Danzo's Madness

The standoff between the black Susanoo and Shimura Danzō grew increasingly grave after the secret of Izanagi was exposed. A cold wind swept through the hollow, scattering some of the dust.

"So what if you know?"

Danzo's voice was hoarse as he slowly raised his left arm, the one that had always been wrapped in thick bandages.

"Before absolute power and preparation, a little intelligence cannot change the outcome."

With that, he suddenly exerted force and tore away the layers of bandages wrapped around his left arm.

As the bandages fell away, they revealed pale, wrinkled yet exceptionally sturdy skin.

Embedded in that arm were three scarlet Sharingan, as though they were still faintly rotating.

The cold eyes lined his arm, carrying an eerie, evil beauty that contrasted sharply with Danzo's sinister face.

"Three... which means that, counting the one possibly transplanted into your right eye, you can use Izanagi at most four more times."

Uchiha Shaoyu's voice came from within Susanoo, calmly analyzing the situation as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.

"Is this your greatest reliance? Using my clansmen's eyes in exchange for chances to cling to life and launch sneak attacks."

Danzo's expression darkened further. Not only did the other party know about Izanagi, he even knew exactly how many times Danzo could use it.

"Uchiha eyes are wasted on inherently evil wretches like you! Only in my hands can they serve their true purpose and eliminate Konoha's threats!"

He argued stubbornly as the three Sharingan on his left arm suddenly shone with scarlet light. Massive chakra began gathering around him.

"Words are useless." Uchiha Shaoyu's gaze sharpened. "Then let me see just how much your stolen power is worth."

Before his words had even faded, the black Susanoo moved.

It was no longer merely a skeletal frame. Chakra surged wildly as muscles, sinews, and even a crude chakra armor rapidly formed over its bones.

Though it was still incomplete, it had entered a second form with far greater power and defense.

Even more terrifying, black chakra frantically gathered, compressed, and reshaped in the evolved Susanoo's right hand, eventually forming an enormous skeletal warhammer wrapped entirely in ominous black flames.

Controlling Susanoo, Uchiha Shaoyu swung the massive black-flame warhammer down at Shimura Danzō with a terrifying force capable of crushing mountains. Before the hammer even arrived, the gale it generated had already sent gravel flying from the ground.

Danzo's single eye contracted. He did not dare take an attack that clearly surpassed the bounds of ordinary ninjutsu head-on.

He swiftly retreated while forming hand seals.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!" Several incomparably sharp high-pressure wind blades slashed out in crossing arcs, attempting to cut through or halt the warhammer.

However, the evolved Susanoo's defense far surpassed the first form's skeletal structure. The wind blades struck Susanoo's chakra armor and the warhammer, producing only a series of piercing sparks and ripples before dispersing. They could not breach its defense at all.

"Boom!!!"

The warhammer crashed down, violently shaking the ground and creating another enormous crater. Though Danzo narrowly avoided it, the shockwave still sent his blood and chakra churning.

The battle that followed became almost entirely one-sided suppression and pursuit.

Relying on his vast combat experience, refined Body Flicker Technique, and Substitution Technique, Danzo constantly darted and maneuvered around the hollow, evading Susanoo's heavy hammer as it smashed down again and again. He tried every kind of Wind Release, even counterattacking with his summoned Baku, but Uchiha Shaoyu was unlike Sasuke in the original story. Empowered by the Six Eyes, his Susanoo was far sturdier.

Ordinary attacks had negligible effect on the evolved Susanoo. At most, they left shallow marks that were quickly repaired by surging chakra.

His only opportunity to pose an effective threat to Susanoo came during the brief instant after each time he used Izanagi to revive and reset his condition.

When Izanagi activated, it forcibly "rewrote" Danzo's fatal injuries into a dream, allowing him to "revive" in perfect condition from an advantageous position.

The instant after reviving, Danzo's condition was fully restored. Moreover, due to the disturbance of the rules, he had enough time to charge his power. The attack he unleashed then could temporarily weaken or pierce Susanoo's defenses.

Using this, Danzo struck Susanoo twice after "reviving" with powerful Wind Release attacks he had prepared in advance. They indeed caused far more significant damage than usual, even tearing large gaps in Susanoo's armor and sending some of the impact through to Shaoyu within.

But Uchiha Shaoyu had long been prepared.

He had calculated both the number of times Danzo could use Izanagi and this particular trait. Whenever Danzo revived and launched a surprise attack, he controlled Susanoo to endure or deflect the attack at minimal cost, then immediately launched an even fiercer counterattack. This forced Danzo to keep expending chakra and energy to contend with him, leaving him unable to press his advantage.

This was a battle of attrition. It tested not only immediate combat power, but also calculation, patience, and hidden cards.

