"Danzo, are you all right?"
As Kagami Uchiha headed toward Ryūchi Cave, he sensed that something was off with Danzo beside him and asked with concern.
"I'm fine."
Feeling the concern directed at him, Danzo forced a smile and dispelled the doubts in his heart about his father.
The power of lust was truly terrifying.
It was only natural that bastard Hiruzen had been eliminated.
But he had never expected his father, who was usually so decisive and righteous, to fall to that move as well.
Danzo could only let out a long, murky sigh and take this as a lesson.
Once he had composed himself, Danzo surveyed the team, which had dwindled to barely more than a dozen people.
He stopped amid the swirling mist and motioned for the Konoha ninja behind him to gather.
"Do you remember what Tagorihime said before we parted?"
Danzo asked the gathered ninja from his village with a grave expression.
"She said Ryūchi Cave wouldn't conduct childish tests like Mount Myoboku. If not for the offerings prepared in advance, she would have swallowed every eliminated ninja in one bite."
The Uzumaki ninja swallowed the saliva secreted from his nerves. The memory in his mind seemed to pluck a string, making his words tremble as they left his mouth.
The graceful woman in flowing white, like an immortal descended into the world, had suddenly transformed her lovely face, so full of fantasy, into terrifying snake eyes and a flickering forked tongue.
That powerful visual shock had shaken their minds so deeply that they no longer believed in any so-called immortal big sister.
"Tagorihime tested our willpower, so the next trial is very likely to be the same kind of test."
The clustered discussion among the Konoha group drew the attention of the surviving ninja