Chapter 72: Do Villains Die from Talking Too Much?
On the outskirts of the Root base.
The figure of "Madara" emerged from the ground like a ghost, then pulled two bulging bundles out of the hole.
"Thanks to Mother Nature for the gift, and thanks to old buddy Danzo for picking up the tab."
The elites of the Root had all been taken out by Danzo, and the remaining small fry couldn't stop the invading "Madara" at all.
Of course, this "Madara" was disguised as Haruko, using the clothes, wig, and mask that Itachi had helped him prepare in advance.
"Sigh, I should have asked Itachi to prepare a few more storage scrolls..."
The initial goal was to attack where they must defend, draw the tiger away from the mountain, and create an opportunity for Itachi.
Who would have thought the defensive forces would crumble at the slightest touch? Haruko fought his way all the way to the warehouse deep inside.
Since I'm already here, right?
The elite troops of the Root could return at any moment, so Haruko didn't have time to be picky; he just took whatever he saw, filling up the two bundles just like that.
"If it weren't for the seals, I would have definitely packed up those Sharingan as well..."
Haruko shouldered the bundles, his figure flashed, and he disappeared into the night.
He had to find a place to hide these two big bags of loot first, and come back to retrieve them later.
As for Danzo? For now, leave it to Itachi; if he can't handle it, then they'll activate the backup plan.
...
The night wind whipped up dust from the ruins, slapping against the wrinkled face of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Fugaku, repeat what you just said."
Fugaku clutched his bleeding left eye, his voice hoarse but firm: "Hokage-sama, that person... is the true culprit behind the Nine-Tailed incident."
The Nine-Tailed incident.
It was Konoha's eternal pain, the cause of his wife's death and the death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, and the Root of all evil that led to the Uchiha Clan being ostracized, isolated, and eventually turning to rebellion.
So, the mastermind was right in front of him.
The Third didn't ask again. He turned to face "Madara," spinning his staff in his hand. (I'll refer to him as Obito from now on; surely everyone knows, right?)
"Then," the old man's voice turned cold, "you shall stay here."
"Heh, what can you do now that you know?" Obito sneered, his body beginning to phase, "In this rotten world..."
"Let's go!" The Third had no interest in listening to the villain's speech.
The staff in his hand suddenly thickened and elongated, sweeping out like a pillar supporting the sky.
At the same time, Fugaku endured the excruciating pain of overusing his ocular power, and the arm of his Susanoo condensed once again, coordinating with the staff to seal off all of Obito's escape routes.
"Useless." Obito stood there without moving.
The massive staff and the heavy fist of the Susanoo passed through his body without any obstruction, smashing into the ruins behind him and kicking up clouds of dust.
"I see... so this is what you call 'phasing."" The Third retracted his staff and formed hand seals, "Then how about this? Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness!"
The world before Obito's eyes instantly plunged into darkness. His vision was completely stripped away; this was a Ninjutsu developed specifically against the Sharingan.
In his panic, Obito wanted to retreat into the Kamui dimension, but the sound of wind breaking rang in his ears.
"shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Obito had no choice but to interrupt Kamui and activate his phasing; a dozen shuriken passed through his body and nailed into the ground at his feet.
"It seems you can't maintain your phasing when you want to use that space-time Ninjutsu..."
The Third's voice rang out from all directions. It was the Shadow Clone technique.
Before Obito could respond... Boom—
The shuriken at his feet suddenly exploded!
Those were not ordinary shuriken. What fell like a rain of flowers were shuriken covered in special exploding tags.
Boom, boom, boom—the continuous explosions rang through the night sky, and the firelight illuminated the ruins as bright as day.
These were not just ordinary exploding tags; they were a chain-explosion technique improved based on the principle of the Second Hokage's "Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags."
Caught in the explosions, Obito had no choice but to maintain his phasing state.
Although he tried to move, he was blind and could only run around like a headless fly.
