Danzo: This Is Good News-Wait? No!

Meanwhile, hundreds of meters beneath Konoha, at the Root base.

Shimura Danzō sat in a dim room. Wisps of sandalwood incense drifted from the burner before him, curling around the half of his face covered in bandages.

The room was so quiet that he could hear his own breathing and heartbeat.

Then, a hurried set of footsteps shattered the dead silence.

A Root ninja wearing a white mask dropped to one knee at the doorway, his voice urgent yet restrained. "Lord Danzō, an emergency report has just arrived from the Daimyo Palace."

"Read it."

Danzō kept his eyes closed, his tone flat.

The Root ninja opened the scroll in his hands and read clearly, "Yesterday, an intruder attacked the Land of Fire Daimyo Palace, causing heavy casualties. Of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, nine were killed and three were seriously injured."

The cross-shaped scar on Danzō's chin twitched faintly.

He said nothing.

The Root ninja continued, "The intruder used Wind Release ninjutsu and was suspected of possessing an immortal body. He revived on the spot multiple times after being killed."

"During the battle, the intruder repeatedly used the Reverse Four-Symbols Sealing, without suffering any effects himself."

"The intruder ultimately looted the Daimyo Palace treasury, causing preliminary estimated economic losses exceeding ten billion ryō. He escaped unscathed and was not intercepted."

After reading the final word, the Root ninja closed the scroll and lowered his head, awaiting Danzō's response.

The room fell silent for about three seconds.

Then Danzō abruptly opened his eyes.

His uncovered left eye gleamed with an indescribable light in the dim illumination—a complicated mixture of confusion and delight.

This was good news.

"There's actually such a good thing?"

"I was worrying that the daimyo's Guardian Ninja would interfere with Konoha's business. Who would've thought an intruder would show up? Hm, what a little lucky star."

Shimura Danzō's voice was hoarse and low, yet anyone could hear the delight within it.

"Did that intruder have any other distinguishing features? Since the daimyo was attacked, Konoha naturally cannot shirk its responsibility! Let me pursue this brazen criminal and quell the daimyo's anger!"

The Root ninja's body trembled slightly, but he still forced himself to repeat, "The intruder was you, Lord Danzō. You attacked the Daimyo Palace and killed nine of the Twelve Guardian Ninja—"

"What?!"

Danzō cut him off, his voice icy.

Was that something to joke about?

Attacking the Daimyo Palace guarded by Namikaze Minato, who had mastered the Flying Thunder God, nearly wiping out twelve Jonin and Elite Jonin-level Guardian Ninja, then leaving calmly afterward.

Mastering an unknown resurrection technique, capable of treating the mutually destructive Reverse Four-Symbols Sealing as an ordinary attack.

Damn it, since when was I this badass?

If I were really that formidable, would Shimura Danzō still be squatting in this underground hole as "Root"?!

"The intruder used your signature ninjutsu, Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere."

"Vacuum Great Sphere is an advanced form of Vacuum Sphere. Perhaps the intruder had enough chakra to produce the effect of Vacuum Great Sphere using Vacuum Sphere."

"He also used Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves."

"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave can be explained the same way!"

Damn it, could some evil Uchiha have copied my ninjutsu with the Sharingan and impersonated me?!

That was it. A resurrection technique... damn it, the more he heard, the more it sounded like the Uchiha forbidden technique, Izanagi, described in the manuscripts Teacher Tobirama had left behind!

It had to be an evil Uchiha!!

"He also used Wind Style: Vacuum Blade..."

At those words, Danzō fell silent for a long time.

The first two ninjutsu could still be explained by copying them with the Sharingan, but although the hand seals for Wind Style: Vacuum Blade could also be copied, performing it demanded extremely high mastery over the nature transformation and shape transformation of Wind-nature chakra.

Only a Wind Release ninja with Kage Level attainments could possibly learn and perform it!

Copying it with the Sharingan alone could never make it work!

Danzō reached out, took the scroll from the Root ninja's hand, unfolded it, and read through it word by word.

The black characters on white paper made it crystal clear: the attacker's appearance and ninjutsu all pointed to one name—Shimura Danzō.

Every detail matched the characteristics of his ninjutsu: Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere, Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves, Wind Style: Vacuum Blade—those were all his signature techniques. No outsider could imitate them so perfectly."

"Even if someone could use the Sharingan to copy a few Wind Release techniques, they could never steal a high-difficulty ninjutsu like Vacuum Blade. Other than not using the Summoning Jutsu to summon Baku, he was basically no different from me, the 'Darkness of Konoha.'"

"Oh, right. And there was that mad-dog fighting style. That definitely wasn't me!"

