Chapter 252: Danzō is a Traitor—Who Agrees, Who Opposes?
Akiyama Makoto had already discovered Danzō's location, but because Danzō had been leading the evacuation of civilians, and Makoto had been busy calming the situation and displaying his strength, he hadn't attacked Danzō directly.
But Makoto's unmasked actions couldn't escape the detection of the sensory ninja on Danzō's side.
Thus, the moment Makoto stopped his rampage, Danzō decided to retreat with his subordinates, which meant it was time for Makoto to act.
A hundred Makotos completely surrounded Danzō. The main body stepped forward, a faint smile on his lips. "Lord Danzō, where are you going?"
More than a dozen Root ninja were protecting Danzō in the center. They would attack Makoto at a single command.
In fact, under Makoto's perception, the Root ninja had already begun to act.
For example, Yamanaka Fū had silently taken out his puppet, and Aburame Torune had already prepared his poisonous insects.
Seeing Makoto appear before him, Danzō became calmer.
A Makoto who had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique and had seemingly bottomless chakra was obviously very difficult to deal with.
As the shadow ruler of Konoha, Danzō naturally understood what kind of reputation Minato Namikaze had built back then.
But hadn't Minato died all the same?
As long as he was a ninja, he would have weaknesses, let alone Makoto, who was just a fledgling brat.
To dare to appear in front of him... he truly didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth.
At this thought, the Shisui Mangekyō Sharingan hidden under Danzō's bandages began to spin slowly.
But because there were too many shadow clones in front of him, he wasn't sure which one was the main body, so he didn't attack rashly.
He only had one chance. Once he controlled Makoto, then after Hiruzen Sarutobi died, he would be the undisputed Hokage of Konoha.
At this thought, Danzō's cold heart burned hot.
As for the possibility of losing to Makoto, Danzō barely considered it.
With Shisui's eye, capable of casting Kotoamatsukami, plus ten minutes of invincibility from Izanagi, he really didn't know how he could lose.
So Danzō raised his hand, as if to calm the emotions of those around him. After the people around him made way, he stepped forward and said, "Akiyama Makoto, I didn't expect you to hide such powerful strength."
"What do you intend to do by standing in front of me now? Are you betraying Konoha?"
"Lord Danzō, you must be joking. I'm just curious why you aren't participating in the battle, but hiding here instead. What is your purpose? Are you waiting for Lord Hokage to die?"
Danzō scoffed. "Hiruzen is the Strongest Hokage. How could he be defeated by mere foreign enemies? I am just waiting for news of his victory."
"As for my actions just now, since you have already dealt with the enemies, there is naturally no need for me to stay here. I am preparing to go back and design a counterattack plan against the Sand Village. We must make these people pay a sufficient price."
Danzō's words were watertight. Decades of lying and passing the buck had shaped the Danzō of today.
His verbal skills were not weak at all; otherwise, relying on ninjutsu alone, it would have still been difficult for him to gather so many outstanding young ninja around him.
He even turned from defense to offense with his next sentence, putting Makoto in an unrighteous position.
"On the contrary, it is you. Why did you not report such strength to the Hokage earlier? If we had known your combat power, we would not have needed so many people to die today."
"Do you not trust the Hokage, or do you not trust me?"
The smile on Makoto's lips remained unchanged. He naturally knew that it was impossible to persuade Danzō with words. If problems could be solved by talking, why had he worked so hard to simulate until now just to improve his strength?
He was waiting for the best time to appear.
Jiraiya had already arrived on the battlefield. With his participation, Gaara and the One-Tails Shukaku were already at the end of their strength. Rasa alone could not defeat the combined forces of Guy, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma.
Originally, the four of them would have had to split up to stabilize the situation in other parts of Konoha, but since Makoto had nearly wiped out all the incoming Sand and Sound ninja, they could naturally afford to slowly deal with Rasa.
The biggest deciding factor now was the confrontation between Hiruzen and Orochimaru. Through his perception, Makoto could easily tell that Hiruzen was already hiding his shadow clones, preparing to cast the Reaper Death Seal.
But there was still a little time before the "best time" in Makoto's mind.
So Makoto said, "Trust or distrust is not something I can prove just by saying it, but by looking at what you do, Danzō."
"You call yourself the 'Darkness of Shinobi' and say everything is for the village. And then what have you done?"
"Decades ago, you didn't dare to be the decoy, allowing Hiruzen to become Hokage. Now, Hiruzen is putting his life on the line to protect Konoha, and you want to run away again..."
"Pfft. Danzō, oh Danzō. Is this what you call 'for the village'?"
Danzō's pupils constricted. He looked at Makoto in disbelief, not understanding how Makoto knew even this.
But then he realized. Makoto had taken orders from Hiruzen and could investigate past events in Konoha at will.
Hiruzen had also asked Makoto to write his biography. Could it be that Hiruzen himself had told Makoto all this?
Looking at Makoto's performance now... who could secretly teach Makoto the Flying Thunder God without letting him, the Darkness of Shinobi, know the secret... Heh.
So the conflict between Hiruzen and Makoto was just a cover to protect Makoto?
Danzō laughed, his laughter gradually becoming manic. The more he looked at Makoto, the more he looked like someone.
"Namikaze Minato... So you are the next Minato he has prepared. No wonder he insists on dying in the Hokage's seat. He is waiting for you to grow up."
Danzō had clearly misunderstood something, but Makoto didn't intend to explain. He said calmly, "Danzō, you only have one choice now."
"Go help the Hokage, or I will send you to help him."
"Attack!"
