With numbers that large, it was obvious... Danzo had practically emptied the entire ROOT base just to deal with him.
Shiki let out a quiet breath.
"So that's how it is, huh?"
He raised the mission scroll between two fingers.
"Funny. 'Hokage-sama' sent me here to 'investigate enemy activity.'"
His eyes shifted to Danzo with a mocking tilt of his head.
"And look at that... the only enemy ninja here… is you."
Danzo didn't even flinch.
"You're a smart boy," he said calmly. "You should already know why I'm here."
There was a confidence in Danzo's eyes — the kind of confidence a man only had when he believed he had already won.
"I'll keep this simple."
Danzo lifted his chin.
"Join ROOT. With your strength… I will make you my right hand."
It was a tempting position for any shinobi — second only to Danzo, with authority over thousands.
Shiki just stared at him for a moment…
Then he started laughing.
A straight-up "are you serious?" laugh.
Danzo's face darkened.
"What's funny?"
Shiki stopped laughing, tilted his head, and spoke with a soft, almost pitying tone.
"Danzo… tell me."
"Do lions make alliances with mice?"
Danzo froze.
"…You compare me to a mouse?"
He didn't get an answer — only the sound of steel sliding from a sheath as Shiki placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
Danzo's jaw clenched.
"Enough. Surround him."
ROOT shinobi flickered into view from every angle — masks, blades, chakra signatures numbering over fifty strong.
They closed in until Shiki's escape routes vanished completely.
"You'll be given one more chance," Danzo said coldly.
"Join ROOT."
Shiki sighed.
"So much talking just to say you want to kill me."
The last inch of his sword slid free, gleaming with cold gold light.
"Do it."
Danzo's eyes sharpened.
"Seal him. When I carve the Binding Tongue Curse into you… even a Lion will kneel."
ROOT shinobi lunged forward at once, blades flashing, chakra flaring.
"Lion Fang… Slice."
A single stroke.
A single golden wave.
The fastest ROOT ninja didn't even have time to scream.
Another sword slid free next, the twin blades humming as Shiki's aura spiked... his presence swelling like a beast waking from slumber.
"Let's see what Konoha's 'secret force' really amounts to."
His feet shifted.
"Lion Style—Beast King Slash!"
A massive lion-shaped shockwave burst forward, tearing through the ground.
ROOT immediately responded.
"Earth Release — Earth-Style Rampart!"
A wall erupted, reinforced by multiple earth users merging their chakras.
But Shiki's slash carved through it like it was made of paper.
"Wind Release — Great Breakthrough!"
"Fire Release — Dragon Flame Bomb!"
Dozens of wind users and dozens of fire users unleashed their techniques at once.
A combined inferno roared across the battlefield — so dense it distorted the air.
The flames swallowed Shiki whole.
Danzo smirked.
"Hmph. Even monsters die when the numbers are high enough. The second hokage fell the same way."
But the ground under Shiki began bulging… forming a sphere of earth plated in shimmering black.
Armed Haki coated every layer.
The inferno faded.
Shiki stood there unburnt, unharmed.
He brushed dust off his shoulder.
"Sorry, you'll need something bigger."
A pulse of invisible pressure rippled outward.
BOOM.
Conqueror's Haki exploded across the battlefield — a wave of raw will so heavy that even Danzo staggered.
"H-How—?!"
ROOT shinobi froze mid-motion, their bodies refusing to obey.
Shiki lifted both blades.
"Lion Style—Thousand Cuts Valley."
Golden arcs rained in every direction — carving through trees, earth, and masked shinobi alike.
ROOT operatives fell like leaves in a storm.
"Lion Style—Meteor Slash."
Light flashed brighter than fire.
ROOT shinobi were blinded instantly.
And then — silence.
Bodies collapsed.
Every ROOT ninja Danzo had brought… lay defeated on the ground.
Only Danzo remained standing, breath hitched, pupils trembling.
"This… this can't be…"
He looked left.
He looked right.
All of them.
All of his elite.
Gone.
"My ROOT… all gone…!"
The ache in his chest wasn't fear.
It was heartbreak.
Years of secret funding.
Illegal experiments.
Black ops missions.
Dozens of vaults of stolen resources.
All wiped out in minutes.
But his grief lasted only a moment.
Because Shiki turned toward him.
And Danzo felt it...the hunter's gaze locking onto him alone.
A chill ran down his spine.
"…This monster…" he whispered.
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