Chapter 184: The Sinking Ship Test! I Knew I Hadn't Misjudged You!
Beneath Konoha, a steel bridge connected four directions across an abyss-like chasm, and at its center stood a towering steel structure.
A tower built deep underground.
Before the tower's platform, Shimura Danzō stood by the railing, his expression calm to the point of indifference, his hands behind his back as he gazed at the quiet, profound darkness below.
His right eye and cheek were wrapped in bandages. He had short brown hair, a slender build, and wore a gray-black kimono that didn't cover his left shoulder and arm, revealing a white undergarment.
This man who had dedicated himself to darkness—just by standing here, he made the surrounding light seem dim, as if his entire body was shrouded in an ominous aura.
After the high-level meeting, he'd come here, waiting to meet Uchiha Tsukasa, who had become his subordinate by chance.
However, surprisingly, Danzō's eye showed no killing intent at this moment. Instead, hidden in his cunning and deep black pupil was a look of expectation and remembrance.
Such a strange expression on the man's face seemed somewhat out of place.
Behind him, a Root operative wearing a white tiger mask held a stack of documents.
"Lord Danzō, I've sent men to retrieve Uchiha Tsukasa, but..."
Danzō heard the unease in his subordinate's voice, and without turning his head, said calmly:
"You want to ask why we didn't take more preventative measures?"
The Root operative didn't speak, but his eyes held deep apprehension.
After all, that was a weapon called a 'jinchūriki'!
The two explosions that had shaken the entire Hidden Leaf Village were still fresh in everyone's memory, proving that Uchiha Tsukasa, possessing this level of combat power, was a ferocious beast beyond human capabilities!
Faced with such a being, he couldn't understand why the usually shrewd Lord Danzō would act so casually.
Shouldn't he have recalled all Root operatives, laid a trap, and set up multiple sealing techniques to suppress him here?
Even if he didn't seize the Tailed Beast within him later, it could still be used as leverage for negotiation and threats.
Danzō slightly turned his head, glanced at his subordinate, and said calmly:
"It's normal that you don't understand—you can't comprehend it."
"That child has become far stronger than you can imagine."
"Numbers are no longer enough to control that monster. We can no longer treat him the way we treat ordinary Uchiha."
"And the one who can control that monster—"
"Is only me!"
The Root operative was slightly surprised, looking up at Danzō with astonishment in his eyes, but quickly lowered his head.
"Yes!"
After responding, the Root operative quickly retreated in Danzō's silence, and the surroundings once again fell into heavy darkness.
At this moment, Danzō took out a report from his robes—submitted by several different people—and looked at the pages again with his single eye.
This report combined submissions from Aburame Ryōma, Orochimaru, and Root members from the Land of Hot Water and Land of Rain who had witnessed Tsukasa's combat prowess.
"Uchiha Tsukasa, hmm?" Danzō suddenly chuckled, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
"Like Uchiha Kagami, a brilliant meteor. But a pity."
"He's a short-lived genius."
"I'll tolerate you for two years. Two years later, Konoha's second Tailed Beast, combined with 'A's' Wood Release power..."
"At that time... hahahahahaha~"
Creak... creak...
Tsukasa sat in a wheelchair, pushed into Root headquarters by two Root operatives.
Just as they arrived at the underground bridge—
"Hahahahahaha~!"
A burst of aged, unsettling laughter reached their ears.
Looking at the gloomy old man standing by the bridge, Tsukasa's lips twitched slightly.
What's with this guy?
And this environment—the bridge, Danzō, an Uchiha, maniacal laughter...
Could it be that the legendary bridge confrontation was about to begin here ahead of schedule?
After pushing Tsukasa here, the two Root operatives immediately vanished in a flash, leaving the space to the old man and the young man.
Tsukasa held the syringe Orochimaru had given him. Although he didn't know what it was, the Zero-Tails within him squeaked with longing upon sensing its presence.
He frowned as he looked at Danzō, who stood at the end of the bridge with his hands behind his back, seemingly shrouded in an ominous aura.
Unlike the future Uchiha Shisui and Itachi, who would treat this old man with utmost respect, Tsukasa lacked such politeness and didn't regard him as a superior.
He spoke bluntly:
"Shimura Danzō, you wanted to see me?"
Hearing this, Danzō's laughter stopped abruptly.
He turned around and strode forward with steady steps, his dark gaze fixed on Tsukasa in the wheelchair, as if eyeing a valuable prize.
"So you're Uchiha Tsukasa?"
Danzō stopped three meters in front of him, staring intently with his single eye.
"I see," he said sharply.
"You have the look of death about you!"
Tsukasa was startled, blinking. "The look of death?"
"Knowing nothing of life, yet knowing death beforehand—that's the look of death," Danzō said calmly.
"You have a heart fire hotter than anyone else's, and that fire will eventually transform into karmic flames, engulfing you."
"Whether under the sun or the moon, you cannot see your own shadow."
"Your life casts no shadow."
Tsukasa glanced at his feet instinctively—there was definitely a shadow.
He was puzzled. What kind of riddle is this old man playing? Can't we just start fighting already? What do you think I came all this way for? My fists are itching!
At this moment, Danzō stared intently at Tsukasa and said calmly:
"The fastest genius to become a jōnin since Konoha's founding—I have a question for you."
Tsukasa didn't speak, but looked at Danzō with an impatient gaze, waiting for him to finish his monologue.
Danzō seemed oblivious to Tsukasa's expression and calmly posed his question:
"On a ship about to sink, there are ten of your comrades, but one of them has contracted a fatal infectious disease."
"If he continues to live, the other nine will also die from the disease."
"If you were the captain of this ship—"
Danzō narrowed his single eye, staring intently at Tsukasa, and curled his lips into a smile:
"What would you do?"
Tsukasa looked back at Danzō and raised an eyebrow slightly.
He was familiar with this question.
It was the same question that Shimura Danzō had asked the newly graduated Uchiha Itachi in the original timeline.
At that time, Itachi's answer had been: 'Those who are sick will die regardless—it is their fate. If I were the captain, my top priority would be saving the lives of the other nine. I would choose to kill one to save nine.'
It was Danzō's question at that moment, coupled with Fugaku's brutal training methods, that had planted a seed of extremism in young Itachi's heart, ultimately leading to the Uchiha tragedy.
Tsukasa's expression instantly turned cold. He looked at Danzō with a cold smile and retorted:
"What if the captain was the one who was sick?"
"And how can you be so sure that the sick person will definitely die?"
Danzō's lips curled into a smile, his gaze deepening.
He raised his chin, looking down at Tsukasa, and said calmly:
"Uchiha Tsukasa, don't run from the question. With such power, you should understand—"
"Reality is a cruel binary choice."
"Tell me, what would you do?"
Tsukasa smiled slightly, raised his hand, took out the syringe he'd been holding, and—
Thrust it in!
The needle plunged straight into his own neck!
The medicine was injected, and his heart pounded wildly!
He suddenly raised his head, his crimson Sharingan blazing!
"I won't die!"
"No one will die!"
"Because I'll create a miracle! Even if it costs me my life to fulfill this promise!"
Hearing such audacious words, and seeing the confident expression on Tsukasa's face, Danzō's face immediately revealed a knowing smile.
"I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"
"Your answer is the same as Uchiha Kagami's."
"Then—"
He said, his face darkening as he slowly took a step back, narrowing his single eye, his tone so cold it seemed to chill the air.
Just when Tsukasa thought this old man was warming up, preparing for a fierce battle, and that he was finally going to fight him—
He suddenly heard Danzō say:
"Uchiha Tsukasa—"
"I'm giving you an important position!"
End of Chapter 184
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