With Danzō's command, the Root ninja who had been poised to strike immediately moved.
A puppet flew at him first. It was Yamanaka Fū's Mind Puppet Switch Technique, the ultimate method for the weak to defeat the strong.
Makoto didn't dodge, but split the puppet open with a single slash.
The spirit residing in it quickly poured into his body, trying to seize control.
Unfortunately, even if Fū went all out, facing Makoto, whose spiritual power was maxed out and boosted by multiple talents, it was like running into a Tailed Beast.
In the spiritual world, Makoto's consciousness was like a towering giant, while Fū was the size of an ant. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake Makoto's spirit in the slightest.
As for Makoto's counterattack, it was simple.
The Formless Wave activated immediately, dragging Fū into an endless hell, tearing at his spirit with various genjutsu, and finally ripping it to shreds.
All of this happened in a flash. From the moment Fū formed the seal to control Makoto to the moment his spirit shattered and died, only a single breath had passed.
At this time, the attacks from the remaining Root ninja struck from all directions.
A pile of common five-elemental ninjutsu, along with various ninja tools, parasitic insects, and even ink beasts created by Sai's root predecessor tried to open a path for Danzō.
What awaited them was the ruthless ninjutsu suppression of a hundred shadow clones.
Makoto didn't use the Five-Element Grand Combo, but the continuous barrage of various elemental jutsu instantly killed more than half of the Root ninja. Aburame Torune wanted to rush up and use his nano-sized venomous beetles.
As a result, three shadow clones simultaneously treated him to Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique, and Fire Style: Great Flame Technique, instantly turning him into ashes in the flames.
On Makoto's side, a dozen shadow clones disappeared due to chakra exhaustion, but the remaining ones still suppressed Danzō's side in terms of both ninjutsu and strength.
Danzō looked at the two or three kittens left by his side, mad with jealousy and hatred. He simply stopped hiding and launched a large-scale attack on Makoto.
Wood Style: Violent Spear Tree!
Danzō's right hand slammed onto the ground. Then, giant trees thrust outward with him as the center, forcing Makoto's shadow clones to dodge.
Then Danzō used the Summoning Jutsu to call forth Baku. As soon as Baku appeared, it opened its large mouth and released a suction Wind Style to devour everything around it, sucking in several shadow clones.
But before Danzō could rejoice, a sizzling sound rang out. The shadow clones lit up with the light of explosive tags, and more tags were being summoned.
Danzō's pupils constricted. Is this the Second Hokage's Mutual Multiplying Explosive Tags?
But what kind of madman uses shadow clones to cast the Mutual Multiplying Explosive Tags? Shouldn't you use Edo Tensei or some other clone technique?
Using shadow clones would feed back the pain. Makoto was insane!
Danzō didn't understand, but could only react instinctively, activating Izanagi.
As for Makoto's side, naturally, he didn't need to worry.
The shadow clones dispelled themselves at the last moment, leaving only the light of the explosive tags.
After a series of explosions, half of Makoto's shadow clones remained.
On Danzō's side, only he stood unharmed. As for the Root members and his summon beast, they had long been blown to pieces by the explosive tags.
Makoto knew that there might be people he knew among those killed.
But so what? He wasn't close to them, and he didn't have time to use "Talk-no-Jutsu" to turn enemies into friends.
Enemies, especially those brainwashed by Danzō, were better off disappearing directly.
Danzō looked at Makoto with a dark face, because Makoto was still smiling calmly.
Even though his current appearance should have been terrifying, Makoto seemed to have seen through everything. This gave Danzō a very bad feeling.
Does this guy even know about Izanagi?
Danzō hadn't told anyone the secret of this jutsu, not even Hiruzen. Why was Makoto so calm?
"That was the First Hokage's Wood Style just now, wasn't it? So you have the Wood Style talent, Lord Danzō. Shouldn't you have gone to help Lord Hiruzen even more then?"
Makoto sensed that the time was about right and decided to make his real move.
The next second, the shadow clones turned into streaks of light, plunging the blades in their hands into Danzō's body.
Danzō, with Izanagi active, ignored the damage and began to forcibly counterattack, taking out Makoto's shadow clones one by one. He seemed to see the dawn of victory, keeping Izanagi active only to finally pinpoint Makoto's main body. Then he could release Kotoamatsukami and solve everything.
But just as Danzō focused his attention on Makoto's main body, his eye socket felt cold. The Kotoamatsukami eye was already in Makoto's hand.
As for Makoto's other hand, it had already grabbed Danzō's shoulder.
Makoto looked at the gem-like eyeball, feeling the special pupil power within it, and his smile turned mocking. "Kotoamatsukami, Hashirama cells, a three-tomoe Sharingan, Izanagi... Danzō, oh Danzō, did you really think no one knew what you were doing?"
As his words fell, several shadow clones swung their swords, shredding the bandages on Danzō's arm, exposing the hideous limb.
During this process, Makoto did not inflict any further damage on Danzō, so Danzō could not use Izanagi to evade these changes. Izanagi was, in the end, just a ninjutsu, not true time reversal.
At the same time, the Konoha ninja who had realized something was happening belatedly gathered around. At first, they were just curious who Makoto was fighting.
But after seeing the corpses of Root members all over the ground, and Danzō tortured into an inhuman shape by Makoto, everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.
Facing the crowd, Makoto pierced Danzō's throat with a blade. While Danzō couldn't make a sound, he said, "I am executing the traitor Danzō, who colluded with Orochimaru, the Sand Village, and the Sound Village to launch the Konoha Crush plot."
"Who agrees? Who opposes?"
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