'Damn you, Hiruzen... are you still plotting against me even in death?' Danzo thought maliciously.
When Hiruzen was alive, Danzo had attempted to assassinate him more than once, let alone now that the man had fallen from power. Given Danzo's ruthless nature, he would eliminate any factor that threatened his path to becoming Hokage.
At this moment, he vividly recalled the look in Hiruzen's dying eyes, deep pity and sorrow.
'As expected, Hiruzen... you planned this exact scenario from the very start. This too was part of your insidious calculations!'
"Hokage-sama, you need to rest now!" Naruto emphasized again, taking a deliberate step forward. At this moment, he was only five short steps away from Danzo.
"And what if I completely refuse?" Danzo slammed his wooden cane down onto the floor, defiantly snarling, "What of mere rheumatism? What of being terminally ill? I will gladly die right here in this office if I must. Don't you forget, I am the Hokage!"
'Jinchuriki brat's brazen actions were surely part of that old bastard Hiruzen's calculations. He must clearly know I'm planning to make my definitive move on him.'
After seizing the Fifth Hokage's throne, Danzo fully planned to bring Jinchuriki completely under his absolute control.
Burning bridges immediately after crossing them, wasn't that just standard operating procedure for Danzo?
'So he's Hiruzen's final backup plan? I should've known these fickle ninja clans couldn't be trusted long ago. I'll simply absorb them all into Root later.'
Danzo was still intensely battling wits with the dead Hiruzen inside his own mind. Having been thoroughly outmaneuvered by his rival his entire life, his psyche was already deeply scarred.
"Guards, escort our esteemed Hokage-sama back to rest." Naruto completely ignored Danzo's defiant words and coolly repeated his order. Upon hearing this, the clan ninjas standing behind him advanced toward Danzo in perfect unison.
"Who has guts?!" Danzo screamed, rapidly unwrapping the thick bandage covering his right eye as he spoke. "Where is Root?!"
'If only I'd used Kotoamatsukami on Jinchuriki sooner.' At Danzo's furious command, dozens of Root ninjas flooded the space behind him. The terrifying killing intent emanating from the assassins made the clan ninjas shrink back in unison.
'With Root firmly at my side, you people are nothing but useless mongrels. The only one I truly have to watch out for is Jinchuriki alone. Unfortunately for you, I already have a perfect countermeasure.'
Thinking this, Danzo confidently touched his tightly shut right eye.
'Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan is the ultimate bane of all Tailed Beasts. Hiruzen, your little backup plan is utterly useless. I, Danzo Shimura, am the true Hokage.'
"What is the meaning of this, Hokage-sama?"
Naruto's face filled with dramatic astonishment. Making an exaggerated, theatrical gesture, he feigned deep surprise. "Hokage-sama, why are you rebelling?"
Danzo's face flushed a violent red again. Naruto's mocking words infuriated him to the point of genuinely wanting to spit blood.
"Guards, seize the Jinchuriki."
Danzo waved his hand imperiously toward Naruto, already envisioning his loyal Root ninjas ruthlessly capturing the boy.
Silence.
Danzo's hand remained frozen midair, yet not a single Root ninja behind him moved an inch.
This was incredibly awkward.
"Hokage-sama... why go to such desperate lengths?" Naruto's voice held a trace of resigned, mocking patience as he slowly raised his head to gaze at Danzo, looking down at the old man from his elevated position. "Root ninjas, hear my command: the Fifth Hokage is attempting a violent coup."
*Whoosh!*
The previously unmoving Root ninjas, acting purely on Naruto's command, swiveled their weapons toward Danzo in unison, perfectly ready and waiting for his next order.
Root was no longer Danzo's Root.
The entire personnel roster had been completely replaced, inside and out.
"I-I-!" Under the collective, cold gaze of his former Root, Danzo stared at Naruto, completely unable to speak for a long, agonizing moment.
*Ah!*
Unable to hold back the physical strain any longer, he violently spat out another mouthful of blood.
"Damn you, Nine-Tails Brat! I'll fight you to the bitter death!?"
Danzo finally could endure the humiliation no more. He forcibly opened his ultimate trump card: the legendary eye reputed to possess the ultimate genjutsu capable of controlling absolutely anyone.
"I hadn't planned to waste this precious technique on you, but..."
"Serve me, Nine-Tails Brat!"
"Kotoamatsukami!"
Still, absolutely nothing happened.
No matter how hard Danzo strained his right eye, pushing his chakra into it, Naruto showed no reaction at all. Because what Danzo had triumphantly opened wasn't the anticipated Mangekyo Sharingan, it was just a normal, heavily bloodshot eyeball.
"How is this possible?!"
"Are you looking for this, Fifth Hokage-sama?" Naruto casually pulled out a small bottle from his pocket. Inside the glass bottle resting in his hand, a pristine Sharingan lay quietly in preservative fluid.
This was Shisui's stolen right eye, once violently taken by Danzo.
"Remember? That minor surgery not too long ago?"
Danzo suddenly recalled that previously, Naruto had used Danzo's 'rheumatism' as a convenient excuse to put him under for a minor surgery. His knee had indeed stopped hurting afterward. He just never imagined that the so-called surgery had also secretly swapped out his most prized eye.
"Something this incredibly dangerous, how could it be left carelessly with the Hokage-sama? It must be properly stored away." As he spoke, Naruto calmly tucked the glass bottle back into his pocket.
Second Shisui's Eye, Achieved!
"Give it back, that's mine!" Danzo leaped up wildly, lunging directly at Naruto like a madman.
Naruto simply ordered, "Take him."
Naruto didn't even need to lift a single finger. Over ten elite Uchiha disguised as Root agents acted simultaneously. Under such overwhelming, coordinated force, Danzo had absolutely no ability to resist whatsoever.
Even his other hidden trump card, that grotesque right arm covered in implanted Sharingan eyes...
Sorry to say, it had been swapped too. The bandaged arm on his right side was also a complete fake.
Aside from his own consciousness, practically every modified part of his body had been cleanly replaced.
Poor Danzo, his entire miserable life had been effortlessly manipulated by others.
He had spent his whole life ruthlessly chasing the Hokage seat. To achieve this singular goal, he was willing to sacrifice anything and stop at nothing. It wasn't until recently, when he colluded with external forces and nearly destroyed Konoha, that he had finally taken this dreamed throne.
Just as he was eagerly preparing to make his grand mark on history, Naruto ruthlessly shattered his dreams.
He didn't even know that the supposed Hokage decrees he'd been issuing lately couldn't even make it out of the Hokage's office doors. But he completely deserved it!
"I am the Hokage! I am the Hokage!" Danzo shouted like a raving madman, but his desperate, flailing struggles were entirely futile. No one paid him any mind. All the shinobi present simply watched his pathetic display coldly.
As the old saying goes, 'Heaven's sins may be forgiven, but self-inflicted ones cannot be survived.' The miserable fate he suffered today was entirely his own doing. Not a single person in the room would sympathize with him.
Gradually, his screaming voice grew weaker, reduced to faint, pathetic moans, until finally falling completely silent as he was subdued.
"Our beloved Fifth Hokage-sama, due to days and nights of extreme overwork, has unfortunately suffered a severe relapse of his old injuries. His fragile body could no longer hold out and has finally collapsed entirely."
"Fifth Hokage-sama needs ample time to recuperate and requires a very long period of uninterrupted rest. So until Fifth Hokage-sama's severe injuries have fully healed, let us not disturb him any further."
"Guards, let us now respectfully escort Fifth Hokage-sama away."
===============
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