The reflected wind didn't just hit Shimura Danzō; it eroded the reality in front of him.
For a fraction of a second, survival instinct overrode the old war hawk's pride. Danzō's hands blurred through a single, desperate seal just as the vacuum blade touched his skin.
Poof.
A log of hardwood shattered in mid-air, instantly reduced to sawdust by the sheer pressure of the attack.
BOOM!
In Danzō's place, the earth screamed. The amplified Wind Style, now magnified by the terrifying precision of Vector Manipulation, slammed into the ground with the force of a meteor. A crater ten meters wide exploded outward, showering the cobblestones with molten dirt and pulverized rock. The shockwave flattened the remaining structures nearby, sending plumes of dust billowing into the night sky.
The ANBU operatives and Root shinobi, previously tightening their perimeter, were forced to scatter. Men and women in animal masks leaped backward, their hearts pounding against their ribs as they stared at the small figure floating above the devastation.
Monster.
Is that a child? Or a demon given human flesh?
He deflected Danzō-sama's wind style with a bare hand... without weaving a single sign.
Before the dust could even settle, the air pressure shifted.
Sasuke Uchiha was already moving. He didn't descend; he simply ceased to be in the sky and appeared directly behind Danzō's position, his movement defying all laws of momentum.
"I was almost moved to tears by that display of fatherly love," Sasuke whispered, his voice chillingly calm against the roaring fires. "But you switched places with a log so quickly. You abandoned your son's body to save your own skin. It seems your fatherly love was only a performance."
Behind Sasuke, the azure skeletal arm of his Susano'o materialized. The spectral fist, burning with cold indigo fire, wound back and slammed down toward Danzō's skull.
CLANG.
Shimura Danzō froze, his body locking up as the killing intent pinned him to the spot. His Sharingan eye widened, the pupil shrinking to a pinprick.
When?! He was just in the air—!
He had no time to think. He had no time to weave signs.
The azure fist descended.
"Stop!!!"
"Sasuke, enough!"
"Protect Lord Danzō!"
Voices erupted from the perimeter. Root operatives, their loyalty absolute and fanatical, surged forward, kunai drawn. ANBU flinched, hand sign seals forming on their fingers, but they hesitated. The pressure radiating from the boy was suffocating, a physical weight that threatened to crush their wills.
Above the chaos, Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward, his face hardening. The mask of the kindly grandfather had vanished, replaced by the iron face of the Third Hokage. He looked at the shadow leaning against the wall, his voice dropping to a tone that cut through the noise.
"I am sorry, Itachi," Hiruzen said, his words heavy with finality. "It seems... I can no longer guarantee Sasuke's safety. He has killed Danzō's son. He has attacked a village leader. The situation is beyond recovery."
Uchiha Itachi, his face a mask of blood and ash, trembled. Every word from the Hokage felt like a hammer driving a nail into his coffin.
He understood.
The moment Sasuke had crushed Hōki and mocked the village leadership, the plan had died. There was no turning back for the boy. The village would never accept a monster like Sasuke. They would hunt him. They would kill him.
"I understand, Lord Hokage," Itachi rasped, his voice hollow, broken by a grief he could no longer hide. "The safety of the village... and the safety of the council... come first."
Itachi straightened up, his Sharingan spinning wildly. He looked at his brother—the little boy he had promised to protect, the boy he had massacred his own family to save—and saw only a stranger staring back.
"Then, Itachi," Hiruzen said, locking eyes with the prodigy. "It is time to make your choice."
Itachi closed his eyes for a heartbeat. When he opened them, they were dry, dead, and resolved.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke."
POOF!
Itachi's body erupted into a murder of crows. The flock swirled in a vortex of wind and feathers, reassembling instantly between the descending Susano'o fist and Danzō.
The elder brother stood with his back to the enemy, his own crimson Susano'o manifesting in a flash of light. The skeletal ribcage and a single red arm extended, bracing against the indigo fist.
CRACK.
The impact shook the street. Itachi's feet slid backward, his sandals carving furrows into the stone. His face twisted in pain as Sasuke's raw power transferred through the Susano'o construct, rattling his broken ribs.
"Sasuke, stop," Itachi pleaded, blood dripping from his chin. "Leave Konoha. If you leave now, there is still a path back. Don't force my hand."
Itachi's mind was a whirlwind of failure. He had planned for Sasuke to be a hero. He had planned for a slow, painful growth fueled by hatred, culminating in a final battle where Itachi would die by Sasuke's hand, cleansing the boy's name.
But this?
Sasuke wasn't a hero. He wasn't even a normal avenger. He was a calamity. And by killing Hōki in front of the entire village leadership, he had painted a target on his back that could never be removed.
