Konoha Village, Hokage Office.
The sunlight outside was pleasant, and the streets of Konoha were as bustling as ever, but the atmosphere inside the office was so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.
Danzo Shimura had returned.
He was no longer that gloomy, majestic leader of Root who always hid in the shadows, looking as if everything was under his control.
At this moment, he looked haggard, his face ashen with a sickly flush. His remaining eye was bloodshot, and his gaze held lingering shock as well as deep-seated malice.
The sleeve of his left arm hung empty.
All the transplanted Sharingan on it had gone permanently blind and withered due to the excessive use of Izanagi. Even the meridians of the arm had suffered irreversible damage, rendering it useless.
His clothes were tattered, covered in dust and dried, blackened blood. He even stumbled slightly as he walked, relying entirely on the cane in his hand for support.
In this state, he looked little better than a stray dog.
When he suddenly appeared at the door of the Hokage Office like a ghost, even the Anbu at the door were startled and nearly drew their blades.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was reviewing documents. He looked up at the sound, and when he saw Danzo's unprecedentedly wretched appearance, the fingers holding his pipe suddenly stiffened, and his pupils contracted sharply.
A sense of foreboding instantly gripped his heart.
"Danzo? You... how did you end up like this?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was filled with disbelief.
"The mission... failed? Where are the others?"
"Failed... all dead... they're all dead..."
Danzo's voice was as raspy as a broken bellows. He stumbled to the desk, his single eye staring intently at Hiruzen Sarutobi, the madness and hatred in his gaze almost tangible.
"The eight Jonin I took with me... all dead. To buy me a chance to escape... they all died."
"What?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up abruptly, not even noticing as his pipe fell onto the desk. His face was written with shock and horror.
Eight Root Jonin—that was the most elite and precious secret force of the current Root and Konoha. They were... wiped out?
"Who was it? An ambush by Sunagakure? Or did another great nation intervene?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi asked urgently. His first reaction was that they had encountered a large-scale ambush or a stronger enemy.
"Ambush? Hahaha..."
Danzo let out a shrill and venomous low laugh, a sound more unpleasant than crying.
"It was an ambush, alright! But the ones who ambushed us... were those Uchiha brats!"
The bloodshot veins in his single eye grew even thicker, as if they were about to drip blood.
"Uchiha Shao Yu! That naturally evil brat! He anticipated we would pursue and set traps in advance. It wasn't just low-level stuff like paper bombs and shuriken... he... he..."
Danzo's voice trembled with extreme anger and a trace of lingering fear.
"What he awakened wasn't some ordinary Three Tomoe at all!"
Danzo lowered his voice.
"It's the Mangekyo, the legendary power of the Uchiha Clan, the Mangekyo Sharingan. And... he can even use Susanoo!"
"Mangekyo?! Susanoo?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His body swayed, and he slumped heavily back into his chair, his face turning deathly pale.
As a disciple of the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama, he knew all too well what those two terms meant. That was a terrifying power capable of rivaling or even surpassing a Kage, the very reliance Uchiha Madara used to sweep across the Ninja World back then.
"Are... are you sure?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was trembling.
"Sure?! I nearly died at the hands of his Susanoo! If not... if not for using my trump card..."
Danzo raised his ruined left arm, his eyes filled with bone-deep malice.
"My trump cards are almost entirely gone just to barely escape with my life. That black skeletal giant... that destructive power... there's absolutely no mistake."
He didn't say what his trump card was. If he did, even Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't help him now.
He panted heavily and continued.
"Uchiha Shao Yu seems to be able to summon various strange Summoned Beasts with different abilities and skilled coordination. Many of our men died to these bizarre methods."
With every word, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened further.
Mangekyo, Susanoo, multiple Summoned Beasts... Uchiha Shao Yu's strength and danger level far exceeded any of their previous estimations.
This was no greenhorn genius; this was clearly another terrifying monster who could grow into another Uchiha Madara.
"Destination? Where did they go?!" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up sharply, his sense of foreboding reaching its peak.
Danzo squeezed out four words through gritted teeth, each one filled with chill.
