Naruto: Drop System

"This place… it's the clan grounds?" Sarutobi Hiruzen, newly summoned from his coffin, quickly realized he was back in the world of the living, recognizing the Sarutobi clan grounds at a glance.

"Lord Hiruzen!"

"Clan Leader!"

"Grandpa!"

The Sarutobi clan members were overwhelmed with emotion, each calling out to him with different titles.

Among them, a child's voice was the most distinct.

Seeing the night transform into day, Konohamaru, who had stepped out of his house and hidden in a corner to watch his clan's battle against unknown enemies, couldn't hold back and ran toward Hiruzen.

"Is that Konohamaru? You've grown so much!" Hiruzen immediately recognized his grandson. His face lit up with joy as he instinctively stretched out his arms, waiting for Konohamaru to embrace him.

However, as he saw his cracked hands, his expression changed drastically, realizing something important. "Konohamaru, stay back!" he shouted urgently.

"Grandpa!" Konohamaru ignored the warning, tears in his eyes, and continued running, undeterred even when Hiruzen formed hand seals.

"Fire Style: Majestic Blaze!"

With despair in his voice, Hiruzen unleashed a wave of fire from his mouth, forming a massive inferno that roared toward Konohamaru, who froze in place, wide-eyed.

Swish

Just as the fire was about to consume Konohamaru, a shadow darted across, scooping him up and whisking him out of harm's way.

However, the rest of the Sarutobi clan members weren't so lucky.

Boom!

In Yagyu's vision, a massive blaze suddenly erupted in a section of Konoha, radiating orange light that rivaled the black flames burning in another area.

"Aaaahhh…"

In the inferno, several figures screamed in agony as the flames devoured them, collapsing to the ground and swiftly turning to charred corpses.

"Lord Hiruzen!"

"Why are you attacking us, Clan Leader?!"

The surviving Sarutobi clan members, those who had avoided or escaped the flames, stared in disbelief and anguish at Hiruzen, shouting out in confusion.

"Don't let your guard down! He's no longer your clan leader!"

The voice of Sarutobi Asuma, clad in a Jonin vest, rang out as he placed Konohamaru safely aside and reappeared before Hiruzen, warning his well-protected family members. "He's now an undead with infinite chakra, a body summoned with the forbidden Edo Tensei. He's a weapon against us."

"Asuma's right."

Hiruzen, nearly having killed his own grandson, was overcome with guilt and shouted, "Defeat my body with jutsu, then seal me before I can regenerate. Only sealing techniques can counter Edo Tensei!"

After that, Hiruzen raised his head and shouted angrily at the sky, "Orochimaru, you've gone too far! If there's any shred of decency left in you, let my clan seal me, even if it means I won't return to the world of the dead!"

This self-sacrificing act moved the Sarutobi clan, but it only fueled Yagyu and Sasuke's disdain.

"Not so noble when it's a matter of internal ruthlessness, are you?" Yagyu shook his head, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Amaterasu!" Sasuke, stirred by this, instinctively unlocked his unique Mangekyo technique.

A single tear of blood trickled down his cheek as he unleashed black flames—not to attack the Sarutobi clan members but to spread the fire, forming an inextinguishable wall around the clan grounds, preventing anyone from escaping. He wanted Hiruzen to experience the agony Uchiha Itachi had endured, forced to kill his own clan.

Sasuke quickly formed a Shadow Clone to observe and aid Hiruzen while his original body flashed away to support Hikari, who was slaughtering the Shimura clan and scattered members of Konoha's F4 clans.

Yagyu's former life had a running joke about the Sarutobi clan's "3,000-strong army."

In reality, it was an exaggeration.

Even prominent Konoha clans like the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga barely numbered over a thousand members.

Yagyu had counted the Hyuga clan members, and there were slightly over a thousand, with only about two-thirds having activated their Byakugan or becoming ninjas.

Every clan had its own grounds, training systems, businesses, and powerful departments within Konoha, and not all sent their members to the Ninja Academy.

For instance, the Yamanaka clan held a powerful role within the interrogation department of Konoha.

Likewise, the Nara clan managed the medicinal herb business, and, along with the Akimichi clan, almost monopolized rations and certain medicinal supplies.

They also held the right to appoint their members to specific roles.

During the reign of the Konoha F4, their clans were well protected. Only a few clan members attended the Academy, and fewer were sent on missions or stationed at the borders as a formality.

Most clan members either held positions within Konoha or were sent as guards for officials in the Land of Fire's cities.

Over the decades, the number of casualties among the Konoha F4 clan members was lower than deaths from natural causes.

The Sarutobi and Shimura clans, each with over a thousand members, rivaled the three great clans of Konoha in size after decades of growth.

Excluding those stationed elsewhere, over two thousand Konoha F4 clan members had been drawn into Yagyu's illusionary world.

Among these, Root members only accounted for a small fraction; the rest were members of Konoha F4 clans.

Of the two thousand, fewer than half were qualified ninjas.

Only Sarutobi Asuma and Danzo Shimura's personal guards have the strength of elite Jonin; the rest are either Genin or Chunin, with very few even at special Jonin level.

Against Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Hikari, both of whom possess Kage-level strength, they are utterly outmatched.

Like a pair of mowing machines, Sasuke and Hikari tear through the Konoha F4 clan members, decimating them with lightning, waves of fire, black flames, and flying dismembered limbs. Scenes of carnage erupted throughout central Konoha.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion suddenly resounded throughout the area.

Looking in the direction of the noise, both Sasuke and the Konoha F4 clan members, who were trying to evade him, had their eyes widen in shock.

