Danzo's Finale

Danzo stared at the spatial cracks spreading from his mangled body, his eyes churning with not only the resentment and fear of his impending death, but also a deep shock.

"This, this is... Space-Time Ninjutsu?!"

His lips struggled to utter those words amidst the spreading spatial rift.

Danzo's nervous system had long been destroyed by the erosion of Hashirama Cells.

From the moment he was cut in half at the waist, the pain completely disappeared from his perception.

But precisely because of this, his mind remained clear in these final moments before he died.

Danzo watched the spatial cracks spreading around him and completed the analysis of the Dōjutsu in less than a breath.

The object of this Dōjutsu... is space!

The space I'm in is collapsing!!

Space itself is collapsing, and everything enveloped by this collapsing space will be erased along with the disintegration of space itself!

No matter how powerful the Four Symbols Seal, it is still ultimately a technique, a technique for constructing Sealing Jutsu within this space.

When the space itself, which forms the foundation, begins to collapse, all techniques that depend on this space will only face one fate: destruction!

All his calculations, all his supposedly foolproof plans... turned into a complete joke in the face of these silently spreading spatial rifts!

I... I've completely lost!

Danzo opened his mouth, as if he wanted to shout something.

But the cracks from the Space Collapse had already spread to his entire face.

Unable to make any more sound, he could only stare intently into his remaining eye, Mangekyō Sharingan emitted an eerie red glow in the darkness.

Kou coldly looked down at the old beast whose body was covered with spatial cracks.

Through the Mangekyo of his right eye, Danzo body was surging with a rich Chakra brimming with the life force of Hashirama Cells.

That vast mass of Chakra was churning wildly within Danzo's remaining upper body, becoming increasingly chaotic as Danzo's life force rapidly faded.

In a few moments, they will all dissipate into this crumbling space along with the death of his body.

"What a waste..."

Kou Wei licked her dry, chapped lips, and the Mangekyo pattern in her right eye began to slowly rotate:

"Inari God."

As he finished speaking, the immense Chakra, guided by the Inari God, began to detach from Danzo's broken body and flow continuously into Koko's right eye.

Danzo's single eye suddenly widened, as if he had finally understood something, and he stared intently at Chakra's right eye, which was devouring all the chakra in his body.

As he felt the vibrant Chakra within his body, a satisfied smile slowly curved his lips.

A moment later, Koto had absorbed all the Chakra from the Hashirama Cells within Danzo's body.

Danzo's already broken body completely lost its last bit of life force at this moment.

His once bulging veins had all deflated, and his pale skin shrank layer by layer like tree bark that had been drained of moisture.

Danzo lay sprawled on the ground, seemingly reduced to a mere shell of skin and bones. Only his left eye continued to move weakly within its socket, its gaze fixed venomously on Koto in front of him.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

Koko's satisfied smile Danzo as he coldly stared at Danzo before him, and he said in a deep voice:

"You are completely useless now."

He looked at Danzo's single eye, which was still staring intently at him, devoid of any emotion.

"Keep your resentment and humiliation in your heart, savor the taste of your utterly failed life... then obediently die, you old beast!!"

Having said that, he turned away and refused to look at Danzo again.

The next instant, Kou's figure vanished from his original spot, landing steadily in the center of the blood-soaked dueling arena below.

At the same moment, Orochimaru, who was far away, silently swooped down to Koko's side, his golden snake eyes calmly watching him, waiting for the next command.

Danzo stared intently at the black-haired youth below who had his back to him, his lips moving countless times, but he could only utter muffled "ah ah" sounds.

Kou didn't turn around; instead, with his back to Danzo, he gently raised his right hand and snapped his fingers crisply.

"Snap."

The next instant, the countless spatial cracks that Danzo Danzo's entire body and the entire surrounding space shattered simultaneously!

In the final moment before his consciousness was completely swallowed up, what surfaced in Danzo's mind was not the regret of not being able to kill Kokoro, nor the Hokage Position he had sought his entire life.

Those obsessions that had occupied most of his life vanished completely in this final moment.

What he saw was Konoha from a very, very long time ago...

Two young children were running through the streets of Konoha. The one in front turned around and revealed a familiar smile.

That smiling face transformed from a child's to a young man's, and then from a young man's to an old man wearing the Hokage's hat...

The faces in his memory kept changing, but what remained constant was the purest, most sincere smile that the old man wearing the Hokage's hat gave him...

"... day, behead."

Danzo's throat, already destroyed by the spatial rift, miraculously managed to squeeze out two complete syllables in that final moment.

This was the last sound he left in this world.

"Boom!!"

With that deafening roar that echoed throughout the entire underground base, Danzo's body, along with his last whisper, vanished forever in the violent Space Collapse.

This dark figure in the Ninja World, whose hands are stained with countless blood and who caused countless tragedies, Shimura Danzō, the former Hokage's advisor.

He finally ended his sinful life in this unknown foreign land.

As the Space Collapse came to an end, not only Danzo's body, but also the half of the base where he was located when it was destroyed, all disappeared silently in the spreading spatial cracks.

The remaining half of the base was exposed to the moonlight, gleaming with a cold, hard luster in the silvery moonlight.

The bright moonlight poured down from the gap in the Space Collapse, falling on the dueling arena soaked in blood, and also on Kou's roguish yet handsome profile.

He bowed his head, stood in the center of the ruins he had created with his own hands, and remained silent for a long time.

He spoke slowly, his voice very soft, as if he were talking to himself:

"This... I guess you could call it revenge."

