Beast!!!

Shimura Danzō endured the excruciating pain, stumbling as he rolled over and fled toward the side in a panic.

His steps were chaotic, and blood dripped from his wounds onto the ground, leaving a long, crimson trail.

Uchiha Yoru watched this scene, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly, his eyes filled with mockery.

"Running? You still think you can run at this point?"

He slowly drew a cold ninja blade, the steel reflecting a faint, chilling gleam in the dim light.

Shimura Danzō's breathing was incredibly heavy; he dared not look back, lacking even the spare energy to sense chakra.

As long as I leave this place! As long as I can hold out until I reach the Daimyo Mansion in the Land of Fire, then unite the ninja villages of every nation... to crusade against Uchiha Yoru!

He calculated frantically in his mind, as if he could already see the image of himself reigning over the ninja world in the future.

Konoha will return to my hands! Uchiha Yoru is nothing more than the final stumbling block!

But he had forgotten one thing.

--He no longer had a future.

"Swish—"

The sound of air being torn apart rang out suddenly, like the whisper of the Grim Reaper.

The next second, Shimura Danzō felt a violent, stabbing pain surge from his thigh.

"Puchi!"

Blood sprayed as a ninja blade plunged ruthlessly into his left leg, severing the entire limb clean off.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

A miserable, shrill wail echoed throughout the entire Root base, carrying an indescribable sense of despair and agony.

The severed left leg twitched on the ground, staining the surrounding soil red.

Shimura Danzō lost his balance and slammed hard into the ground, kicking up dust.

Yet, even so, his will to survive remained tenacious.

"I can't die... I cannot die!"

He gripped the ground tightly with both hands, struggling to crawl forward like a lizard with its tail cut off.

Mud mixed with blood coated his cheeks and clothes, but he couldn't care about any of that.

With every inch he advanced, a shocking trail of blood was dragged behind him.

However, that cold gaze from behind followed him like a shadow.

Uchiha Yoru watched this scene quietly, as if he were enjoying some absurd play.

"Truly ugly."

He walked forward slowly, each step sounding as if it were landing on Shimura Danzō's heart, causing his terror to escalate.

"A beast is a beast after all; even when losing everything, you still think of struggling in your death throes."

Upon hearing this, Shimura Danzō's heart jolted, and cold sweat broke out all over his body.

He whipped his head around, his eyes filled with horror.

"You... you bastard!"

Uchiha Yoru bent down, his gaze piercing into Danzō's soul like a blade.

"Uchiha Itachi, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and you as well..."

"In the face of absolute power, all your struggles are meaningless."

Shimura Danzō's pupils contracted violently, his heart hammering against his ribs.

Uchiha Itachi... is he really dead?

A chill surged from the soles of his feet straight to his heart.

That guy Uchiha Itachi, who prided himself on being a genius, couldn't even survive under Uchiha Yoru?

As for Sarutobi Hiruzen, although Shimura Danzō had long expected him to be unable to escape death, the moment he truly heard the fact, a tremor of sympathy for a fellow conspirator welled up in his heart.

"The Will of Fire, heh..."

Uchiha Yoru let out a cold laugh, his voice laced with endless ridicule.

"When it comes down to it, it's nothing more than a joke concocted by a pack of old dogs."

Shimura Danzō opened his mouth, emitting intermittent gasps from his throat, but he could no longer find the strength to argue.

His complexion grew increasingly pale, his body turning cold from excessive blood loss, and that final shred of hope he had clung to was completely extinguished by Uchiha Yoru's cold laughter.

"Compared to you, that old thing Sarutobi Hiruzen at least had some backbone."

Uchiha Yoru looked down slowly at Shimura Danzō on the ground, his voice dripping with intense sarcasm.

"At least he knew he couldn't escape and thought about unleashing a final technique before he died."

"And you? Besides clinging to life, what else can you do?"

"It seems that the Second Hokage not choosing you back then was truly the correct decision."

This sentence felt like a sharp blade, piercing fiercely into the heart of Shimura Danzō.

His pupils contracted violently, and his single eye revealed an irrepressible fury.

"Brat!!!"

"What do you know?!"

Shimura Danzō seemed to have suffered a great humiliation; his body trembled violently, and the remaining chakra within him surged restlessly.

He struggled desperately, attempting to prop up his already broken body, his mouth twitching slightly from anger as the veins on his face bulged.

"I am the true successor of the Will of Fire!"

"A man like Monkey, with his womanly benevolence, is not even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as me!"

He roared, as if trying to vent all the resentment that had accumulated in his heart for years.

"For the sake of Konoha! I can sacrifice everything!"

"Including this broken body!"

In an instant, Shimura Danzō's hands slammed together in a seal, and the remaining chakra in his body surged like a runaway torrent.

Even with stiff limbs and blood drained away, he still forcibly held his body upright.

"Reverse Four-Symbols Sealing!!!"

The runes of the sealing jutsu spread rapidly across his body, the black curse marks like burning flames, covering him at an astonishing speed.

The Four-Symbols Sealing is a forbidden jutsu that demands one's own life as the price; once completed, it forms a powerful sealing formation capable of devouring everything in its vicinity!

However—

"Heh."

The corners of Uchiha Yoru's mouth curled upward, a flicker of mockery flashing in the depths of his eyes.

Just as the sealing jutsu was about to be completed, his Sharingan suddenly narrowed.

In an instant, Shimura Danzō's expression froze abruptly.

Those eyes, filled with malice and madness, instantly lost their focus, and the runes of the sealing jutsu stalled in mid-air before dissipating into wisps of black smoke.

His brain felt as if it were shackled by invisible chains, and an irresistible genjutsu invaded his mental world directly.

"No... impossible..."

Shimura Danzō's lips trembled; his remaining sanity told him he should resist, but his body could not move at all.

His consciousness was dragged into an endless illusion, and countless suffocating scenes emerged before his eyes.

In the hallucination, darkness engulfed Shimura Danzō like a tide.

In his ears, the wails of vengeful spirits rose and fell, as if countless souls were coming to claim his life.

Dozens of scarlet Sharingan appeared in the darkness, staring at him coldly and mercilessly, each pair reflecting his long history of sins.

Fear, pain, despair...

These emotions intertwined and spread within his heart, turning into shackles that devoured his soul.

What broke him most was the scene that replayed over and over in the hallucination—

On the battlefield of Kumogakure, the figure of the Second Hokage gradually blurred in his vision.

"Someone must stay behind to cover our retreat."

Every time the Second Hokage proposed this decision, a clear answer would surface in Shimura Danzō's heart.

"I will do it!"

But—

Every time the words reached his lips, his sanity would collapse in fear.

"Monkey..."

As the voice fell, he could only watch helplessly as Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped forward, becoming the one hailed as a hero.

Countless cycles, each time the same choice, each time accompanied by endless regret and despair.

Finally, the moment he mustered the courage in the hallucination to shout "I will stay behind" for the first time—

The Second Hokage actually took Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others and left without looking back!

Leaving him alone to face death.

They left...

They really left!!!

What surged in his chest was not relief, but a deeper despair.

"You beasts!!!"

In reality, Shimura Danzō's body shuddered violently, and a mouthful of black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

He collapsed to the ground as if his soul had been hollowed out, his body convulsing, his eyes losing focus.

"Sacrifice everything for Konoha?"

"What a pity, your wretched life isn't even worth being offered as a sacrifice."

He turned and walked away, the dilapidated Root base behind him appearing increasingly chilling under the moonlight.

Uchiha Yoru's footsteps did not falter in the slightest.

The night wind howled, scattering the lingering ashes...