Danzo: I Can't Tell, I Really Can't Tell!

"Damn it, damn it! How could Hiruzen just give up and surrender without a fight?

Damn it! If Hiruzen had been willing to hand the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki over to me, to Root for management, how could something like this have happened today?!

Damn Naruto Uzumaki, damn Minato Namikaze! And the Uchiha and Hyuga deserve to die too!

Those Ninja Clans that bend with the wind, like Ino-Shika-Cho, Aburame, and Inuzuka, along with those Civilian Ninja who joined in the ruckus... Those fence-sitters with no principles and no convictions deserve to die even more!"

Shimura Danzō fled through the woods with a squad of Root Ninja guards.

As he viciously cursed everyone under the sun, he racked his brains over how to deal with the disastrous situation before him. Yet the more he thought, the more hopeless he became.

How had he somehow ended up as the enemy of the entire world? How was this any different from being a Konohagakure Rogue Ninja?

I am clearly the root of Konohagakure, a Council Elder of Konohagakure. How had I suddenly become a "Rogue Ninja"? I'm shaking with rage... This Konohagakure... It must be the system's fault... It's all because I'm not Hokage!

Back then, Teacher Tobirama should never have handed the position of Hokage to that useless Hiruzen!

"Elder Danzo, where are you headed? Why did you leave before the meeting was even over?"

A teasing voice rang out, accompanied by the appearance of three figures.

Daren Yi had one arm around the beautiful young Izumi Uchiha, with "pageboy servant" Sasuke Uchiha following behind him. They looked exactly like a spoiled young master from a powerful family blocking the road to bully commoners.

With smug, overbearing arrogance, they blocked the path of Shimura Danzō, one of Konohagakure's highest-ranking figures. The only thing missing was shaking their legs and bobbing their heads like actual thugs.

Danzo was so furious that his lips trembled. A mere commoner who was not even a ninja, someone who had risen through "his looks" and women—

A "puppet" responsible for managing Naruto Uzumaki's Shamate organization—and he dared speak to him like this?

How dare he?!

I, Shimura Danzō, a tiger fallen onto the plains, bullied by dogs!

After taking several deep breaths and forcing the pent-up rage in his stomach back down, Danzo tried to make his tone as gentle as possible and persuaded him, "Daren Yi, is it? I know a little about your past. Seven years ago, your childhood sweetheart was forcibly taken away by the Uchiha Clan. You strongly objected, but to no avail, and it caused quite a commotion in the village.

"Now, the arrogant Uchiha Clan that oppressed commoners has already been destroyed. If you are willing to serve under me, I will certainly promote you exceptionally. I guarantee that no one in the village will ever dare say that you are inferior to your lover again.

"Only then can the two of you possibly live together for the long term after becoming husband and wife. You must understand, a strong woman and weak man are not the proper way for a married couple. You need to plan for your own future!"

Daren Yi looked up at him in surprise. This old bastard had some skills!

Aside from the Uchiha Clan's innate condition of everyone being severely ill, the fact that he could scheme Shisui to death and join forces with the Third Hokage to persuade Itachi Uchiha into slaughtering his own clan showed that this old bastard really did have some ability to bewitch people!

If he had not secretly kept an "extra" card up his sleeve, if he really had been an ordinary thirteen-year-old civilian boy as they believed, if his personality truly was as arrogantly smug as he appeared now...

Then perhaps Danzo really could have stirred up the hidden jealousy commoners felt toward ninja, along with a young boy's anxiety and blind pride. In a moment of impulse, anything might have happened.

And Izumi Uchiha looked completely lovestruck, as though she would listen to whatever he said...

This old bastard might really have had a chance to turn things around!

At that thought, Daren Yi was so "frightened" that his Mangekyō Sharingan appeared. He patted his chest and exclaimed with exaggerated acting, "How terrifying, how terrifying! Elder Danzo's silver tongue is terrifying. You've practically moved me!"

Mangekyo? Another one?

Danzo fell silent. His prepared speech caught in his throat, and his smile froze on his face.

Was this even human?

How had such a cheap, punchable personality been cultivated?

"...So your falling-out with the Uchiha Clan back then was fake?

"You were an Uchiha Clan contingency planted outside the clan. On the surface, you were a commoner, but in reality, you were a genius ninja carefully cultivated by the Uchiha Clan?

"That bastard Fugaku Uchiha! Just how many backup plans did he hide from the village?!"

Shimura Danzō's voice was hoarse. He felt as if he were about to go insane!

Fake, fake, it was fake again! In this world, what was even real?

I can't tell, I can't tell, I really can't tell!

Shisui Uchiha had faked his death. A thirteen-year-old Uchiha girl possessed a Mangekyo and Sage Mode. A commoner who had long since fallen out with the Uchiha and changed his surname was actually the Uchiha Clan's hidden Mangekyo. The Hyuga, another top noble clan that had opposed the Uchiha at every turn, were secretly their allies. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, who had always kept his distance, had long since been colluding with the Uchiha in secret...

Danzo even suspected that Fugaku had never died at all. That bastard was probably hiding in some corner right now, secretly watching him make a fool of himself!

That little bastard Itachi Uchiha... wasn't he acting me too, was he?

Shimura Danzō, who had always considered himself the "Darkness of the Shinobi World" and believed himself unrivaled in schemes and ambushes, began to question his life.

The Uchiha truly were a clan born evil!

When it came to evil, I, Shimura Danzō, acknowledge you as the strongest!

A hundred-thousand-ton Melancholy Ghost, turn him into a vegetative state!

Before revealing himself, Daren Yi had already secretly entered Ancestor of Shamate Mode and activated an enormous illusion that covered the entire area.

This was to keep Sasuke and the others from seeing anything they should not see, forcing him to painfully silence them afterward.

Now, seizing the chance while Shimura Danzō's emotions were collapsing, he launched a saturated, high-volume "emo" emotional attack without any warning. It instantly struck Danzo.

Almost at the same time, Daren Yi flickered away and back, returning to his original position in an instant.

In his hand was Shimura Danzō, whose mind had nearly collapsed and whose thoughts and spirit had sunk into a "vegetative state."

"Seven Sins Sage Art: Fire Release: Arrogance Great Fire Annihilation!"

Connected by heart and perfectly coordinated, Izumi Uchiha moved the instant Daren Yi returned to his original position.

She instantly activated Shamate Sage Mode. Black eyeshadow outlined solemn killing intent as her hands formed seals at the speed of light. She finished with the Tiger seal, her chest rising as breath traveled up to her throat and into her mouth.

Her ninjutsu connected seamlessly with Daren Yi's movements. The prepared girl spewed a sea of flames from her mouth, a sky-filling blaze dyed an eerie purple by Arrogance Emotion Power.

"Move!" "Dodge, now!" "Why won't my body listen to me?!"...

Before the overwhelming purple inferno even arrived, the searing heat from the Sage Mode Chakra-enhanced B-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu had already heated the Root guards' hair and clothing to their ignition points, setting them ablaze on their own.

The Root Ninja guards who had followed Danzo realized in despair that their rational judgment urging them to dodge was completely useless. Their bodies and emotions were controlled by an inexplicable, utterly unreasonable arrogance.

"Fire Release alone can't possibly burn someone to death!" "It's only B-rank ninjutsu, I don't even need to dodge!" "Fire Release can't burn people to death, so there's no need to dodge!"

"Everyone else isn't dodging. How embarrassing would it be if I did?" "I can die, but I can't lose face!" "I won't dodge, I won't dodge, not even if I die!"...