At that moment, the Wooden Golem's massive foot crashed down once more.
Danzō's right arm finally gave out. It failed to hold back the weight—and he was crushed beneath it, his body shattered on the spot.
But not long after, a complete Shimura Danzō reappeared.
Another Sharingan on his arm had gone dark.
Izanagi.
The forbidden Uchiha illusion.
At the cost of permanently losing the light of a Sharingan, all damage—and even death itself—was rewritten into nothing more than a dream.
An extremely powerful technique.
With a single, cruel prerequisite.
You needed enough eyes.
Whoosh!
Namikaze Kirito leapt down from the Wooden Golem's head, sprinting straight along its body. As he passed the bound Sarutobi Hiruzen, he glanced at him—and smiled.
"Namikaze Kirito!!!"
Seeing Kirito charge toward him, Shimura Danzō clenched a kunai in his hand. Wind Style burst from his mouth, coating the blade and sharpening it to an extreme edge.
The moment Kirito entered range, Danzō slashed forward.
"Old man… you really never learn."
Boom!
Kirito's fist met the attack head-on.
The kunai shattered instantly, fragments flying everywhere. His punch continued forward without slowing, slamming into Danzō's face with a violent crack—Tremor Fruit power erupting on impact.
Danzō's head was obliterated.
Yet moments later, he appeared again, completely intact.
Another Sharingan closed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Kirito moved like he was playing a game.
Each punch killed Danzō.
Each time, Izanagi rewrote reality.
Again and again.
Only when the Sharingan on Danzō's arm was completely exhausted did Kirito finally stop.
Panting heavily, Danzō stared at him, eyes bloodshot.
"Bastard… damn you, you little brat…!"
His mind was already unraveling.
Even if Izanagi allowed resurrection, the experience of death remained—again and again, his body destroyed, crushed, shattered.
It was worse than dying once.
To stay alive like this… was terror itself.
Kirito walked toward him slowly, raising his right hand again.
Boom!
This time, Danzō's body turned into a log.
Substitution Technique!
The instant Kirito turned—
A kunai pierced straight through "his" chest.
"Even if I go to hell," Danzō snarled, his face twisted with madness, "I'll drag you with me!"
He twisted the kunai viciously, as if trying to destroy every internal organ.
Black sealing runes erupted across his body.
Blood poured out.
Four Symbols Seal.
A technique of absolute mutual destruction.
Danzō no longer trusted a kunai to kill Kirito. Even if it meant dying together, he had to take him down.
His hatred was absolute.
At that moment, the Kirito he had stabbed stared back at him in disbelief.
"T-… Danzō… why…?"
"..."
A deep unease surged through Danzō's heart.
Then...
A calm voice sounded from not far away.
"Kyōka Suigetsu—release."
Ka… ka… ka…
Like shattered glass, the world before Danzō's eyes cracked apart.
The "Namikaze Kirito" he had stabbed transformed—
Into Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Earlier, Hiruzen had been bound to the Wooden Golem. At some point, Kirito had cast a genjutsu manipulating the five senses and placed Hiruzen directly before Danzō.
This Genjutsu was, in essence, no different from Kyōka Suigetsu itself. Because of that resemblance, he named it after the illusion.
It was a power he had taken from Yakumo Kurama—the girl whose abilities revolved entirely around absolute deception.
There were countless ways this could have ended.
But Kirito preferred this one.
Nothing amused him more than watching them turn on one another.
Hiruzen clutched Danzō's hand tightly, his face filled with disbelief.
He had shouted again and again—yet Danzō still attacked him.
He had even activated the Four Symbols Seal.
A sealing technique that binds both souls forever, denying them rebirth.
"Da… Danzō…?"
Danzō's mind collapsed.
Everything he had done—every desperate move—had been to kill Kirito.
Yet the person before him… had been his old friend all along.
"Does it feel good," Kirito said lightly, standing not far away, "to kill the Third Hokage with your own hands?"
"This is my gift to you."
"Why…?!"
Danzō screamed.
"I transplanted Sharingan! How could I not see through your illusion?! When did you cast it?!"
"My genjutsu manipulates the five senses," Kirito replied calmly.
"And your Sharingan is nothing more than a transplant."
"What made you think… you ever had a chance to die together with me?"
Blood continued to gush from Danzō's body.
Vines wrapped tightly around his legs—and his arms.
He tried to move.
Couldn't.
The kunai remained buried in Hiruzen's body.
"At least… at least take you with me…"
Danzō stretched his remaining hand toward Kirito.
But the distance between them felt like heaven and earth.
He couldn't reach it.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, Shimura Danzō's body detonated completely.
At the same time, Sarutobi Hiruzen was torn apart into a cloud of blood mist.
The two men fused together in death—entangled forever, reduced to nothing but drifting crimson haze.
The sight left everyone present with complicated expressions.
"Is… the Third Hokage dead?"
"Tch! Good riddance! After all the things he's done, he didn't deserve that title!"
"Then… what happens to the village now?"
"The Fourth Hokage has returned, and Lord Kirito is here too. Who'd be stupid enough to challenge Konoha now?"
"That's right! The Fourth Hokage truly inherited the Will of Fire. What was Sarutobi Hiruzen, really?"
Listening to the crowd, Jiraiya looked at Kirito's smiling face and sighed quietly.
He knew it.
Konoha's sky had changed.
No—
the entire ninja world's sky had changed.
Years ago, the Great Toad Sage's prophecy had shifted.
When Jiraiya asked again, he had only said:
The future has become unpredictable. Even I can no longer speak of it.
Yet within that uncertainty, one thing remained clear—
A red-haired youth would reshape the ninja world.
Whether it would be salvation or destruction… even the Sage could not say.
For now, Jiraiya chose to believe in the good.
"Heh… Chief," Orochimaru said, stepping forward with a grin, "what should we do about Rasa?"
Since the One-Tail's outbreak, the Fourth Kazekage had been intercepted by Kimimaro and Suigetsu.
Now captured, Orochimaru sought Kirito's decision.
"Bring him here."
Orochimaru nodded.
Before long, Kimimaro arrived, dragging a man whose body was soaked and restrained by water—
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
Suigetsu's abilities had been greatly enhanced.
While his raw combat strength might not be overwhelming, his sealing and binding were exceptional.
Even Rasa was completely immobilized.
Unable to resist.
Captured once again.
Author's Note
A new fanfic novel has been released: Naruto: The Kizaru Template.
If you enjoy lazy but terrifying protagonists, light-speed power, and a bit of trolling in the ninja world, then I'm sure you would come to like it.
At least give me some face and read the first chapter… being a little supportive isn't that troublesome, right? Tagged below 👇