Chapter 88: The Fall of Root
BOOM—!!!
The pitch-black Rasenshuriken exploded once again, the violent chakra storm completely devouring Danzō's position. Newly grown trees were ground to powder the instant they contacted the black stardust, smoke and dust rolling like tidal waves.
"How unsightly, Danzō."
Menma's voice came from the other side of the smoke, carrying undisguised mockery.
"Temporarily possessing both Sharingan and Mokuton power, yet only managing this level of performance?"
This was mockery from the heart. In Menma's view, Danzō's use of power was laughably pathetic—Mokuton aside, given his limited chakra reserves, but what about Sharingan? Kakashi had copied over a thousand jutsu with just one three-tomoe, earning the title "Copy Ninja" throughout the shinobi world. And Danzō?
Actually using Sharingan as revival coins?
The smoke gradually cleared, revealing Danzō's disheveled figure. When he attempted Mokuton counterattacks, Menma remained completely unfazed, not even furrowing his brow.
'Why... why does he know everything?!'
Danzō even began suspecting Menma had connections with Orochimaru—otherwise how could his trump cards be seen through to this extent?
"Huff... huff..."
Heavy breathing echoed particularly clearly in the silent barrier. Danzō tremblingly raised his arm... only one Sharingan remained.
Fighting spirit receded like tide.
'It's already... impossible to reclaim Kotoamatsukami.'
His clouded lone eye rotated, beginning to search for escape routes. Hokage position, ambitious aspirations—none of that mattered now—
'Konoha cannot exist without Root... I must survive!'
Crack—
Tooth-grinding bone friction sounds came from Danzō's arm. Hashirama cells writhed on the edge of losing control, small woody textures already surfacing on his skin. With chakra nearly depleted, even basic suppression was difficult to maintain.
'Must break through these damned summoning beasts and destroy the barrier!'
Danzō tremblingly raised his hands to form seals, the final Sharingan spinning frantically on his arm.
"Izanagi!"
Instantly, the world seemed reset. Danzō's figure suddenly vanished from the Nine Masks' killing formation, rematerializing several meters away. This was his final trump card—sixty seconds of absolute invincibility!
"ROAR!"
The white tiger's claws tore through air, striking down. Danzō neither dodged nor avoided, allowing the massive claws to pierce his chest. In the moment of death, a new figure had already materialized to the side.
Suzaku's talons descended from above, slashing the fleeing figure's throat—the next second, the completely unharmed Danzō appeared again, taking another step forward.
Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise's combined attack crushed him to pulp, but before the blood dried, a new body was already charging forward.
'Thirty-seven seconds...'
'Twenty-three seconds left!'
The barrier's light screen was within reach. Danzō coughed blood while forming seals, Fūton chakra compressed to its limit in his throat—
"Fūton: Shinkū Daidama!"
A violent wind sphere two meters in diameter shot out, the barrier wall violently distorting under impact. Purple sigils shattered in succession, spider-web cracks appearing on the light screen. But something strange happened—Menma and the Nine Masks all remained perfectly still, as if appreciating this futile struggle.
Crack!
With a crisp shattering sound, the barrier finally collapsed. Danzō staggered out of the cage, fingers grasping at the free night sky.
'I'm out...! Must escape—'
Manic joy burst from his lone eye. Hokage position, grand ambitions—all were crushed by survival instinct in this moment. Only one thought remained in his mind.
'Survive... not for myself... for Konoha! Must get away from that madman! I must live!!'
Danzō's consciousness suddenly blurred for a moment.
'Wait...'
He suddenly recalled that mysterious person wearing a mask beside Menma—another Ember organization member. When the other moved, a crimson Sharingan had briefly shown through the mask's gaps.
'Uchiha clan member? An Uchiha living outside? Could the Nine-Tails incident have been...'
This terrifying speculation exploded in his mind, but survival instinct drove him to continue his frantic flight. His legs burst with incredible speed, covering hundreds of meters in moments.
Suddenly, a sense of wrongness surfaced.
'Something's off... chakra should be exhausted...'
He looked down at his arm—those Hashirama cells that should have gone berserk from chakra depletion were strangely quiet. No woody traces appeared on his skin surface; even pain had vanished.
'Could it be—'
Danzō suddenly tried to form seals to dispel genjutsu, but just as his fingers moved—
Squelch!
Heart-rending agony exploded from his chest. Even breathing became luxury. In this pain, the entire world began twisting, cracking...
"Wheeze... wheeze..."
