Kazuki can barely stand, the forest is closing in, and yet he walks forward anyway—because some debts must be paid in blood.
Uchiha District outskirts.
Forest.
Kazuki's Shadow Clone dissolved into the air.
Earlier, it had planted Eight Thousand Spears into Mikoto from afar, then came here and waited.
At Kazuki's most critical moment, it formed three hand seals—Rabbit, Boar, Goat—and cast Izanagi.
It completed the final step.
The clone vanished the instant the seals finished, and the feedback it carried back—
drew on Kazuki's Yin Release chakra and completed Izanagi's activation within the real body.
The principle was simple, almost familiar.
Like Naruto's clones shaping a Rasengan.
Like a clone gathering energy for Sage Mode.
The moment the "rules" changed, Danzō felt it.
His brows knotted.
He exhaled harshly, his face turning ashen beneath his cold expression.
He raised a trembling hand to cover the hollow where his right eye should have been.
His dim left eye locked on Kazuki.
He panted heavily, sweat pouring down his face.
Losing Kotoamatsukami again had instantly drained what little Yin Release chakra remained in his brain.
On top of that, he had already used ocular techniques.
His mind scattered. His spirit frayed.
Kazuki wasn't any better.
He was mentally exhausted.
Both eyes burned with searing pain, the kind that made him want to collapse where he stood and fall asleep forever.
Right now, Kazuki couldn't even lift his blade.
Forget finishing Danzō—
he was standing purely on willpower.
This was what battles between Sharingan users truly were.
They could be dazzling—explosive dōjutsu colliding until everything burned out.
Or they could be like this—
quiet, lethal, understated.
Like two chess players in a match where every move carried hidden murder.
The only problem was—
Danzō was a terrible player.
In Kazuki's eyes, the old man should never have tried to compete with an Uchiha in the language of eyes.
In the trees, the Root members watching felt their hearts sink again.
Danzō-sama…
looked like he had lost.
The Uchiha, meanwhile, felt something they hadn't felt all night.
A thin sliver of dawn.
But neither side knew whether another reversal might still come.
Only Danzō and Kazuki understood—
it was over.
Their clash had made enough noise that the first ANBU reinforcements would arrive in less than a minute.
Kazuki couldn't kill Danzō himself right now.
But behind him…
he still had nine Uchiha.
He turned his head and looked back at them—at the ones supporting Tamayū—his calm gaze carrying a silent signal.
Go.
Tamayū, barely conscious, shoved Izumi away weakly.
Izumi snapped out of her daze, handed him to the teammate beside her, and flickered toward Kazuki.
Once they understood the truth of the massacre, their view of him had already changed.
Nanpū moved too.
And the other six Uchiha with him.
Red light bloomed in their eyes—three tomoe spinning into existence.
They drew their blades with hatred so pure it felt like it could cut the air itself, and they lunged at Danzō like predators.
Kazuki didn't control them.
He wanted to see what kind of people they truly were.
Even if they didn't move, Eight Thousand Spears would eventually force them to.
But if they refused to strike on their own—
then after Danzō was dead, there would be no reason to keep cowards alive.
To Kazuki's satisfaction…
they moved.
These weren't the most talented Uchiha of their generation.
But they were the most upright.
Kazuki knew he wasn't a good person.
But he still hoped—
to live in a world full of good people.
After tonight, all of them would likely awaken full three-tomoe Sharingan, their ocular power driven to completion by pain.
As for the Mangekyō…
that would be far harder.
"Damn it…" Danzō stared at the charging Uchiha and tried to retreat.
But with his mind drained, his body wouldn't respond the way he needed it to.
Kazuki reached into his clothes and took out the cylindrical container packed tightly with Sharingan.
He held it on his palm and spoke calmly, almost leisurely—
as if he had all the time in the world.
"Danzō."
"Every guess you made was wrong."
"Before I came here…"
"Only my right eye was a Mangekyō."
"My left eye was replaced from the beginning with an ordinary three-tomoe."
He lifted the container slightly.
"And I still have ninety-nine Sharingan."
A knife to the heart—without even swinging a blade.
Danzō's eyes widened as he stared at the cylinder.
His aged face twisted violently.
