A strangled, insane laugh erupted from Shimura Danzo's throat. Dragging his broken legs, he crawled across the torn earth, leaving a wide, bloody scar behind him. Every inch of the way echoed with agony in his flayed flesh, but he ignored it. His entire world narrowed to the frozen figure of Uchiha Yue, and the old man's face burned with fanatical, predatory triumph.
"Ha-ha... Such power..." he croaked, choking with laughter. "Absolute, all-crushing power! And now it's... mine!"
Danzo had seen this power in action. Against such a monster, any shinobi would be nothing but dust. And now this monster would become his obedient puppet. Kotoamatsukami—the ultimate genjutsu—had already turned Yue into his slave. With such a weapon in his hands, he would control everything. Even the Hokage throne, which had once eluded him, now seemed within reach.
"Hurry..." Danzo hissed, crawling to the Uchiha's feet. He raised his head like a loyal dog awaiting a reward. "Give me your eyes... Give them to me!"
And at that moment, under his rapt, greedy gaze, Yue slowly raised his eyelids. There was no submission in his eyes. Only disdain, cold as a winter night. The corners of his lips twitched and curled into a cruel smirk.
The next movement was lightning fast. Yue's leg shot up.
A chilling terror pierced Danzo. He understood everything. There was no control. The genjutsu had failed.
"No... NO!!! How?! You were supposed to obey! WHY?!"
Primal fear made his broken body twitch. He desperately scraped his fingers along the ground, trying to push himself away from the shadow looming over him.
CRUNCH!
A heavy boot landed with crushing force. A dull, wet slam slammed Danzo's body into the ground, turning him into a shapeless mass of flesh and bone.
"Lord Danzo!" the surviving Root operatives roared mournfully, and, mad with rage, rushed at the Uchiha.
Yue gave them a bored look and casually waved them away, as if harassing insects.
At that very moment, a shadow darted from the spot where Danzo had just lain, desperately rushing away.
"Survive! I must survive!" pounded in the revived Danzo's temples. "Konoha can't live without me!"
At the last moment, he sacrificed one of his precious Sharingan, activating Izanagi. Now he had to run! Reach his own people, wait for reinforcements, and then…
"Oh, Izanagi? How predictable," a calm, emotionless voice rang out above him. "And you really think this will save you, Danzo?"
The sounds of battle on the outskirts of the village couldn't go unnoticed. A squad of shinobi was already racing toward the Uchiha quarter. As they approached, they saw a nightmarish sight: the broken figure of an old man fleeing in panic, and behind him, towering to the heavens, a godlike titan of inky-black chakra—the demonic avatar of Susanoo.
"Lord Danzo!" several jonin recognized him.
"SAVE ME!" the old man croaked upon seeing them. Hope flared in his eyes. Just a little more…
BOOM!
Susanoo's gigantic arm closed around him, lifting him into the air.
"NO! Don't you dare! Killing me would be against all of Konoha!" he thrashed in the titanic fingers, turning from threats to pleas. "Sarutobi will never forgive you for this! Let me go, and I promise…"
He didn't finish. The titan's fist clenched. The crunch of breaking bone and tearing flesh was brief and final.
Shimura Danzo. Dead. This time, forever.
"Lord Danzo!"
The arriving shinobi, without a moment's hesitation, rushed into the attack. They didn't know the cause, but they knew the effect: one of Konoha's elders had been killed.
The only answer was a mad, triumphant laugh. Yue's body slowly rose into the air within the ghostly giant. Myriads of blue-violet chains erupted from Susanoo's back. Like venomous snakes, they descended upon the ninja, wrapping them in a deadly embrace.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
The heart-rending screams drowned out the night. The shinobi, entangled in the chains, weakened before their very eyes. Their life force, their chakra, flowed in streams through the ghostly links directly to Yue, leaving behind only withered, blackened mummies. The Demonic Chains—his Susanoo's divine weapon, capable of infinite growth by absorbing the energy of enemies.
"What is this... monster?!" whispered the surviving shinobi, looking at the grisly remains of his comrades and the figure hovering in the sky, enveloped in an aura of absolute death.
That night, the Third Hokage couldn't sleep. Old age, perhaps. He sat in his bedroom, enjoying his pipe and sipping tea.
"The Uchiha clan has been too restless lately," mused Sarutobi Hiruzen. He hoped that Itachi, the boy who, at seven, thought like a Hokage, wouldn't disappoint him.
And then there was Danzo. Much of what his old comrade did was done with Hiruzen's tacit consent, or even at his subtle suggestion. Danzō was... a useful tool. Harsh, crude, but effective. He took on the dirty work that the Third Hokage couldn't handle, leaving himself a convenient opportunity for denial. "It was Danzō's initiative; I had nothing to do with it."
It was the same with the Uchiha. Hiruzen knew Danzō's character and guessed he wouldn't miss a chance to act. However, lately, the tool had begun to exert a will of its own. Danzō was becoming overbearing. Perhaps the current conflict was the perfect opportunity to rein him in a bit and remind him of his place.
Sarutobi took another drag on his cigarette and sipped his tea. The expression of a pacified predator, anticipating a successful hunt, appeared on his wrinkled face.