BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Dust shot skyward as the earth split open into countless trenches. The terrain twisted beyond recognition, while innumerable surrounding trees were severed cleanly at the waist as though cut apart by invisible blades, crashing down one after another as splintered wood and dust merged into utter chaos.
At the very center of this destruction and disorder, Danzō moved as swiftly as the wind itself. With an extremely narrow turn, he barely avoided a vicious slash sweeping in from the side. His katana reversed in his grip and flashed with cold light—
A line of blood exploded across a Kumogakure shinobi's throat.
Danzō did not even spare the falling corpse a glance. His left hand had already clamped down like iron upon another enemy's incoming blade. With a twist and wrench of his wrist, the weapon instantly changed owners.
Another soft slicing sound followed.
Two fountains of blood erupted simultaneously, blooming crimson flowers beneath the moonlight. The two Kumogakure shinobi collapsed before even managing to scream.
Everything occurred in the span of a lightning flash.
Danzō's footwork never paused. His body left behind a string of blurred afterimages as he narrowly evaded several interweaving Lightning Release attacks blazing with dazzling blue-white radiance. The violent currents struck the ground where he had stood moments earlier, scorching it pitch black.
Even while dodging and weaving through the battlefield, Danzō's hand seals formed at blinding speed, chakra rapidly compressing and gathering within his throat.
Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!
The next instant, he spat forward—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless invisible bullets formed from Wind Release chakra poured forth like torrential rain. Each shot carried a shrill screech capable of tearing through the air, resembling the continuous spray of a machine gun!
The eight Kumogakure shinobi charging at the front did not even have time to dodge or defend before their bodies were pierced through by countless Vacuum Bullets. Bloody mist exploded beneath the moonlight as their bodies were riddled full of holes like torn rags before crashing heavily to the ground.
Yet Danzō did not slow in the slightest.
His figure moved again, sweeping low across the ground like a raging gale while his hands once more rapidly formed seals.
But at the exact same instant he moved, nearly one hundred Kumogakure shinobi assembled behind him completed their hand seals simultaneously.
Lightning Release: Lightning Pillar!
Lightning Release: Lightning Spear!
Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere!
Lightning Release: Lightning Serpent!
Lightning Release—!
One furious shout after another exploded across the night sky.
In an instant, lightning surged upward as dozens of blinding Lightning Release techniques tore across the battlefield!
Some transformed into straight beams of light piercing forward.
Others condensed into razor-sharp spears like thrown lances.
Some rolled forward as crackling lightning spheres.
Others slithered across the ground like serpents.
Hundreds of arcs of electricity wove together into a net of death descending from all directions upon Danzō's position!
The lightning illuminated his face.
Yet that face remained utterly calm.
He drew in a deep breath. His chest expanded violently like a bellows as chakra compressed and condensed within his throat!
Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!
The next instant, he spat it forth!
A gigantic and densely compressed sphere of high-pressure wind carrying devastating destructive force blasted outward like an artillery shell leaving its barrel!
If Vacuum Bullets were the sweeping fire of a machine gun—
Then Vacuum Great Sphere was the roar of a rocket launcher!
BOOM!!!
The massive wind sphere collided head-on against the sky-filling lightning!
In an instant, a deafening explosion tore apart the night sky. Violent shockwaves surged outward like a tsunami as arcs of lightning were ripped apart, shredded, and hurled backward by the raging winds, scattering through the air like swarms of glowing fireflies!
Dust, shattered stone, and broken timber were thrown high into the sky, only to be pulverized into powder midair beneath the ravaging wind pressure.
With his own strength alone, he was forcibly clashing head-on against nearly one hundred Kumogakure shinobi, including combined Lightning Release attacks launched by multiple jōnin!
Although Wind Release naturally countered Lightning Release, being able to directly resist a combined assault on this scale with a single technique fully demonstrated just how profound Danzō's mastery over Wind Release truly was!
"What?! He actually managed to—"
A Kumogakure jōnin's pupils violently contracted, his face filled with disbelief.
Yet his shock did not even last half a second.
Whoosh!
Through the smoke and dust filling the battlefield, a figure burst forth like a raging gale!
It was Danzō!
He gave the enemy no chance whatsoever to catch their breath. While still airborne, the katana in his right hand slashed horizontally through the air!
Wind Release: Vacuum Wind Blade!
A gigantic compressed blade of vacuum wind, its edges flickering with blue-white high-frequency vibrations, shot forward at near-lightning speed toward the jōnin's position!
Not good!!
