Danzō waited for Noah's laughter to fade.
—It might be better for you to accept peacefully, Nawaki —he said, his voice now cold and distant—. It would be better for the village. It would be better for everyone.
—Better for the village? —Noah tilted his head, as if considering the proposal—. Or better for you?
The silence that followed was unsettling.
—Come on, Danzō —Noah raised a hand and showed him his middle finger—. Stop hiding behind that Will of Fire nonsense. You're a pathetic hypocrite. You don't care about Konoha. You don't care about the Will of Fire. The only thing you care about is your own power. You saw a young man with great potential, a bearer of the First's Wood Release, a genius who knows the Second's Hiraishin, and you wanted to use him as a weapon for your personal ends.
Danzō's face contorted. The mask of impassivity he had maintained throughout the conversation began to crack.
—So —Noah continued, lowering his hand and adopting a relaxed posture, as if he were having a coffee chat—. What's it going to be? Are you going to keep up the village story, or will you admit the truth?
Danzō did not answer.
Instead, he raised his right hand.
—Bring him down —he ordered, his voice barely a whisper, but laden with an authority that brooked no reply—. It doesn't matter if he's left at death's door. But make sure he doesn't escape.
The twenty elite jōnin did not hesitate.
Jutsus of all elements rose toward the sky. Fireballs, water spears, lightning bolts, rock projectiles. A torrent of destruction converged on a single point: the rock where Noah stood.
The impact was devastating.
The rock formation was pulverized. Stone fragments flew in all directions. Dust rose in a thick cloud that covered the entire area.
The shinobi held their breath, waiting.
—Is he dead? —asked one.
—I don't know —replied another—. The dust won't let us see anything.
Danzō watched in silence, his eyes fixed on the dust cloud. He had seen many shinobi die. He had killed many with his own hands. But something about this situation unsettled him.
—If he's not dead —he said, addressing his men—, at least he'll be seriously injured. He won't be able to...
He didn't finish the sentence when the dust suddenly dissipated.
And in the center, where there should have been a shattered corpse, there was only a flower.
It was enormous, pale white, its closed petals forming a bud that had protected them from the entire attack. From the cracks between the petals, the enemy jutsus dissipated in small wisps of chakra, absorbed by the plant.
Wood Release: Hōbi Technique.
The petals opened.
Noah emerged from inside as if leaving a room. He didn't have a scratch. Not even a speck of dust. His clothes were intact, his hair in place, his expression as relaxed as if he had just woken from a nap.
—Surprised? —he asked, yawning deliberately.
Danzō felt unease begin to crawl up his throat. This was not normal. Since when could a child this age master one of the First Hokage's most powerful defensive jutsus?
—How...? —he managed to say.
—How? —Noah shrugged—. They're mid-rank jutsus. Nothing I can't handle.
He rolled his eyes.
—Truth be told, I don't want to bother dealing with a bunch of weaklings. It's time for you to come out and play.
He brought his hand to his mouth and bit his thumb. Blood flowed, and with it, chakra.
—Summoning Jutsu.
Smoke burst into a white cloud that spread throughout the clearing. When it dissipated, a colossal creature occupied the space.
A red cobra.
It was no ordinary serpent. Its scales gleamed like polished rubies, reflecting the evening light in a crimson spectrum. Its body was as thick as the trunks of ancient trees, and its length disappeared among the rock formations. Its eyes, a piercing yellow, looked at the shinobi with manifest hunger.
—A summon? —Danzō narrowed his eyes—. It doesn't matter.
He bit his own thumb.
—Summoning Jutsu.
Smoke burst around him, and from it emerged a creature that many in the village would recognize. The Baku, a tapir-shaped beast, its long, twisted snout, its body covered in thick fur.
But compared to Garaga, the Baku seemed like a dog facing a wolf.
—That's not good —murmured one of the jōnin.
Garaga hissed.
His tongue slid between his jaws, tasting the air.
—Small —he said, his voice deep and vibrant, almost a whisper—. Small and weak.
—Attack! —Danzō ordered his men, as the Baku charged at the cobra.
Garaga did not move. He let the Baku approach. And then, in a movement so fast it could barely be followed, his head lunged forward.
His jaws caught the Baku completely.
The tapir didn't even have time to roar. Garaga swallowed it in one bite, his throat swelling with the prey, and gulped with a wet, terrifying sound.
—Delicious —said the serpent, licking his lips—. Any more?
The shinobi stepped back.
—Don't stop! —shouted Danzō—. Attack! It's just a snake!
The jōnin obeyed. Jutsus of all colors flew toward Garaga, and toward Noah. But when the attacks were about to hit, something stopped them.
A dark red ribcage appeared around his body.
The Susanoo.
The ribs of energy materialized around Noah, forming an impenetrable barrier. The jutsus struck against it and vanished.
Danzō saw it and instantly recognized that peculiar structure.
—The Susanoo?! —he exclaimed—. But that is...?
He looked up at Noah.
The young man had lowered his fox mask, and now his face was fully visible. But it was not his face that left Danzō breathless. It was his left eye.
The star-shaped pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan slowly spun in its orbit.
—A Mangekyō Sharingan?! —Danzō stepped back, his composure cracking for the first time—. Where... how...?
Noah did not answer.
Garaga, meanwhile, had thrown himself at the shinobi. His colossal body moved with the characteristic agility of a serpent. A whip of his tail swept away five men. His jaws caught another. His scales reflected attacks as if they were steel.
—Fresh prey! —roared the serpent, excited—. Full of chakra!
The jōnin screamed, fled, fought. But Garaga was too fast and too powerful.
Danzō clenched his fist.
He could not allow this to continue. If Noah escaped alive and told what had happened, his position in Konoha would be in danger. His entire plan would fall apart.
—Wind Release: Void Blade.
His hand moved in a horizontal slash, and an invisible blade of wind launched at Noah. It was fast and deadly, capable of cutting steel.
Noah didn't even blink.
A skeletal hand emerged from the Susanoo, materializing in an instant. It slapped Danzō with the force of a meteor.
The old man flew through the air, his body spinning out of control, and crashed into the ground with an impact that opened a crack in the earth. He spat blood, and his broken ribs crackled under his skin.
—Ugh!
The skeletal hand lifted him by the head, raising him to Noah's height.
Danzō hung in the air, helpless, his legs flailing in the void.
Noah looked at him with a mixture of contempt and boredom.
—Where did your arrogance go, Danzō? —he asked—. Where did your threats go?
Danzō did not answer. He couldn't. The pain clouded his mind, but he could still think.