Aoki Yoru stood at the highest point of the arena's roof, looking out. By now, Konoha had fallen into chaos, with the sounds of explosions, clashing battles, and cries echoing everywhere.
He created a clone to deal with the Sand Ninja; he had to be seen fighting, otherwise, it would be difficult to explain later.
Even if the higher-ups suspected him, as long as he did enough to keep up appearances, they wouldn't be able to find any evidence or do anything to him.
Moreover, once Tsunade took over Konoha, she would only applaud his actions.
Turning his head, he looked at Orochimaru inside the Four Violet Flames Formation on another roof. A look of hesitation appeared in his eyes, but he then turned away, shaking the thought from his mind.
He knew Orochimaru would soon summon the Shinigami. He was curious if this entity, bearing the title of a god like Jashin, shared a similar structure.
But after the lesson learned from Jashin, he didn't dare to act rashly. Furthermore, the Underworld was now the territory of the Six Paths Sage. He didn't know if Jashin was created by the Six Paths Sage or if it had been defeated and recruited by him.
In either case, as soon as he made a move, it might attract the attention of the Six Paths Sage.
Although the original story said he endured humiliation for the sake of the Ninja World, what powerful figure is truly naive? Hashirama and Naruto were merely influenced by Ashura's Chakra, developing toward the personality the Six Paths Sage desired.
Using Earth Release, he reached the underground of the Village's southeastern edge, which was one of the Root's bases.
Although the Root bases were filled with barriers and generally impossible to sense or scout, Danzo and the Root members would eventually have to come out.
During this time, he had been wandering around the Village through his clones and finally confirmed Danzo's hiding place.
Aoki Yoru arrived above the Root entrance and used Earth Release to walk directly into the basement passage.
He had no intention of sneaking in. The Root was surrounded by barriers; even a fly entering would be hit by a Ninjutsu and discovered immediately.
Plus, with the Root's Sensory Ninjas, the people inside might already know he was there.
Reaching the end of the passage, a massive stone door appeared before him. Without a word, he drew yerun and made a few casual slashes on the door.
As the blade passed, there were several crisp cracking sounds. The entire steel door was sliced into seven or eight pieces like tofu, crashing to the ground and sending dust flying.
Without waiting for the dust to settle, Aoki Yoru walked straight in. He sensed that the people inside were already prepared to greet him.
"Huh? There are only three of them!"
Aoki Yoru sensed that there were only three people in the Root basement. This didn't match his expectations. This basement was practically an underground fortress; only three people was far too few.
He thought that given Danzo's nature, he would have at least a battalion stationed for protection, especially since the place was full of things that couldn't see the light of day.
What Aoki Yoru didn't know was that ever since the Third Hokage discovered the Human Experimentation, he had taken away Danzo's last battalion and all the experimental personnel.
This was the only battalion left after the Root was disbanded by the Third Hokage following the Uchiha Massacre.
As a result, the Root now only had Aburame Torune, Kinoe, and Fu Yamanaka.
Furthermore, Aburame Torune had already fallen by his hand. No wonder Danzo hated him to the bone.
The underground base was dark and damp, its walls made of cold black stone, with only dim yellow lamps barely lighting the way forward.
Passing through the corridor, a massive underground room appeared. Just as he stepped inside, a wave of killing intent struck. Aoki Yoru turned his body and held his Ninja sword horizontally to block.
Clang—
Aoki Yoru easily blocked the sneak attack. For someone with his sensory abilities, any sneak attack was futile.
"I've got him."
Fu Yamanaka suddenly appeared in front of Aoki Yoru. With his thumbs touching, index and middle fingers crossed, and ring and pinky fingers pointing straight up, he formed the Yamanaka clan's signature heart-shaped seal. His gaze locked onto Aoki Yoru as he shouted in a deep voice:
"Ninjutsu: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
Aoki Yoru, who was still blocking the enemy's attack with his sword, suddenly froze, standing there motionless.
At that moment, footsteps sounded as a figure emerged from the shadows, saying in a raspy voice, "Well done, Kinoe, Fu."
His hawkish eyes stared straight at Aoki Yoru, followed by a look of disdain. "An arrogant brat who thinks he's all that just because he has a bit of talent. How dare you target me."
"Hiruzen was indeed wrong, claiming you have a strong will of fire. In my eyes, you are nothing but an out-and-out careerist."
"Fu, seal him. If I turn him into an experimental subject, with his spiritual energy, we might actually gain something."
"Hmm?"
Danzo looked at the motionless Aoki Yoru with confusion. Logically, since Fu had entered his body, there should have been some reaction.
At that moment, a sudden change occurred!
Fu Yamanaka, who was supposed to have injected his spiritual energy into Aoki Yoru's body, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. The dullness in his eyes vanished as they regained their light, now filled with horror.
A smile played on the lips of Aoki Yoru, who was supposed to be frozen, and he gave a casual flick of his hand.
"Sage Art: Thousand Silk Void Split!"
With a low shout from Aoki Yoru, several threads of spiritual energy mixed with Natural Energy swept toward everyone present.
Screech—
With a sharp sound, Fu Yamanaka, Danzo, and the Root Ninja Kinoe didn't even have time to react before they were sliced at the waist, their bodies instantly split in two.
The threads didn't lose momentum, striking the wall behind them and slicing through the thick stone wall like tofu.
Aoki Yoru, being familiar with the original story, had long been on guard against Fu Yamanaka's move.
To put it simply, the Yamanaka clan's Mind Transfer Jutsu is an application of spiritual energy. However, it is useless against those with powerful spiritual energy and will even backfire on the user.
Otherwise, it would be invincible; a simple clap of the hands would seize control of an enemy's body. In that case, the Ninja World might as well be named Yamanaka.
Unfortunately for them, he was the epitome of vast spiritual energy, especially after the transplant of White Zetsu cells, which caused his spiritual energy to evolve once more.
"Hmm?"
Looking at the corpses on the ground, Aoki Yoru suddenly noticed something was wrong. Danzo's Chakra reaction appeared in the distance. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he muttered to himself:
"Izanagi! This guy Danzo is truly cautious."
Aoki Yoru hadn't expected Danzo to be so afraid of death. He had shown such a huge opening, and the situation seemed settled.
Yet this guy had used Izanagi the moment he came out. That Ninjutsu consumes an extreme amount of Chakra.
In the eyes of outsiders, he wasn't a ruthless person like Uchiha Itachi who could kill with a single glance, yet Danzo was still this cautious.
"What a pity."
Aoki Yoru sighed helplessly. He had wanted to finish him off in one go to avoid the bug-level genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami.
If he remembered correctly, Danzo's right arm had ten Three-Tomoe Sharingan, plus Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye. He wouldn't be able to kill him easily in a short time.
He would have to kill him ten more times. Danzo was no pushover; although he was old, with the enhancement of all those Sharingan, he was no weaker than an average Kage-level Ninja. Even Jiraiya might not have an easy time against him.