Shimura Danzo laughed deliriously. His legs were broken; like a dog with paralyzed hind limbs, he crawled along, leaving a long trail of blood. The friction of torn flesh against the ground seared with pain, but seeing Uchiha Yue standing there motionless suppressed his agony and lit a manic excitement across his face.
"Hahaha—such power, such overwhelming, domineering power—now it's mine! Hahaha!!"
Danzo howled with glee. He had just witnessed Yue's might: ordinary shinobi were helpless before such a monster, and now that power belonged to him. Once Yue was under his control, nothing would stand in his way; not even the Hokage's throne would be beyond reach.
"Quick—give me your eyes, give me your eyes!!"
Crawling like a dog, Danzo reached Yue's feet and kept shouting, barely containing his ecstasy.
Yue opened his eyes, looked down at the broken, pleading man, and smiled with a cruel, almost playful grin. Then, without warning, he lifted his foot and stamped down toward Danzo.
"No… no!!!" Danzo screamed. "You should give me your eyes—give me your eyes!! You're not controlled—how can this fail? How can it fail? Waaa!! No!!"
Realizing too late that Yue was never under his command, Danzo thrashed, clawing the ground and trying to leap away like a frog.
Boom.
The foot came down. Danzo's body was crushed and turned into a smear of gore.
"Danzo-sama!" the remaining Root operatives cried, and they rushed Yue in fury. Yue flicked a hand like swatting mosquitoes; they were struck down instantly.
A black shadow tore across the ground as someone attempted to flee.
"Heh—must live! Konoha can't do without me!" Danzo scrambled desperately. At the brink of death, he consumed a Sharingan to force Izanagi—he had to escape; if he lived to tell the tale, Konoha would rally and he could seize power.
"Oh—Izana gi? Does it even work? Danzo, you can't escape."
The commotion at the Uchiha compound alarmed nearby Konoha shinobi. A squad rushed toward the district and saw the panic: Danzo fleeing, and behind him a towering, dark-blue demon of a giant.
"Danzo-sama!" some cried, recognizing him.
"Save me! Save my life!" Danzo shouted as the shinobi closed in—he thought survival was possible.
Rumble.
A giant hand snatched Danzo.
"No! Don't kill me—you're Konoha's enemy! Sarutobi Hizashi will stop you! Let me go—please!" Danzo begged and thrashed, but before his pleas ended, Yue squeezed with all his strength. There was a sickening crack; Danzo's body exploded under the grip. He could not beg anymore.
Danzo Shimura—dead.
"Danzo-sama!" the onlookers screamed, then attacked Yue without hesitation. They might not understand what had happened, but anyone who attacked their village was to be stopped.
With screams and blood, they fell.
"Hahaha!!" Yue laughed, rising into the air as blue-purple chains erupted from his massive form. They writhed like serpents and bound shinobi in their coils.
"Ah!!" The trapped ninjas shriveled rapidly into dry corpses; their chakra had been utterly drained by Yue.
Those were Evil God Chains—Yue's awakening artifact. With extreme hardness and sealing ability, the chains absorbed chakra. As long as Yue's body received energy, he could grow without limit.
"What the hell is this?!" some survivors gasped, staring at companions turned to dried husks and at the giant ascending into the sky. This was a monster.
That night, Sarutobi Hizashi sat awake in his quarters—old, sleepless, drinking tea and smoking, trying to appear composed. The Uchiha had been restless lately, he thought. "I hope Itachi doesn't fail me," he mused. Itachi had the mind of a Hokage even at seven; he was a genius. Hizashi reflected on Danzo—many of Danzo's secret moves had his tacit approval, or at least his indifference. Danzo acted on hints and did dirty work that Hizashi could never openly endorse. The current crisis presented a chance to rein Danzo in and reclaim some of the power Danzo had amassed.
Hizashi puffed smoke, sipped his tea, and let a faint, inscrutable expression cross his face.