But the problem was—

He had remained at the Root base this entire time and had not stepped outside even once.

Danzō's brow furrowed deeper and deeper. The fingers gripping the edge of the scroll tightened until his knuckles faintly turned white.

Izanagi? An immortal body? Reviving on the spot?

Since when could I fight like that?

How did I not know?

Shimura Danzō looked at the Root ninja kneeling in the doorway, an urgency he had not even noticed creeping into his tone. "That impostor... what happened afterward?"

"Do we know where he went?!"

The Root ninja lowered his head and replied, "According to Namikaze Minato's report, the intruder successfully withdrew after looting the treasury. His movements were not intercepted. He has now fled the scene, and his destination is unknown."

"...Destination unknown."

Danzō repeated the phrase, his voice carrying an indescribably complex emotion—anger at having his "identity" stolen, along with a faint envy he did not wish to acknowledge even to himself.

If that combat report was true—if someone could revive on the spot again and again, escape unscathed from the encirclement of Kage Level ninja Namikaze Minato and the Ino-Shika-Cho team, and loot over ten billion ryō right under the Land of Fire daimyo's nose...

That combat power.

Damn it, if only it had really been me.

Danzō was silent for a long time. He set the scroll beside the incense burner and lightly tapped its cover twice with his fingers.

Then he raised his head and looked at the Root ninja. "What did the Hokage say?"

"The Hokage has sent an Anbu messenger asking you to come to the Hokage's office for a discussion."

Danzō fell silent again for a moment.

Then he braced himself on the armrest and slowly rose to his feet, the hem of his long robe softly dragging across the ground.

"Send orders to every division—"

Danzō's voice regained its usual cold steadiness, though a sharp glint faintly surfaced in his eyes.

"Find out which ninja have left Konoha in the past few days, especially members of the Uchiha Clan. Regardless of their status, report the results to me immediately."

"—Yes!"

The Root ninja acknowledged the order and withdrew.

"—Interesting."

Danzō muttered to himself. He pushed open the base doors and walked toward the long staircase leading to the surface. His footsteps echoed through the empty passage, each step clear and heavy.

Meanwhile, deep underground at the border of the Land of Rivers.

Within a massive naturally formed cavern, several secret chambers had been carved out by hand.

Several bowl-sized natural fluorescent ores were embedded in the cavern walls, emitting a ghostly blue glow that shrouded the entire space in a grim, deathly atmosphere.

At the center of the cavern stood a crude stone chair.

A frail old man sat upon it. His long white hair hung dryly down his back, his face was covered in wrinkles as deep as ravines, and his skin had a nearly sickly grayish-white hue—the appearance of someone aged to the extreme, whose life force was as weak as a candle flame in the wind, as though it might go out at any moment.

Yet though his eyes were half-closed, whenever they occasionally opened, the scarlet Sharingan revealed within still shone with a light capable of making the entire Shinobi World tremble.

Madara Uchiha.

The Asura of the Shinobi World.

The ghost believed to have died years ago after the Battle of the Valley of the End now sat within the shadows beneath the Land of Rivers, sustaining his life through the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and observing every movement in the outside world through countless White Zetsu.

"Lord Madara, there is new intelligence."

A white figure emerged from the rock wall, silently slipping out and stopping beside the stone chair.

White Zetsu's body was still covered in damp soil. He had clearly just returned from outside using the Mayfly Technique.

Madara did not open his eyes. He merely lifted his chin slightly. "Speak."

"Over in Konoha, the Land of Fire Daimyo Palace was just attacked."

White Zetsu's voice carried its distinctive liveliness, as though he were recounting an amusing tale.

"Someone disguised himself as that Shimura Danzō from Konoha, charged into the Daimyo Palace, and caused a huge mess. He took out nine Guardian Ninja and even looted the treasury. The estimated losses are at least ten billion ryō!"

Madara Uchiha's breathing paused for a moment, but his expression remained unchanged. His tone was as calm as if he were hearing a trivial matter. "What does that have to do with the Uchiha?"

White Zetsu tilted his head, and a hint of a smile appeared on the other half of his face. "Not much, really. There's another Uchiha brat who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. He seems to be only fourteen!"

"He has far more potential than Obito!"

Madara Uchiha fell silent again.

This silence lasted twice as long as the last.

The cavern remained quiet for a long time before Madara Uchiha slowly spoke, his voice hoarse yet carrying unquestionable authority. "Are you certain it is the Mangekyō?"

"Certain."

White Zetsu nodded. "Though his aura is still very 'young,' and the fluctuations of his ocular power are still in the early stages, the characteristics of the Mangekyō are unmistakable—and he used Susanoo. With one strike, he crippled Kakuzu, the Takigakure rogue ninja. Kakuzu has now submitted to him and become his subordinate."

