Konoha Village.
Danzo, who was handling paperwork, suddenly felt a wave of unease settle in his heart.
Frowning, he threw the documents onto the desk and called for one of his subordinates.
"Still no word from Yamanaka Akira and Shimura Ikku?"
Danzo had always kept people secretly monitoring radicals like Uchiha Wada, who had once been blacklisted by the Second Hokage.
Although some personnel had been withdrawn due to the war, Danzo still maintained a certain level of respect for prominent figures like Uchiha Wada. Even in such difficult times, he had sent two elite jōnin to monitor him.
Just a few days ago, the ninja assigned to the task had reported unusual movements from Uchiha Wada.
Before the Root could confirm what Wada intended to do, he had already slipped out of the village fully armed.
Leaving the village without authorization during wartime—during the Second Hokage's era, that would've already qualified him as a rogue ninja.
What worried Danzo more was whether Wada intended to take advantage of the war to lead the Uchiha hawks in rebellion.
After all, some of the elite Uchiha forces led by Fugaku had already headed for the Kirigakure battlefield.
If the two groups joined forces...
Worried that his suspicions might become reality, Danzo had sent Yamanaka Akira and Shimura Ikku to track Wada. If they detected any signs of collusion, they were to kill him immediately.
"No, but..." The subordinate hesitated.
"Speak."
Noticing the other's hesitation, Danzo's unease grew worse. He gestured for him to speak freely.
"Yes. Just now, we received a report from the logistics division. Yamanaka Akira has sent a messenger hawk toward the Kirigakure battlefield."
The Kirigakure battlefield?
Has Uchiha Wada really gone there?
Danzo's expression changed, and his tone grew tense. "Did he send the message to Raku?"
"I'm afraid not, Danzo-sama. We contacted Raku's team, but they say they never received any messenger hawk. I suspect..."
The Root ninja hesitated again.
"What are you suspecting?" Danzo's face turned completely cold. Chakra surged through his body wildly, his breath growing rapid.
"Takeshi-sama is at the Kirigakure battlefield..."
Bang!
Danzo slammed the desk with his palm. Violent wind-natured chakra tore the entire desk apart, sending splinters flying. Some sharp fragments even pierced the sturdy door.
"Send word to Raku immediately! Tell him to find Takeshi at once and find out exactly what Yamanaka Akira said to him!"
...
In a massive artificial cave near a lakeside, dozens of Kirigakure shinobi had gathered.
They wore masks and armor, standing alert in the center of the cave.
At the very deepest part of the cave, a massive creature was bound in chains, covered with all kinds of sealing tags.
Three-Tails—Isobu.
One of the tailed beasts possessed by Kirigakure. Due to the village's failure to find a suitable jinchūriki, the higher-ups had ordered it sent directly to the front lines.
Originally, the plan was to enrage the Three-Tails and unleash it on the battlefield. But Might Duy had kicked one of the ANBU leaders, Suikazan Fuguki. After that, Fuguki proposed a new plan.
That plan was to capture a Konoha ninja and deliberately let them escape. If the ninja chose to return to the village, the seal would then be released, allowing the Three-Tails to rampage inside Konoha.
At this point in time, Konoha's top-tier forces were all concentrated on the battlefield. Even if the Three-Tails was released there, it wouldn't do much damage to Konoha.
Fuguki's plan was approved by the higher-ups. It was also overheard by White Zetsu, who relayed the information to Uchiha Setsuna.
Obsessed with revenge against Konoha, Setsuna decided to hijack the plan and use the brat from the Shimura clan as a sacrifice—to make Danzo suffer.
He brought Takeshi into the cave. The Kirigakure shinobi inside didn't react with surprise at Setsuna's sudden appearance—they were already under his genjutsu, transformed into pawns by the Sharingan.
"The power Madara-sama bestowed on me really is something else."
Feeling the overflowing power in his Sharingan, Setsuna couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.
He wasn't young anymore. As one of the Uchiha who had rebelled during the Second Hokage's time, Madara had worried that his age wouldn't hold out long enough to counterbalance Nagato. So he gave Setsuna a slight enhancement.
By fusing a small portion of Hashirama's cells, Setsuna hadn't gained the ability to use Wood Release, but his mobility and ocular power had improved dramatically.
Now, he even had the confidence to fight Tobirama again. Maybe not win outright, but certainly not be subdued in one move like last time.
"Use this brat as the sacrifice."
He pushed the dazed Takeshi forward. A Kirigakure shinobi immediately lashed out with a water whip to bind him and started removing his armor.
A few members of the sealing unit rolled out the altar. Once preparations were complete, the sealing ritual would begin.
"Hehehe... Danzo, you dared treat me like that in the ANBU prison..."
Watching the Kirigakure shinobi get to work, Uchiha Setsuna let out a perverse chuckle, already imagining Danzo's grief and rage after losing his son.
Unbeknownst to him, not far outside the cave, Takeshi's real body had already slipped past the sentry's corpse and was silently approaching.
"This position is perfect."
Lying low on the ground, using the corpse of a Kirigakure sentry as cover, Takeshi observed the scene inside the dimly lit cave by candlelight.
The most eye-catching thing, of course, was the massive Three-Tails.
"Damn, I thought this was Minato's script. Turns out it's Rin's."
Seeing the Three-Tails and the altar before it, Takeshi immediately figured out Setsuna's plan.
"That old bastard Madara... has his eyesight gone? Does he really think I matter more to Obito than Rin did?"
Reaching behind his back, Takeshi was about to draw the blade—then paused, as if recalling something, and pulled his hand back.
"Let's give you a taste of poison."
He pulled out a set of poisoned senbon he had prepared in advance and waited for the right moment—for Setsuna to get close enough to his shadow clone.
Because the clone hadn't been dispelled, Takeshi had no idea what abilities this masked man possessed. So he chose the safest strategy: approach using the Flying Thunder God mark on the shadow clone.
"I'm gonna hit you with a Flying Thunder God kidney strike and blow your ass sky-high!"
Though he spoke boldly, landing the hit wouldn't end things immediately. There were still dozens of Kirigakure shinobi in the cave standing in his way.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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