When he opened his eyes again, Hyuga Yu found himself lying on an operating table. Above him, the surgical lights were blindingly bright.
Substinctively, he tried to activate his Byakugan to scout his surroundings and figure out where he was. However, he only felt a surge of abnormal dizziness. The veins around his eyes bulged for a split second before a needle-like pain flared up.
The chakra pathways leading to my eyes are essentially severed; I'll need the Meridian Reconstruction Technique to repair them.
This was Yu's first assessment.
Next, he tried to move his limbs. Fortunately, he still had sensation in his arms and legs, though they had been treated with crude, makeshift surgery—the tendons had been barely reattached. As he shifted his waist to push himself up into a sitting position, he saw it: a massive, gaping hole in the center of his stomach.
This giant void was steadily draining the life out of him.
Yu made his second assessment: It looks like I don't have long to live...
At that moment, his fragmented memories began to piece themselves back together, though they cut off at the final moment he had fired a Wind Style: Vacuum Blade at the Hyuga Main House member. Yu wasn't sure what happened after that, but...
As he tilted his head slightly, he saw a face above him. It was an old man with deep wrinkles, blocking the surgical light so that his face was shrouded in shadow. Yu could guess roughly what had transpired. An unexpected figure—Danzō Shimura—had saved him.
There was no need to obsess over the "how" or "why"; he only needed to know the result. Yu immediately began strategizing from this angle, wondering how he should address his superior for the first time. However, Danzō spoke first.
The old man took a step back, allowing his entire upper body to enter Yu's field of vision. The right side of his face was wrapped in bandages. He wore black robes that left his left shoulder and arm exposed, revealing the white garment underneath.
This man, radiating an ominous atmosphere, looked down at him with indifference and uttered his first words:
"Do you know where you went wrong?"
The tone was one of a reprimand. Yu frowned immediately, unable to fully grasp the meaning. He thought for a moment, and then, as if realizing something, he suddenly looked at Danzō. Suppressing a surge of anger that, for some reason, he could no longer keep down, he said:
"I arranged for Root members to stay behind to coordinate with Might Duy and Uchiha Shisui."
"You were the one who withdrew them!"
If that hadn't happened, Might Duy could have arrived at the very least while he was still fighting the "Relentless Duo."
However, Danzō simply shook his head at Yu. "Wrong."
He stared at Yu with his cold left eye and spoke slowly.
"It is that you still harbor illusions about this world."
"Even if I hadn't reassigned Terai, you would have died there. Or, you would have died in Konoha."
Yu fell silent. He understood that this was the reality of the situation, yet a sliver of indignation remained in his heart.
Danzō continued.
"You thought that Might Duy, whom you've spent years bribing with favors, would save you."
"You thought that the connections you cultivated in the Medical Department since childhood could persuade Tsunade, the Hokage's disciple, to save you."
"You even thought that by deliberately showing off your brilliance in front of Aburame Ryōma, you could win his favor and demonstrate your value so quickly that Root would find it impossible to abandon you."
"But ultimately, you misjudged one thing—"
Yu suddenly looked up. "What?"
Danzō stared at him expressionlessly. In an incredibly detached voice, he said slowly:
"In this world, there is no one who cannot be abandoned."
"Even if it were... the Hokage."
As Yu looked at Danzō Shimura saying these words, his mind flashed back to the historical records of the Second Hokage choosing to sacrifice himself. He watched Danzō, trying to read the man's thoughts from his face or his gaze, but he failed. This failure to perceive anything sent a chill through Yu. An inexplicable, immense pressure made him temporarily forget the pain in his body. He knit his brows and stared at Danzō, his muscles stiffening.
Danzō watched Yu calmly, then suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"You are afraid," he chuckled.
"But you aren't afraid of me. You are afraid of... yourself."
"Everything you've worked to maintain, everything you've built, everything you've done up until now—it's all because you are afraid of failure!"
"You know that the path you've chosen is extremely treacherous, so you've put all your effort into learning, researching, and cautious verification. But you lack true confidence in yourself."
"Therefore, you feel you need help from the outside world—Might Duy, the Medical Department, Root. You placed your hopes of breaking the deadlock on these things."
"But—"
"Your greatest mistake is that you still harbor illusions about this world!"
Danzō stared intently at Yu. In the young boy's gaze, he seemed to see his former self, and the former Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But unlike him, when faced with a life-defining choice, Danzō had hesitated, while Yu and Hiruzen had chosen to face death.
The one who hesitated became a twisted monstrosity lurking in the shadows, while the one who stepped forward lived on due to their teacher's "absurd" ideas. They survived through "pure luck" and became the grand Third Hokage.
All because of that so-called "Will of Fire."
But Danzō could never convince himself that it was the right path.
Everything that happened afterward confirmed his belief. Konoha, which had split the light from the dark so distinctly, had gradually marched toward a rotting, putrid end.
Hiruzen was still far from mature enough.
He became Hokage through sheer luck; his virtue did not match his position. Even if he had the ability, he completely lacked the sheer audacity required of a true Hokage!
Now, Danzō felt as if he had returned to that crossroads of decision, but this time, he stood in the position of his teacher, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
However, unlike the urgent situation back then, Danzō had plenty of time. He could follow his own heart. In the darkness of the shinobi world, using the corpses of countless enemies and the agonizing choices between logic and morality as nutrients, he would cultivate a true Hokage—one who possessed both the capability and the power!
But before that, he had to correct this successor's naive way of thinking.
Danzō stared coldly at Yu. "Just because you gave charity to Might Duy, he must help you?"
"Just because you showed talent in the Medical Department, they must protect you?"
"Just because you showed value in Root, I must save you?"
"Stop being so naive, Hyuga Yu!"
"Never place your hope in others. Otherwise, the only result you will ever get is this!"
With that, Danzō picked up a syringe from a nearby instrument tray.
Then, he reached out with the arm hidden beneath his black robes. As he extended the bandage-wrapped limb, the pale, sickly skin—distinctly different from the rest of his body—peeked through the gaps, along with dark, hollowed-out sockets that looked like eyes.
Under Yu's dazed gaze, Danzō used one hand to pin the struggling boy down and raised the syringe with the other. He spoke in a low, haunting tone:
"You likely already know about this from Shigaraki Tanuki—cells extracted from the body of the First Hokage, the Hashirama cells."
"To this day, there has not been a single successful case of a subject surviving the injection of these cells."
"I hope you are the first—"
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