"W-What a terrifying aura..." Danzo muttered, his voice as hoarse as a broken gong, trembling despite his best efforts to hide it.
"If I hadn't reacted in time and forcibly activated Izanagi at the cost of one Sharingan, I'm afraid... I'm afraid I'd already have become one of those useless, half-dead, mindless living corpses!"
He subconsciously touched his right eye. A stabbing pain came from the socket, and the Sharingan there had long since lost its luster, reduced to a useless ornament. To save his life, he had paid no small price.
The nearly hundred elite Root ninjas he had brought with him now lay strewn across the ground. Their eyes were vacant, foam spilled from their mouths, and their bodies were rigid. They had long since lost the bearing of elite soldiers. Their mental worlds had been utterly crushed by that aura, leaving them paralyzed and mindless, never to awaken again.
"Danzo! What in the world happened?!" A voice suppressing immense fury suddenly rang out. Sarutobi Hiruzen strode forward, his face ashen and iron-hard, his brows knitted tightly together. His chakra fluctuated violently from anger and tension, and his eyes were filled with shock and confusion.
"What was that aura just now?! Why was it so terrifying?! What exactly did you bring the Root here to do?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's questions exploded beside Danzo's ears like thunder. Danzo, already restless and filled with lingering fear, was instantly consumed by anger.
He abruptly shook off the support of the Root ninja beside him, turned around, and snarled at Sarutobi Hiruzen in displeasure. His tone was vicious, with a trace of inadequacy he could barely conceal. "How would I know what happened?! Do you think I wanted to come here and suffer this ordeal?!"
He took a deep breath, his chest heaving