"The era of Tsunade has ended—that matters little. But the Nine-Tails must never fall into Akatsuki's hands. However, the Nine-Tails will no longer appear in Konoha. This threat has been eliminated by me. Therefore, until the turmoil above subsides, we will remain hidden here, as Konoha's Root, steadfast in this place."
The masked man, emerging from Kamui's Dimension, now listened to Danzō Shimura's conspiracy.
Subordinate: "Shouldn't we go aid them?"
"Even though Danzō-sama leads everyone here..." the subordinate continued, "if Konoha and its people vanish, then our existence as 'Root' becomes meaningless, doesn't it?"
Danzō Shimura: "The Slug Princess. Even if she becomes Hokage, she's still just a woman. Her mission is to protect Konoha from complete destruction using her Summoning Technique."
In front of the masked members of Root, Danzō Shimura said: "Casualties will still occur, but to me..."
"To make me Hokage..."
"These sacrifices are necessary."
These sacrifices are necessary.
Simply to make him Hokage.
Kakashi's death became part of that sacrifice.
Dong – –!
This chain of causality sent the 'Masked Man's' rage skyrocketing!!
Black chakra rods sprouted from his hands, striking at Danzō Shimura from a sharp angle!
"The one who should die—is you!!"
"!!!"
His appearance was something no one had anticipated.
Danzō was a cautious man, terrified of death. He always adhered to the principle of "better to kill by mistake than let slip." How could he possibly allow a suspicious figure to appear in his secret base?!
This place wasn't just filled with countless traps and hidden weapons; it was layered with powerful seals. Every single person who could enter was a trusted confidant he had personally cultivated.
Yet even so, Danzō Shimura feared their betrayal. He held their vulnerabilities—their own lives, or the lives of their most precious loved ones—in his grasp.
This made these Root Division ninja the most fearless blades and the most loyal dogs.
Therefore, the appearance of the 'Masked Man' was completely beyond Danzō Shimura's expectations!
That black chakra rod pierced straight through his heart, and every Root Division ninja witnessed his death!
Obito remained vigilant. Like the Root Division ninjas present, he knew Danzō Shimura was not truly dead!
The Root Division ninjas understood that as long as the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal remained on their tongues, Danzō himself could not be truly dead.
Obito Uchiha knew Danzō had secretly amassed numerous Sharingan eyes.
Yet he remained unconcerned, for Danzō lacked the proper technique to wield them. With so many Sharingan, the only ability he could likely master was Izanagi.
Moreover, these eyes weren't particularly powerful, and Danzō's feigned death wouldn't last long.
Just as Obito had anticipated, the moment the captain's subordinates closed in, Danzō himself used the right Sharingan to activate Izanagi prematurely, rising to his feet. The chakra-infused black rod Obito had thrust into his heart vanished along with it.
Reverting the caster to their previous physical state—that was the power of Izanagi!
Danzō Shimura held back his subordinates, who were ready to act, fixing his gaze on the man wearing a strange mask.
"Who are you?"
Obito Uchiha, consumed by rage and despair, had no desire for idle chatter. Wielding the chakra-infused rod, he charged toward the man once more.
He would make Danzō understand that against absolute power, no number of Sharingan eyes would suffice!
"Hmph! An insolent fool incapable of reason."
Danzō ordered his men to stand down. "This old man will handle him." Having not anticipated the masked man's appearance, the eye that had just activated Izanagi was his right eye—the precious Mangekyō Sharingan he'd obtained from Shisui Uchiha.
Though his right eye would soon regenerate thanks to the power of Hashirama's cells, Danzō still felt a surge of anger at being tripped up by some unknown young upstart.
These were his men. For them to be taken down with a single blow was a huge blow to his pride.
He needed to kill the masked man to reestablish his authority—that was precisely why he had ordered his subordinates not to attack.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Two Wind Release techniques launched in succession! He saw the enemy make no attempt to dodge, a flicker of contempt crossing his eyes.
Had he been able to see, he would have noticed that the masked man's gaze held even greater scorn!
Both the Vacuum Wave and Vacuum Orb sailed right through the masked man's front, striking the wall behind him with two thunderous booms.
"!!!"
"Genjutsu?!"
The Root ninja stared in shock at the masked man clad in black.
Danzō Shimura was even more stunned, a vague sense of foreboding creeping into his mind.
"You are..."
"Madara?"
Before the Nine-Tails Incident and the Uchiha Massacre—those two major events in Konoha's history—he had encountered a masked man who called himself 'Madara.' That man had wielded precisely this kind of power, rendering barriers and defenses utterly meaningless!!
But alas, Obito Uchiha hadn't wanted to exchange a single word with him!
The mere use of his Intangibility technique and a single chakra-infused black rod had left Danzō Shimura utterly at a loss!
Wind Release: Vacuum Wave, Wind Release: Shuriken, Wind Release: Vacuum Blade—Danzō Shimura destroyed quite a few of the Root bases he'd established, yet not a single attack landed on the masked man!
Impossible!
This absolutely can't be!!
"Why can you use the Mangekyō Sharingan so frequently?! Your ability to vanish must be derived from your Dōjutsu!"
"..."
"That wicked power! The cursed Uchiha Clan!! How dare you exploit the First Hokage's cells!"
"....."
The masked man remained silent, offering no response to Danzō Shimura.
Fuming, Danzō Shimura barked orders to his subordinates: "Hold him off! I'll release the seal on my right arm."
The surrounding ninja immediately obeyed, charging toward the man in the white mask!
Obito Uchiha intended to break through and continue attacking Danzō, but the Root members were trained differently—they feared neither life nor death. Their sheer numbers and relentless persistence were a hassle to deal with.
