Early the next morning, the common people of Konoha woke up to discover, in shock, that the desolate ruins of the old clan compound in the northwest corner of the village, abandoned for six years, had vanished. In their place stood an absurdly dense forest of towering trees, radiating a rich vitality.
The news of Danzo's complete death spread through all of Konoha in just half a day as if it had grown wings, then even followed the Anbu's channels out toward the entire shinobi world.
That cancer which had entrenched itself beneath Konoha for decades, a thing even the Hokage of every generation had feared, had finally been ripped out by force.
And right now, at the edge of this newly born landmark.
Sasuke wore a thin black training outfit, his feet planted on stone slabs overturned by Wood Release, and stared expressionlessly at the mess covering the ground. Last night, he had still been in the ruins of Otogakure, studying that notebook about the Mangekyo Sharingan. After receiving the message from the dark web, he had rushed back through the night.
"You're late, avenger." A lazy voice drifted down from above him.
Sasuke snapped his head up. Yuan was sitting cross-legged on a thick horizontal branch, holding an apple he had gotten from who knew where, and took a crunchy bite.
"He's dead?" Sasuke's hand pressed against the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword, his voice very cold.
"Dead. Thoroughly dead. There wasn't even enough meat left to piece together. I killed him." Yuan casually tossed the half-eaten apple core into the bushes behind him, then leaped down from the tree and landed steadily in front of Sasuke.
Sasuke clenched his teeth. He had trained with his life on the line, forcibly fusing Amaterasu and Chidori, all so he