The Death of Danzo
Fujimoto Tōma watched as Danzo resurrected yet again and let out a quiet sigh.
"Good thing you still have Izanagi," he said calmly. "Otherwise, even dying a hundred times wouldn't be enough to pay for your crimes."
The words cut deeper than any blade.
It wasn't cruelty for cruelty's sake. It was simply the truth. The gap between them was too vast. Izanagi didn't give Danzo a fighting chance. It only bought him a few more moments of suffering.
Danzo finally snapped.
His cloudy eyes fixed on Tōma, trembling with hatred and despair.
"Do you want to know what real despair feels like?" Tōma asked.
This time, he didn't attack immediately.
Instead, he glanced upward.
From the very beginning, he had been preparing this. Gathering. Waiting. Letting the stage set itself.
For the first time, Tōma formed hand seals with both hands, slow and deliberate.
Lightning began to dance across his body.
Above him, the sky darkened as massive storm clouds rolled in, swallowing the sunlight. Even before the technique was unleashed, the thunder alone pressed down on everyone's chest like a physical weight.
"He changed the weather…" someone whispered in disbelief.
Among civilians and weaker shinobi, shock spread like wildfire.
This wasn't power they could even imagine, let alone witness. If they'd heard stories about it before, they would've laughed them off.
But now, Fujimoto Tōma stood before them, undeniable.
There was no fear.
Only excitement.
That strength belonged to their future Hokage. And the stronger he was, the safer the village would be.
By now, no one cared how Danzo would die. He'd already died too many times to matter.
Danzo stared up at the roiling thunderclouds. His mouth opened, then closed. The last spark in his eyes faded.
That power… it rivaled the First Hokage.
There was no hope left.
Slowly, Danzo turned toward the Hokage Monument.
For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw his own face carved there among the others.
He had only ever wanted one thing.
To be Hokage.
Why had everything gone wrong? Why had everyone turned against him?
Even at the very end, he didn't understand where he had gone wrong.
"Sage Art: Lightning Release: Kirin."
The thunder answered.
From the heart of the storm, a colossal lightning beast took shape, its form sharp and vivid, born entirely from natural lightning. The moment it appeared, the crowd fell silent.
Tōma watched it calmly.
He'd mastered this technique long ago, back when he first learned how to commune with the storm itself. He could've shaped it into anything. A dragon. A serpent.
But Kirin was fine.
Unlike Sasuke's version, this Kirin moved as he willed. It roared, alive, striding across the sky as if it truly existed.
Instead of striking immediately, it circled.
Once.
Twice.
Hovering above the crowd like a king surveying his domain.
It lingered even longer above the assembled clan heads.
They understood the message perfectly.
No one smiled. No one resisted.
Then, finally, Kirin turned toward Danzo.
Danzo didn't move.
He didn't run.
He stared at the Hokage Monument, lifting his hand as if to touch a carving that wasn't there.
A smile spread across his face.
In his mind, he was already sitting in the Hokage's chair, hearing the voices calling him the Sixth Hokage.
The lightning beast lunged.
In an instant, Danzo was reduced to ash.
Kirin did not disperse.
It waited.
Moments later, Danzo resurrected once more. He didn't have many lives left.
Tōma raised his hand, ready to end it again—
And paused.
Danzo had drawn a kunai.
Tōma blinked, then smiled faintly, amused. For a second, an old image surfaced in his mind. Danzo stabbing at Susanoo with a kunai.
Was he going to try that again?
Then Tōma froze.
The kunai wasn't aimed at Kirin.
It was pointed at Danzo's own chest.
His hands shook violently, as if the decision alone was tearing him apart.
Then, with a hoarse breath, he stabbed downward.
The blade pierced his heart.
Blood spilled from Danzo's mouth as he glared at Tōma, eyes bulging with venom.
"Fujimoto Tōma… I curse you to die a miserable death!"
Tōma answered casually, his voice reaching only Danzo's ears.
"Not dying is enough for me. No one can kill me. And since it doesn't matter anymore… here's a secret. I'm immortal."
Danzo's eyes widened in horror.
Immortal?
Even with Hashirama's cells, that should've been impossible.
Why him?
Hatred. Regret. Rage. Helplessness.
Danzo fell backward, his body crashing to the ground. His final gaze landed on the Hokage Monument once more.
This time, there was no face waiting for him.
Why… just now… I swear I saw—
His body twitched once.
Then went still.
Danzo was dead.
Tōma waved his hand.
Kirin dissolved into sparks. The storm clouds parted. Sunlight poured back onto the village as if nothing had happened.
Danzo's body remained.
No revival.
No disappearance.
Izanagi had ended. His final act had been suicide.
The Third Hokage arrived with the two advisors, staring down at the corpse in silence.
"Tōma," he said at last, voice heavy, "may we handle the burial?"
"After the ceremony," Tōma replied. "Let Sasuke retrieve the Uchiha Sharingan first. Then bury him."
The Third Hokage nodded and signaled the ANBU.
Tōma descended onto the Hokage Tower as his spirit clone finally dispersed. Only he could restrain his own power with such precision. Otherwise, the tower would never have survived.
He stood there quietly.
Danzo was finally gone.
They hadn't crossed paths often in this life. Danzo had tried to move against him once and been stopped by the Third Hokage. Later, during Orochimaru's incident, Danzo had refused to help without hesitation.
That was when Tōma had decided Root no longer needed to exist.
He simply hadn't had the authority back then.
Later, Danzo tried again. Manipulating events from the shadows, attempting to repeat the tragedy of the White Fang.
Instead, Tsunade crushed the scheme outright and strengthened Tōma's reputation in the process.
Danzo had gone silent after that.
Tōma hadn't expected him to be preparing something far worse.
Contacting Akatsuki. Setting a trap that could have killed even a Kage at their peak.
Fortunately, by then, Tōma had already crossed that threshold.
If Danzo had survived today, he would never have stopped. And Tōma knew exactly the kind of man Danzo was.
He would target the people around him.
That alone sealed his fate.
Tōma looked at the people gathering atop the tower and smiled.
His voice rang out across the village once more.
"Now then. Let us continue the Hokage succession ceremony."