Because if tonight had ended the way it was supposed to…
those eyes would have all been his.
But he couldn't afford to think about that now.
He had to survive.
In the dark forest, footsteps multiplied.
Rustling.
Shifting branches.
Shinobi were converging from every direction.
Danzō's cloudy gaze slid toward the edge of the woods.
A breath loosened in his chest.
Hiruzen's ANBU.
And Konoha shinobi.
They were close.
He only needed to hold on for a few more seconds.
The thought had barely formed—
when Nanpū and another Uchiha were already in front of him, blades crossing in a ruthless X as they slashed into his chest.
Shhk—!
The crossed wounds tore through his torso.
Blood sprayed outward, splattering across Nanpū's face and the faces of the others, making them look even more feral.
"DIE!!!"
Two more Uchiha replaced them, flickering in from behind.
Their blades rose in diagonal arcs—
and Danzō's arms were severed cleanly at the shoulders.
Six Uchiha moved in sequence.
The remaining two swept past at ground level, cutting through his legs in a coordinated strike.
"Guh—!"
Pain detonated through Danzō's limbs.
He spat a mouthful of old blood.
But Nanpū and his partner were already back again, refusing to give him time to fall—
their blades snapping toward his throat.
Danzō stared at the cold steel closing in.
And he smiled weakly.
Because—
he had survived.
Crack—!
A violent groan of wood exploded upward.
Something inside Danzō's body unsealed.
From where his right arm should have been, a massive tree erupted—skyward, violent, unstoppable—wrapping around his mangled body.
In moments, it swallowed him entirely.
Only his old face remained visible amid the bark.
The change hit like lightning.
Nanpū and his partner went wide-eyed.
Their blades struck the tree's surface with a heavy thud—
and couldn't cut deeper.
The sudden growth blasted them back.
At that moment, Kazuki put the container away.
He patted Izumi's shoulder once—then removed his hand, signaling that he had regained just enough strength to walk on his own.
"Let's go," he said quietly. "There's no chance to kill him now."
Izumi nodded, still half-dazed, as though waking from a nightmare.
Under Eight Thousand Spears, the six Uchiha who had lost themselves to bloodlust were pulled back into line and retreated to Kazuki's side.
Izumi's two teammates supported Tamayū.
Tamayū, barely able to hold his head up, stared at the tree-wrapped Danzō and blurted out:
"Danzō's a damn tree?!"
The Uchiha's mouths twitched.
Even in this moment, Tamayū's insanity forced a flicker of clarity back into them.
The footsteps were getting closer.
This was the best chance they would ever have to leave Konoha.
Then Nanpū sensed movement beside him.
He turned—
and his face went rigid.
"Captain Kazuki…"
"What are you doing?"
Kazuki's expression was blank.
He drew the ninja blade from his back.
And began walking toward the tree.
The others realized it at the same time—
Kazuki had pulled them back to his side because he had regained enough strength to do it himself.
He was going to kill Danzō with his own hands.
"Captain—run!"
"Captain Kazuki!"
"Leave us here—go!"
"If you don't go now, it'll be too late!"
Their voices broke into frantic urgency.
Kazuki didn't respond.
He didn't even slow.
He reached the tree and leveled his blade at the place where Danzō's heart would be.
Then, with every ounce of strength he had left—
inch by inch—
he drove the blade inward.
Each inch of steel that entered—
Danzō's face twisted.
Blood spilled from his mouth in choking bursts.
Kazuki's voice was ice.
"In front of me…"
"Stop pretending."
Danzō glared at him, fury burning in his dim left eye—
but the blade kept sinking.
Until only the hilt remained outside the bark.
Danzō's life drained out like water from a cracked cup.
His eye slowly shut.
His head drooped.
A dead stump.
The Uchiha were stunned into silence.
Izumi's mind replayed Kazuki's earlier words.
No chance…
Wasn't that what he said?
Her wide eyes turned to Kazuki's back.
That man—
steady as a mountain.
Unmoving.
Unshakable.
And behind them—
Tamayū bared blood-stained teeth and laughed softly, stupidly, happily.
"Hehehe…"
As if, in his broken mind, this was the most natural ending in the world.
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