"Huff—"
Kuroki struck successfully, but he didn't retreat. Instead, he bit down hard, suppressing his pain, and without a word, removed his Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō.
His face contorted in agony, veins bulging on his forehead.
His right eye went dark.
His brain trembled.
Unbearable waves of excruciating pain surged through him as thick blood oozed from his right hand.
Panting heavily, Kuroki didn't hesitate. He pocketed the Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō and thrust the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō into his now-empty right eye socket.
The nerves in his eye socket, guided by chakra, transformed into fine threads that successfully connected with the Mangekyō's universal adaptive pathways.
The Uchiha around him gaped, eyes wide, as if they could feel the searing pain Kuroki was enduring.
Izumi's heart tightened.
The members of Root felt chills running down their spines. That guy had swapped out his eye without a second thought, without making a sound. Even within Root, this kind of ruthlessness was rare.
Kuroki opened his eyes, his right vision clearing from a blur, the pain still present but significantly less intense.
The Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō lay quietly in his eye socket, observing everything around it, trembling slightly as it regained its vitality.
"Big brother..." Tamao gazed at Kuroki's back, bearing his pain alone. His expression grew even more ruthless as he kicked Danzo aside.
Kuroki scanned the Root members in the trees.
He had used up seventy percent of the Yin chakra of the Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō, exerting mental control over the hundred elite Root members in the forest.
Even without the Mangekyō now, the imprint had already been made. These puppets could not rely on external help to break free from his control.
Among the Root members were eight Uchiha police force members, disguised.
At this moment, beneath their masks, their faces were pale, hearts racing, overwhelmed by the scene unfolding below.
On their way here, Kuroki hadn't explained the purpose of the mission.
Before leaving Konoha, he had to do one thing for the Uchiha: assassinate Danzo and reclaim what belonged to their clan!
Just moments ago...
Even Izumi, except for Tamao, thought Kuroki had lost his mind.
Assassinate the Hokage's advisor?
Not even the rebellious Uchiha high council would dare to dream of such a thing!
Even the elite Jōnin of the other four great ninja villages wouldn't dare to dream of assassinating this high-ranking figure, known as the Dark Shinobi of Konoha.
Even with his Mangekyō activated, Captain Kuroki could never pull off something like this!
But the scene before their eyes told them otherwise. Kuroki had used the confusion to infiltrate Root's ranks unnoticed, completing the decapitation mission.
Before this, no one but Tamao believed Kuroki could lead them this far.
"He... actually did it."
Naruki stood frozen in the trees, instinctively drawing his ninja blade, astonished to find he had regained control of his body.
The other Uchiha realized it too.
They turned to look toward the Uchiha district, where the wailing and screams had finally quieted.
There was no going back.
Their clan was gone.
Grief, despair, and unbearable sorrow exploded in their minds, fueling an intense surge in their ocular powers.
"Damn Konoha higher-ups!!"
"If Shisui hadn't died, the Uchiha wouldn't have come to this!"
Having lost everything, they resolved to follow Kuroki, who had led them this far, to unleash their fury on the true culprits!
Even the normally gentle and kind Izumi thought this now.
They drew their ninja blades, positioning themselves near Kuroki, silently waiting for the best moment to strike.
Kuroki turned his gaze from Danzo's corpse, briefly analyzing his own condition. His Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō had only one-tenth of its Yin chakra remaining.
Aside from the initial chakra used to control nine clansmen, he had one-tenth left, which his shadow clone had carried to the clan leader's mansion, implanting it into Uchiha Mikoto's body.
Despite replenishing his chakra with Kotoamatsukami, he was running on fumes.
He had to finish this battle quickly and conserve his strength for an escape.
But the fight wasn't over yet!
At that moment—
"Huff—"
Danzo staggered back, gasping for breath, but his chest suddenly seized. His left eye quivered as he locked his gaze on the two figures before him, life fading away.
In the second his heart was pierced by the ninja blade.
