Pfft!
A massive amount of blood and chunks of internal organs spewed from his mouth. The savage expression on Danzo's face instantly froze, his mouth hanging open as he let out a series of garbled, choking sounds.
His body, as if all support had been drained, slowly toppled backward. Because the flying sword had been so fast, his body hadn't even reacted; blood surged through his veins, continuously spurting from the hole in his chest and pooling into a shocking crimson puddle on the ground.
Danzo's limbs twitched unconsciously a few times before falling completely still. Only those wide-eyed stares remained, filled with the lingering fear and resentment of his final moments, as if recounting the conclusion of his sinful life.
Makiya curled his lip inwardly. 'His acting is way too melodramatic. Forget Hollywood; this wouldn't even pass in domestic dramas. At most, he's an eighteenth-tier actor level—not a bit higher.'
'Also, does this old geezer think I'm that ignorant? If Danzo truly bit the dust, that right arm made of Hashirama cells would be the first to rebel. How could it leave him a whole corpse? It would have rioted and grown into a towering tree long ago.'
He slowly walked to Danzo's side, crouching down to inspect the body. "The leader of Root is just this? Dead in one hit? You're trash."
Makiya searched Danzo's body with a look of pure disgust, finding nothing useful. His movements were wide open and full of openings, as if he were absolutely certain he had eliminated all enemies.
A subtle ripple vibrated through the air. Danzo quietly appeared on the open ground behind Makiya, a smirk of successful scheming and utter contempt flashing in his eyes as his hands blurred into seals.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"
Pulling out a kunai with his right hand and holding it to his chest, Danzo spat out a dense ball of chakra. Upon contact with the air, it transformed into a swirling green breeze, adhering to the kunai to form a flat, elongated vortex blade of wind—its razor-sharp edge seemingly capable of shredding space itself.
'Die, you evil Uchiha brat!' Danzo roared in his mind, his hand thrusting the wind blade toward Makiya's back. The extremely sharp and thin blade of wind cut through the air without causing any abnormal disturbance.
By the time Makiya realized something was wrong, it was too late. The wind blade pierced through his chest without resistance. Still unsatisfied, Danzo gripped the wind blade and twisted it repeatedly, seemingly retaliating for the flying sword that had pierced his own chest earlier.
"Cough... Argh..." Makiya coughed up a large mouthful of blood, struggling to look back. His eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. "Danzo... how is this possible? Weren't you already dead?"
Danzo smiled sinisterly, offering no answer to Makiya's question. He swung the wind blade in and out of Makiya's body, gritting his teeth. "You think I'd tell you? Go to hell with your questions!"
The wind blade slashed horizontally and vertically; even hard bones couldn't stop it for a second. Blood splattered everywhere as the pale green wind blade sliced Makiya's body into a dozen pieces. Add a bit of salt, marinate it, and supplement with cinnamon, star anise, and other spices, and Danzo would have his rations for the journey ahead.
Looking at the butchered pieces of Makiya, Danzo finally vented his pent-up rage. The deaths of so many Root members made his heart bleed—not because he cared for his subordinates, but because training them had cost a fortune in resources. They were his leverage for a comeback and his perfect workforce.
Without a batch of underlings, was he, Lord Danzo, supposed to do everything himself?
"Ignorant Uchiha brat, you don't even remember your own power. Keeping these eyes on you is a waste. Better to add them to my stockpile."
Fortunately, Kinoe, who had awakened the Wood Style Kekkei Genkai, hadn't been killed. For some reason, Makiya spared him. Could they have known each other without his knowledge? The suspicious Danzo narrowed his eyes, planning to interrogate Kinoe thoroughly once they reached the sub-base.
"Hmph... ptui!" Seeing the corpses littering the ground, Danzo's anger flared again, and he spat on Makiya's remains. However, the moment the saliva left his mouth, it was evaporated into steam by a sudden burst of searing heat. Immediately after, a wave of high temperature hit him, instantly singeing and burning off every hair on Danzo's body.
Boom!
Limitless golden flames erupted in front of him, forming a massive hand that gripped Danzo tightly. The scorching heat instantly ignited Danzo's clothes. His skin hissed and crackled like meat on a griddle, and the air filled with the stench of charred flesh.
"Spitting everywhere at your age? That's a five hundred million ryo fine. If you don't have it, I'll take your head as payment." Makiya appeared behind Danzo, his white haori pristine and his expression calm, as if Danzo's resurrection didn't surprise him at all.
Accompanied by Danzo's screams, the smell of burning protein spread through the forest. A few seconds later, Danzo was charred to a crisp. The giant flame hand squeezed gently, and countless cracks appeared on his blackened skin, blood seeping out alongside the aroma of cooked meat.
Truly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside; Makiya's fire manipulation would be top-tier for a barbecue.
Seeing Danzo playing dead again, Makiya lightly flicked a stone with his toe and kicked it toward a certain spot to his side. The stone whistled through the air, propelled by Makiya's kicking technique to be no less powerful than a kunai.
Danzo's body slowly manifested, appearing on the clearing like a fade-in effect. He bent over to dodge the incoming stone, his old face filled with unconcealed shock. "You... you actually know this jutsu?"
