Danzo's arm swelled uncontrollably, like a balloon about to burst.
His pale, off-white skin rapidly turned to wood.
Thick wooden spikes grew wildly, converging into a spear-like formation that lunged straight at Simu like a giant lance.
Even though it was made of wood, the power behind it was enough to pierce through a city wall made of solid rock!
As the massive wooden spear extended, Danzo's face turned deathly pale.
Unlike the original Wood Style creator, Senju Hashirama, Shimura Danzo clearly lacked the terrifying chakra reserves needed to sustain Wood Style for long.
The giant spear rumbled through the earth as it grew.
Even the Konoha shinobi rushing to the battlefield could see this massive commotion from a distance.
And back in the Hokage building, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood with his hands behind his back, watching silently from the window. After a long sigh, he muttered:
"I didn't expect you to go so far with your experiments on the First Hokage's cells, Danzo..."
Five Tails' expression darkened.
"This is the power... of that man."
No tailed beast could forget the terror of being dominated by that burning presence—Hashirama Senju.
And now, from Danzo... that same aura resurfaced.
Only...
"The one using it this time… isn't the same," muttered Five Tails.
Simu, standing atop the beast's head, chuckled softly.
Despite facing such a devastating attack, his expression remained relaxed—almost amused.
He casually swung Hachibai (Eight Fasts), his mace.
A crackling storm of thunder sparked to life above.
Without hesitation, Simu leapt head-first toward the oncoming wooden spear.
The moment he jumped, a web of black markings spread across his face.
—Sage Mode: Activated!
Natural energy surged around him, drawn from the environment in an instant.
Even the colossal wooden spear in front of him now seemed fragile.
A ferocious aura burst out from Simu.
It was so intense that it became visible—manifesting as violent, dark red lightning that wrapped around his mace like a living creature.
He raised his weapon.
"Senjutsu: Raijin III – Hidden Hellstrike!"
With a roar, Simu brought the electrified mace crashing down on the wooden spear from above.
The two forces collided in midair—massive thunder clashing against nature-born wood.
Snakes of lightning twisted and danced, tearing apart the heavens.
"RAHHHH!!"
Simu's roar echoed across the battlefield.
The power in his mace surged once again, multiplying.
The explosive impact lit up the earth in blinding red light.
Simu's strength pressed down relentlessly, and finally, the jagged fangs of Hachibai bit into the giant wooden spear.
There was a moment of critical tension.
Then—
The thunder exploded.
The massive wooden spear was torn apart as if shredded by the jaws of a furious beast.
Shards of wood—thousands of them—flew through the air, only to be swallowed instantly by crackling lightning.
Simu's seven-meter-tall body descended along with the thunder.
A brief silence fell over the world.
And then, all hell broke loose.
The suppressed lightning erupted all at once, unleashing a shockwave that leveled everything within a thousand meters.
The ground split and cratered.
Dust and debris exploded into the air, then spiraled outward in every direction from the force of the impact.
The wind that followed was unforgiving, lashing at the shinobi who had just arrived at the scene.
Among them stood Might Duy, his green jumpsuit fluttering in the gale.
The storm passed, and what remained was a battlefield dyed red.
The ground had caved in by four or five meters.
Might Duy stared, stunned.
If he had stepped into that blast zone, he would've been seriously injured—if not worse.
The other Konoha shinobi around him shared the same fear.
Akimichi Choza scratched his large head and asked with a nervous chuckle:
"Are we sure Simu even needs our help?"
The rest looked around at one another, unsure how to answer.
Eventually, Uchiha Shifang stepped forward.
"Regardless of his strength, Danzo was once a high-ranking elder of Konoha. He knows countless secrets of the village. We cannot let him escape!"
"Everyone, surround the battlefield!"
The Uchiha ninja behind him responded immediately, spreading out to encircle the area under Shifang's command.
As for the Anbu?
They stood still—expressionless and unmoving.
Their silence made sense.
Due to long-standing tension and manipulation from some in the Uchiha clan, the Anbu's reputation within the village had already soured.
Seeing this, Uchiha Shifang said nothing more.
Letting the Anbu join in was just a formality anyway.
In his eyes, there was no chance Danzo could escape Konoha while Simu was chasing him down.
Through the thick curtain of smoke, a towering figure slowly emerged.
It was Five Tails—with Simu standing proudly on its head.
"Your Sharingan count... must be running low," Simu muttered.
He looked past the dust, locking eyes with another figure in the massive crater below.
It was Danzo.
At this point, six Sharingan on his right arm had permanently closed.
Unlike the ten in the original timeline, Danzo only had seven in this world.
In other words, he still had one final minute of invincibility left.
Danzo coughed again.
At this point, not only was his face deathly pale, but his entire body had become emaciated.