He spoke in a low voice, his mind involuntarily filled with the people he had met during the more than ten years he had lived in the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Those kind and friendly neighbors, those peers who initially looked down on him because of his mediocre talent, but later became his devoted followers after he proved them wrong;

And then there were the Uchiha Clan Teacher who, despite their bad tempers and sharp tongues, always taught him earnestly.

The wildflowers that bloom on the banks of the Naka River in spring, the red lanterns that hang all over the streets of the clan grounds during the Natsuhi festival...

Those people, those landscapes, those everyday moments... they're all gone.

All that remains now are memories.

"Call..."

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

The breath turned into a very faint white mist under the moonlight, which was quickly dispersed by the night wind.

He turned his gaze away from the distance and whispered:

"Although I left to save my life, I have no right to say this."

But as you know, I've never cared about saving face.

I... will do my best to get justice for you.

"Anyone who tries to promote or participate in the Uchiha Clan Massacre... no matter who they are, I will eliminate them all!!"

As he spoke in a low voice, the image of the spiky-haired boy who had always followed behind him unconsciously surfaced in his mind.

Kou slightly frowned and closed his eyes.

In the darkness, the cheerful, spiky-haired boy was gradually replaced by a sinister figure wearing Black Cloak with Red Clouds and an orange Spiral Mask.

A moment later, when he opened his eyes again, all the emotions in them had been completely suppressed.

He bowed his head and said in a hoarse voice:

Even you... it's the same.

He raised his head, facing the moonlight, and a scarlet tear of blood slowly slid down from the Mangekyō Sharingan left eye.

He raised his hand to cover his left eye, feeling the burning pain deep in his eye socket caused by the sudden depletion of his pupil power, and his expression involuntarily became more ferocious.

"Hiss..."

Kou couldn't help but gasp.

"Although I was mentally prepared, the consumption of my eye power... is really a bit too exaggerated."

He raised his hand and gently stroked his eyelids.

The Chakra of Hashirama Cells is being gradually converted into usable ocular power reserves by "Inari God".

Kou could feel that the burning sensation that was still faintly burning in his left eye was being slowly soothed by this life force.

Although the problem of the Mangekyō Sharingan's depletion cannot be solved at its root at present, at least for now, his vision has not been affected in any way.

"In order to achieve freedom of eye power, the plan to dig up graves... ah, I mean, to do archaeology, seems to need to be put on the agenda as soon as possible."

Thinking of this, Kou's gaze involuntarily turned to the distant northeast.

That's the direction of the Land of Lightning.

Just as Kou was about to fall into deep thought, a soft sound interrupted his thoughts.

Turning his head, he saw the figures of the children who had survived to the end.

They stood at the edge of the dueling arena, with the eldest, a fifteen-year-old boy, at the very front, gripping Kunai tightly in his hand and staring intently at him.

His face was covered in blood, some of his own, and some splattered from the fight just now.

Several other children stood behind him, some slightly older than him, others looking no more than ten years old.

At this moment, the same emotion was surging in everyone's eyes.

It wasn't the relief of surviving a disaster, but rather an empty bewilderment left behind after even the fear had been completely exhausted.

Their eyes were filled with numbness and despair as they looked at Kou, as if he were a terrifying monster.

Looking at those little faces covered in blood and mud, I immediately understood everything.

They witnessed the entire battle from below.

From the manifestation of Susanoo, to the chaos of the Deep Forest Emergence, and then to the terror of the Magatsuhi God silently wiping out half of the base...

In the eyes of these children who hadn't even refined their Chakra, he and Danzo probably shared only one title—monster.

He remained silent for a moment.

He looked at the six children and gave what he considered a sufficiently gentle smile.

That smile lacked the impeccable composure he displayed in the Mist Village office when facing Kakashi and the others, and it also lacked the nonchalant attitude he usually feigned.

It was just an ordinary, tired, and incredibly genuine smile.

The children, who had been expressionless, were all stunned the moment they saw his smile.

They didn't know why the person in front of them was smiling, nor did they know what that smile meant.

They just stared blankly at the smile of the man who had personally killed those mysterious people who had abducted them from their homeland and thrown them into this hellish place to fight each other.

A strange, unprecedented sense of security slowly spread through their chests.

"You... no longer need to kill each other."

Looking at the children before him, he spoke very softly:

You are safe now.

The children's eyes widened immediately upon hearing his words.

The child standing at the very front stared blankly at Kou, his lips trembling for a very long time.

"Bite!"

The Kunai he had been gripping tightly finally slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but all the sound was blocked in his throat by something.

Tears welled up in his eyes, which had been numb for far too long.

His legs buckled and he knelt on the ground, bursting into tears like a real child.

One by one, the children behind him released their weapons.

Those Kunai, which they had held for several nights and which were still stained with blood, lay scattered haphazardly on the ground.

They also knelt on the ground, covered their faces, and wailed loudly in voices so hoarse they were almost speechless.

Kou stood quietly in front of them, neither offering comfort nor saying anything unnecessary.

He simply stood quietly beside them, calmly watching this scene he had long been accustomed to.

Moonlight fell silently through the gaping hole torn open by the Space Collapse above, landing on the blood-soaked dueling arena.

A few night birdsongs drifted from the distant mountains, long and clear, as if silently bearing witness to everything that had happened that night.

(Because I wasn't satisfied with this chapter, I deleted it and rewrote it, so the second chapter is late. I'll make it up tomorrow.)