Three-Good Paths Requiem

Pfft! Danzo's body shuddered. His eyes widened as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"You can't kill me." Danzo's face was as pale as paper. He activated Izanagi once more, but this time, a hint of despair crossed his face as he revived.

He had used up too much chakra. His vision was blurring, his head spinning, and his body felt heavy. He could use it only one more time at most.

He lamented inwardly, Am I really going to die here today? No! I'm the Hokage. How can I die?

He immediately formed Hand Seals. He hadn't been idle when Feng Yao grabbed him just now.

"Self-Exerting Curse Binding Seal!"

Even as he was being attacked, he had managed to place a mark on Feng Yao. Strange black stripes slowly crawled over Feng Yao's body, restricting his movements.

Danzo naturally wouldn't miss such a golden opportunity. He immediately pulled out a Shuriken and hurled it, cloaked in Wind Release.

"Wind Release: Shuriken!"

The Shuriken's sharp blade could cut through rock. It flew straight toward Feng Yao, and just as it was about to hit him—

The last Resentment Ghost teleported in front of Feng Yao and blocked the fatal blow. When its master was attacked, it could teleport to his side.

Danzo's spirits sank to the depths when his attack failed. He watched helplessly as Feng Yao slowly forced the sealing curse off his body.

He roared furiously.

"You traitors of Konoha! You have no idea what you're doing. You think only of using revenge to wipe everything away, letting your emotions control you. You're not fit to be ninja!"

Feng Yao sneered at Danzo's judgment of him.

He stared at Danzo and spoke slowly. "And what about you, Danzo? You're always saying that a ninja must be willing to sacrifice himself, but when it came down to it, you were the one who lost your nerve. The Second already proved long ago that you weren't fit to be Hokage. Your actions have never lived up to your ideals. That's your original sin."

Danzo's breathing grew ragged. He couldn't understand how Feng Yao knew about something buried in history.

Even Orochimaru and the others pricked up their ears. They had never heard this secret either.

Danzo gritted his teeth, his brow furrowed as he stared at everyone before him.

He knew he was bound to die today. Feng Yao's words had struck right at his sore spot.

They reminded Danzo of what the Second had once told him.

The Hokage's authoritative voice seemed to ring in his ears.

"The time will come when you must give your lives. Until then, stay alive."

Feng Yao's words had instead stirred Danzo's resolve to die in battle. He no longer thought of fleeing. He decided to take Feng Yao and the others down with him.

Danzo ripped open his clothes, revealing the Reverse Four-Symbols Sealing mark on his body.

But Feng Yao knew all of Danzo's techniques. No matter how fast Danzo moved, he couldn't outrun the Flying Thunder God. Feng Yao had to stop him.

He flashed over and drove a Kunai into Danzo's heart. But Danzo used his last Izanagi, entering a state of invulnerability for the next sixty seconds.

He laughed as he revived nearby. At that moment, he had put his own life and death out of his mind.

"For Konoha, I can't let you live!"

Danzo believed his death would mean something. He would take three powerful enemies of Konoha with him.

But he didn't know that this Sealing Technique couldn't kill Feng Yao. Feng Yao only regretted that he couldn't kill Danzo with his own hands.

Whether he used Intangibility or the Flying Thunder God, Feng Yao could easily evade Danzo's sealing technique. It was Shisui's eye he regretted losing.

Just as everyone was preparing to save themselves, a lilting flute melody rang out. It transformed into three pitch-black dragons that bound Danzo, halting the sealing technique he had been using to kill himself.

Danzo stared at the scene in disbelief, then turned to see that the flute player was just an inconspicuous young girl.

"Three-Good Paths Requiem!"

This piece had a powerful single-target restraining effect. It could immobilize an opponent and render the technique they were using ineffective. It was a secret family technique Tayuya had been practicing diligently these past few days.

"Lord Feng Yao, I promised you I'd help you fulfill your wish."

Tayuya looked at Feng Yao and silently spoke to him in her heart. Blood had already trickled from her mouth, showing how difficult the technique was to use.

Feng Yao certainly wasn't going to miss this golden opportunity. He used the Flying Thunder God to teleport straight to Danzo's side.

Pfft!

The Kunai pierced Danzo's heart clean through. This time, he could no longer use Izanagi.

He began to lose consciousness. His body grew unbearably heavy, and at last he slumped to the ground like a helpless old man.

At the very end, he murmured faintly.

"Hiruzen... this time... I'm... ahead of you..."

