"Boom—!!!"
The dark Spiral Wheel Ring exploded once more, and a violent Chakra storm completely engulfed Danzo's location. The newly grown trees were instantly pulverized upon contact with the black stardust, and smoke and dust surged like a tide.
"How pathetic, Danzo."
Menma's voice came from the other side of the smoke, laced with unconcealed mockery.
"Possessing both the Sharingan and Wood Release, yet only capable of this much?"
This was genuine ridicule. In Menma's eyes, Danzo's use of power was utterly laughable—Wood Release aside, as his Chakra reserves were limited, but what about the Sharingan? Kakashi, with just a single three-tomoe, copied thousands of Ninjutsu, earning him the reputation of "Copy Ninja" in the Ninja World. But Danzo?
He actually used the Sharingan as a revive token?
The smoke gradually dispersed, revealing Danzo's disheveled figure. When he used Wood Release to try and counterattack, Menma still looked completely unfazed, not even a wrinkle on his brow.
Why... why does he know everything?!
Danzo even began to suspect that Menma was colluding with Orochimaru; otherwise, how could his trump cards be seen through to such an extent?
"Hoo... hoo..."
Heavy gasps were particularly clear within the silent barrier. Danzo trembled as he raised his arm... only one Sharingan remained.
His will to fight receded like a tide.
It's... impossible to reclaim Kotoamatsukami now.
His cloudy single eye darted around, searching for an escape route. The position of Hokage, his ambitions and aspirations, no longer mattered at this moment—
Konoha cannot be without "Root"... I must survive!
"Crack—"
A grating sound of bones rubbing came from Danzo's arm. Hashirama's cells were on the verge of losing control, and tiny woody textures had already appeared on his skin. His Chakra was almost depleted, making it difficult to maintain even the most basic suppression.
I must break through these damned summoned beasts and destroy the barrier!
Danzo trembled as he raised his hands to form a hand seal, his last Sharingan spinning wildly on his arm.
"Izanagi!"
In an instant, the world seemed to reset. Danzo's figure suddenly vanished from the Nine-Faced Beast's encirclement, then solidified again several meters away. This was his last trump card, sixty seconds of absolute invincibility!
"Roar!"
The White Tiger's sharp claws tore through the air and struck down. Danzo didn't dodge, allowing the giant claw to pierce his chest. At the moment of death, a new figure had already appeared to the side.
The Vermillion Bird's sharp talons descended from the sky, slashing the neck of the fleeing figure—the next second, a perfectly unharmed Danzo reappeared and took a step forward.
The combined attack of the Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise crushed him into a pulp, but before the blood could dry, a new body continued to charge forward.
Thirty-seven seconds...
Twenty-three seconds left!
The light curtain of the barrier was within reach. Danzo coughed up blood as he formed a hand seal, Wind Release Chakra compressed to its limit in his throat—
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
A two-meter diameter sphere of violent wind shot out, and the barrier wall twisted violently under the impact. Purple runes shattered one after another, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the light curtain. But something strange happened: Menma and the Nine-Faced Beast all stood still, as if admiring this futile struggle.
"Crack!"
With a crisp shattering sound, the barrier finally crumbled. Danzo stumbled out of the cage, his fingers reaching for the free night sky.
I'm out...! I must escape—
A morbid ecstasy burst forth from his single eye. The position of Hokage, his grand ambitions, all were crushed by the instinct for survival at this moment. Only one thought remained in his mind.
Survive... not just for myself... but for Konoha! I must get away from that lunatic! I must survive!!
Danzo's consciousness suddenly wavered for a moment.
Wait...
He suddenly remembered the mysterious person standing beside Menma, wearing a mask—the other member of the [Ashes] organization. When the other party moved, a scarlet Sharingan briefly appeared through the gaps in the mask.
An Uchiha? A rogue Uchiha? Could the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Incident have been...
This terrifying conjecture exploded in his mind, but the instinct for survival drove him to continue sprinting forward. His legs burst forth with incredible speed, covering several hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, a sense of unease surfaced in his heart.
Something's wrong... my Chakra should have been depleted...
He looked down at his arm—the Hashirama cells, which should have gone berserk due to lack of Chakra, were now unusually quiet. There were no signs of lignification on his skin, and even the pain had disappeared.
Could it be—
Danzo suddenly wanted to form a hand seal to dispel the Genjutsu, but just as his fingers moved—
"Pfft!"
A gut-wrenching pain exploded in his chest. Even breathing became a luxury. In this agony, the entire world began to twist and crack...
"Hoo... hoo..."
When Danzo regained consciousness, what greeted his eyes was—a perfectly intact purple barrier.
