Now that he had been exposed, Danzo wasn't the sort to deceive himself. He simply lowered his hand.
The Sharingan, glowing an eerie red, was there for all to see. Clear as day.
A trace of reminiscence crossed his face as he spoke slowly.
"These are the eyes Kagami entrusted to me before he died."
"That's a load of rubbish!!"
Shisui gripped his short blade tightly and shouted hoarsely, "My father told me that our ancestor Kagami was buried with both eyes! How dare you desecrate his remains!!"
Shimura Danzo looked at Shisui impassively. "You never met Kagami. Even your father only remembers him from his childhood."
"Kagami and I were comrades who entrusted each other with our lives. Is it really so hard to believe that he entrusted his eyes to me?"
Well... it wasn't completely impossible.
After all, Kagami Uchiha was the Uchiha closest to the village leadership, and he had risked his life to save Danzo and the others many times.
Besides...
Something similar had happened recently.
The fallen Uchiha Obito had given his Sharingan to Hatake Kakashi.
It was easy enough to explain why Shimura Danzo had kept it secret. He could simply say he didn't want to inflame tensions between the village and the Uchiha.
Even the Third and Fourth Hokage could accept that explanation.
Why should Kakashi be allowed to keep his dear friend's eye, while I, the hardworking Hokage's aide, am not?
Whoosh!!!
While Shimura Danzo was explaining himself, a beam of light tore through space and pierced his head!
Perched atop Rayquaza, Uchiha Sora raised an arm as if firing a shot, wisps of smoke curling from his fingers.
"Shimura Danzo, I believe you."
"But how will you explain the other Sharingan?"
"How many more times can you use... Izanagi!"
Izanagi...
One of the Uchiha Clan's ultimate ocular techniques. It could turn anything that happened to the user during a certain period into something that had never happened, while making only what benefited the user reality.
While the technique was active, even death could be rewritten. The price was that one Sharingan would inevitably go blind after use, whether the technique took effect or not!
Shimura Danzo's body fell to the ground. It didn't burst into a cloud of smoke; instead, it vanished strangely.
Shimura Danzo appeared atop the ruins nearby and looked up calmly.
"This is a secret technique I developed. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Uchiha Sora grinned. "You'd sound more believable if you'd left off that last part."
"As a subordinate of the Second, you're telling me you don't know the Uchiha's ocular techniques? Who do you think you're fooling?"
Based on Uchiha Sora's judgment, Shimura Danzo's arm transplant must have been completed before Orochimaru defected.
But the Uchiha hadn't been wiped out yet, so he couldn't have many Sharingan in reserve.
That was one of the things Uchiha Sora truly despised Uchiha Itachi for.
After going so far as to wipe out his clan, he had still let their eyes be defiled!
The atmosphere grew increasingly strange...
Most clan members didn't know about Izanagi. It was a forbidden technique that had been sealed away.
But the clan head certainly knew of it.
Fugaku also knew that the chamber where Izanagi had been sealed away was broken into many years ago. Even the clan no longer had a scroll containing instructions for the technique.
There was only one person who could enter and leave the Uchiha's chamber without anyone noticing...
And who had both the ability and the reason to do it.
The Second... Senju Tobirama!
The moment the thought occurred to him,
the Mangekyō in Fugaku's eyes slowly revolved, its immense ocular power enveloping Danzo.
He sensed it: the faint, hidden fluctuations coming from Danzo's arm.
That was...
The ocular power of the Sharingan!
Fugaku took a deep breath, trying to quell his anger...
He couldn't.
If he played dumb now, he wouldn't just be unworthy of being the Uchiha Clan Head; he wouldn't even deserve to call himself one of the Uchiha.
Uchiha Sora seemed to have given him a choice.
But...
At this point, he had no choice at all.
"Shimura Danzo..."
Fwish—
In an instant, black and white swallowed the moonlight. A surging torrent of ocular power swept toward Shimura Danzo like a flood of filth.
Mangekyō Sharingan Technique: Yomotsu!
What was the first rule for facing the Sharingan?
Don't meet its gaze.
From beginning to end, Shimura Danzo had focused most of his attention on guarding against Fugaku. Otherwise, Uchiha Sora wouldn't have killed him so easily twice.
Faced with the invisible torrent of ocular power, Shimura Danzo understood at once.