"Land of Lightning, Hidden Cloud Village!"
"Kumogakure?!"
"What?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi felt his vision go dark.
Kumogakure, the powerful rival whose military strength was second only to Konoha among the Five Great Ninja Villages and who had always been eyeing Konoha hungrily.
The Third Raikage Ai was in his prime, known as the'Strongest Spear' and'Strongest Shield,' brave, powerful, and ambitious.
Uchiha Shao Yu bringing the Mangekyo Sharingan and a group of Uchiha elites to Kumogakure... this was like personally handing a poisoned, incomparably sharp divine weapon to the enemy who wanted to harm Konoha the most.
"This is a disaster."
Hiruzen Sarutobi murmured, appearing ten years older in an instant.
The Sunagakure battlefield was still in a stalemate, Konoha's internal defenses were hollow, and now such a massive threat had joined a powerful enemy... "I told you long ago, the Uchiha Clan is the biggest cancer in Konoha, natural-born rebels."
Danzo, having found an outlet, slammed his cane heavily on the ground and shouted hoarsely.
"You should have listened to me back then and purged the Uchiha early, especially that brat Uchiha Shao Yu. Now look, we've let the tiger return to the mountain! No, we personally raised a monster and then gave him to our enemy. Hiruzen, this is all because of your indecisiveness."
Facing Danzo's accusations, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no words to offer, his heart filled with bitterness and regret.
Perhaps... some of Danzo's extreme proposals back then weren't entirely without merit? But it was too late to think about that now.
He forced himself to calm down, rubbing his aching brow.
"What's the use of saying this now? The priority is how to respond."
"Respond? How can we respond?"
Danzo sneered, his single eye full of gloom.
"Kumogakure is powerful, and the Third Raikage is no pushover. Now that Uchiha Shao Yu has defected with the Mangekyo and a group of Sharingan, Kumogakure will treat them like treasures and protect them strictly."
"Can we really mobilize a large army, cross the Land of Fire and the Land of Frost, and attack Kumogakure to demand them back?"
That was clearly impossible.
Leaving aside Kumogakure's own strength and geographical advantage, Konoha was currently at war with Sunagakure and simply couldn't afford to open a second front, especially against a powerful enemy like Kumogakure.
Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time before finally saying dejectedly.
"The only plan for now... is to first issue a formal diplomatic note to Kumogakure in Konoha's official name. Strongly condemn their actions in harboring Konoha's rogue ninja and demand that they immediately and unconditionally extradite Uchiha Shao Yu and his accomplices back to Konoha for trial."
"At the same time... inform Kumogakure that Uchiha Shao Yu possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan and is extremely dangerous. Consider it a... warning?"
By the end, even he felt the proposal was weak and powerless.
Warning? Reminder? Kumogakure would love for Konoha's powerhouses to defect to them.
Especially a legendary power like the Mangekyo Sharingan—once the Third Raikage knows, he will likely only value and recruit Uchiha Shao Yu even more. How could he possibly hand him over?
This so-called diplomatic note, other than expressing a powerless rage and giving the village an explanation, would have almost no practical effect.
"Hmph, a warning? Would that brute and careerist, the Third Raikage, even heed your warning?"
Danzo was dismissive, but he also knew this might be the only thing they could do for now that looked acceptable on the surface.
"However, we still have to go through the motions. Besides..."
A cold light flashed in his single eye.
"The Uchiha Clan must undergo stricter rectification and monitoring internally. The fact that Uchiha Shao Yu could take so many people with him shows that there are far more unstable elements in the clan than just these."
"And that old thing Uchiha Setsuna... he's definitely involved! This time, we can't be soft-hearted anymore."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded wearily.
"As for the internal affairs of the Uchiha... you handle it, but be mindful of the scale. Don't exacerbate the conflict further. Right now... Konoha cannot withstand any more internal turmoil."
His gaze looked out the window, as if it could pierce through layers of buildings to see the distant direction of the Land of Lightning.
Uchiha Shao Yu... Mangekyo Sharingan... Kumogakure...
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