"Danzō, you continuously test the very limits of my tolerance. You have disappointed me greatly," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, his face etched with profound dismay.
"I have lost! Hiruzen… Third Hokage. I have lost to you yet again!" Danzō could not help but laugh. He turned his head, his gaze settling on the Hokage Monument in the distance. All his previous schemes and unyielding resolve felt like nothing more than a farcical comedy in this moment. The only thing they had accomplished was making him look even more disgraced and hideous.
Hiruzen extended his hand, and Monkey King: Enma transformed, the Adamantine Staff falling firmly into his grasp.
Danzō sneered coldly. "Previously, I could not fathom why I always lost to you. Now, I understand… It is because you plot much further ahead than I do!" He swept his gaze toward Orochimaru. "What an excellent show this has been!"
"Danzō… We have reached this point, and you still speak of 'shows'?" Hiruzen genuinely had no idea what the man was rambling about.
While their prior, secret arrangement was for Danzō to stage a fake rebellion—conveniently laying a trap to see if they could draw out Shinnō in the process—they had never agreed to ally with Orochimaru to destroy Konoha! Even the descendant of the Kaguya Clan, whom he had supposedly rescued earlier, had appeared to attack them. Was this still an act? Danzō was probably trying to actually kill him! He could no longer trust his old teammate. After all, this was far from the first time Danzō had attempted to assassinate him.
"Danzō! Does the leak of the Expansion Jutsu have anything to do with you?!" Chōza Akimichi demanded, his face twisted in absolute fury.
Danzō remained silent. When a man has lost, any words he speaks merely sound like excuses. Losing all interest, he withdrew his gaze from the Second Hokage's stone face and stated flatly, "At this juncture, even if I deny it, you will not believe me."
He swept his eyes over the gathered shinobi. "Hiruzen Sarutobi, I only lost to you because you are the Hokage! If I were the Hokage… you would not be able to defeat me either!"
"You are utterly foolish!" Hiruzen frowned, though inwardly, he rejoiced. Thank goodness he had adopted Operation Branch Separation!
Danzō's obsession with the Hokage title ran far deeper than he had ever imagined. Although part of the original intent behind the operation was to allow Root to perform the dark deeds unsuitable for proper Konoha shinobi—thereby countering hidden organizations from the shadows—its secondary purpose was to permanently sever any possibility of Danzō ever inheriting the Hokage seat. If he had not implemented this failsafe, Konoha would likely have fallen into civil war if anything unexpected happened to him. Hiruzen tightened his grip on the Adamantine Staff, a trace of killing intent finally taking root in his heart.
Swish! Several figures landed directly in front of Danzō.
"Lord Danzō…"
"Did you succeed?" Danzō asked.
"Yes."
"Let us go." Danzō turned on his heel to leave.
Not far away, the corners of Orochimaru's mouth curled upward. He poured blood from a small vial and rapidly formed hand seals. In the very next second, a Summoning Jutsu took effect as countless snakes spewed forth from Orochimaru's mouth, surging out in all directions.
Orochimaru laughed with twisted delight. "I have been preparing this plan since the day I defected all those years ago. Sarutobi-sensei, your momentary lapse of mercy… is precisely your greatest weakness!" With those parting words, his figure vanished from the spot.
The Orochimaru before them had also been a mere Shadow Clone. His true body might have already fled, or perhaps he had never set foot here at all, leaving behind only utter devastation. The expressions of the Konoha shinobi were livid. The New Year's Festival had not even begun, yet they had already lost all face!
Koharu looked toward the Third Hokage. "Hiruzen…"
"All of you, purge the village and rescue the wounded!" Hiruzen ordered, heavily suppressing his boiling rage. "Kakashi, you will lead the others and restore stability to Konoha. The remaining Anbu shall follow me to hunt down Danzō!"
"Hiruzen, leave this matter to the others," Homura hastily urged.
Hiruzen shook his head solemnly. "Danzō is no ordinary adversary. Lead the forces to clear out the snakes in the village. As for him… I shall kill him myself!" With that declaration, he used the Body Flicker Technique, darting off in the direction of Danzō's retreat.
Right at that moment, Masahiko hurried onto the scene. Seeing the sheer chaos, his external persona looked completely bewildered. "Esteemed Councilors, what… what exactly happened here?"
"Masahiko, how is Guy?" Kakashi asked.
"He's fine, he just needs a bit of time to recover," Masahiko replied smoothly. "Where is Hokage-sama? And…"
"Danzō has committed treason. Hokage-sama has gone in that direction to pursue him—"
Before Kakashi could even finish his sentence, Masahiko was already gone, employing the Body Flicker Technique to give chase. The only thing left behind was his fading voice echoing through the air: "I am going to reinforce Hokage-sama!"
Kakashi remained silent for a few seconds before letting out a soft sigh. "Everyone, move out." Given Hiruzen's direct orders, Kakashi now held absolute command over the situation, and naturally, no one dared to refuse.
"Yes, sir!"
"Hold on, Asuma. You need to head to the hospital for treatment first," Kakashi said, turning his gaze toward the bearded Jōnin.