A giant, formed from transparent red chakra and fully equipped with limbs but without the tengu armor, roamed Konoha. One hand wielded a massive crimson sword, and the other held red magatama beads, either slicing through the ground and demolishing buildings or hurling the magatama, causing massive explosions.

This red giant was none other than the fourth form of Susanoo. The next step would be the fully completed Susanoo—a colossal figure capable of splitting mountains and altering the very landscape.

Standing within the chest of Susanoo, arms folded, Hikari resembled a female, youthful Madara.

Bored with her game of cat-and-mouse, she unleashed her ultimate technique.

Seeing Hikari wreak havoc across the battlefield, Yagyu nodded in satisfaction.

No doubt, Hikari had now surpassed Karin as his strongest lieutenant.

Although she didn't possess the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Yagyu had an abundant supply of Gelel Stones. The life force combined with his extreme Yang chakra could keep her from exhausting her ocular powers, preventing blindness, just as the Hashirama cells had done for Obito.

Currently, Hikari could wield the fourth form of Susanoo, and as she continued to grow, she'd be able to fully manifest it as Itachi and Shisui had done in the games, despite lacking the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Moreover, this was purely her personal development.

If Hikari wanted to "cheat" using her Eight Thousand Spears, she could absorb the chakra of every Konoha F4 member marked by her ability and use it to summon a full-fledged Susanoo.

In the game, a character named Merz used an artificial eye to replicate Hikari's unique jutsu, Eight Thousand Spears, and absorbed the chakra of everyone affected by it to manifest an imperfect, full Susanoo—with just a single artificial eye.

If Merz had two artificial eyes, both replicating Hikari's Eight Thousand Spears, he could fully manifest Susanoo as well.

With her genuine Eight Thousand Spears, Hikari clearly could do the same.

Yet, Hikari seemed unwilling to absorb their "filthy" chakra, or perhaps she wanted her enemies to die in despair as they fled.

As Sasuke and Hikari continued their massacre, two others, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, who were also trapped in the genjutsu realm, found Danzo Shimura hiding in a subterranean base and confronted him.

"Danzo, what is going on here? Are you behind this?" they shouted.

"Idiots! Can't you even sense your surroundings?" Danzo scoffed. "Everyone pulled into this illusion is one of our clan members. Clearly, this is the work of surviving Uchiha seeking revenge."

"Is this really a genjutsu?" Koharu asked nervously. "No matter how much we try to disrupt our chakra, we can't break free. And the pain feels entirely real!"

"This must be a special ocular jutsu from a Mangekyo Sharingan," Danzo replied, touching the bandage covering his eye, his unease slightly easing.

"So, what do we do now?" Koharu asked, sounding unusually uncertain.

"Escape is out of the question," Homura responded calmly. "We're trapped in a genjutsu space. The markings on our hands might even be some kind of tracking or a key to this illusion."

"In this situation, our only chance is to locate and defeat the caster of this technique," he continued.

"Exactly," Danzo agreed. "According to Byakugan reports, the pattern on the moon resembles the Sharingan of that Uchiha girl slaughtering our clans. She is most likely the caster."

"Additionally, the Sarutobi clan is currently encased in a barrier of black flames and is being slaughtered by an Edo Tensei version of Hiruzen. The other Uchiha present is Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke."

"So it's safe to assume they know the truth about the Uchiha massacre and are using this to exact their revenge?" Koharu grimaced.

"Just as Tobirama-sensei said," Homura muttered regretfully, bitterness in his tone. "The Uchiha are dangerous, treacherous madmen. We should have eradicated Sasuke and Itachi entirely back then."

"There's no point in saying that now!" Danzo retorted, stepping toward the exit of the base, a plan forming in his mind. "We need to find ourselves a powerful ally and show these Uchiha remnants the strength of our combined might!"

Meanwhile, Konohamaru watched his grandfather Hiruzen, reanimated and forced to kill clan members, with tears streaming down his face. "Grandpa, stop it!" he shouted, anguished.

Desperately trying to break free and stop his grandfather, Konohamaru was held tightly by a green-vested clan member, who also cried. "Lord Konohamaru, the clan leader can't control himself! If you rush in, you'll only make him feel even more guilty."

"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

"Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!"

The ground transformed into a swamp, and a massive earthen dragon emerged, only to be shattered by a fiery ash explosion, raining down as muddy debris.

"Well done, Asuma," Hiruzen praised as his son intercepted his Earth Release attack.

However, Asuma showed no sign of joy, gripping his chakra-imbued blades tightly as he focused on his father. "Everyone, set up a barrier and restrain him with Earth Release! My chakra won't hold much longer."

"Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"

Following the teachings of the Uzumaki clan, four Sarutobi clan members in Jonin vests quickly created a transparent, purple barrier.

But before they could combine with the others to trap Hiruzen, a cold voice echoed.

"Amaterasu!"

Black flames emerged from the air, instantly consuming the casters protected within the purple barrier.

"Aaahhh…"

With their agonized screams, the four Sarutobi clan members were reduced to ashes, their barrier dissolving along with them.

"Damn it!" Asuma cursed, glaring at Sasuke, who stood beyond the black flames.

"Stay away from those flames! They're the inextinguishable Amaterasu," Hiruzen warned loudly.

"Quite the mess, Hiruzen," a familiar voice suddenly called out, catching the attention of Hiruzen, Asuma, and the remaining Sarutobi clan members.

Turning in the direction of the voice, they saw that Danzo, Koharu, and Homura had arrived unnoticed.