Menma, standing close by, and... a kunai deeply embedded in his heart.
"When... when did this happen...?" Danzo coughed up a mouthful of blood, his voice hoarse and inhuman.
"When you 're-activated' Izanagi."
Shisui, who had been silently watching the battle, suddenly spoke. He slowly stepped forward, the Sharingan beneath his mask rotating gently.
"The Genjutsu... it started then."
Danzo struggled to move his eyeballs, looking at his arm embedded with Sharingan... it had been severed at the shoulder!
So the so-called "invincibility period," the so-called "shattered barrier," the so-called "hope of escape"—it was all a meticulously crafted illusion!
Menma slowly twisted the kunai, the horrifying sound of metal churning in the heart making one's hair stand on end. Even through the fox mask, Danzo could feel the other's playful, cat-and-mouse amusement.
"I never thought..."
Menma slowly pulled out the blood-stained kunai, the friction of metal against flesh making a grating sound. Danzo suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
"The desire to survive actually prevented you from even noticing the Genjutsu." Menma flicked the blood beads from the kunai, "In a calm state, you should have been able to see through this Genjutsu immediately, right?"
Danzo stared intently at the mask before him, his throat making gasping "ho-ho" sounds.
"Sorry, I have a rather nasty personality. Seeing you desperately trying to survive... I just couldn't help but give you some hope."
"And you actually took this long to realize it was a Genjutsu... you really were careless."
Danzo's vision began to blur, but every word Menma spoke pierced his ears like a sharp knife.
"You value your own life so much... yet you speak so lightly of others' sacrifices... calling them necessary sacrifices."
"You really are rotten, Danzo."
Danzo struggled to move his eyeballs, looking at the mysterious person standing by. That voice...
That voice is...
"You... are Uchiha Shisui?!" Danzo's pupils suddenly contracted, "Itachi clearly said you committed suicide! Why are you with [Ashes]—"
Blood suddenly welled up in his throat, choking him into a violent cough.
"Could it be... you betrayed Konoha?!"
Shisui's mask shifted slightly, "To save the Uchiha Clan... I had no choice." There was no denial, no explanation, only a calm statement.
"Betrayal?" Menma suddenly sneered, "If I recall correctly... it was you, a Konoha elder, who attacked a ninja of your own village."
"It was you who betrayed Shisui... and now you're accusing others of betrayal?"
"I'm tired of you, Danzo."
"This time your teacher won't come to save you..."
"The Hokage must consider the safety of all of Konoha."
"It's late... so please..."
"Disappear quietly."
The final judgment fell, and Danzo gasped violently, blood constantly overflowing from the corners of his mouth. In desperation, he suddenly stumbled forward—even though the barrier still existed, even though there was nowhere to escape, the instinct for survival still drove his broken body to make a final struggle.
"I... I can't die yet!"
Danzo roared, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing. He dragged his broken body with the severed arm, stumbling and running within the barrier.
"For Konoha! I must survive! Only I... only I can lead Konoha to true prosperity!"
His roar echoed within the barrier, yet it sounded so pale and ridiculous.
Menma turned to look at Shisui. "Will you do it? This guy forced you to commit suicide once."
"Now is the best chance for revenge."
Shisui's mask lowered slightly, and a hint of complexity flickered in the visible Sharingan. After a moment of silence, he slowly shook his head.
"Heh..."
Menma chuckled softly.
"That's truly like your choice, I understand."
The next moment, the fleeing Danzo suddenly froze in place—the Nine-Faced Beast had blocked all escape routes. The White Tiger's sharp claws were deeply embedded in the ground, the Azure Dragon's body coiled in front, the Golden Serpent flicked its tongue, and the Vermillion Bird circled overhead, its fiery red wings obscuring the moonlight.
It's... completely hopeless...
Danzo stared at the terrifying giant beasts before him, suddenly stunned.
So that's it... was this how Master felt back then?
Danzo, who had been so unsightly just moments ago, now became eerily calm. The Second Hokage's teachings clearly echoed in his mind—
"The moment of sacrifice will always come... until then, preserve your life."
Hiruzen... this time... I'm going first...
Danzo knew that facing Menma's Flying Thunder God and Shisui's Body Flicker Technique, his suicide Jutsu would never succeed. Therefore... he locked his gaze firmly on the Nine-Faced Beast before him.
"For Konoha!"
The old man suddenly straightened his back, his tattered robes flapping in the surging Chakra.
"You will absolutely not live! You watchdogs of [Ashes]!"
He suddenly tore open his robes, revealing the Four Symbols Seal Jutsu on his chest. Black incantations writhed like living things, rapidly covering his entire body.
"Come with me to the Yellow Springs!"