Danzo's one visible eye brimmed with hostility, and malice roiled in his heart. Don't you know the leader should escape first? Do you have no Will of Fire at all? Yet this shameless attitude somehow made him afraid to think too deeply about it.
Once, there had been a boy who chased the wind, racing ahead in a single burst and leaving everyone behind. When he looked back, his companions—Hiruzen Sarutobi, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, Torifu Akimichi, and Kagami Uchiha—were all far behind...
Well, by about three hundred meters.
Uchiha Kin was breathing heavily, but he did his best to control his pace. He put on a smile for Danzo and solemnly spouted nonsense. "Lord Danzo, I was only scouting ahead for you—putting enough distance between us to keep you safe."
He absolutely refused to admit Danzo's accusation that he had "forgotten the mission." He was, at that very moment, fulfilling his duty to the letter.
But in his heart, he cursed, You old dog, you sure have a lot of demands. If I'm not enthusiastic about running away, then there's something wrong with my thinking? You're running too, so how could I not run faster than you?
As everyone knew, the key to "running away" was simply to run faster than everyone else.
Seeing how sincere Kin looked, Danzo actually felt a moment of doubt. "Really?" Then he immediately came to his senses. I wouldn't believe a word you say. Evil Uchiha! I've never seen such an evil Uchiha! Unfortunately, those words could only stay in his thoughts.
"Hmph." Danzo grunted and said no more.
Kin's heart stirred, and he spoke again. "I understand Lord Danzo's noble intentions, but I, Uchiha Kin, would never abandon you. Hidden Leaf shinobi have never had a tradition of leaving their comrades behind..."
Danzo's face instantly became a giant question mark. His mind was now filled with question after question. He didn't understand, but he couldn't ask.
What did he mean, "Lord Danzo's noble intentions"? What had this bastard "understood" now? And what did "leaving comrades behind" have to do with anything?
You're even trying to make this sound noble... No, when did I ever tell you to abandon me?
Danzo felt like his brain couldn't keep up.
"Uh, Elder Danzo, didn't you mean that I shouldn't worry about you, and should retreat first while you stayed behind to cover our escape?
"After all, I'm an extremely rare Medical Ninja of the Hidden Leaf, with battlefield medical skills even more advanced than Tsunade's. I'm incredibly valuable in wartime. And you, Elder, are someone who devotes yourself completely to the Hidden Leaf, ready to die for it...
"Selfless, frugal, and exemplary in conduct, putting the Hidden Leaf first in everything... To ensure victory in this war, you're willing to sacrifice anything.
"Including your own life!"
Kin provided his own "interpretation" of Danzo's "intentions," twisting a reprimand into something even Danzo himself couldn't bear to look at.
But... Kin made a lot of sense. With every sentence Kin spoke, Danzo found himself thinking, Right. By the time Kin finished, Danzo suddenly felt, That's right. That must be exactly what I was thinking just now. It has to be. He was Danzo, after all! A great shinobi with the character to sacrifice anything and anyone for the Hidden Leaf—including himself: Shimura Danzō.
He swiftly talked himself into it, then accepted Kin's whole load of "talk-no-jutsu" with perfect equanimity!
"Ahem... Kin, I knew you were different from those evil Uchiha!" As for the fact that he'd just cursed the "evil Uchiha" in his heart, that had been a mistake. He hadn't meant Uchiha Kin.
He added, "When we get back, make sure you write up a proper report on this mission. Once you've finished, bring it straight to me..."
"But I'm at the hospital, Lord Danzo, and you..." Kin cursed inwardly. What's wrong with this old bastard?
Danzo said, "Don't worry, I'll have—" He looked around among his subordinates, then called over a Root operative with orange hair. "Fu, come here." He turned to Kin and said, "He'll come get the report from you later."
"Yes."
Kin had a thousand things to say, but in the end they all came down to one: When you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head. Just wait until I'm powerful. I'll make you write reports every day.
Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, you old bastard. You've just discovered my "value," haven't you? I can give you a chance to do something worthwhile and satisfy your desire to be "righteous and selfless." Tsk, tsk...
The reports get sacrificed, the diaries keep the struggle alive. Are you Chiang Kai-shek or something? At that thought, a strange idea came to him. Could it be that Chiang Kai-shek's diaries were also...
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!
"Hm?" Uchiha Kin was startled. The glaring Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, which had been as bright as the sun in his Byakugan, suddenly disappeared.
His vision went dark for a moment. Then, in a black-and-white scene like an old silent film, he saw Nagato kneeling on the ground as though he were dead.
The moment Konan could move, she hurried over and embraced Nagato. Surrounded by corpses, she held him and wept.
Nagato's body had been drained by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path in an instant, leaving him shriveled and skeletal. He looked terrifying, and he didn't even have the strength to stand. Kin could see him moving his mouth, but couldn't understand what he was saying.
Damn it. If I'd known this day would come, I should've learned to read lips. Kin regretted not working harder in school.
Lip-reading in this world was much easier, after all. People mostly spoke in single words, and each basic sound showed clearly on the lips. All you had to do was memorize and practice.
Then he saw Konan reach out.
Sheets of paper flew from her body, one after another sticking to Yahiko's corpse and wrapping him up like a mummy as he floated into the air.
More paper flew from her arms and settled over Nagato. It only wrapped around his torso, but lifted him into the air as well.
She glanced at the surroundings, thought for a moment, then shot off toward the Land of Earth. At that moment, the Land of Earth was undoubtedly the best choice. It looked like a terrible option on the surface, but in fact, it fell into the blind spot of other people's thinking.
She didn't know that Hanzo's only aim had been to kill Yahiko. She thought Hanzo still wanted to kill her and Nagato, so she had to run.
"This ninjutsu is truly amazing. It can transform paper into chakra and make it part of the user.
"Then it can reverse the process and turn chakra back into paper... What a pity she's too far away. Otherwise, with my Byakugan, I could definitely figure out the secrets of her technique. It's simply unbelievable."
Dance of the Shikigami Paper!
This ninjutsu, which involved converting chakra and matter back and forth, left a deep impression on Uchiha Kin in a way he could see with his own eyes.
After flying some distance, enormous paper wings spread behind Konan. With one light flap, she vanished from Uchiha Kin's sight.
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