Originally, Danzo relied on the power of the Sharingan to balance the overwhelming vitality of Hashirama's cells.
But now, after his fierce battle with Rei, that delicate balance had completely collapsed.
The reawakened Hashirama cells began to rampage, flooding Danzo's body with vitality—devouring his other cells in the process.
Only one Sharingan remained active on his right arm.
It could no longer suppress the activity of Hashirama's cells.
In other words, Danzo had completely stepped into a death spiral.
But even in this extremely weakened state, his eyes still burned with intensity. In a hoarse voice, he growled:
"For Konoha... I must kill you here!"
With that, he slammed his pale right hand into the ground.
"Wood Style: Root Burial!"
Danzo's already unstable right arm completely disintegrated, and thousands of roots burst from his hand, plunging into the ground, madly absorbing nutrients.
Rei's expression changed. Sensing something ominous, he turned around and shouted:
"All Konoha Shinobi, evacuate the battlefield immediately!"
In the next instant, the entire ground began to tremble violently.
Countless colossal trees erupted from the earth, threatening to engulf everything in sight.
As the largest creature present, the Five-Tails was immediately entangled by countless roots.
The roots were so tough that not even the Five-Tails' sharp horns could tear them apart.
Worse still, the roots wrapped around the Five-Tails began draining its chakra.
Dark red chakra surged from the Five-Tails' body, rapidly being devoured and turned into nourishment—fueling the trees to grow even more wildly.
Thick canopies of green leaves quickly spread over the branches.
This final desperate technique unleashed by Danzo was terrifyingly powerful.
Even a tailed beast couldn't break free.
But its greatest flaw… was that it didn't distinguish between friend and foe.
Anyone caught in its range—would be bound by the trees, have their chakra absorbed, and be turned into nutrients.
Even Danzo himself wasn't spared.
Rei raised his hand, and the Ama-no-Murakumo Sword (Tiancongyun Sword) materialized in his grip.
With a wide slash, several thick branches in front of him were sliced clean through.
Seeing the Five-Tails struggle in agony amidst the trees, Rei immediately dispelled the summoning.
But the forest didn't stop.
Dozens of tree limbs, over a hundred meters long and more than ten meters thick, came crashing toward him.
Without hesitation, Rei transformed into his human form, and using his awakened Logia ability, became light itself and zipped through the woods.
Danzo's technique had such a wide range that even the surrounding Konoha Shinobi couldn't escape.
All of them faced the deadly threat of having their chakra drained dry.
"This is Wood Style... the First Hokage's power—why is it appearing here?!"
Panicked, they slashed at the vines and branches with kunai.
But their weapons were useless against the steel-hard wood.
Even Wind Style jutsu only bought them a moment before new branches wrapped around them again.
Among them, Uchiha Shifang managed to hold off the growth temporarily with Fire Style jutsu.
"You all need to retreat—now!" he barked.
Then, a blinding light flashed across the battlefield.
A white coat fluttered in the wind, the word "Justice" printed boldly on the back.
"It's Lord Rei!"
Relief washed over the Konoha Shinobi—only to be followed by shame.
They had come to support... yet ended up needing to be rescued.
Rei landed on a thick branch.
Just then, a familiar voice rang out in his ears:
"Congratulations, Kizaru's imitation value has reached 90%. Drawing now…"
"Ability extraction successful!"
"Congratulations! You have acquired the awakened form of the Glint-Glint Fruit (Pika Pika no Mi)."
In that instant, Rei felt a profound change sweep through his body.
Even though his mastery of the Glint-Glint Fruit had already been formidable…
Now it felt as though—
He was the Glint-Glint Fruit. He was light itself.
Brilliant rays of golden light burst from his body.
Rei slowly opened his arms. The wind whipped around him.
The space behind him began to tear open.
From that glowing rift, countless golden weapons emerged—each formed from condensed light.
These were no ordinary constructs.
Each one held power equal to the Ama-no-Murakumo Sword.
This was the ultimate evolution of the Glint-Glint Fruit.
Not only had Rei's speed and elemental prowess increased—
He could now forge weapons from pure light, turning his energy into deadly instruments of war.
Rei raised one hand and swept it downward.
His coat billowed behind him, and his lips moved softly:
"Sage Art: King's Treasury!"
Tens of thousands of golden weapons rained from the sky like a divine judgment.
Flashes of light streaked across the battlefield.
The once-dense sea of trees, as hard as steel, was torn apart like paper under the fury of the golden storm.
Each beam of light sliced through branches and reduced them to splinters.
And yet—
Not a single Konoha shinobi was harmed.
In just a single second—
The vast forest, once lush and overwhelming, was reduced to barren stumps.
And Rei stood in the center of it all.
The corners of his mouth curled into a faint smile.
"So this… is what awakening feels like."
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