Pummeling Danzo

Before their eyes, the light across a vast area ahead was instantly swallowed by a curtain of darkness.

Danzo couldn't help but be startled.

As an old hand who had seen it all, he recognized the jutsu at once.

The A-rank forbidden jutsu, Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!

It had been invented by Second Hokage Tobirama Senju specifically to counter ocular jutsu clans like the Uchiha Clan!

How had a brat from the Uchiha Clan learned it?!

"Hmph! Foolish!"

"You really think you can win with just a genjutsu?"

"This kind of forbidden jutsu consumes a lot of chakra. He's probably already drained the last bit of chakra in his body."

"In the end, he's just a kid. How naive!"

After his momentary surprise, Danzo sneered.

In his eyes, Natsume was just a cornered beast making a desperate last stand.

Those Mangekyō Sharingan would be his, in the end!

However,

the battle within the darkness seemed to end very quickly.

It lasted no more than two or three seconds.

Then the vast curtain of darkness created by the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique suddenly broke apart.

The next moment,

a vast crimson glow burst through the darkness, unleashing a torrent of violent chakra.

A gigantic dark-red Susanoo appeared. It was already in its second form, with flesh and armor, wielding a weapon.

Danzo was instantly shocked.

"How can this be?!"

"Wasn't this brat completely spent?"

"How can he still use Susanoo?"

When Natsume had escaped just now,

Danzo had been certain that the brat had nearly exhausted both his ocular power and chakra.

But now,

look at that sturdy Susanoo, and that imposing chakra.

There wasn't the slightest sign of his chakra running dry!

He was even fiercer than someone on drugs!

Even Soldier Pills couldn't have that kind of effect!

This was like seeing a ghost!

But Natsume didn't give Danzo time to stand there in a daze.

"Danzo! Didn't you say that this mere Susanoo was nothing to worry about?"

"Then come and test it!"

With a fierce shout,

a dark-red chakra blade over ten meters long swept out, slashing in from the right. It churned the wind and clouds, its force like a blow that could split the heavens!

The slash, delivered by the Susanoo, was simply too fast!

Danzo had no chance to dodge before the enormous blade was already right in front of him.

The powerful chakra pressure and gale generated by the blade pinned him in place, sealing off his escape routes.

Natsume's true killing move—the reason he had stayed behind to ambush Danzo—was to finish him with one strike!

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

At the critical moment, the feeling of imminent death squeezed every last bit of potential out of Danzo.

Ignoring the backlash from his chakra, he forced the jutsu out instantly.

He raised three consecutive earthen walls to his right as a defense.

At the same time, he blasted a huge burst of wind chakra downward from his mouth, hoping to use the recoil to break through Natsume's blade and gale pressure and dodge the slash!

The three walls were nearly a meter thick, with astonishing defensive power.

But against Natsume's Susanoo blade, they were no sturdier than butter.

Like a knife cutting tofu, the blade sliced through them with ease and kept going toward Danzo.

Danzo had barely jumped half a meter into the air with the recoil from his Wind Release when he watched the Earth Release defense break apart and the enormous blade sweep straight toward him.

His eyes widened in terror, his soul nearly leaving his body.

He let out a desperate roar.

"No!"

The next moment,

the blade cut through the air, and blood sprayed everywhere.

Both of Danzo's legs were cleanly severed and fell to the ground.

The shockwave sent his upper body flying, crashing heavily more than ten meters away.

For a moment,

the pain in his legs,

the humiliation of his sudden defeat,

and the overwhelming sense of absurdity

all piled together.

The combined emotions nearly drove even this Root leader—the shadowy mastermind at Konoha's heart—to the brink of collapse!

"How can this be?!"

"My legs!!"

"This is impossible!!!"

Danzo had lost his usual composure. His face twisted as he screamed.

After all his years of dominating Konoha, he had never imagined

he would be defeated in a single move by a ten-year-old Uchiha brat!

It was the ultimate humiliation!

Elsewhere,

seeing that his first slash hadn't killed Danzo,

"Tch! You dodged the fatal blow?"

"Then I'll strike again!"

Natsume clicked his tongue.

Without the slightest hesitation, he controlled the Susanoo and swung his blade again.

He brought it down from above, aiming right at Danzo once more.

This slash was even more powerful than the last.

It seemed capable of splitting the earth.

Danzo had no time to react before it came crashing down.

"Boom—!"

A deafening roar erupted.

The mighty slash carved a deep ravine nearly thirty meters long into the ground.

The shockwave alone toppled dozens of trees nearby. Its power was terrifying.

After such a devastating blow, even a ninja with a body of flesh and blood would be hard-pressed to survive.

Even a tough Summoning Beast would never be able to withstand it.

Natsume refused to believe that Danzo, that bastard, could survive a blow like that!

The fierce battle,

the powerful chakra,

and the towering, imposing Susanoo

quickly drew the attention of many Konoha Ninja pursuing them nearby.

It wouldn't be long before someone arrived.

It was time for him to leave.

But just as Natsume was about to go,

beside the deep ravine left by the slash,

a hazy figure gradually took shape.

It was none other than that old bastard, Danzo!

Danzo lay in the mud, looking utterly wretched. Both legs were severed, his mouth was full of blood, and he could only prop himself up with half of his left arm as he glared at Natsume with bitter hatred.

Natsume's first slash had been ferocious!

It had come within a hair's breadth of cutting Danzo in half at the waist!

Even so,

Danzo had suffered grave injuries when his legs were severed. He could only use chakra to barely stop the bleeding.

With injuries this severe, if he didn't receive treatment in time,

he would still die once the effect of Izanagi wore off.

At the same time, seeing Danzo "come back to life,"

Natsume's pupils contracted, and his brows furrowed.

As a member of the Uchiha Clan, how could he not understand?

That bastard Danzo had surely used the Uchiha Clan's ultimate ocular jutsu: Izanagi!

With this forbidden jutsu, he had twisted reality and illusion,

physically restoring the fatal attack he had just suffered to the state recorded by his Sharingan!

That was how he'd avoided Natsume's fatal slash!

Damn it!

So this was the ultimate ocular jutsu, Izanagi?

Though it came at the price of permanently losing the light in a Sharingan, its effect really was miraculous!

Natsume had pretended to be exhausted to lower Danzo's guard.

Then he'd attacked without hesitation, making each slash faster than the last.

He'd also made sure Danzo had no chance to use this forbidden jutsu.

But somehow,

in that split second, the bastard had still managed to activate it!

Sigh!

He could only blame his own ancestors for being too brilliant and developing such an extreme ocular jutsu.

And he had to blame that shameless schemer, Danzo, even more!

He had actually stolen this ultimate ocular jutsu and taken the Sharingan of Shisui and the other clan members!