Asuma hesitated for a moment. "I am not seriously injured."
His palms were pierced with numerous bone fragments and needles. Although he had avoided the brunt of the strike aimed at his face thanks to Enma's intervention, his shoulders and arms had still caught several hits in the haste of battle. At this very moment, those embedded fragments were radiating chakra, actively eroding his own bones and fascia.
"That individual's Shikotsumyaku is unlike the usual kind. It is actively eroding your skeletal structure. Get it treated early," Kakashi insisted. Through his Sharingan, he could perceive the flow of chakra from the bone fragments embedded in Asuma's hands and had noticed the anomalies.
"Asuma, go seek treatment!" Koharu ordered, her face stern.
Asuma had no choice but to comply, though the burning sense of humiliation and powerlessness only intensified within him. Once again, he was reduced to watching helplessly as tragedy unfolded.
Outside Konoha.
Danzō moved at breakneck speed, flanked by the vast majority of his Root operatives. They had completely evacuated and emptied out their hidden base.
Meanwhile, on another path, Kurenai was desperately chasing down a Root operative running ahead of her.
"Put Yakumo down!" Kurenai yelled, her heart burning with anxiety. Masahiko had trusted her enough to leave Yakumo in her protective custody, yet she never expected that Root operatives disguised as Anbu would suddenly swoop in to abduct the girl. Furthermore, based on his trajectory… it looked as though the enemy was trying to defect from the village.
She quickened her pace, pushing herself to move even faster. Osamu Akai remained completely silent, focusing solely on blindly rushing forward.
Right at that moment, an ink bird soared overhead.
"Intercept her!" Osamu ordered the unseen sky support.
However, instead of attacking Kurenai, several ink eagles materialized around the first ink bird and rapidly dive-bombed straight toward him.
Simultaneously, a figure dropped from the sky above.
Clang!
Holding the unconscious Yakumo with one hand, Osamu managed to draw his blade with the other, parrying Shin's plunging strike. His face twisted with absolute fury. "Are you two betraying Lord Danzō?!"
"Lord Danzō's orders were to protect Yakumo! You are the one betraying him and our Captain!" Shin declared, gripping his tantō fiercely. Above them, Sai soared through the air, his brush painting a flurry of ink beasts that quickly landed to surround the rogue agent.
Osamu was at a complete loss for words. To maintain absolute secrecy beforehand, he had not informed these two kids of the true objective. Now… with an outsider present, he couldn't exactly blurt out Root's classified secrets, nor could he directly tell them that Danzō was currently in the middle of a massive defection.
Kurenai's eyes lit up at the sudden opening. Her hands flew through a series of seals—Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!
The genjutsu took hold. Osamu was instantly immobilized by the illusionary tree, but his rigorous Root training allowed him to forcefully break the genjutsu almost immediately. He grabbed Yakumo and roared fiercely, "Take one more step and I'll kill her!"
However, in that exact split second, the 'Yakumo' in his grip suddenly exploded, violently bursting into a shower of countless blood droplets.
What? Osamu was stunned, completely unable to comprehend what had just happened.
A second later, realization struck him… He had been caught in another genjutsu! He forcefully dispelled the illusion and focused his eyes… only to find Kurenai already standing right in front of him. The kunai in her hand reflected the moonlight so intensely it looked like a blazing sun, blinding his vision. Another genjutsu?!
Squelch!
Before he could react, Kurenai's kunai plunged directly into his heart. Taking advantage of his collapsing form, she swiftly snatched the real Yakumo back into her arms.
Panting slightly, Kurenai turned her guarded gaze toward the other two Root operatives.
Sai spoke up hurriedly, "There are more rogue ninja approaching. I don't have much chakra left, so I can't beat them… Get on, I'll fly us back to Konoha!"
Kurenai hesitated for a moment. She could indeed sense at least three more enemies rapidly closing in! Even though her recent training with Masahiko—combining motion-based genjutsu with taijutsu—had yielded solid results, she still wasn't qualified to take on three highly trained Root shinobi simultaneously while protecting a civilian.
But what about these two in front of her? When Osamu saw them, his first instinct had been to issue an order, which clearly meant they were his subordinates.
"Our Captain is an acquaintance of yours. Although we don't know exactly what just happened, protecting Yakumo was the mission assigned to us by Lord Danzō and the Captain," Shin explained earnestly, seeing right through her doubts.
Hearing this, Kurenai relented, cradling Yakumo as she climbed onto the giant ink eagle. It was only after the eagle ascended into the sky that she finally got a clear look at the village below—all of Konoha had descended into utter chaos!
In the distance, there were intense chakra fluctuations, indicating that a massive battle was taking place. The explosions were coming from the direction of the Valley of the End.
Is someone defecting? Kurenai quickly sorted through her thoughts, finally grasping the current situation.
Danzō had defected! And amid his escape, he had tried to take Yakumo away…
As she was pondering this, a familiar chakra signature and presence suddenly flared up from the ground below.
' Masahiko!'
A second later, anxiety gripped her. 'Masahiko… was that a Shadow Clone I just felt? Did he go after them too?'