Danzo, leader of Root in Konoha Village in the Land of Fire and Konoha's fifth Acting Hokage, was an antihero who had devoted his life to Konoha's prosperity. Today, he had fallen.

In the distance, the Third's eyes were clouded, as if with tears.

"Danzo..."

"Lord Hokage has been killed!"

"What do we do now? We need to stabilize the situation first! Hurry and get the Third!"

The Konoha Ninja watching the battle below were in chaos.

The Kazekage was thrilled to see this. His emotions had been on a wild ride from the start: he'd been ambushed, abandoned by Orochimaru, and almost dragged into death by Danzo. At least Danzo was dead.

He struggled to his feet and addressed the ninja below. "The Fifth Hokage is dead. Why haven't you surrendered? Konoha has already lost this war."

The Sand shinobi were greatly encouraged by this, while the people of Konoha felt as if the world had gone dark.

Up on the platform, Tayuya had just acted, and with one person missing, the barrier had collapsed on its own. Feng Yao had also accomplished what he'd set out to do. He was about to take Danzo's right arm and Sharingan when—

"Tuoyan Lujia!"

A giant snake lunged at him. Feng Yao grabbed Danzo's body and used the Flying Thunder God to dodge to one side. The snake missed and slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Feng Yao had known all along that Orochimaru harbored ill intentions toward him. It seemed Orochimaru was finally ready to make his move.

He let out a quiet sigh, but his hands moved swiftly as he put away Danzo's arm and Shisui's eye.

"Orochimaru, couldn't you hold back any longer? Do you really think you can beat my Sage Mode?"

Feng Yao spoke, first trying to intimidate him. He hadn't used much chakra in his fight with Danzo, so dealing with Orochimaru should be more than manageable.

But Kimimaro and the Sound Four were here, and Orochimaru still hadn't used the Impure World Reincarnation of the First Hokage and Second. The Fourth Kazekage's allegiance was unclear.

The situation wasn't ideal for Feng Yao, but with Intangibility, Kamui, and the Flying Thunder God at his disposal, there were very few people in the Shinobi World who could keep him there.

Even if he couldn't win, he could still retreat with ease.

Orochimaru frowned at Feng Yao's words.

Feng Yao's Sage Mode was terrifying. It gave him incredible speed and strength, and his Senjutsu was unparalleled.

But after watching Feng Yao fight for so long, Orochimaru had come up with a bold theory. Feng Yao could have used Sage Mode to end the fight quickly, yet he had kept relying on Summoning Beasts and the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Orochimaru thought Feng Yao wasn't choosing not to use it. He thought Feng Yao couldn't use it!

Feng Yao's various techniques now were worlds apart from what he had used when Orochimaru fought him before. This only made Orochimaru more curious about the secrets of Feng Yao's body.

"Yao-kun, I admit I wasn't your match in our last battle. Why not let me see your Sage Mode again today?"

"Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation!"

Orochimaru bit his finger and slapped his palm against the ground. Two heavy brown coffins rose from beneath it, marked "First" and "Second."

Feng Yao understood that the coffins held Konoha's First Hokage and Second.

Feng Yao had also considered using the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, but at the time, he had been in Shikkotsu Forest, where there simply weren't any powerful corpses worth using.

Otherwise, the people he resurrected with Impure World Reincarnation would have been stronger than Orochimaru's. Orochimaru still hadn't completely mastered the technique.

A third coffin slowly emerged as well.

It had almost appeared once before, but the Third had stopped it. There were no markings on it (the anime version had markings, but the manga didn't).

Feng Yao didn't think the person inside was Minato. The coffins clearly held ninja who had already been resurrected with Impure World Reincarnation.

For example, the First and Second had already been resurrected before they were placed in the coffins and summoned out. As for the Fourth Hokage, he had been sealed away, so it was impossible to successfully resurrect him with Impure World Reincarnation and put him in a coffin.

Besides, the technique had been intended to deal with the Third, so the person inside should be someone the Third knew well. The First and Second had been his teachers, after all, so this person should have been familiar to him too.

As the coffin lids slowly opened, there was no doubt about the identities of the First and Second. They were indeed the two men.

At first glance, the third person looked somewhat unfamiliar to Feng Yao.

But the three tomoe in his eyes made it clear: he was a member of the Uchiha Clan.

That gave Feng Yao a clue. He knew who the last person Orochimaru had resurrected with Impure World Reincarnation was.