"Will the puppies trained by Konoha ever hesitate to bite?" Sasuke tilted his head, his Mangekyō spinning with sadistic amusement. "You disappoint me, Nii-san. You always stand in the way of what matters."
Sasuke didn't even look at Itachi.
The azure arm behind him shifted.
A second spectral limb materialized, bypassing Itachi's guard entirely. It slammed into Danzō's chest, the fist glowing with violent vector energy.
At the same time, the first arm twisted, driving its elbow backward.
BOOM!
The impact was instantaneous. Itachi's red Susano'o arm shattered into crimson mist. The force of the blow punched through his defenses, launching the older brother backward like a ragdoll. He soared through the air, his vision blurring, before crashing through the wall of a nearby merchant's house.
"Sasuke..." Itachi wheezed, collapsing in the rubble, blood pooling beneath him. "Why..."
He hadn't even been the primary target. Sasuke had swatted him aside like a fly.
Sasuke turned his gaze back to Danzō. The old war hawk was suspended in the grip of the azure skeletal fingers, his body trembling, his face pale with shock.
"You talk too much," Sasuke whispered.
He clenched his palm.
Vector Manipulation: Blood Flow Reversal.
Sasuke didn't need to punch. He simply rewrote the directional vectors of the blood pumping inside Danzō's body. The flow reversed instantly. Heart valves snapped. Veins burst. The pressure spiked to lethal levels in a fraction of a second.
"No—!" Danzō choked, his eyes bulging as his chest expanded beyond its limits.
POP.
Shimura Danzō detonated.
His body didn't just bleed; it exploded into a fine red mist, coating the Susano'o's fingers and the surrounding stones in a slick crimson glaze. Head, heart, limbs—everything was turned to soup instantly.
The street fell into a stunned, horrified silence.
The leader of Root. The most dangerous man in Konoha. Gone.
Sasuke released the blood from his spectral hand, letting the mist fall like rain.
"NO!"
From the ruins, Itachi screamed. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the agony in his broken body, his Sharingan fixed on the empty spot where Danzō had stood. His breathing was ragged, his mind fracturing under the weight of the night's horrors.
Sasuke stood on the air, his face impassive.
"Sasuke Uchiha," a voice boomed, cold and authoritative.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward. He had shed his ceremonial white cloak, revealing the mesh armor and dark robes of a shinobi beneath. The "Professor" was no longer the kindly grandfather. He was the God of Shinobi, and his killing intent was heavy enough to crack the pavement.
"You have gone too far," Hiruzen growled. "You will be subdued."
He bit his thumb and slapped his palm onto the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive cloud of smoke erupted, shaking the ground. When it cleared, a towering primate in ceremonial robes stood behind the Hokage—the Monkey King, Enma.
Hiruzen drew his sword, which shimmered and hardened into the diamond-hard staff, the Adamantine Staff.
But before Hiruzen could strike—
"Is that so?"
A voice drifted from the shadows behind the Hokage.
Hiruzen stiffened. The ANBU gasped.
There, standing on the roof behind the Hokage, unharmed and breathing calmly, was Shimura Danzō.
His cloak was tattered, his bandages stained with dust, but he was alive. No mist. No blood.
How?! He exploded! I saw it with my own eyes! Hiruzen thought, his grip tightening on his staff.
Danzō raised his arm. Beneath the bandages, his hand was pressed against his face. As Hiruzen watched, one of the Sharingan eyes embedded in Danzō's flesh slowly closed, its light extinguishing forever.
Izanagi, Hiruzen realized, horror washing over him. He used Izanagi in that split second. He rewrote reality to survive the blood manipulation.
"Izanagi grants me sixty seconds of absolute reality manipulation with these cells," Danzō lied smoothly, masking his true limit. "For the next three minutes, I am invincible. Sasuke Uchiha, your tricks are useless against me."
He looked down at Sasuke with hatred, then turned his gaze to Hiruzen.
"I told you, Hiruzen," Danzō said, his voice dripping with venom. "I told you that mercy would be our undoing. And now? You still hesitate?"
Hiruzen looked at Sasuke. The boy met his gaze with cold, spinning red stars. There was no remorse. No fear. Only judgment.
The Hokage's face darkened. The political calculus shifted in his mind. Sasuke was too dangerous. He could not be reasoned with. He could not be saved.
Hiruzen straightened his back, his voice projecting across the district, carrying the weight of absolute law.
"Uchiha Sasuke!"
Hiruzen's voice rang out, cutting through the smoke and the flames.
"I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, hereby declare you a rogue ninja. You are charged with the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, the assassination of Shimura Danzō, and the attempted murder of the Hokage. Your crimes are heinous. Your sin is unforgivable."
He paused, letting the accusation sink in.
"From this moment forth, you are the enemy of the Hidden Leaf. All shinobi are ordered to capture or kill you on sight!"