And no matter how he ran, the explosions followed him like a shadow.
"How long can you maintain that phasing? Three minutes? Five minutes? Surely not too long, right?"
The Third's voice was drowned out by the continuous explosions, but Obito began to panic.
This old guy was much harder to deal with than he had imagined.
Although he was fine for the moment, Obito dared not gamble on whether the explosions would stop first or his phasing would reach its limit.
He had to find a way to break the deadlock.
...
In the shadows at the end of the street, a figure slowly walked out.
The person was wearing an Anbu vest and carrying a ninja sword on his back. His long black hair was tied behind his head, fluttering gently with the night wind.
When he stepped into the moonlight, his young but exhausted face was revealed, the blood not yet dry on his face reflecting the light.
"Itachi?" Danzo narrowed his eyes, feeling slightly relieved, but then his heart tightened again.
Because Itachi did not kneel on one knee to report the mission as usual, but just stood there straight.
"Did you clear out the Police Force?" Danzo asked tentatively, "Well done. It seems I don't have to do it myself."
Itachi didn't speak.
He just stared at Danzo quietly. His ink-black eyes instantly turned into blood-red three-tomoe Sharingan, and then the tomoe spun wildly, connecting into the shape of a shuriken.
Mangekyo Sharingan.
Terai reacted quickly. The moment Itachi's eyes began to change, he stepped in front of Danzo and drew his short sword to meet him—
"Tsukuyomi!"
After taking just one step, Terai's eyes went vacant, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Itachi... do you know what you are doing?"
Danzo's single eye stared fixedly at Itachi, but he was careful never to meet his gaze. He didn't even glance at Terai, who had blocked the Tsukuyomi for him.
"I am very clear," Itachi's gaze was calm, "completing my mission."
Itachi raised his hand and wiped the bloodstains from his cheek with his palm. It was the blood of his clansmen, perhaps Inabi's, or perhaps someone else's.
"Cleaning up the clan, eliminating the threat of rebellion... I have done all of these."
Itachi walked towards Danzo step by step, his ninja sword slowly unsheathing with a harsh grating sound.
"Now, there is only one last mission left."
"The last mission? To eliminate me?"
Danzo did not retreat; instead, he slammed his cane heavily, making a dull "thud" sound.
The old man's single eye showed no trace of panic, only condescending mockery: "Uchiha Itachi, are you truly ignorant, or are you playing dumb? I am the Root, the Roots buried deep underground! Without me absorbing that unseen corruption and darkness, the great tree of Konoha would have withered and died long ago!"
Not only did he not run, but he took a step forward.
"Did Hiruzen send you? Is that guy finally going to discard the tool after it's served its purpose?" Danzo's lips curled into a mocking arc, "Or... did that brat Haruko feed you some kind of love potion?"
"Don't make yourself sound so noble. Your so-called 'for the Village " is nothing but a fig leaf to cover your selfish desires. For your own desires, you can sacrifice anyone."
Itachi raised the short sword in his hand. The strain from using Tsukuyomi had finally eased.
"Danzo, you are not the Roots that nourish the tree; you are a tumor growing on Konoha."
Now, it is time to end this.
"Young people are always so impatient."
Facing the approaching blade, Danzo suddenly pulled a strange smile and ripped off the white bandage over his right eye.
"That is... Shisui's eye?!"
Itachi reached for the signal flare behind his chest plate; that was the backup plan he and Haruko had agreed upon.
Haruko's warning before he left echoed in Itachi's ears:
"Itachi, when facing that old schemer Danzo, use your ultimate move immediately to take him out!"
Danzo's chatter just now was to accumulate Chakra, to buy time to activate this Mangekyo!
"Don't listen to his nonsense, don't give him a chance!"
And yet, because I was greedy for the breathing room to recover my ocular power, I played along with his performance!
"Don't be careless, absolutely not!"
Sorry, Haruko... I'll leave the rest to you.
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