The time winds back to half an hour ago.
Shimura Danzo's residence had become an invisible prison. The sudden "Root Disbandment Order" from the morning was still fresh in his mind, followed by this relentless house arrest under the surveillance of the Anbu.
He sat motionless in his quiet room, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table.
Hiruzen had finally made his move. This decisive strike was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; it must have been planned for a long time. He just didn't know how much dirt his old friend had on him. He sneered internally but showed no panic.
Though Root had been disbanded, all its members were still under his strict control through the most rigorous cursed seals and brainwashing. They could be activated with just a single signal. This house arrest was nothing more than a temporary containment of his physical body.
He rose and walked to his desk. With a calm demeanor, he took out a well-worn copy of Five Nations' Fables and unhurriedly brewed a cup of tea. Amidst the fragrant steam, he once again immersed himself in the epic world of political intrigue. Only this book could provide him with a sense of control and intellectual nourishment in his current predicament.
He was particularly fond of the character "Uchiha Monde" from the book—his deep cunning, ruthless methods, and decisive actions always thrilled him, as if he had found a kindred spirit across time.
As he reread the book now, his mind returned to his own situation. The slight agitation he felt from publicly refuting Uzumaki Naruto in the Hokage's office this morning slowly settled into a cold reflection.
"It was a bit... too hasty," he muttered, taking a sip of tea, his eyes filled with a dark depth.
That spiky-haired kid, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, was now strong enough to defeat the reanimated First and Second Hokage. His power was far greater than before. By openly taking an opposing stance this morning, he had not only exposed his intentions but also risked escalating the conflict.
However, thinking of Naruto's immense, unparalleled power, a hint of almost greedy desire flashed across Danzo's withered face.
Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan—Kotoamatsukami—was the ultimate genjutsu, capable of rewriting a person's will without their knowledge! If he could find a way to use this ocular jutsu on Naruto, completely subverting his will and making him the sharpest blade in his arsenal, then what did this petty house arrest, or a disbanded Root, even matter? The Hokage position, and the entire future of Konoha, would be within his grasp!
This is the true way of political maneuvering!
Danzo took another sip of his tea. But the moment he lowered his head to drink, his peripheral vision caught sight of a figure sitting in the main seat of his living room. A chilling jolt shot through his entire body!
The person was tall, their muscular frame subtly outlined beneath their clothes. They leaned back against the chair with a seemingly casual posture. What was most unnerving was the bizarre monkey mask that covered their face, and the pair of eyes behind the mask's holes—eyes that looked at him with an undisguised contempt, as if observing a curious new toy.
"Since when...?"
Danzo's internal alarms blared. Anyone who could infiltrate this place so silently, avoiding all surveillance, was no ordinary person!
He suppressed his shock and anger, rising to his feet and walking quickly into the living room, his face so grim it could almost drip water. "Did Hiruzen send you? What do you want?" Danzo's voice was low, filled with the authority of the "Shinobi of Darkness" he once was.
"Hiruzen? Heh."
A cold chuckle came from behind the mask. Uchiha Rokusuke didn't even change his posture, only his playful gaze scanned Danzo more brazenly, as if assessing a piece of equipment about to be scrapped.
"You're overthinking it, old man. My boss sent me to 'pay you a visit.'" He emphasized the word "boss," his tone filled with palpable disdain. "As for why? So you're the one called Shimura Danzo, huh? You play a pretty dirty game."
"You run a Sharingan supermarket on your arm and have a Mangekyo in your eye? Trying to cosplay as a genjutsu master? Do you even deserve to?"
"You insolent fool!"
Danzo had never endured such blatant humiliation. Not even Hiruzen had ever insulted him like this! What alarmed him even more was that this person had immediately exposed his greatest secret!
Instantaneously, killing intent surged through his chest like boiling magma. The bandage on his right eye felt like it was burning. He instinctively went to form a hand sign, ready to launch a lightning-fast attack to make this arrogant brat pay the most painful price!
However, just as his mind was ignited by fury and his chakra was about to move... his body remained completely still!
Genjutsu? Impossible!
He had eleven Sharingan in his right arm, and his right eye possessed one of the strongest genjutsu, the Mangekyo's Kotoamatsukami! How could he possibly fall for a genjutsu? But it was the only possibility! He tried to break free, his consciousness frantically channeling the ocular power of his right eye!
"Release!" he roared internally, his chakra wildly crashing against the shackles that bound his body. But there was no reaction!
"Izanagi!"
Shimura Danzo attempted to use this forbidden jutsu, which consumed a Sharingan to rewrite his controlled reality. The framework of the jutsu took form in his mind, and the power to rewrite reality by sacrificing a Sharingan seemed to be activating.
Yet, despair instantly set in: still no reaction!
