Shimura Danzo laughed wildly. His legs were broken; like a dog with paralyzed hind limbs, he crawled, leaving a long trail of blood. The friction of exposed flesh against the ground stung with pain, but seeing Uchiha Yue motionless before him quelled the agony and lit a manic excitement across his face.
"Hahaha—such power, such overwhelming, domineering power—now it's mine! Hahaha!!" he crowed. He had seen Yue's strength: ordinary shinobi were helpless before such a monster, and now that power would belong to him. Once Yue was under his control, nothing would stand in his way—not even the Hokage's throne.
"Quick—give me your eyes! Give me your eyes!!" Danzo crawled to Yue's feet and howled in ecstasy.
Yue opened his eyes, looked down at the broken, pleading man, and smiled with a cruel, almost playful grin. Without warning he raised his foot and stepped 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? Waaah!! No!!" Realizing too late that Yue had never been under his command, Danzo thrashed, clawing at 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 fled in panic. "I must live! Konoha can't do without me!" Danzo ran desperately. At the brink of death he consumed a Sharingan and forced Izanagi—he had to escape; if he lived to speak, Konoha might rally and he could seize power.
"Oh, Izanagi? Does it even work? Danzo, you can't escape." The commotion at the Uchiha compound alarmed Konoha shinobi. A squad rushed in and saw Danzo fleeing, with a towering dark-blue demon behind him.
"Danzo-sama!" some recognized him. "Save him!" they cried.
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 Yue squeezed with all his strength and 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 had 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. The trapped ninjas withered 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 the dirty work Hizashi could not openly endorse. This crisis might be a chance to rein Danzo in and reclaim some of the power he'd amassed.
Hizashi puffed smoke, sipped his tea, and let a faint, inscrutable expression cross his face.