"Izanagi?" Makiya chuckled. "You've got it backward. I am a genius of the Uchiha clan. I have access to all the clan's archives; knowing about Izanagi is perfectly normal."
Makiya then showed a look of curiosity. "I, on the other hand, am surprised. How does an outsider like you know about this jutsu?"
Izanagi is one of the ultimate ocular jutsu of the Sharingan. Its effect is incredibly broken, and it was the very reason Uchiha Madara was able to fake his death and escape from Hashirama Senju.
A Sharingan wielder can activate it by forming the Hare, Boar, and Sheep seals. Once Izanagi is active, the user can freely control the boundary between illusion and reality, negating all unfavorable factors. Disadvantages and injuries are treated as mere illusions, while only favorable events are woven into reality. Even if the caster dies during this interval, the ocular jutsu can negate that result, restoring them to their state at the start of the jutsu. The price is the total loss of sight in one Sharingan.
This cost became negligible once Orochimaru unlocked the technology tree for cloning and gathered Shin Uchiha. As everyone knows, the Sharingan's versatility is comparable to a USB port; it supports hot-swapping—plug it in and it works immediately. Trading one eye for a period of invincibility is an incredible bargain.
Of course, depending on the individual's ability, the activation time and duration of the invincible state vary, as does the resurrection time after death.
When Uchiha Madara used Izanagi, the duration was extremely long. It lasted until after Hashirama had finished pouring out his tears and emotions over the corpse, and after Tobirama had finished cleaning the battlefield and buried Madara's body in a coffin on the back mountain. Only then did the resurrection mechanism trigger, waking him up—a significant amount of time had passed.
Obito's Izanagi could last for ten minutes, allowing him to evade the continuous attack of six hundred billion explosive tags from the wealthy Konan, completing a desperate turnaround and ending the life of many people's childhood goddess.
Danzo, who was terrified of death, did everything he could to claim this jutsu for himself. After extensive research and experimentation, he took a radical path by replacing his heavily injured and withered right arm with a new one made of secondary Hashirama cells. He then transplanted ten three-tomoe Sharingans onto it to suppress the Hashirama cells.
The Sharingans, representing spiritual power, and the Hashirama cells, representing physical power, suppressed and balanced each other. Mixed with Danzo's own chakra, the three parties maintained an imperfect equilibrium. Since the Senju and Uchiha clans share a common origin, Danzo was able to steal the power of the Uchiha and perform Izanagi.
But a knockoff is a knockoff. Lacking the Uchiha bloodline, Danzo's Izanagi can only last for one minute. This means that after one minute, one of the eyes on his arm goes blind. Including the Sharingan hidden in his right eye socket that has yet to be revealed, Danzo can maintain a maximum of eleven minutes of invincibility.
Below the Kage level, Danzo could absolutely crush most experts with this window of invincibility. Even among Kage-level fighters, Danzo is a notable powerhouse.
His Wind Style is exceptionally powerful. While stabbing Susanoo with a kunai became a running joke, under the enhancement of Danzo's Wind Style, he really could pierce through Susanoo's defenses. Extreme nature transformation gave his wind jutsu unparalleled cutting power.
In the original story, if it weren't for Karin's continuous healing and Obito looming nearby—forcing Danzo to expend a massive amount of energy—the Mangekyo-wielding Sasuke would have likely been finished quite quickly.
Such an invincible ninjutsu is naturally better in larger quantities and longer durations. However, Danzo's methods were ultimately too aggressive. Ten three-tomoe Sharingans were the limit for that arm. He did have many spare plug-in eyes for replacement, kept in the sealing scrolls he carried, or even in the scrolls carried by many Root ninjas.
But a temporary replacement is simply unrealistic. Plug-and-play was just a joke; after placing a Sharingan in an eye socket, one must at least use Medical Ninjutsu to connect the nerves and blood vessels for it to work. There's certainly no time for such a tedious operation on a frantic battlefield. Thus, eleven minutes of invincibility is Danzo's limit.
"Hmph, Root knows more secrets than you can imagine." Danzo ignored Makiya's question, his hands forming seals so quickly they left afterimages in the air.
Hand seals are designed to guide the flow of chakra within the body, allowing it to circulate and release in the optimal way for a jutsu. When one becomes sufficiently proficient in a jutsu, the number of seals can be greatly simplified, sometimes down to just two or three.
Of course, that's the way of conventional ninjas. Take the battle between the chakra-starved Kakashi and Zabuza; to release the Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu, they formed seals like madmen, clicking through forty-four seals before the jutsu finally came out. Neither said a word during the process; if you didn't know better, you'd think it was a mute's argument.
Makiya had a massive chakra reserve and preferred brute force. While Danzo was still huffing and puffing through his seals, Makiya clapped his hands together, releasing a massive surge of chakra to strike first: "Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Golden flames filled the sky, the scorching sea of fire instantly drying the damp earth. The air crackled as the golden flames transformed into roaring fire dragons, pouncing toward Danzo with savage, glowing fangs. Countless flying swords were hidden within the sea of fire.
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