The Baku appeared beside Danzō Shimura, hissing as thick, white vapor poured from its long nostrils.
Its eyes were cold and feral.
Raising its forelegs, the Baku slammed them into the ground. The earth collapsed instantly, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb. In Danzō's eyes, this power was no weaker than a tailed beast's full-force strike.
"Oh? A spirit beast?" Uchiha Ran shook his head lightly, his tone almost regretful. "Not bad. A very good spirit beast. It's just a pity it ended up following someone like you."
Danzō naturally understood the mockery. His expression darkened as he sneered.
"You little brat, do you really think defeating me means you can defeat my summoned beast as well?" He slapped the Baku's flank. "Baku! Show him what you can do!"
With a thunderous roar, the Baku began drawing chakra deep into its lungs. Its chest expanded, muscles bulging, before it lifted its trunk and unleashed an overwhelming suction force, aiming straight at Ran.
Ran laughed aloud.
"If you want to inhale, then inhale to your heart's content."
He formed the Horse hand seal.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A torrent of flames erupted from his mouth. Two meters out, the fire expanded into a roaring sea—and was completely sucked in by the Baku.
Ran raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Interesting. It actually managed to take it.
At first, the Baku looked smug, its stance steady as it continued absorbing the flames. But before long, something felt wrong.
Why hadn't the fire stopped?
The heat intensified. Its trunk began to glow red, and a searing pain spread through its lungs. Panic flickered in its eyes.
Finally, it could no longer endure it.
The Baku expelled the flames violently, blasting them back along the same path. For about twenty seconds, it managed to counter Ran's Great Fire Annihilation—
Then Ran's flames surged again, even fiercer than before, overwhelming the counterattack and flooding back in.
Danzō's pupils shrank.
This was no longer a place he could afford to stay.
He tossed down two smoke bombs and turned to flee without hesitation.
The Baku froze.
It had never expected Danzō to abandon it at this moment.
From Danzō's panicked retreat, the Baku could tell one thing clearly—he feared the Fire Release user in front of it.
"Tch… fine," the Baku seemed to decide. "I'll help him one last time."
After all, it had always been on good terms with the Shimura Clan.
Bracing itself, the Baku dug its left forepaw into the ground and began gathering power, preparing to unleash its innate technique—a savage, unstoppable charge.
What it didn't realize was that Ran was already furious.
"You beast," Ran said coldly, killing intent pouring from his voice, "get out of my way… or I'll kill you."
His eyes transformed instantly.
The Mangekyō Sharingan, identical in pattern and pressure to Uchiha Madara's, spun to life.
The Baku ignored it.
With a deafening roar, it charged straight toward Ran.
Ran surged chakra through both arms. A massive, scythe-shaped chakra weapon condensed in his hands—an advanced application of chakra nature transformation.
Although the System hadn't granted him Madara's twin scythes directly, Ran's combat instincts and inherited experience allowed him to recreate them without hesitation.
He aimed straight at the Baku's open maw.
"HAAAH!!!"
Veins bulged across his arms as chakra erupted. Ran swung the twin chakra scythes in a brutal arc, cleaving downward—
From the Baku's mouth, through its chest, down its abdomen, past its hindquarters, and all the way to its tail.
A horrific tearing sound echoed as flesh split apart.
The Baku continued charging for several seconds on sheer instinct.
Then its upper body froze.
Its lower body, still driven by momentum, ran forward another few meters before crashing into a massive tree.
The spirit beast—born of dreams—was dead.
Ran dispersed the chakra weapons and immediately expanded his perception, locking onto Danzō's location.
After confirming that Danzō had fled to the Root base, he unleashed all his chakra and accelerated to the limit.
A system notification rang out:
> Ding! Congratulations to the host for defeating an Advanced Spirit Beast: Baku.
Reward: Advanced Spirit Beast – Shinobi Yuki.
Ran ignored it completely.
Capturing the leader came first.
If you don't eradicate the roots, the weeds will grow back with the spring breeze.
He became a streak of light, racing toward the underground Root base.
---
Root Base
Danzō Shimura gasped for breath as he fled through the damp underground corridors, having barely escaped death.
"Seal the gate—now!" he barked hoarsely.
"Earth Release users, dig immediately! Pack all experimental data—we're evacuating Konoha at once!"
The so-called Hokage position.
The so-called glory of being the Second Hokage's disciple.
"All of it is worthless compared to staying alive!"
Root operatives moved at once, following his orders without hesitation.
In the shadows, a lone figure watched Danzō intently, eyes sharp and filled with suppressed hatred.
If Ran were present, he would recognize him instantly.
Yakushi Kabuto.
The man who would later shape the first half of the Fourth Great Ninja War.
The inheritor of Ryūchi Cave's legacy.
And the one who had finally learned the truth behind his mother Yakushi Nono's death.
It was all because of Danzō Shimura.
His schemes had stolen the only warmth Kabuto had ever known.
Danzō, having regained some composure, scanned his surroundings. Seeing nothing amiss, he approached a stone wall, rotated a vase one hundred and eighty degrees, and a hidden stone door slid open.
He entered.
Ten seconds later, the door sealed itself, and the vase returned to its original position.
Kabuto stepped out of the shadows, a cold smile tugging at his lips.
At last.
He reached for the vase—
Only to feel something cold and solid press against his spine.
His body stiffened instantly.
Before he could fully turn around, a voice filled with murderous intent sounded behind him.
"You know… where Danzō Shimura ran off to, don't you?"
Kabuto slowly raised his hands, stopping himself from reaching for the scalpel hidden in his sleeve.
He could tell immediately—this man was here to kill Danzō.
Which meant—
The enemy of my enemy is my ally.
"Ahem," Kabuto said calmly, forcing a polite smile.
"He's right behind that stone door."
Uchiha Ran nodded slightly, about to have him open it—
When an unexpected voice cut in sharply.
"Who are you? And why are you standing in front of Lord Danzō's secret chamber?!"
It was Aburame Torune.
Only after hearing reports of someone forcibly breaching the Root defenses did he realize something was wrong. His instincts led him straight here.
No one could be allowed into that room.
If what lay inside was exposed, Danzō wouldn't just lose the title of Hokage—
He would lose his place in Konoha entirely.
------
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