Tsunade's expression hardened as she turned toward Danzo, her voice edged with tension.
Then she faced Kakashi.
"Kakashi, is it true?"
Kakashi met her gaze and nodded gravely.
"It's true. I've already had the Hyūga Clan inspect it. There are a large number of Explosive Tags embedded within Konoha's buildings."
"They must have been planted during the village's reconstruction," he added quietly, his tone tinged with unease. "It feels like we've been living on top of a volcano all this time."
Fortunately, those Explosive Tags were dormant—difficult to detonate without a proper trigger. Whoever had placed them had done so with meticulous precision.
"Damn it!" Tsunade's fist slammed into the table, cracks spiderwebbing through the surface. Kakashi's expression mirrored her anger.
They had been living surrounded by silent death—unaware that their own homes were potential bombs waiting to ignite.
No one knew why the perpetrator hadn't already detonated them, but one thing was certain: Danzo wasn't the one who set them. He must have obtained the information from someone else.
As Tsunade wrestled with her frustration, Naruto returned—bringing Orochimaru with him.
Orochimaru's golden eyes glinted with curiosity as he stepped off the small aircraft. Even for him, the feeling of traveling by such a technological creation was strange. Science had reached heights where it could rival the effects of Ninjutsu.
"Hmm… Naruto-kun, where's Tsunade?" Orochimaru asked, his serpentine smile curling faintly. For now, he had left Kabuto to oversee his other experiments.
Naruto crossed his arms.
"What timing—you show up just as Danzo crawls out of whatever hole he's been hiding in. Tsunade rushed back to deal with him."
"Danzo?" Orochimaru's brow arched.
"Didn't that rat already lose everything? What power could he possibly have left to threaten Konoha?"
Naruto explained the situation briefly. When Orochimaru heard that the village was rigged with Explosive Tags, even he looked startled—though he quickly composed himself.
"Are you not going to intervene, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked, his tone half-mocking, half-curious.
Naruto shook his head slightly.
"Konoha isn't that fragile. If it can't even deal with this kind of crisis, then maybe it doesn't deserve to stand. Besides," his eyes softened a little, "I trust Tsunade. She can handle this."
He already understood the deeper cause behind the chaos in Konoha. In the "original" timeline, he remembered a similar event—only this time, the players had changed.
Back then, it had ended with words… his Talk no Jutsu had resolved it. But this wasn't that same world anymore.
Kakashi and Might Guy were both present in the village now, and Guy's power had grown tremendously. If he were to unleash the Eight Gates, there were few alive in the Ninja World who could face him and live.
Orochimaru chuckled.
"Indeed. If Konoha were to fall into Danzo's hands, it would no longer be the Konoha we know."
The Explosive Tags would cause massive destruction if triggered—but mainly to common buildings and markets.
The Hyūga Compound, where Hinata resided, was fortified with ancient barriers and would be safe from the initial blast. Danzo's reach was limited.
Naruto arranged for Orochimaru to rest for now—or perhaps "tour" the Umbrella base, as he called it. Meanwhile, within Konoha, Tsunade had already begun her confrontation with Danzo.
Danzo's voice echoed across the Hokage's office, sharp and domineering.
"Tsunade, my patience grows thin! Either hand over control of Konoha—or grant me the position of Hokage's assistant. Refuse, and you will regret it!"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You think threatening me will make me yield, Danzo?"
Her chakra flared faintly, shaking the papers on her desk.
Danzo sneered.
"Stop struggling, Tsunade. I am destined to lead this village! Only I can restore Konoha's glory!"
Kakashi exchanged a glance with Might Guy, then subtly activated a communication seal with Tsunade. He had a plan—one that could turn the tables on Danzo's so-called leverage.
Tsunade clenched her fists. The man before her was no longer the Danzo she once knew. His ambition had twisted into madness—obsession devouring whatever logic he had left.
Naruto had once described it perfectly: a state where one's will becomes shackled to delusion.
"Hurry up," Danzo barked. "I'm running out of patience!"
Tsunade's lips curled into a grim smile. "So am I."
