The mud shell provided no protection whatsoever, shattering at the mere touch of Jie Uchiha's Lightning Cutter.
Shisui reflexively used the Body Flicker Technique to drag Danzo away from his position. However, Shisui was already severely injured and had been nearly boiled alive by the high-temperature steam. His movements were instinctively a step too slow.
Bandages scattered into the air as Danzo's hidden right arm was severed at the root by Jie.
Thud! Danzo's severed limb crashed heavily onto the ground.
"What is that thing? A metal shell?"
"His arm was severed, but there's no blood?"
"Wait, the arm seems to be disappearing!"
Amidst the chaos, Jie watched the arm enclosed within the metal shell suddenly erupt in flames. Others might not recognize this arm, but Jie knew exactly what it was.
Composed of Hashirama Senju's cells, it was embedded with multiple Sharingan. It utilized the Sharingan's powerful Yin Release chakra to suppress Hashirama's volatile cells, and every single Sharingan on it could serve as fuel for Izanagi.
However, the Night of the Uchiha Massacre hadn't happened yet. Just where did Danzo manage to collect so many Sharingan?
The arm within the metal shell gradually vanished, and Danzo's figure reformed behind Jie.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!"
At some unknown point, the newly reformed Danzo had gripped a kunai. Wind-natured chakra, manipulated to its ultimate form, extended from the kunai into a long blade. Without any discernible pattern, he ruthlessly slashed down.
But the wind blade met no resistance, passing straight through Jie's figure.
"An afterimage!"
The Body Flicker Technique had been pushed to such an extreme speed that only a lifelike afterimage was left behind. It was so convincing that even an experienced ninja like Danzo had failed to see through it.
Missing his strike, Danzo immediately retreated, but it was already too late.
An azure Rasengan smashed precisely into Danzo's chest. The terrifying tearing power of the spiraling chakra completely shredded Danzo's clothes, blowing a massive, bloody hole in his torso.
Danzo instantly collapsed, his blood soaking a large patch of the surrounding earth.
But just a moment later, Danzo's corpse vanished once again.
This time, he reappeared on a treetop, gasping heavily for air. Without his clothes covering him, everyone present finally saw exactly what was on Danzo's arm.
"Sharingan? Two fully-matured three-tomoe Sharingan?"
"Why does Danzo have so many Sharingan?"
"And that face on his chest... why does it look so familiar?"
"Isn't that the First Hokage, Lord Hashirama's face? Why is it imprinted on Danzo's chest?"
Watching another eye slowly close on Danzo's arm, Jie spoke coldly.
"Five Sharingan? Where did you get them, Danzo?"
Danzo had already used Izanagi three times. With two Sharingan remaining on his arm, it meant he originally possessed five Sharingan right from the start.
However, Jie stared at Danzo's tightly bandaged right eye. If he wasn't mistaken, another Sharingan lay beneath those bandages.
A full six Sharingan. It seemed that over the years, the elite Uchiha who had mysteriously vanished hadn't just disappeared without a trace.
"The Sharingan? They were personally offered by my good subordinate, Shisui Uchiha, of course," Danzo sneered, his tone indifferent. "To acquire these eyes, he spent quite some time scouring the Naka Burial Grounds."
Hearing Danzo's words, Fugaku Uchiha immediately glared furiously at Shisui.
"The Naka Burial Grounds?"
The Naka Burial Grounds was the resting place for the ancestors and fallen ninja of the Uchiha Clan. So this traitor, Shisui, had actually followed Danzo's orders and dug up his own ancestors' graves?
Jie didn't want to waste another breath. Someone so thoroughly brainwashed that he wouldn't even spare his own ancestors' graves wasn't worth saving.
"Danzo, what is the meaning of your arm?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, staring in shock at Hashirama Senju's face on Danzo's chest.
"Isn't it obvious enough? Defiling the First Hokage's corpse and stealing the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan," Jie said lightly. "The evidence is right in front of you. Does the Third Hokage have anything else to say?"
"This..." Hiruzen was momentarily left speechless.
With such glaring evidence presented to the public, if he continued to blindly deny it, his position as Hokage would become completely untenable.
Having silenced Hiruzen, Jie retracted his gaze and looked coldly at Danzo.
"Two chances, maybe three," Jie said. "Experience the taste of death a few more times. After all, you won't get another chance after this."
With that, the Sword of the Thunder God in Jie's hand hummed with a faint white light as he stepped slowly toward Danzo.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
A barrage of compressed air bullets blasted from Danzo's mouth, but Jie remained completely unfazed. Raising his blade and letting it fall, the glowing white light flashed, shattering all the air bullets on impact.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
A rapid succession of Wind Release jutsu burst from Danzo, attempting to threaten Jie or at least impede his advance.
However, Jie seemed entirely unaffected. Even the rhythm of his footsteps remained perfectly steady. All the Wind Release jutsu were cleanly sliced in half, dismantled like mere toys.
'Is this Jie Uchiha's true combat power?' Hiruzen thought silently, watching Jie march forward as if traversing an empty field. 'A kenjutsu capable of slicing through ninjutsu, and that faint white light on the Sword of the Thunder God... I fear even the resurrection of the White Fang of Konoha would only amount to this!'
He had long known that Jie's kenjutsu skills far surpassed the so-called sword masters in Konoha. He just hadn't expected it to be so formidable that he could casually cut apart high-level ninjutsu.
Even though part of this dominance was due to Jie's profound understanding of Wind Release and its structural weaknesses, it did nothing to mask his absolute mastery over the blade. In Hiruzen's memory, the last person capable of matching ninjutsu with pure kenjutsu was Sakumo Hatake, the renowned White Fang.
And yet, even Sakumo, when faced with such an overwhelming barrage of Wind Release, would likely have had to momentarily evade its edge. He wouldn't have casually dismantled every jutsu with a flick of his wrist like Jie was doing.
With someone like Jie Uchiha leading them, how was he going to face the Uchiha Clan in the future? Bow his head in submission? Abdicate the Hokage seat to someone more capable?
At this thought, a bitter smile surfaced on Hiruzen's face.
"One time!"
Jie's indifferent voice rang out, instantly jolting Hiruzen from his thoughts.
Looking up, he saw that Danzo had unknowingly descended from the tree. The Sword of the Thunder God in Jie's hand had already pierced cleanly through Danzo's chest, skewering his heart.
Seeing this, Hiruzen's heart pounded in shock. In the brief moment his mind had wandered, Danzo had already died by Jie's hand.
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