Danzo: Yes, That's Exactly What I Thought!

Danzo's single eye was filled with malice, his heart churning with wicked thoughts. "Do you even know to let the leaders run first?" "Is there any Fire Will left in you?" But this shameless behavior inexplicably made him hesitant to think too deeply about it.

Once, there was a boy who chased the wind, running at full speed, leaving everyone else in the dust. When he looked back, his companions—Hiruzen Sarutobi, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, Fu Uzumaki, and Kagami Uchiha—were far behind...

Hmm, about three hundred meters behind.

Uchiha Kin breathed heavily but tried to control his rhythm. He forced a smile for Danzo and earnestly spouted nonsense, "Lord Danzo, I was just scouting ahead for you—the distance is for your safety."

He absolutely refused to acknowledge Danzo's accusation that he had "forgotten the mission." Right now, he was diligently fulfilling his duty.

Inside, he cursed: "This old dog has a lot of demands. Not eager to escape, a problem with your thinking. You're running yourself, so why shouldn't I run faster than you?"

As everyone knows, the core principle of "running away" is to run faster than others.

Seeing Kin's sincere expression, Danzo was momentarily suspicious. "Really?" Then he immediately realized, "I don't believe you. Evil Uchiha! I've never seen such an evil Uchiha!" Unfortunately, these words could only be thought, not spoken.

"Hmph," Danzo grunted, saying no more.

Uchiha Kin's heart stirred, and he spoke again, "I understand Lord Danzo's good intentions, but I, Uchiha Kin, will not abandon Lord Danzo. Konoha ninja have no tradition of leaving their comrades behind..."

Danzo's expression instantly turned into a question mark. His heart was filled with question after question, unable to understand and unable to ask.

What did he mean by "Lord Danzo's good intentions"? What did this scoundrel "understand"? And why was he suddenly talking about "leaving comrades behind"?

Damn it, when did I ever tell you to abandon me?

Danzo felt his brain struggling to keep up.

"Uh, Elder Danzo, didn't you mean for me to withdraw first without worrying about you, and you would cover the rear?

"After all, as an extremely rare Medical Ninja in Konoha, with medical skills superior to Tsunade's, I have immense value in war. An elder like you, who dedicates himself to Konoha until his dying breath...

"Devoted to public service, frugal, exemplary conduct, always putting Konoha first... willing to sacrifice everything for the victory of this war.

"Including your own life!"

Uchiha Kin "interpreted" Danzo's "intentions" on the spot, twisting the reprimand into something even Danzo himself couldn't bear to look at.

But... Uchiha Kin made so much sense. With every sentence Kin spoke, Danzo couldn't help but think "correct" in his heart. After Kin finished, he suddenly felt: "Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking just now. It must have been like this." He was Danzo! A great ninja—Shimura Danzo—who could sacrifice everything for Konoha, sacrifice everyone, including himself.

He quickly built up his mental fortitude and then readily accepted Uchiha Kin's "eloquent manipulation"!

"Cough... Kin, old man knew you were different from those evil Uchiha!" As for the "evil Uchiha" he cursed in his heart earlier, that was a misunderstanding, not an insult to Uchiha Kin.

He added, "After you return, make sure to write a good report for this mission. Give it directly to me when you're done..."

"But I'm in the hospital, Lord Danzo, you..." Uchiha Kin cursed inwardly, "Is this old man sick?"

Danzo said, "Don't worry, I'll have—" Danzo scanned his subordinates and called over a Root ninja with orange hair, "Fu, come here." He said to Uchiha Kin, "He'll get the report from you later."

"Yes."

Uchiha Kin had a thousand words, but they all condensed into one sound. One must bow to the circumstances. He thought, "When I become powerful later, I'll make you write reports every day.

Don't think I don't know what you're thinking? You just discovered my 'value,' didn't you? I can provide some value for you old guys to satisfy your 'righteous' desires. Tsk tsk...

"Sacrifice report, diary resistance, are you Kai-shen-jun?" Thinking of this, he suddenly had a strange thought: Could Kai-shen-jun's diary also be...

The thought is terrifying!

"Hm?" Uchiha Kin was surprised. Through his Byakugan, the glaring sun-like Demonic Statue of the Outer Path suddenly disappeared.

After his vision darkened for a moment, he saw a black-and-white silent film-like scene of Nagato kneeling on the ground, as if dead.

As soon as Konan could move, she immediately rushed to embrace Nagato. Amidst a pile of corpses, she held Nagato and wept.

At this moment, Nagato's body was instantly shriveled by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, becoming skin and bones, a horrifying and ghastly sight. He didn't even have the strength to stand. Uchiha Kin could see his mouth move but couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Damn it, if I had known this day would come, I should have learned lip-reading back then." Uchiha Kin regretted not studying harder in school.

Lip-reading in this world was much simpler. After all, most speech consisted of single words, and each basic pronunciation was clearly reflected on the lips. All it took was memorization and practice.

Then, Konan reached out.

Sheets of paper flew from her body, sticking to Yahiko's corpse and wrapping him like a mummy, suspending him in mid-air.

More paper flew from her arm and landed on Nagato, wrapping only his torso and also suspending him.

She glanced at her surroundings, thought for a moment, and then plunged towards the Land of Earth. At this moment, the direction of the Land of Earth was undoubtedly the best choice. While it seemed dire on the surface, it actually fell into a blind spot in others' thinking.

She didn't know that Hanzo's goal was only to kill Yahiko; she believed Hanzo intended to kill her and Nagato as well, so she had to flee.

"This ninjutsu is truly marvelous. It can transform paper into chakra and make it a part of oneself.

"And then, it can reverse the process, turning chakra back into paper... Too bad it's too far away, otherwise, with my Byakugan, I could definitely discern the secrets of her ninjutsu. This is simply incredible."

Dance of the Shikigami Paper!

This ninjutsu, involving the interconversion of chakra and matter, left a deep impression on Uchiha Kin in a very intuitive way.

After fleeing a certain distance, huge paper wings sprouted from Konan's back. With a light flap, she disappeared from Uchiha Kin's sight.