BOOM!!!
Gamabunta crashed down from above, slamming onto the Nine-Tails and pinning the beast beneath his massive weight.
Minato Namikaze—having dealt with the masked man—arrived on the battlefield.
"Fourth Hokage-sama!"
"Lord Hokage!"
"Minato… you're finally here."
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, who had been barely holding the Nine-Tails at bay, could finally breathe for the first time all night.
Minato's brow was tightly furrowed—not only because of the Nine-Tails beneath Gamabunta. From his elevated vantage point, he had also seen Rayquaza above the Uchiha district.
And he had seen—
Rayquaza holding Danzō Shimura in its grasp.
What… was going on?
ROAR!!
As Minato's thoughts raced, the Nine-Tails surged with sudden force, flinging Gamabunta aside and unleashing a sky-shaking howl.
Chakra gathered in its mouth in a terrifying density—
Minato made his decision instantly.
"Third Hokage-sama, something's happening at the Uchiha district. Please go handle it."
"I'll deal with the Nine-Tails."
Hiruzen whipped his head toward the Uchiha district. With the brief opening, he sensed that enormous life-force fluctuation.
Danzō went over there…
Did he disobey me and clash with the Uchiha?
Danzō had not forged Hiruzen's orders—Hiruzen truly had sent him to keep the Military Police under watch.
But Hiruzen had also strictly forbidden him from laying hands on the Uchiha. Everything was to wait until the Nine-Tails was subdued.
"…Understood."
Hiruzen nodded. Before he turned, he asked one last question, voice low.
"Minato… Biwako…?"
Minato pressed his lips together, then shook his head.
So that's how it was…
Hiruzen gripped Enma's staff and moved at once.
"Minato—don't take reckless risks. I'll resolve this situation and come back immediately!"
"Everyone, with me!"
…
It wasn't that Hiruzen was shirking responsibility by leaving the Nine-Tails entirely to Minato, not even keeping many Anbu behind.
They simply understood Minato's fighting style.
If ordinary jōnin remained, they would only burden him—nothing more.
In their eyes, a Minato who possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique could not be defeated, even by the Nine-Tails.
After all—
Minato's Flying Thunder God had surpassed even Tobirama Senju's.
—
—
Elsewhere.
Flash!
Uchiha Sora hurled a short blade and severed Danzō Shimura's arm.
The severed limb fell to the ground—and within it, two Sharingan rotated grotesquely, along with several stitched-looking scars…
Marks of eyes that had already been used.
…
Izanagi truly was a nearly unbeatable ocular technique.
But Danzō was not an Uchiha.
His "invincible" window was too short—his Izanagi duration could only be measured in minutes.
When Sora killed Danzō the second time, he took advantage of Danzō's focus on guarding against Fugaku's Mangekyō. Sora timed his genjutsu perfectly, making Danzō believe he had already activated Izanagi.
Before Danzō could realize the truth, Sora drew on Rayquaza's power and used a genjutsu version of Paint the Dragon, Give It Life.
That technique carried an "unavoidable" property. Danzō's defensive curse marks were useless. By the time he understood and tried to activate Izanagi again—
It was too late.
That was the difference in ocular power.
Danzō was a top-tier Wind Release master. If he had opened distance from the start, summoned Baku, and unleashed wide-area Wind Release, the fight would not have ended so easily.
But he had abandoned his greatest advantage and chose to contest the Uchiha in genjutsu.
Arrogance—
That was the reason Danzō lost.
…
Root operatives rushed Rayquaza one after another, desperate to rescue their commander.
Uchiha Sora was not as gentle as Shisui.
From his fingertips, pinpoint Hyper Beams lashed out, cutting the Root operatives down one after another.
When silence finally returned, sweat soaked Sora's black hair, a few lightly curled strands hanging over his forehead.
He lowered his hand.
His fingers were charred black.
What he had done was convert an enormous Hyper Beam—using his own body as a transformer—into multiple precise strikes.
Shinobi were infamous for high offense and low defense. Attacks on the level of a Tailed Beast Ball were pure overkill.
Borrowed power needed to be used efficiently.
As for injuries sustained in the process…
They didn't matter.
…
Slash!
Shisui flicked blood from his blade. After seeing the Sharingan in Danzō's eye socket, his fury finally turned his blade against Root.
"Sora… the crime of killing Danzō Shimura—let me bear it."
Sora lifted his gaze toward the Third Hokage and the others racing in from afar, a faint smile at his lips.
"I went through all that trouble to capture him alive."
"It wasn't to satisfy you."
"I need him as a bargaining chip."
Shisui's face darkened.
"At this point, you think the village will reconcile just because you spare Danzō?! With his nature, letting him live is the greatest danger to our clan!"
"Sora—don't play with fire!"
"You chose to oppose the village, and you killed so many Anbu—kill Danzō now. Then we defect!"
Shisui still didn't realize those were Danzō's Root operatives. He thought they were Anbu.
Now, ironically, he sounded like the radical one—calling Sora "too conservative."
Sora shook his head.
"Killing him is easy."
"It's nowhere near enough."
A depth of malice gathered in his eyes as he whispered like a devil.
"I want him alive."
"I want him to watch everything he believes in… collapse into dust."
"If I kill him now, he can still enter the Memorial Stone with honor."
"That won't do."
"I want him to understand…"
"The sound of something precious breaking isn't the soft thud of a head hitting the ground…"
"It's the explosion that detonates inside your heart."
…
There was one more thing Sora didn't say.
In his next steps, Danzō's existence was necessary.
Was there anything more effective at weakening Konoha than letting Danzō live?
Obito had schemed tirelessly to engineer the Nine-Tails' attack—yet the damage it caused still wouldn't compare to a single "stroke of inspiration" from Danzō Shimura.
Nagato was the best example. In the end, Danzō carried part of that blame as well.
…
"But—" Shisui tried to protest again.
"Shut up. My judgment is above yours—just listen."
"…Okay."
…
Fugaku also noticed Hiruzen and the others closing in. Tonight, he had taken more deep breaths than he normally did in a year.
He stepped up beside Sora.
"At this point… I can only trust you."
"The negotiations are yours. Whatever decision you make, we'll follow."
Fugaku lacked the courage to choose, but he did possess the courage to walk a chosen path to the end.
If we die, we die.
We're betting the village won't dare to openly massacre us right now.
But…
What do we do after this?
Minato… I'm sorry for betraying your trust…
—
Flash—Flash—Flash—
"Danzō!!"
The moment she saw him captured, Koharu Utatane cried out, furious.
"Damn Uchiha… so you really have rebelled! The Nine-Tails was your doing too, wasn't it?!"
"The Fourth Hokage always said you were comrades… you're evil by nature…"
"Koharu. Calm yourself."
Hiruzen lifted Enma's staff, blocking her. His gaze shifted to the few surviving masked operatives at the edge of the battlefield.
Then his eyes turned—dark and heavy—to Fugaku and the others.
Finally, they settled on Uchiha Sora.
"Since you didn't choose to strike first, it means there is room to talk."
"Give me time to understand what happened."
Uchiha Sora smiled faintly. Sitting cross-legged atop Rayquaza's head, he raised a hand.
"By all means."