Danzo's eyes were bloodshot as he glared fixedly at Shinichi. The stinging pain from his severed arm and waves of humiliation washed over him, but at this moment, he cared more about his question.
"How do you know these things... things that even Hiruzen doesn't know?"
"Hmph." Tejima Shinichi interrupted with a cold snort, his eyes devoid of even an ounce of mockery. "As expected, you are trash."
As the words left his mouth, the chakra surrounding Shinichi surged. He slowly raised his right hand and pointed at Danzo.
"You're the first real obstacle I've faced since coming to this world," he said. "Out of respect… I'll end this at full power."
Before his voice even faded, his hands were already pressed together.
"Sage Art—"
Chakra—no, senjutsu chakra infused with vast amounts of natural energy—erupted from his palms like a volcano bursting to life.
"Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Rumble—
The underground laboratory trembled violently. No… it wasn't just the lab. The earth itself was shaking.
The ground beneath him bulged and split apart. Massive wooden structures—thick as mountain ridges—burst through layers of rock, surging upward without restraint.
An enormous Buddha statue surged up from beneath Tejima Shinichi, lifting him high into the air. Behind it, countless arms unfurled like a peacock's tail—layer upon layer, numbering in the thousands.
The laboratory ceiling was torn apart like paper. Reinforced concrete crumbled, utterly insignificant before the towering wooden colossus.
The earth groaned.
The statue rose faster and faster, carrying Shinichi through dozens of meters of soil and shattered ruins as it surged toward the surface.
"Run!" Fu Yamanaka shouted, his voice cracking.
He and Torune Aburame supported Danzo Shimura from both sides, sprinting toward the laboratory's only exit. The rest of Root followed close behind, their faces pale with fear.
This wasn't ninjutsu—
It was a natural disaster.
Boom!
The statue's head burst through the surface. Cold moonlight poured down over the massive structure that had suddenly risen into the world.
The forest above was completely overturned—trees snapped, earth churned, and a vast crater formed as the Buddha continued to rise.
Shinichi stood atop its head, looking down.
Danzo and the others had just escaped the ruins, scrambling to the edge of the crater. When they turned back, the color drained from their faces.
Under the moonlight, the giant Buddha towered over them, the thousand hands on its back spreading like a blossoming lotus, each arm large enough to easily crush a house.
The Buddha's face was calm yet carried the majesty of a god looking down upon all living beings. The roar of its emergence traveled several kilometers into the silent night sky.
A kilometer away, deep within the forest, ten Anbu squads came to an abrupt halt.
At their head, Tsunade suddenly looked up, her eyes widening beneath the brim of her hat.
"That is…" Shizune's voice caught in her throat. Faced with such a sight for the first time, she couldn't even process what she was seeing.
Among the Anbu, those who recognized the technique cried out in alarm...
"That's Lord Shinichi's technique!"
"It's unbelievable... Even though I've seen it before, it still drains all my will to fight."
"Wood Release…" Tsunade murmured, staring at the distant silhouette. "True Several Thousand Hands…"
She remembered this jutsu. When Hashirama Senju had used it, she had only been a child. The memory was hazy—but that overwhelming sense of awe had been etched deep into her soul.
And now, that same power was being wielded by a twelve-year-old boy.
Tejima Shinichi stood atop the Buddha, his hands still locked in a seal. His amber eyes lowered, reflecting the ant-like figures below.
"Rise."
Rumble—
The earth trembled again.
Deep within the crater, the giant Buddha began to move. Its massive knees lifted, its feet tearing free from the ground as soil and stone cascaded down like a waterfall.
The statue rose to its full height, towering higher and higher until its true form was revealed beneath the moonlight—far greater than it had appeared from below.
Beneath the colossal Buddha, Danzo Shimura and his Root shinobi instinctively stepped back, heads tilted upward. Even with their training and suppressed emotions, their bodies trembled before such a presence.
Danzo stared at Tejima Shinichi, who stood high above, almost among the clouds.
"…You've grown stronger again?" he muttered.
He had seen this technique once before—during the Chunin Exams, when Konoha was attacked. Back then, it had already been overwhelming, powerful enough to suppress Orochimaru.
But compared to now… this was on an entirely different level.
The current Buddha was nearly twice the size.
This wasn't just more chakra—it was a complete evolution in mastery. Control, understanding, execution… everything had advanced. The boy's growth was so fast it bred despair.
In Danzo's single eye, the last trace of defiance flickered out like a dying flame, leaving behind nothing but hollow defeat.
"No…!"
His gaze suddenly sharpened, and he roared up at the figure above.
"I'm not wrong! Everything I did was for Konoha! For the village's stability! To eliminate hidden threats! To gain the power to protect our home!"
His voice grew harsher, almost desperate.
"The Root hidden beneath the light, feeding the trunk and leaves… what's wrong with that?!"
Hearing this, Shinichi let out a cold, mocking laugh.
Even now… he was still clinging to that argument.
"What is your status?"
The question caught Danzo off guard.
"Hokage? No. Elder? No. Leader of Root? Not anymore." Shinichi's gaze was indifferent. "Someone like you—what right do you have to speak about acting 'for Konoha'?"
Danzo's face twisted into a hateful scowl.
High atop the Buddha, Shinichi looked down at him with cold apathy. "Your senseless struggling ends here. Accept it. This is what I bestow upon you—the end."
At his command, the thousands of massive wooden arms fanned out behind the giant Buddha surged with life.
Boom! Under the cold moonlight, a thousand hands moved as one, crashing down upon Danzo...
"Thousand-Armed Strike!"
Danzo's vision filled with the shadows of descending fists, each one larger than the last. Faced with that overwhelming force, a single thought flickered through his mind—
'Maybe… I was wrong.'
Then—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fists slammed down in succession, each impact blasting the ground into deep craters. The barrage far surpassed the destruction of the Orochimaru incident, raining down without pause. Dust and debris surged upward, forming a towering cloud where Danzo and the Root had stood.
Moments later, it ended.
Silence fell. Only the night wind remained.
The Buddha's thousand arms slowly withdrew, spreading out behind it once more as the statue returned to its serene, unmoving posture. At the center of the battlefield, nothing remained but a massive, ruined crater.
Shinichi lowered his hands, about to exhale—
Then his eyes sharpened.
At the bottom of the crater, something moved.
Pitch-black markings spread through the dust, rapidly forming a massive circular sealing array. A dark sphere expanded outward, and a terrifying suction erupted, threatening to swallow everything nearby—the debris, the land itself.
'Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique…'
Shinichi's gaze darkened in realization.
It was a dead-man's switch. A jutsu programmed to activate the instant its caster's heart stopped beating.
Which meant… Danzo Shimura was dead.
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/Viki2