Time passed amid the fierce exchanges of attack and defense. The hollow had long since become unrecognizable, covered in massive craters, cracks, and traces of rampaging ninjutsu.

One after another, the Sharingan on Danzo's left arm permanently lost their light after activating Izanagi, turning gray-white and closing.

When the third Sharingan dimmed as well, only the last scarlet eye on his left arm remained rotating. Yet even its light had begun to scatter. Repeatedly using Izanagi and fighting intensely had placed an enormous burden on his mental strength.

Uchiha Shaoyu's black Susanoo had also become badly damaged.

Its chakra armor was torn in many places, exposing the cracked bones beneath. The black-flame warhammer in its right hand had dimmed as well, shrinking considerably in size.

Maintaining this high-intensity Susanoo form in battle was likewise a tremendous test of his ocular power.

Although he could recover through the Six Eyes and Round Deer, Uchiha Shaoyu still wanted to give Danzo a little hope.

That...

"Now!"

A cold gleam flashed through Uchiha Shaoyu's eyes.

He abruptly dispelled the battered Susanoo. The enormous black chakra giant vanished in an instant, exposing him once more to the open air.

Danzo froze, thinking his opponent had finally reached his limit. A flash of wild delight and viciousness appeared in his single eye as he prepared to seize the chance and launch a fatal strike.

However, Uchiha Shaoyu rapidly formed an unusual seal with both hands and shouted low.

"Max Elephant!"

"Roar—!!!"

A deep, thunderous roar, like the bellow of some ancient primordial beast, exploded without warning above the hollow.

Space twisted, and a gigantic elephant-like shikigami appeared—Max Elephant. Its body was as massive as a hill, its skin like gray stone, its trunk like a giant serpent, and its tusks like crescent moons.

Like a falling meteor, carrying incomparable weight and impact, it crashed down toward Shimura Danzō, who had relaxed slightly after Susanoo vanished and was just preparing to rush forward.

The sudden change came at the perfect moment! Danzo's old momentum had just faded, his new momentum had yet to rise, and his attention was fixed on Shaoyu himself.

"What?!"

Danzo looked up in horror and saw only a massive shadow blocking out the moonlight.

He wanted to dodge, but Max Elephant's range was too vast and its descent too fast. He wanted to use the Substitution Technique or defensive ninjutsu, only to find that his chakra had stalled for an instant due to his previous exhaustion and shock.

"Izanagi!!!"

At the brink of life and death, Danzo let out an unwilling roar. The final Sharingan on his left arm erupted with one last blinding scarlet radiance.

"Boom—!!!!!"

A deafening crash that shook the earth and mountains! Max Elephant's incomparably massive body slammed solidly into the spot where Danzo stood.

The earth heaved violently like waves. Dust shot dozens of meters into the sky, while the shockwave sent all nearby rubble flying.

When the dust settled slightly, Max Elephant's enormous body was deeply embedded in the ground. Beneath it... there was only a patch of utterly compacted flat earth, as though it had been crushed by a ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press.

And... a few scraps of clothing and flesh.

At the last moment, Danzo had been forced to use the final Sharingan on his left arm, activating Izanagi for the fourth time.

Without Susanoo's speed limitations, Uchiha Shaoyu could easily dodge Danzo's charged attack.

However, Uchiha Shaoyu's attacks did not stop.

"Rabbit Escape!"

With a thought, the ability of the shikigami he had only recently tamed activated. Countless illusory, incredibly swift rabbit-shaped energy afterimages appeared from thin air, surging like a white torrent toward every possible spot where Danzo would inevitably revive nearby after activating Izanagi.

These Rabbit Escapes possessed no real offensive power, but they were numerous and incredibly fast, specifically meant to disrupt vision, confuse perception, and hinder movement.

Sure enough, around twenty meters behind and to the side of where Max Elephant had fallen, the air twisted. Shimura Danzō appeared miserably, his face ghostly pale, every Sharingan on his left arm gray-white and closed, his aura far weaker than before.

The moment he appeared, countless Rabbit Escape phantoms surrounded and slammed into him. Though they could not harm him, they left him distracted, obstructed his vision, and delayed his movements for an instant.

And that instant was enough!

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Seizing the opportunity, Uchiha Shaoyu and his clone unleashed a combined ninjutsu. The wind fed the flames, and a blazing fire dragon roared toward Danzo.

Danzo barely managed to use Wind Release to defend himself, but the explosion blasted him backward again and again. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his chakra became even more disordered.

Uchiha Shaoyu had drawn inspiration for this from Sarutobi Hiruzen's Five-Style Great Combo Technique. However, he was not yet very proficient with it and could currently only combine two elements.