When Danzō regained consciousness, what met his eyes was—the completely intact purple barrier.
Menma at close range, and... a kunai deeply piercing his heart.
"When... did this happen..." Danzō coughed up blood, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.
"When you activated Izanagi again."
Shisui, who had been silently observing, suddenly spoke. He stepped forward, the Sharingan beneath his mask slowly rotating.
"The genjutsu... began from that moment."
Danzō struggled to move his eyes, looking at his Sharingan-embedded arm... severed cleanly at the shoulder!
'So the "invincibility time," the "barrier breaking," the "hope of escape"—all were carefully woven illusions!'
Menma slowly twisted the kunai, the sound of metal stirring in the heart bone-chillingly horrifying. Even through the fox mask, Danzō could sense the other's cat-and-mouse amusement.
"Never would have thought..."
Menma slowly withdrew the bloodied kunai, metal scraping against flesh with tooth-grinding sounds. Danzō violently spat blood.
"Your desire to survive actually made you unable to detect even genjutsu." Menma flicked blood droplets from the kunai. "In a calm state, you should have immediately seen through such illusion, right?"
Danzō stared fixedly at the mask before him, throat producing wheezing sounds.
"Sorry, I have a rather nasty personality. Seeing you desperately trying to survive... I couldn't help wanting to give you some hope."
"But you took so long to realize it was genjutsu... how careless."
Danzō's vision began blurring, but Menma's every word pierced his ears like blades.
"So precious about your own life... yet speaking so lightly of others' sacrifices... calling them necessary sacrifices."
"You really are rotten through and through, Danzō."
Danzō struggled to turn his eyes toward the mysterious person standing aside. That voice...
'This voice is...'
"You... are Uchiha Shisui?!" Danzō's pupils suddenly contracted. "Itachi clearly said you committed suicide! Why are you with Ember—"
Blood suddenly surged to his throat, choking him into violent coughing.
"Could it be... you betrayed Konoha?!"
Shisui's mask moved slightly. "To save the Uchiha clan... I had no choice." No denial, no excuses, only calm statement.
"Betrayal?" Menma suddenly laughed coldly. "If I remember correctly... it was you, this Konoha higher-up, who attacked your own village's shinobi."
"It was you who betrayed Shisui... now you're accusing others of betrayal?"
"I'm tired of you, Danzō."
"This time your sensei won't come to save you..."
"The Hokage must consider all of Konoha's safety."
"It's late... so please..."
"Quietly disappear."
The final judgment fell. Danzō gasped violently, blood continuously spilling from his mouth. In desperation, he suddenly staggered forward—though the barrier still existed, though there was nowhere to escape, survival instinct still drove this broken body to make final struggles.
"I... I can't die yet!"
Danzō roared, voice hoarse like sandpaper grinding. He dragged his severed-arm remnant, stumbling and running within the barrier.
"For Konoha! I must survive! Only I... only I can lead Konoha to true prosperity!"
His roars echoed within the barrier, yet seemed so pale and ridiculous.
Menma turned to look at Shisui. "Will you do it? This guy did drive you to death once."
"Now's the perfect chance for revenge."
Shisui's mask lowered slightly, the visible Sharingan flashing with complexity. After a moment's silence, he slowly shook his head.
"Heh..."
Menma chuckled softly.
"That's just like you. I understand."
The next moment, the fleeing Danzō suddenly froze—the Nine Masks had sealed all escape routes. White Tiger's claws deeply embedded in the ground, Azure Dragon's body coiled ahead, Golden Serpent flicking its tongue, while Suzaku circled overhead, blazing wings obscuring moonlight.
'Already... completely hopeless...'
Danzō gazed at these terrifying beasts before him, suddenly stunned.
'So that's how it was... sensei back then... felt this way too?'
The Danzō who had just displayed such ugliness now strangely calmed down. The Second Hokage's teachings clearly echoed in his mind—
"The moment of sacrifice will always come... until then, preserve your life."
'Hiruzen... this time... I'm going ahead...'
Danzō knew well that facing Menma's Hiraishin and Shisui's Shunshin, his mutual destruction technique had no chance of success. Therefore... he poured his final chakra into his remaining right eye, gaze locked on the Nine Masks before him.
"For Konoha!"
The old man suddenly straightened his spine, tattered robes fluttering in churning chakra.
"I absolutely won't let you live! Ember's watchdogs!"
He violently tore open his clothing, revealing the Four Symbols Seal formula on his chest. Black sigils writhed like living things, rapidly covering his entire body.
"Come to the underworld with me!"