Shimura Danzo completely lost control.
Even his appearance twisted as madness overtook him.
His body writhed—
like a maggot.
Bang!
White smoke exploded.
The stimulation was so severe that Danzo couldn't even maintain his clone. His emotions shattered, his mind collapsing into incoherent frenzy.
Sasuke froze.
Only then did he realize—
the Danzo he had been fighting was just a clone.
Disgust surged through him.
The mission wasn't complete.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound cut through the air.
Sasuke's heart skipped. He reached out and caught the object flying toward him.
A compass-like device.
A man wearing a Ox mask appeared in front of him.
That presence—
Sasuke recognized it instantly.
The same aura he had felt for years.
There was no doubt.
This was his mentor from the Red Sun Society.
Ox.
"Take it," Ox said calmly.
"Find Danzō's real body. Kill him."
"Why?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. His voice was steady.
Over the years, he had already guessed Ox's identity.
Now, the outline was finally clear.
"This is your final test," Ox replied.
"Complete it, and you'll truly graduate from me. You'll become a full member of the Red Sun Society. Then, you'll be qualified to learn many things."
"…Fine."
Sasuke accepted without hesitation.
Danzo was already his target.
Adding another reason changed nothing.
After understanding how the compass worked, Sasuke's eyes lit up. The needle spun wildly—then locked onto a direction.
"Danzo," Sasuke said coldly.
"This is where it ends."
He vanished, racing toward the compass's direction.
Ox followed silently.
His objective today was simple:
Everyone could live.
Danzo had to die.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bomb!"
Flames and water collided midair, canceling each other out. Thick mist spread everywhere, saturating the air with moisture.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
A massive wall erupted from the ground.
"Earth Style: Counter-Soil Flow!"
Chakra surged again. The wall softened instantly, liquefying and flowing back down, smoothing itself into the street.
"…Hey, don't you think these Earth Style–fixed streets are smoother than before?"
"I feel like I could skate on this."
"Too smooth is dangerous. People could slip."
"Then roughen it?"
"Got it—Earth Style: Rough Particles!"
"What kind of name is that?! Now it's uneven!"
"That's too much chakra. I'll adjust it—Earth Style: Fine Particle Control."
"…Okay. Flat, but not slippery. Perfect."
Inside the mist, two ANBU casually discussed Earth Style techniques like craftsmen arguing over pavement quality.
When the fog thinned, they resumed firing ninjutsu into the sky, like fireworks.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The noise was deafening—
as if a brutal life-or-death battle were raging.
Villagers peeked through door cracks.
"Why are they firing jutsu into the air? I thought ninjas invaded."
"Is it just those two ANBU? They look like idiots."
"Could the whole village be doing this? The rhythm hasn't changed at all."
"What's really happening? I was terrified earlier… now I'm just confused."
"Should we go check?"
"Are you crazy? You want to die?"
Eventually, curiosity beat fear.
Some villagers stepped outside.
The ANBU uniforms, once intimidating, now felt reassuring.
Konoha shinobi wouldn't hurt Konoha civilians.
"Hey… what are you doing?" a villager asked quietly.
"Mission. Go back inside. The village is still dangerous."
"What mission? Shooting jutsu into the sky wastes chakra."
"That's classified."
"…Feels like two idiots."
The villagers retreated, grumbling.
"…Did he just call us idiots?"
"…Kinda feels like it."
"How long do we keep this up? Uzumaki-sama never said when to stop."
"My chakra's almost gone."
"The Ninja Code says: no cancellation, no stopping."
"…We're screwed."
"Wait—Uzumaki-sama only said to make a big commotion. He didn't say we had to burn chakra."
"…You're right."
"See? We're the smartest unit. I can keep this up for three days."
Elsewhere, another ANBU team used minimal Wind Style to kick up dust, while banging pots, pans, and buckets with kunai.
It was loud.
Chaotic.
Rhythmic.
Like a battlefield symphony.
They even screamed occasionally—
convincingly brutal.
"Why is the fighting still so intense? Should we reinforce?"
"No. That means both sides are locked in stalemate. We hold our position."
"I heard this whole thing was caused by Shimura Danzo and Orochimaru."
"Danzo I know. But Orochimaru?"
"You don't know Orochimaru? He's one of the Legendary Sannin. Third Hokage's disciple."
"So this is revenge?"
"Who knows. Big people's grudges aren't for us to understand."
The stationed ninja chatted nervously, half-worried, half-curious.
At first, they wanted to rush out.
But time passed.
The noise never changed.
Same rhythm. Same chaos.
"It's strange. The 'lure into the urn' worked—Sand and Cloud showed up. So why does the village still sound like this?"
On a rooftop, Orochimaru muttered to himself.
From Naruto's moves, he could already guess most of the plan.
But this ongoing chaos?
It didn't make sense.
Was Naruto aiming for something bigger?
Who was the real target?
Orochimaru couldn't tell.
And for the first time in a long while—
the uncertainty made him uneasy.
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