Every hair on the Kumogakure jōnin's body stood on end as he instinctively roared: "Scatter!!"
And he himself had already hurled his body sideways with all his strength.
But he was still too slow.
The speed of that wind blade had surpassed what the naked eye could properly follow. His body had only just left the ground when an icy sensation spread across his waist.
The next moment, his vision spun violently.
He saw his lower body still suspended in midair.
He saw the horrified faces of the twenty comrades behind him.
He saw them likewise engulfed by that enormous extending wind blade—
One slash.
Everything severed!
Twenty-one Kumogakure shinobi were instantly killed, blood spraying outward like spilled ink beneath the moonlight, tracing a cruel crimson arc through the air.
"Hah..."
Only after finishing all this did Danzō finally let out a faint breath, white mist condensing in the freezing night air.
His eyes flashed like lightning as he rapidly scanned his surroundings.
At his feet already lay dozens of Kumogakure corpses. Blood soaked deep into the earth—
Yet there were still well over a thousand enemies remaining!
And farther away, even more dark figures continuously surged out from the mountain forests, densely packed like a rising tide as they encircled him from every direction, completely trapping him within this forest.
Was the "Darkness of the Shinobi World" really this strong?
The same thought arose simultaneously in the minds of every Kumogakure shinobi present.
The battle had only lasted a few minutes, yet despite facing the siege of over a thousand enemies, Konoha's "Darkness" remained completely unharmed while already forcing them to pay with dozens of lives!
"Continue the attack! Kill him!"
A Kumogakure commander roared sharply.
The instant those words fell, killing intent surged into the heavens!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
First came an overwhelming storm of kunai, shuriken, and senbon descending like torrential rain, sealing off every possible avenue of escape from above, below, left, and right.
Immediately following that came another eruption of combined Lightning Release attacks—
Lightning serpents danced wildly, lightning spears pierced through the air, lightning spheres rolled across the battlefield, electric nets intertwined together—
The entire forest became a pale purgatory of electricity.
Finally, using the chaos and suppression created by the ranged assault, Kumogakure elites skilled in kenjutsu and taijutsu charged forward like a pack of hunting wolves, rushing directly toward that solitary figure!
Yet Danzō seemed completely unfazed.
His body weaved and twisted through the storm of attacks, the katana in his hand slicing like the wind itself as it deflected incoming kunai and cleaved apart lightning serpents slithering across the ground. His footwork moved so quickly that only blurred afterimages remained.
And amidst this life-and-death struggle of extreme evasion and counterattack, his thoughts strangely drifted for a brief instant.
'Teacher... back then, when you alone faced the elite force led by the Gold and Silver Brothers and found yourself trapped in a hopeless situation... what were you thinking?'
'Were you regretting the work you had yet to complete?'
'Relieved that your disciples had already escaped safely?'
'Or perhaps... were you simply calculating how many more enemies you could take with you before dying?'
The moment that thought arose, a sudden wave of panic surged within Danzō's heart.
He had committed too many wrongs in this life.
He had used any means necessary to achieve his goals.
He had betrayed morality.
Sacrificed innocents.
Walked within darkness for so long that he had strayed too far from the light...
If he truly reunited with his teacher in the Pure Land—
How would his teacher view him?
Would he feel disappointed?
Would he shake his head?
Would he think this disciple no longer deserved to be called an inheritor of the Will of Fire?
Did he still have the right...
To meet his teacher openly and without shame?
A single lapse of thought lasted only an instant.
Swish!
A kunai launched from an extremely vicious angle suddenly tore through the air beneath the cover of flashing lightning, stabbing directly toward his face!
Danzō abruptly snapped back to reality and violently turned his head aside at the very last moment.
Slash!
The kunai scraped past the edge of his right eye, drawing a trail of warm blood behind it!
The instant the searing pain exploded outward, the vision in his right eye was completely dyed crimson before darkness fell over it like a descending curtain.
He staggered half a step, his left hand instinctively clutching his right eye as thick blood poured continuously through the gaps between his fingers.
...
At the same time, the strange stirring within Hiruzen's heart grew stronger and stronger, more violent than ever before, like some kind of omen.
It felt as though something extraordinarily important was quietly slipping away from him, about to disappear forever.
What was it?
His own life?
Or... something else?
"Hokage-sama!"
A jōnin from the Hyūga Clan spoke in a deep voice, his fearsome Byakugan staring into the dark forest ahead.
"Two kilometers ahead, we've detected a Kumogakure squad. Approximately thirty individuals. Their formation is loose—it appears to be a patrol and reconnaissance unit."
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