The Sharingan was still there, the chakra was still flowing, and he could feel Izanagi activating, but the world around him hadn't changed at all! He was still in the living room, still frozen in place! He couldn't even bend a single finger!
A profound sense of absurdity and even deeper terror enveloped him. Could I have been trapped in a genjutsu all this time without knowing it? Is this sense of reality, this flow of chakra... all a construct of the genjutsu? What level of mastery is this?
"Save your strength, old man," Uchiha Rokusuke said, as if he had seen through all of Danzo's struggles. His mouth beneath the mask stretched into an exaggerated grin, and he let out a mocking laugh, like a cat toying with a mouse.
"You know nothing about power!"
"Your meager strength is only good for playing in a corner. Don't show off in front of a real god! Settle down; I'm here to chat with you." Rokusuke adjusted his position, crossing his legs. His posture was lazy yet extremely arrogant. "I'll be honest with you, I'm kind of curious myself. Which hell did you borrow the guts from to try and undermine my boss? To disrupt his plan to become Hokage?"
His voice suddenly turned sharp, and even through the mask, the cold killing intent was palpable. "Do you, of all people, have the right to deny my boss?"
At Rokusuke's words, Danzo's mind instantly reeled, filled with even more shock and uncertainty. The "boss" was Naruto?! He couldn't accept it! But the terrifying power that ignored his Sharingan's genjutsu resistance and completely suppressed even Izanagi forced him to believe it!
This spiky-haired brat has a monster like this hidden beside him? And this monster is just his subordinate?
Shimura Danzo was in a state of internal turmoil, but his years of experience allowed him to feign calm and make a weak attempt to negotiate. "Heh, what nonsense! My actions are not for a junior like you to question! That Uzumaki Naruto..."
He was trying to negotiate on the surface, but secretly, he was exerting all his power. His chakra once again surged wildly within him. Seals? Cursed seals? Secret techniques? All of them were useless!
All of his usable jutsu activated one by one, yet they were all like stones sinking into the sea. The torrent of chakra inside him was still there, but his ability to influence the outside world had been completely stripped away! He couldn't even make the runes under his skin glow with a hint of light!
For a moment, he even considered activating the sealing jutsu on his body to take them both down. But as he issued the command, his body remained as still as a perfectly crafted dummy! Even the command to self-destruct seemed to be blocked.
A complete defeat! This was an absolute, all-encompassing annihilation! All his trump cards were nothing but children's toys in the face of this person's absolute power! The person hadn't even lifted a finger!
"Tsk, still trying to put on a show?" Uchiha Rokusuke scoffed. This old man seemed to have many tricks up his sleeve, but what was the use? The boss's orders were absolute. This old man's only outcome was death. Only his reputation would serve as the "Scapegoat Number Two" after Uchiha Obito, a sacrifice to settle old and new grudges.
With this thought, he stood up and brushed off some imaginary dust. "Alright, we've chatted enough. The boss is kind-hearted and doesn't want to waste more words with you. He just told me to send you on your way."
"But... before that, I need to extract all your information!"
He held up three fingers, his voice tinged with a final note of mockery. "Three minutes. Use that time to properly reflect on your false and filthy life."
The moment his words fell, Uchiha Rokusuke's eyes beneath the mask changed. Within their dark sockets, two eerie, deep-purple rings of light bloomed—the Rinnegan!
"What?!"
Shimura Danzo's soul seemed to freeze at that moment! A boundless terror instantly engulfed him! It was... it was those legendary eyes of a god! How could he possess them? Who... who was he?!
Uchiha Rokusuke's right hand was now resting on Danzo's head! Danzo felt a jolt run through his body, and then his life began flashing before his eyes.
A moment later...
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! You weren't a good person at all, old man! A mere ant, yet you dared to covet the sun's brilliance. How foolishly you overestimated yourself!"
After finishing the extraction, Uchiha Rokusuke saw exactly what the old man had been thinking just a moment ago. It was a fool's dream. But in his search through Danzo's memories, he found another key detail: the Tongue Sealing Cursed Seal. This thing was like a death notice; the moment Danzo died, all the Root shinobi would immediately know. The old man's reputation still needed to serve as a scapegoat, so no one could know he had "died."
Since that was the case...
"Sealing Jutsu: Soul Coffin Eternity!"
A large cluster of black symbols instantly shrank, completely confining and sealing Danzo's terrified soul within his still-living body!
"I was going to give you a quick death, but now you don't even have the right to die! What a pain." Rokusuke sighed, using Kamui to take the body away, and then looked out the window.
The show to be staged next was: The Great Play of Danzo's Defection.
Starring: Uchiha Rokusuke as Shimura Danzo Unit #1!
The time returns to the present.
As Sarutobi Hiruzen was gathering the Anbu to arrest Danzo, he received a shocking piece of news.
Shimura Danzo! Had defected!