After the final spatial distortion point in the sky completely smoothed out like ripples on water, the entire world fell into an eerie silence.

Above the ruins of the Uchiha Clan Compound, only the Konoha group remained.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained in his upward-gazing posture, staring blankly at the sky that had returned to its pre-dawn grey-white color, as if trying to find traces of Uchiha Kei's disappearance there.

But he saw nothing; it was empty, as if that earth-shattering, massive spatial vortex from moments ago had merely been an absurd dream.

Yet, the devastated land beneath his feet, the lingering stench of burning and blood in the air, and the mangled corpses of Root Ninja scattered among the ruins were all ruthlessly reminding him of how cruel the reality of what just happened was.

"Hokage-sama..."

An Anbu squad captain carefully approached Hiruzen Sarutobi, their voice filled with undisguisable trembling and confusion.

"What... what do we do?"

What to do? Hiruzen Sarutobi also wanted to know what to do.

His brain, renowned as the "Professor of Ninjutsu" and filled with wisdom, had gone completely blank at this moment.

All his contingency plans and calculations had been crushed to dust in the face of Uchiha Kei's unconventional, god-like methods.

He had anticipated suppression, anticipated negotiations, and anticipated the Uchiha's compromise after paying a painful price.

The one thing he had not anticipated was that the other party's plan was not "confrontation" at all, but "departure."

Just like that, cleanly and efficiently, they had taken the entire clan and completely evaporated from the map of Konoha, and from the map of the Shinobi World.

"Thump."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's body could no longer hold up, and he collapsed onto his knees in despair.

The Adamantine Staff in his hand also transformed back into Enma's form.

Enma looked at his master, who had aged twenty years in an instant, opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.

Failed. A complete and utter failure.

This was not just the failure of a suppression operation; it was the greatest catastrophe in his political career as Hokage, as the supreme ruler of this village.

Not only had he failed to stop the Uchiha, but he had also witnessed the largest and most critical loss of power since the founding of Konoha.

The Uchiha clan, the family possessing the Shinobi World's strongest Dōjutsu bloodline, the family that had contributed countless powerhouses to Konoha generation after generation, had just left.

They had taken all their clansmen, all their wealth, all their techniques, and those at least four, perhaps even more, Mangekyō Sharingan.

This loss was even greater than the Nine-Tails Incident.

During the Nine-Tails Incident, Konoha lost the Fourth Hokage, but the foundation of the village remained.

But this time, an important pillar of Konoha had been forcibly uprooted.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze swept over the surrounding Anbu Ninja who were also mired in great shock and confusion.

He knew that after tonight, the majesty represented by the words "Hokage" would plummet.

Just then, another figure appeared on the battlefield via Body Flicker.

It was Hatake Kakashi.

After fulfilling his orders to deal with the disturbances in the commercial district, he had rushed over as fast as possible, but he had still arrived one step too late.

All he saw was this deathly silent ruin and the Third Hokage kneeling on the ground.

Kakashi's gaze lingered briefly on the mysterious person wearing the orange swirl mask; the faint, intermittent space-time fluctuations emanating from the other party made his left Sharingan feel a stinging pain.

But he quickly averted his gaze, focusing his attention on the battlefield itself.

Gone, leaving only an empty shell.

This phrase accurately summarized everything before him.

Kakashi's eyes became incredibly complex.

There was shock, relief, and a hint of envy that he himself could not articulate.

He recalled what Uchiha Kei had said to him in that basement not long ago.

"Konoha cannot give the Uchiha a future, so we will create a future for ourselves."

So, everything he said was true.

He really did it. He did it in a way that exceeded everyone's imagination.

Kakashi's heart was filled with mixed emotions.

He had betrayed the Hokage's orders and concealed key intelligence; in a sense, he was an accomplice to this "Divine Concealment."

But he did not regret it.

When he saw the wretched figure of Hiruzen Sarutobi kneeling on the ground, he even felt that perhaps this was the right thing.

Perhaps this village was truly sick.

As for Uchiha Obito, he was the only person on the scene, besides Kei, who could roughly understand what had happened.

He looked at the empty ruins, his expression beneath the mask grave to the extreme.

Kamui.

That man named Uchiha Kei not only possessed Kamui, but the scale, precision, and stability of his Dōjutsu were far superior to his own.

He himself needed to concentrate all his energy just to use Kamui to transport a few people or to hide himself.

Yet the other party could open a super-massive space capable of holding thousands of people and a massive amount of supplies, and while maintaining this space, could still confront two top-tier powerhouses: himself and the Third Hokage.

What terrifying Dōjutsu power and Chakra this was.

What made him feel even more palpitations was the parting words Kei left behind.

"You found the wrong person."

"You are just the most pathetic pawn on someone else's chessboard."

These words, like demonic sounds piercing his ears, echoed constantly in his mind.

He had always thought he was the mastermind manipulating everything, but today, for the first time, his perception of himself was shaken.

That man seemed to know something.

He knew about him, about the Eye of the Moon Plan, and even... the secret of that real "Uchiha Madara."

Obito took a deep look at the disheartened Hiruzen Sarutobi and did not say another word.

His body began to slowly rotate and twist, finally being swallowed by a spatial vortex that appeared out of thin air.

He had to go back and re-examine his plan.

The appearance of Uchiha Kei was the biggest variable in his plan.

This variable was even more dangerous than Nagato's Rinnegan, and more dangerous than all the members of the Akatsuki combined.

With Obito's departure, only Konoha Ninja remained on the ruins.

The night wind blew, kicking up dust from the ground and making a wailing sound, as if playing a final dirge for this once illustrious clan.

The Uchiha clan. A name that had coexisted with Konoha for decades.

A family that had given birth to countless geniuses and powerhouses. The Police Force that the village both relied on and feared.

On this night, known to later generations as the "Night of the Divine Concealment," in the most incredible and shocking way, they were completely erased from the map of Konoha and from the map of the Shinobi World.

Meanwhile, on the coastline of the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools in the distant sea, a young girl with striking red hair, faint whisker-like markings on her face, and wearing tattered clothes with the Uzumaki symbol, was hiding behind a huge reef.

She stared intently with a pair of purple eyes filled with vigilance and hostility at this group of thousands of uninvited guests who had suddenly appeared on the beach.