From the moment Shimura Danzō threw out the scroll to the moment he suddenly attacked, everything happened too fast—so fast that Hyuga Sojin did not even have time to blink.
Standing not far away, he watched helplessly as that pale hand reached for Genkawa Uchiha's eye socket, the distance between its fingers and his eye less than an inch.
And then...
There was no then.
Shimura Danzō's hand froze in midair, his fingertips grasping at nothing, because Genkawa Uchiha had vanished before his eyes.
The youth whose body had been restrained by the Shadow Possession Jutsu, who should have been utterly unable to move, disappeared from where he stood as if he had never existed, without making the slightest sound.
The certainty on Shimura Danzō's face froze.
His eyes widened, his pupils contracted, and the smile about to bloom at the corner of his lips stiffened in place.
How was that possible?
How could anyone break free from the Shadow Possession Jutsu in such a short time?
But he was gone. It made no sense.
"Where are you looking?"
The voice came from behind him, and every hair on Shimura Danzō's body stood on end.
He wanted to turn around, but before his body could move, he heard a sound like thousands upon thousands of birds crying out at once, followed by a muffled pop.
It was dull and heavy.
Like something had been pierced through.
Shimura Danzō lowered his head and saw a hand protruding from his chest.
That hand was pale and slender, its fingers slightly curled, lightning still dancing at its fingertips.
And in that hand's palm was something still beating.
A heart.
His own heart.
"How... is this possible?"
Shimura Danzō's voice carried bewilderment beyond comprehension.
Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, trickling down