Danzo's eyes gleamed with madness as he conjured a wooden spear from his arm — a grotesque fusion of Hashirama's cells and his own chakra. The spear shot forward, piercing through the chest of an ordinary shinobi.
Tsunade's heart clenched as she caught the man's dying gaze — full of unwillingness, fear, and confusion.
Her beautiful amber eyes snapped toward Danzo, fury blazing.
"Danzo! Do you even realize what you're doing?!"
This Danzo was not the same as before. His body had fully recovered, his chakra surged more fiercely than ever, and his strength had clearly grown. He was faster, stronger — and far more dangerous.
Tsunade's fists trembled. She wanted nothing more than to crush him into dust.
But then she noticed Danzo's hand move toward a strange activation device at his side — one likely connected to the buried Explosive Tags across Konoha.
Her blood ran cold.
She forced herself to still her breathing. One wrong move, and thousands could die.
Kakashi's expression hardened. His visible eye narrowed — and then spun, the three tomoe whirling into a Mangekyō Sharingan.
In that instant, space itself distorted.
A dark rift appeared near Danzo's hand — sucking at the trigger device like a black hole.
Danzo's instincts screamed in alarm. His danger sense — honed through decades of scheming — flared to life.
He jerked back just in time. The device vanished into the dimensional void, but his hand wasn't so lucky — a clean slice tore through his flesh, leaving a deep gash.
"Damn you, Kakashi!" he hissed.
But Kakashi was already moving.
"White Fang Style: Severing Sky!"
A flash of pure white chakra erupted from his blade as he blurred forward, vanishing from sight.
"Dynamic Entry!!"
Might Guy appeared beside him, moving in perfect sync.
Kakashi's blade sliced through a wall of wooden vines Danzo summoned with Wood Release, but the old war hawk had already slipped away — only for Guy's heel to crash into him an instant later.
"First Gate: Gate of Opening — Open!
Second Gate: Gate of Healing — Open!
Third Gate: Gate of Life — Open!
Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain — Open!"
Each word was followed by a burst of chakra. The air rippled violently as Guy's aura flared green, his body bursting into motion faster than most eyes could follow.
"Konoha's Blue Beast — Roar!!"
His kick connected squarely with Danzo's ribs, the impact sending shockwaves through the street.
Danzo spat blood, his eyes wide with disbelief.
When had this thick-browed taijutsu maniac become so terrifying?
He struggled to stand, summoning another tangle of Wood Release: Advent of the World of Trees to protect himself, but Guy's next kick burned straight through it — a trail of fire and pressure left in its wake.
Kakashi reappeared beside him, blade drawn, eyes sharp as lightning. The Konoha shinobi who had gathered nearby surrounded Danzo, cutting off all escape routes.
For the first time, Danzo looked cornered.
But Tsunade suddenly felt something was wrong.
Her eyes widened in realization.
"Everyone—don't get close to him!"
Too late.
Danzo's expression twisted into a mix of madness and bitter acceptance. His Sharingan-covered arm trembled as he rasped,
"Even if I fall… you'll all be buried with me!"
Black ink-like tendrils spread rapidly across his body, pulsating and expanding — the result of Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, a forbidden fuinjutsu that would drag everything nearby into oblivion.
"Move!" Kakashi shouted, pulling a nearby shinobi to safety.
But Guy didn't hesitate — he grabbed a fallen tree trunk from the rubble, swung it like a club, and hurled it straight at Danzo.
The impact sent Danzo's body flying into the air, just as the seal activated.
BOOM!!!
A massive black sphere expanded outward, swallowing everything in its radius — the tree, a rooftop, and part of the street — before collapsing in on itself.
When the light faded, a single crater remained.
Danzo was gone. So were several buildings.
But Konoha still stood.
The surviving shinobi looked at Might Guy — their faces pale, eyes wide.
For a long moment, there was only silence.
Then, one of them whispered hoarsely, "If he hadn't thrown that tree…"
The others nodded silently, a shared shiver running through them. They had just stared death in the face — and lived to tell the tale.
...
TN:
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