Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several figures appeared abruptly before Shimura Danzō like ghosts, then dropped to their knees in unison!
Their eyes quickly swept over the place before them, reduced to ruins by Fire Release, and the corpse lying on the ground nearby. Cold sweat trickled down their stiff cheeks.
The surroundings were utterly silent, yet the bone-chilling fury they felt radiating from him was so real and intense.
One of the Root shinobi, who looked like a captain, spoke in a trembling voice. "Lord Danzō, what happened here? Please give us your orders!"
At those words, Shimura Danzō's already gloomy expression grew even darker. He lowered his voice and said slowly, "An intruder slipped in just now."
As he spoke, he turned and slowly walked over to the lifeless corpse of his deputy. He stopped, his tone heavy with grief.
"Thanks to him taking a blow for me, I was able to kill the enemy. Otherwise, I'd probably be the one lying here now."
At that, Danzō suddenly spun around. His cane shot out like a venomous snake, lashing viciously across their bodies.
"You were so slow getting here. Clearly, your usual training is nowhere near enough. In that case, I'll double your training load next month!"
With that, Danzō turned away and leisurely sat atop the raised platform, closing his eyes to rest.
At that very moment, the people below were feeling the pain of the blows across their bodies, but it did little to hide their increasingly pale faces.
They thought of the already deadly training load they endured every day, and now it was going to be doubled!
Their hearts filled with dread at the thought of the entire month ahead, yet they couldn't refuse the order. In Danzō's eyes, they were probably nothing more than useless tools—once one batch was used up, another would simply take its place.
At that thought, their faces grew paler and paler, their spirits gradually fading. In the end, they still answered in unison, "Yes, Lord Danzō."
As soon as they spoke, they quickly gathered up the corpse lying off to the side, then silently withdrew from the area.
However, just as they had left, a foot suddenly shot out from behind Danzō and kicked him to the ground.
A moment later, Uchiha Chen's voice rang out, thick with scorn and mockery. "You old dog, you're quite the actor! You were the one who killed that man, yet you had the nerve to pin the blame on me. Are you tired of living?"
At the sound of his voice, Shimura Danzō, who had been so haughty and invincible just moments before, instantly turned deathly pale.
A fawning voice came from his lips. "I'm sorry, Master! It was all my fault. I dared to frame you—I truly deserve the most terrible punishment!"
With that, he dropped to both knees and began viciously slapping his own face. He kept at it for a long time, only stopping when he heard the command from above.
By then, Danzō's face had swollen until he looked like a pig.
Uchiha Chen quietly watched the battered Danzō before him. The anger he had bottled up all day had finally eased a little.
He slowly sat down where Danzō had been sitting, fixed his cold gaze on him, and asked, "Then what exactly did Root do before?"
At his master's question, Shimura Danzō cautiously lifted his head. But when he saw the disgust on Uchiha Chen's face, he silently lowered it again.
"Master, our most common missions were infiltration operations in other countries. Besides that, we hunted down rogue ninja, and... monitored and assassinated the Uchiha Clan's prodigies."
At that, he cautiously lifted his eyes again and glanced up at the man above him. When he saw that Uchiha Chen had shown no reaction to his words, he could only lower his head again in fear and await his final judgment.
Hearing the answer, Uchiha Chen felt Danzō's gaze coming from below and understood that he feared being punished for what Root had done to the Uchiha Clan.
However, Chen didn't take it to heart. After all, he was a transmigrator, and even the original owner of this body had been a loner whose relationship with the Uchiha Clan wasn't particularly close. As long as they didn't interfere with his interests, he wouldn't pay them much attention.
"Danzō, from now on, cancel every operation targeting the Uchiha Clan. Send out all the manpower you can spare to gather information for me on certain people in the various ninja villages."
As he spoke, Uchiha Chen picked up the scroll beside him and rapidly wrote down a string of names. A closer look would have revealed that every one of them was a woman.
When he finished, he tossed the scroll to Danzō. He watched as Danzō respectfully took it in both hands, then waited for his response.
After receiving it, Danzō didn't look at the scroll right away. Instead, he first pledged his loyalty to Uchiha Chen.
"Master, I'll mobilize every person and resource at my disposal and do everything I can to gather information on everyone listed on the scroll as quickly as possible."
Hearing Danzō's reply, Uchiha Chen slowly nodded and gave a quiet "Mm." Just as he was thinking about how to punish him for the assassination attempt, he lowered his eyes and happened to notice his ninja sandals, worn after a whole day of fierce fighting. Suddenly, a cruel idea came to him.
He looked up, an evil smile appearing on his face. Then he extended his foot and taunted Danzō.
"I can let you off for your past actions against the Uchiha Clan and spare you punishment. But today, you actually sent someone to assassinate me. I absolutely won't let that slide!"
As he spoke, he raised his foot slightly, bringing his sandal closer to Danzō's face. "Now, as your punishment, you'll lick the soles of my sandals clean. And remember to swallow every bit of grime you lick off."
Seeing that Danzō looked not at all bothered by licking his sandal soles—in fact, almost proud of it—Uchiha Chen felt an indescribable disgust. But thanks to his keen perception, he still noticed the paleness gradually appearing on Danzō's face.
Uchiha Chen's lips curled slightly, revealing a faint smile.
He knew the measure he had put in place earlier was starting to take effect. When he had used Kotoamatsukami, he had deliberately split Danzō's personality in two and copied his memories.
One became the surface personality: the Danzō before him. The other, however, had been sealed away with his ocular power. It could still sense everything happening outside, but couldn't regain control of the body.
That way, Danzō would clearly feel how his enemy humiliated and used him, then ultimately relied on his support to ascend to the Hokage Position.
After a long while, Uchiha Chen stood and looked down at his clean sandal soles. Then he turned his gaze toward Danzō, who was clutching his stomach, fighting the urge to vomit, his face twisted with misery.
In his eyes, the Sharingan slowly turned.
Then he activated Kamui, warping the space around him as he gradually disappeared, as though twisting everything out of shape.
At last, only a mocking remark lingered in the air.