A Mangekyō technique based on genjutsu? Then this was easy.
He formed a hand seal with one hand.
Black curse-mark patterns spread over Danzo's body, mysterious and sinister.
Self-Karma Curse Seal!
Shimura Danzo would one day use this technique to control Uchiha Sasuke, who possessed the Mangekyō.
If Uchiha Obito hadn't been standing guard nearby—and if it weren't for the principle that villains died from talking too much—he could have simply turned around and killed Uchiha Sasuke with a single slash.
This technique could not only control an opponent; it could also create a layer of chakra turbulence over the user's body. By constantly disrupting his own chakra, Danzo could avoid the effects of genjutsu.
The technique had been developed by the Uchiha's nemesis, Old White-Haired Senju.
Shimura Danzo had no talent for developing ninjutsu, and he didn't need any.
He could never finish learning everything in Konoha's thick Scroll of Seals.
After completing the technique, Shimura Danzo immediately formed another set of hand seals and pressed both hands to the ground.
Summoning Technique!
Poof!!
The enormous Baku, with its elephantine trunk, appeared on the battlefield. It opened its mouth, and a powerful suction immediately whipped up a gale across the battlefield!
Shimura Danzo was just about to combine forces with Baku and use an incredibly powerful Wind Release Ninjutsu...
Fwoosh—
A ball of fire, along with chunks of rubble, was sucked toward Baku's gaping mouth.
Great Fireball Technique!
The Great Fireball's accuracy was so poor that it was once jokingly called the kindest Fire Style technique.
Of course, that was a joke.
As the Uchiha Clan's signature ninjutsu, it was still quite powerful.
Poof!!
Boom!!!!
Though Baku stopped sucking in everything as quickly as it could, the Great Fireball had already reached its mouth and exploded with a deafening blast!!
Baku had been on the battlefield for less than three seconds. It let out a cry of pain before withdrawing from the fight.
A ninja battle was a battle of information. When overwhelming combat power was set aside, the side with more information was almost certain to win.
With a huge information gap, even a Genin could defeat a Jonin.
Uchiha Sora knew Shimura Danzo inside and out. With Rayquaza backing him, there was no gap in strength between him and Danzo.
In fact, in terms of energy, he was even stronger than Shimura Danzo!
Shimura Danzo spat and frowned at Uchiha Sora.
Brushing the flame from the corner of his mouth, Uchiha Sora smiled faintly.
"You're wary of Clan Head Fugaku's Mangekyō, but you dare to look me in the eye?"
Shimura Danzo couldn't help sneering. "What are you supposed to be? Just a Two-Tomoe Sharingan user who got lucky and contracted a powerful beast. How dare you compare yourself to a Mangekyō!"
"A contract? Don't underestimate the bond between Rayquaza and me..."
"I warned you already."
"Don't look up at me."
Rayquaza stopped performing Dragon Dance. Emerald-green flames seemed to ignite across its body, resembling wings of rising steam.
Uchiha Sora formed a hand seal with one hand. The two Tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly, and a faint emerald-green aura radiated a mysterious, powerful force.
Genjutsu: Sharingan—Dragon Ascent.
An invisible wave rippled outward.
In Shimura Danzo's vision, the sky filled with dark green flames, and Rayquaza's enormous body writhed gracefully within the sea of fire.
Then...
The emerald dragon spread its flame-like wings and hurled itself at him!!
Fast!
Faster than he could imagine!
By the time Shimura Danzo realized he was under attack, his eyes had caught only a dazzling streak of light.
Boom!!!!
A tremendous roar echoed between heaven and earth!
The burning Rayquaza swallowed Shimura Danzo whole!
He could clearly feel his consciousness falling into an endless sea of fire, slowly sinking beneath the waves.
The curse mark was useless...
Then... Izanagi!
Why couldn't he rewrite this reality?!
Clack...
The Kunai Shimura Danzo had been holding slipped from his hand and hit the ground.
Unlike what Danzo saw, to everyone else, after he looked up and Uchiha Sora finished speaking...
he simply fell into a daze.
Whoosh—
Rayquaza dived, reaching out with its dragon claw to seize Shimura Danzo in its grasp.
Roar!!
It threw its head back and roared, proclaiming...
A crushing victory!
Before you continue