Madara Uchiha slowly opened his eyes. His scarlet Sharingan glinted with a cold light beneath the ghostly blue fluorescence.

He stretched out a hand and accepted a chakra-infused sensory record scroll White Zetsu handed him. Unfurling it, his gaze swiftly swept over the written descriptions and chakra imprints.

The record was highly detailed—the battle location, the characteristics of both sides, traces of ninjutsu, residual ocular-power fluctuations—even a rough account of Uchiha Jun's life experiences.

It was only because Uchiha Jun had always kept a low profile.

The scroll merely described Uchiha Jun's notably "meager" interpersonal relationships, as well as his experience of being verbally bullied by Konoha's common rabble at the Ninja Academy before finally becoming a "delinquent school boss" and using Konoha's common rabble as farming fodder.

No other intelligence had been recorded.

After all, the strength and talent Uchiha Jun had displayed had been utterly ordinary. Even with the Uchiha name, he was no different from a stray dog by the roadside in Madara Uchiha's eyes.

Madara Uchiha finished reading the entire record, then closed the scroll and placed it on his lap.

The room fell briefly silent.

When Madara Uchiha spoke again, there was neither anger nor excitement in his voice.

There was only the calm and coldness tempered through the passage of countless years. "A Mangekyō wielder barely past ten who can use Susanoo and win people over from the battlefield in a short time."

"This vision, this decisiveness, this ability to execute—he can indeed no longer be labeled with the simple word 'genius.'"

White Zetsu stood beside him, listening quietly until he finished. Then he scratched the top of his Venus-flytrap-like head, his tone carrying a trace of probing curiosity. "Then... Lord Madara, should we adjust the plan? Replace the executor with this 'Uchiha Jun'? He is far stronger than that brat named Obito—"

"No."

Madara Uchiha's voice was cold. "Uchiha Jun is unsuitable."

"Unsuitable?"

White Zetsu froze, tilting his head even farther. "But he clearly—"

"He is too clever."

Madara Uchiha interrupted White Zetsu, his voice carrying unshakable resolve.

"A normal Uchiha who possessed such talent would have long since become arrogant beyond measure, eager to make a name across the entire Shinobi World. Yet he did not do so. If not for Kakuzu, you would not even have known that he possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"This restraint is anything but simple!"

"Although Uchiha Obito's talent is mediocre, that is precisely why he is easy to guide and manipulate. His weakness is obvious. As long as we guide him in that direction, Uchiha Obito can also awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"And afterward, Uchiha Obito's attitude toward this Shinobi World will be more favorable to the plan."

"But Uchiha Jun is different."

"The reason for his awakening is unknown. We have no way of knowing how he views this Shinobi World right now. If his attitude differs greatly from the plan, he would be far inferior to Uchiha Obito!"

"At such an age, he has already learned to disguise himself, conceal himself, and bide his time. He does not rely on emotional ties with anyone outside himself, makes independent decisions like a true ninja, and can maintain a composed façade before others—tell me, where do you think his weakness lies?"

White Zetsu was silent for several seconds, then shook his head.

"I don't know either. Perhaps we will see it someday."

Madara Uchiha closed his eyes again, his voice so calm that no emotion could be heard in it.

"If even his enemies cannot find his weakness, then he is not someone who can be controlled. Such a person can only exist as an 'ally' or an 'opponent,' never as a 'piece.'"

"After I die, none of you will be able to keep such a person under control."

"Then—"

White Zetsu asked, "Should we intervene? For example, leak the news that he possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan to Konoha's higher-ups or the leaders of other ninja villages? See whether we can make him go blind and prevent him from interfering with Obito?"

"No."

Madara Uchiha's voice remained calm. "For now, he has not posed any substantive obstacle to my plan. However, the level of attention on him must be raised. Have Zetsu send a clone to closely monitor his movements and report to me at all times. If he touches the bottom line, use the Impure World Reincarnation. I will deal with him personally."

Two wildly exaggerated arcs appeared on White Zetsu's "cheeks"—the strange smile formed by his stitched-together giant mouth.

"—Understood."

White Zetsu's body slowly sank into the rock wall and vanished.

Only Madara Uchiha remained in the cavern.

He slowly opened his eyes. His scarlet Sharingan flickered a few times in the fluorescent light, then slowly closed once more.

"Susanoo, Hero Water, disguises... interesting."

"What is your goal?"

Madara Uchiha's voice echoed through the cavern, carrying a faint trace of appreciation.

Then everything returned to deathly silence.