However, in Kuroki's Mangekyo Sharingan, just before Danzo's death, the corners of his mouth slightly curled up, revealing a cold, sinister smile.
Just as the remaining Uchiha believed the battle was over.
Suddenly, the black robe on Danzo's corpse slipped to the ground, revealing his bandaged right arm.
His index and middle fingers were raised, forming a half-seal with one hand.
The white bandage around his arm slowly unraveled, circle after circle.
In the moonlight, the remaining Uchiha were shocked to see that Danzo's arm looked like withered pale wood, with a three-tomoe Sharingan embedded on the back of his hand, slowly closing.
How terrifying!
"Shimura Danzo actually had a Sharingan, and the eye technique he's using... feels both familiar and eerie," said Naruki, the glasses-wearing ninja, looking at Kuroki in astonishment.
A sense of dread suddenly rose in his heart.
Kuroki's right eye's Mangekyo Sharingan, the Kotoamatsukami, vanished without warning, and even Danzo's corpse, which had been leaning against a tree, disappeared mysteriously.
It was as if the marks on a chalkboard had been wiped away.
Danzo reappeared five meters away.
In his hollow right eye socket, a Mangekyo Sharingan appeared, as if it had never been taken by Kuroki.
Before Kuroki could react, Danzo's concealed right hand had already formed a seal. He had used the Uchiha clan's forbidden jutsu: Izanagi.
Izanagi forcibly rewrites unfavorable outcomes, such as death from thousands of spear wounds, or the loss of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
During this time, he had already died, and even though Kuroki had taken his Kotoamatsukami, he couldn't use the "ultimate genjutsu" to alter his will.
For the next minute, Danzo could control the rules and alter any unfavorable factors against him.
This is the forbidden jutsu—Izanagi!
The members of the Root on the tree exhaled in relief, while the Uchiha tensed up.
"Young man, a word of advice—next time you assassinate someone, don't waste time talking!"
Wind stirred beneath Danzo's feet as he took a step forward, shattering the ground and unleashing a gust of wind toward Tamao.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Consecutive Waves!"
Whoosh—
The fierce wind howled.
Sand and dust flew.
Tamao was caught in the eye of the storm, the violent wind turning into countless steel blades, slicing through his armor and leaving numerous wounds on his skin, while the immense wind pressure crushed his internal organs.
Cough—
Tamao spat out blood and drove his ninja sword into the ground, attempting to withstand the wind release with sheer strength.
But his body was still swept away by the powerful gusts, crashing through several trees before landing heavily on the ground.
A large section of the forest was cut down by the wind release.
Izumi, startled, activated her three-tomoe Sharingan and skillfully dodged the aftermath of the wind release, jumping from the trees to retrieve the severely injured and unconscious Tamao.
The Uchiha scattered, avoiding the overwhelming pressure of the wind release.
Boom—
Several immobilized members of the Root could only watch as the wind release, at its peak, swept toward them. They couldn't even scream before being torn apart by the sharp winds, their flesh and blood dissolving into a mist of blood.
The Uchiha who avoided the wind release looked back at the devastated forest with wide eyes, momentarily unable to breathe.
After dealing with the nuisances, Danzo suddenly appeared in front of Kuroki, greedily reaching for her left eye socket.
Danzo's counterattack was completed in an instant, faster than Kuroki and Tamao's coordinated assassination attempt.
Not only did he want to kill this inherently evil Uchiha brat, but he also wanted to steal her Mangekyo Sharingan!
None of his subordinates reacted at all.
It must be because of his Mangekyo's ability!
Such a dangerous power should belong to Konoha, and only Konoha should control it.
He gladly accepted it!
At the same time—
Clang—
Danzo's right eye gleamed with a red light as the shuriken-patterned Kotoamatsukami spun.
Silently, Yin Release chakra was channeled through their eye contact, forcibly flooding into Kuroki's mind.
The situation instantly reversed.
(End of Chapter)