Left with no choice, Obito Uchiha had to deal with them quickly.
Danzō Shimura rolled up his right sleeve, revealing an arm bound by metal and Fūinjutsu.
Watching his subordinates fall to the masked man, Danzō's gaze remained unperturbed. He moved to break the seal with deliberate slowness, his eyes focused on the battle between his men and the masked figure, analyzing the intelligence on his use of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A dōjutsu with space-time abilities?!
Even with his vast knowledge, Danzō had never seen a Uchiha with a Mangekyō Sharingan wield such an extraordinary technique!
Danzō Shimura coveted this power. He wanted to steal that Mangekyō Sharingan for himself!
Thud-thud-thud--
As the seal broke, the metal block fell to the ground.
Slowly unwinding the bandages, Danzō's repulsive arm was finally exposed to the air.
With no fewer than ten Sharingan eyes, this should be enough to sustain him until the recovery period for his right Mangekyō Sharingan is over. By then, once he activates Kotoamatsukami, whether it's Madara or anyone else, they'll be affected and willingly give up their eyes!
"Seems we're both equally disgusting after all," Obito Uchiha sneered coldly, staring at Danzō Shimura's arm.
The moment he spoke, Danzō noticed the masked man's voice was different from the 'Madara' he had known fifteen years ago.
But one thing was certain: the man who once called himself 'Madara' possessed the same Mangekyō Sharingan abilities as the person before him. A different voice meant...
One of those voices must have been fake!
Now that he had turned against him, further deception held little value.
That meant the original voice was a fake!
This man wasn't Madara Uchiha—he was someone who had once disguised himself as Uchiha for some purpose.
Obito Uchiha flicked the black chakra rod in his hand, the blood on it splattering onto the ground.
Surrounding him were the corpses of Danzō Shimura's subordinates.
Facing such a formidable foe, Danzō dared not let his guard down. He drew a kunai and unleashed Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, channeling his wind chakra into the kunai to form a sharp blade.
Unfortunately, no matter how sharp the blade, it was useless against an opponent without physical form!
The masked man wielded nothing more than a black staff, yet he made quick work of Danzō, slaughtering his subordinates with ease and draining the multiple Sharingan eyes from his arm!
"Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance!"
Spiral flames engulfed Danzō Shimura.
Moments later, another eye vanished!
"Damn it! You truly are the greatest threat to Konoha—no, to the entire Ninja World!"
"And you have the nerve to say that?"
"You're not Madara Uchiha! Who the hell are you?!"
"You can guess. Keep guessing until every eye on your arm is gone."
Danzō had grown old. Decades of scheming had made him overly reliant on the Sharingan eyes on his arm and the Izanagi technique. His tactics had become laughably simplistic.
Wood Release: Wood Cutting Technique!
Several feint attacks culminated in the Wood Cutting Technique, forcing Danzō Shimura to expend another Sharingan eye.
Danzō's exhaustion was apparent. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to stall until the cooldown for his right Mangekyō Sharingan ended!
"Wood Release?!"
Danzō, resurrected once again by Izanagi, exclaimed in shock, "You can actually use the First Hokage's Wood Release?!"
"What? You transplanted Hashirama's cells too, yet you can't use Wood Release?"
For Danzō Shimura, abandoning the balance between the First Hokage's cells and his own would cause the Wood Release to spiral out of control immediately. At that point, his fate would be no different from Orochimaru's failed experiments.
"Damn it..."
Danzō Shimura began dodging left and right.
Obito Uchiha: "Why is it that you, as the Hokage's disciple, never mastered Wood Release, while I, a Uchiha, can use it freely? Have you never wondered why?"
"Why?"
"Because your will, strength, and talent have limits. In the end, you fall short of everyone. You're a failure, just like me."
"!!" This struck a nerve with Danzō Shimura. He hated being called a failure, hated being told he couldn't compare to Hiruzen Sarutobi!!
Yet even in his fury, he didn't lose his composure. He continued to dodge and weave.
This made Obito realize that Danzō was stalling for time.
He thought for a moment...
"Shisui Uchiha's eyes?" he asked. "During your first resurrection, you used Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan to complete the Izanagi technique."
He figured it out!!
Danzō Shimura immediately summoned the Baku to buy himself some time!
Obito: "You tried to use Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan to alter my will? That power, 'Kotoamatsukami,' could have changed the fate of the Uchiha clan. But because of your hatred for the Uchiha..."
"No, it's because you wanted to destroy the Uchiha and step by step fulfill your goal of becoming Hokage."
"In the end, Shisui Uchiha died, and Itachi Uchiha was killed by Sasuke Uchiha."
"Becoming Hokage was your cause, and the countless deaths that followed were the effect of that cause. Including the alliance with Hanzō of the Salamander, which led to Yahiko's death, leaving Pain's rage nowhere to vent."
"!!!!" The alliance with Hanzō of the Salamander killed Yahiko—the organization that had been growing powerful in Amegakure at the time.
Wait, that organization's name was...
—Akatsuki?!
"Who the hell are you?! How do you know all of this?!"
Obito glanced at Danzō Shimura's arm, where only one Sharingan remained open.
He lowered his gaze, his masked face filled with sorrow.
"Come to think of it, you and I are both scum who made this world beyond redemption."
"However..."
"You and I are both unattainable."
Obito Uchiha charged at Danzō once again!
Danzō Shimura, trying to make sense of the situation, guessed, "You're Shisui Uchiha?! You didn't die?!"
"Hmph." Obito gave a cold laugh. "That's all you've got after all that guessing? Fine. Consider me Shisui, avenging Itachi Uchiha!"
…
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