With a curious expression, Sandaime squeezed a smile, turned towards Uchiha Fugaku who stood on his side, and asked, "I want to meet the squad captain of the Konoha Military Police Force who was fighting Shinno."
Before Fugaku could answer, another group of shinobi who were previously watching the battle from a distance arrived here and reported what they saw to everyone.
After hearing their report Sandaime was shocked, "That is to say, the Uchiha Kunoichi who was fighting the monster was swallowed by him, and then she probably used some sort of technique as a last desperate measure to defeat the monster along with destroying herself?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama! We saw this happening, as soon as she was swallowed by that monster, the monster started struggling, she was probably doing damage from within his stomach." – said one of the Chunin.
Sandaime was more surprised, any shinobi or Kunoichi sacrificing himself or herself for the sake of the village is worthy of honor, but to give that honor it must at least be known who exactly is that person.
Not only Sandaime, even the other ninjas including the Patriarchs of various Clans, the elite Jonins, as well as the elites of the Uchiha Clan looked as Fugaku with inquisitive gazes waiting for his answer.
Everyone was obviously curious about this Konoha Military Police Force squad leader who was capable of defeating that Bijuu class monster.
Feeling those inquisitive gazes upon him, Fugaku fell into an embarrassing situation, because he, similar to everyone else, was also very curious about the identity of this Kunoichi, who was a so-called squad leader of Konoha Military Police Force.
If not for the monster to openly curse with the name 'Uchiha,' then he might have even wondered if it was someone pretending to be an Uchiha.
Therefore, in Fugaku's view, the Kunoichi who fought Shinno here just a few moments ago, although not a squad leader of the Konoha Military Police force, might still be a Kunoichi of the Uchiha Clan, but who exactly she was? He is not sure about it.
'Who could it have been?' – thought Fugaku. If they said that the person fighting Shinno was a Shinobi, not a Kunoichi, Fugaku might have thought of it being Itachi for a second, even though he knows how ridiculous that sounds. Itachi may be an unmatched genius but he is only eleven years old. But still, considering just how much of a freakish talent his son has, it is possible that it was Itachi, but because it was a Kunoichi so it can't be Itachi.
'Unless… unless Itachi has habits of dressing as females? No-no, that not possible, Itachi is my son, he does not have such habits.' – Fugaku immediately erased that thought.
'But then who?' – Because Fugaku can't think of anyone.
Seeing Fugaku's silence, Sandaime frowned.
Although the Konoha Military Police Force is under the control of the Uchiha Clan, Sandaime is still very much aware of the identities of all the squad leaders of Konoha Military Police Force, because of this, he is even more curious about the identity of this Kunoichi because he couldn't remember any Kunoichi being squad leader in Konoha Military Police Force.
Although curious, he did not pressure Fugaku too much. It was possible that Fugaku was sad because of the death of this Kunoichi.
So, to give Fugaku some time to recover from his sadness, Sandaime did not disturb him, and this information can be confirmed at some other point, right now there are more important things that they must take care of.
With that understood he turned towards the Yamanaka Patriarch, "Inoichi!"
Yamanaka Inoichi stepped forward, "Yes Hokage-sama?"
Sandaime instructed, "Read his memory, I want to know all the information we can gain from him, from Akatsuki's goal of attacking Konoha to all their line up, everything!"
"Yes!" – Yamanaka Inoichi nodded and immediately walked towards Shinno.
Yamanaka Clan is known for its Mind Related Techniques, and they specialize in reading through others' memories to extract out all types of intelligence stored within their target's mind. In terms of Mind Arts, no other Clan can outmatch the Yamanaka Clan.
Just as Yamanaka Inoichi squatted down to read Shinno's memory, feathers started to fall from the sky.
"Huh, why are so many bird feathers falling?"
"Look, their ends are burning!" – As soon as one of the Konoha Shinobi discovered this, everyone understood that something was wrong.
Nobody was required to be reminded of the possible danger, as safety methods were immediately deployed.
Boom… Boom… Boom…
Suddenly, these burning feathers exploded like an Exploding Tag.
Everything was covered in a series of violent explosions, the earth shook because of the vibrations, smoke, and dust rose covering the surroundings.
Whoosh…
While the surroundings were covered in dust and smoke, a huge bird flew over the battlefield.
This huge bird is none other than the synthetic bird that was created by Hiruko with the help of the Chimera Technique. And it is capable of much more than just flight.
Being able to destroy villages by using those Exploding Feathers which are as powerful or even more powerful than Exploding Tags, is one of those abilities.
