blurred. Through the haze, the silhouette of a young Uchiha girl appeared—before they could even make out her features, their heads rolled from their necks.
[Ding! You have successfully slain three "red-named" villains! Your chakra has been slightly enhanced! Congratulations, you have obtained: ① "Shuriken Throwing Technique" experience scroll ×7; ② "Water Release: Flowing Blade Technique"; ③ "Brothel Appraisal Technique" experience scroll ×4!]
The crimson boxes hovering above the three Anbu slowly dissipated.
But killing them was only the beginning. The earlier commotion had already alerted the entire secret base.
That was fortunate—it saved Uchiha Ikeizumi the trouble of hunting everyone down.
…
When more Anbu ninjas arrived, they found several bodies strewn across the ground and an Uchiha ninja standing amidst them, a bloodstained kunai in hand and radiating lethal intent.
Though they didn't know exactly what had happened, they immediately triggered the base's alarm.
"Wooo—wooo—wooo—"
The piercing siren even startled Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"Enemy intrusion?!"
Beneath his Anbu mask, Shinnosuke furrowed his brow. Since the secret experimental base was established, no outside intrusion had ever occurred.
Why did such a disaster happen just after the old man entrusted him with guarding the base?
Even more puzzling—who dared to invade a secret base so close to Konoha?
If a base was built near Konoha, it meant it was secretly connected to the village.
Did the intruders not know this?
Or…
Did they simply not care about Konoha?!
"All combat personnel, assemble immediately!" Shinnosuke's expression grew grim as he ordered, "Head to the location where the alarm was triggered. The intruders…"
He knew that if this secret base was exposed, it could seriously damage the old man's reputation.
A flash of killing intent appeared in Shinnosuke's eyes.
"No matter who the intruders are, once found, kill on sight!"
"Yes, sir!"
Under Shinnosuke's command, an entire Anbu squad mobilized—the secret base was guarded by two Anbu squads.
One squad patrolled outside and inside the base, transporting supplies; the other was tasked with eliminating threats to the base.
Both squads answered to Shinnosuke alone.
He suspected the first squad had already been compromised.
And the intruders were formidable—otherwise, they wouldn't have infiltrated silently.
"Wait!"
Shinnosuke called out to one Anbu, ordering, "You don't need to follow. Return to Konoha immediately and report this to the old man. If no news returns within fifteen minutes, it means trouble here. The old man should bring reinforcements."
"Yes!"
Just as Shinnosuke prepared to rush to the alarm site, an overwhelming sense of crisis struck him.
Instinctively, he shouted, "Stop!"
At that moment, he noticed a faint orange-red glow on the metal-reinforced wall to his right, along with a scorching heat radiating from it.
—Boom!
The terrifying heat instantly melted a huge hole through the reinforced metal wall. Molten iron splattered wildly as a volcanic blast surged forward, the invisible heatwave striking the Anbu.
They all bent their knees to steady themselves, eyes wide with horror as they stared at the molten breach.
"That is…"
Shinnosuke's pupils contracted sharply as he spotted half a body lying near the hole.
The other half was missing.
From the clothing, the figure was also an Anbu ninja.
His mask had fallen off, revealing a face frozen in inexplicable terror—enough to chill anyone's heart.
Drip… drip…
Strange droplets echoed in the air.
The smell of sulfur filled Shinnosuke's nostrils.
Suddenly, a name loomed in his mind—an Uchiha ninja he deeply despised: Uchiha Ikeizumi!
Before the thought finished, a figure with molten lava slowly flowing over his body stepped through the hole.
"—It's Uchiha Ikeizumi!!!" an Anbu behind Shinnosuke exclaimed in shock.
Lava dripped from Ikeizumi's body, the molten glow unable to conceal the blood-red hue of his three-tomoe Sharingan.
He stared directly at Shinnosuke and said, "You, one of the Third Hokage's right hands, have been missing for two years. I thought you were dead. I didn't expect you to be stationed here by the Third Hokage himself."
Shinnosuke clenched his fists.
His expression darkened beneath his mask as he gritted his teeth.
"When you killed those two comrades, you ceased to be my student, and I ceased to be your Jonin instructor! Uchiha Ikeizumi! What exactly are you doing here?"
Seeing the half-corpse on the ground, Shinnosuke's mood worsened.
He stared intently at Ikeizumi.
"You still can't suppress the demon within you. Are you planning a massacre in Konoha, to kill these innocent people?!"
The other Anbu behind him looked surprised.
They hadn't known that Shinnosuke and Ikeizumi had such a history—that Shinnosuke had once been Ikeizumi's mentor!
Ikeizumi asked calmly, "Too many evils in the ninja world have died by my hand. Which two are you referring to?"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's breath nearly caught in his throat.
"You… have you truly forgotten your own comrades entirely?"
"I don't deliberately remember the villains who have died by my hand."
A vein twitched on Shinnosuke's forehead.
"Shimura Rei-ya! Uzuki Shaku! You must remember those two names! They were—like you—my Genin students once!"
Shinnosuke couldn't help but recall the harrowing "clan betrayal" incident that had shaken him to his core.
It was after that event he ceased serving as a Jonin instructor for any Konoha Genin.
"Oh… I vaguely recall," Uchiha Ikeizumi said.
"Shimura Rei-ya bullied others at the Ninja Academy, driving a victim to suicide after complaints went unheeded; Uzuki Shaku, his accomplice, spread malicious rumors about the victim throughout the village after the suicide."
"Yes, I killed them both. But they struck first, which led the Fourth Hokage to rule my actions as self-defense, and I was not punished."
Listening to Ikeizumi's emotionless tone—treating "comrades" as if they were insignificant—Shinnosuke's anger surged uncontrollably.
"They didn't deserve to die!"
Ikeizumi retorted, "Did the victim deserve to die?"
With each step Ikeizumi took, molten craters formed beneath his feet.
"To me, your two students had been corrupted by the ninja world's 'evil' beyond forgiveness. I merely baptized unforgivable 'evil' in the ninja world with molten lava. Nothing more."
"Shinnosuke-sensei."
Ikeizumi's crimson eyes fixed on the red box hovering over Shinnosuke's head.
"Now…"
"You too have fallen into the abyss."