Hiruko stood on top of his synthetic bird, arms crossed over his chest, and a smile on his face; happy to see the destruction of this oh-so-detestable village.
Rather than pretending to be an Uchiha shinobi and attempt to assassinate Hokage to provoke internal conflict within Konoha, Hiruko prefers a simple and direct approach to destroy Konoha to exact his revenge over this hateful village.
Taking advantage of the cover of smoke and dust, Hiruko jumped down and firmly landed beside the unconscious Shinno.
Since Shinno is an important source of intelligence for the village, so Konoha Anbu made sure to protect him from the attack just now.
Therefore, although the explosions just now were violent, Shinno who was under the protection of several Earth Walls was still safe.
Hiruko looked at the Earth Walls, then stretched out his hand and pressed on the Earth Wall. Immediately the chakra that was maintaining the Earth Walls was absorbed into the red diamond-shaped symbol in his hand. And with Chakra support gone the walls cracked and soon collapsed into a pile of dried-up sand.
The nearby Anbu who used the Earth Style Jutsu to protect Shinno immediately realized that something was wrong, and instantly rushed here with his Kunai drawn out. As soon as he saw this person, he took the stance and fiercely slammed the Kunai in his hand on the lower waist of Hiruko.
DING…
The expected splashing of blood did not come, nor was there any feeling of cutting through human flesh and bones, instead there was a loud metal collision sound.
"This…?" – The Anbu was confused and shocked, and feeling the numbness in his arm, he felt as if the person who he intended to kill was not made up of flesh and bones, but of steel and iron.
"Humph… as if the likes of you will ever be able to hurt me!" – Hiruko snorted, he turned around, and with a grinning smile directly drove his arm into the Anbu's chest. And when he pulled it out so abruptly, he had something in the palm of his hand that seemed to be beating.
The last thing the Anbu shinobi saw before his not-so-surprising death was a beating heart being crushed by this person.
Plop… And he collapsed.
Although there was still smoke and dust covering the site, but none of the people present here were ordinary, they instantly noticed the death of a Konoha Anbu.
Understanding that an enemy is here, some of the Shinobi immediately used Wind Style Jutsu blowing away smoke and dust to ensure a clear view of the battlefield.
By the time smoke and dust cleared; giving everyone a clear view, Hiruko has already walked over to Shinno.
Sandaime who stood not far away squinted upon noticing this person, and questioned with an unsure tone, "You… you are Hiruko?"
Because the plan had already failed, Hiruko was no longer maintaining a disguise but was in his original appearance.
It's just that after having completed the ritual, he was no longer the same as he used to be, he has changed a lot, both in terms of appearance and body shape, which is completely different from the Hiruko Sandaime remembered, as such he was a bit unsure, whether this person is really Hiruko as he guessed or not.
When he heard Sandaime's uncertain tone, a trace of anger flashed on his face, gritting his teeth, he said, "Why? Was I such a disappointment that you do not even remember who I was, HOKAGE-SAMA!?"
Sandaime did not care about Hiruko's words as his gaze was more focused on Hiruko's eyes, those eyes filled with hatred towards him reminded of that assassin that came after him a while ago, and realizing so, he questioned sharply, "The assassin who attacked me was you, am I right?"
Mitokado interjected with a confused expression, "How could it have been him? That assassin had Sharingan!"
"Oh, Sharingan, was it!?" – With a cold smirk, Hiruko activated the pair of Sharingan in his eye socket, and said, "This pair of Sharingan was generously given to me by a guy named Uchiha Hiiragi after I tortured him to death, and I am making a pretty good use of these eyes, his soul will forever be glad that his death resulted in me getting stronger, or maybe not as his soul has already ceased to exist!!"
As soon as the term Sharingan was mentioned, and the name Uchiha Hiiragi was voiced out; the hairs of all Uchiha Clan members stood up in anger, more so with the Patriarch Uchiha Fugaku whose murderous aura was unrestrained, "You will atone for your crime now!" – Speaking so, he rushed towards Hiruko.
Hiruko instantly lifted unconscious Shinno, threw him on the back of his synthetic Summon Bird, then greeted Uchiha Fugaku with excitement and fervor clearly apparent in his eyes.
Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding… Bang… Boom... Smash…
And instantly, two people, one Fugaku and the other Hiruko fought. Their speed so fast that only sparks and sounds of collisions from time to time allowed the spectators to judge their positions…
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Read up to Chapter - 558 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations