The Old Dog, Your Hokage Dream Is Shattered

"Old dog, who do you want to be Hokage for?"

A chilling sound echoed through the dark, damp basement. The talisman at the end of the specially made trident Kunai trembled wildly, emitting a terrifying golden light.

Shimura Danzō's sinister grin froze, his single, sinister eye fixed on the tall figure emerging from the dust. He never imagined that Naruto Uzumaki, thousands of miles away, could actually cross space and smash through his prized barrier!

"Kill him!" Danzo roared, slamming his cane into the ground.

Without the slightest hesitation, the two Root elites kneeling on either side transformed into two black afterimages, drawing their Ninja Blade from the left and right, aiming straight for Naruto's throat. Their movements were devoid of emotion; they were nothing more than killing machines.

"Roll."

Naruto didn't even lift his eyelids or extend his hand. Suddenly, two golden Chakra Chains as thick as an adult's arm shot out from his back. With two muffled thuds, two elite Root members were sent flying backward, sword and all, crashing into the stone wall, impossible to pry off.

Gravel fell softly, plunging the entire basement into a deathly silence.

"Naruto Uzumaki! How dare you!" Danzo suppressed his panic and adopted the authority of an elder. "Pain destroyed Hidden Leaf, Tsunade defenses, and I took over power for the future of Hidden Leaf! Your trespassing on the Root Base is a crime of treason!"

"For the future of Hidden Leaf?" Naruto scoffed, walking step by step towards Danzo. The dark red and pure Chakra emanating from his body distorted the air. "The enemy is slaughtering civilians up there, while you, old dog, hide underground like a coward. After everyone is dead, you come out and pick up the pieces to become Hokage?"

He abruptly stopped half a meter in front of Danzo, looking down at him condescendingly. "Someone like you dares to mention Hidden Leaf?"

Danzo ashen. He sensed an undisguised, tangible killing intent emanating from Naruto, a pressure even more terrifying than when the Nine-Tails went berserk.

"Everything I've done stems from my deep love for the village! What do you know about the bigger picture, brat!" Danzo roared, his left hand secretly forming hand Hand Seals behind his back. "Since you're so stubborn, I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of Hiruzen!"

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

Dozens of wind blades, too sharp to be seen with the naked eye, spewed from Danzo's mouth, sealing off all of Naruto's escape routes. At the same time, he suddenly ripped off the heavy bandages wrapped around his right arm, instantly releasing the three Sealing Jutsu.

A pale, deformed arm, studded with a dozen or so scarlet Sharingan, was completely exposed to the air.

"That is..."

Kakashi, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and a large number of Hidden Leaf Anbu, who had just used Earth Release to blast open the basement door, happened to witness this scene, and everyone gasped in shock.

Sasuke's eyes instantly transformed into Three-Tomoe Sharingan, staring intently at the eye on that arm, his pupils trembling violently. That was the blood debt of the Uchiha Clan!

"See that! This is the sacrifice that must be made for the greater good!" Danzo's face twisted, the Sharingan on his right arm spinning wildly. "As long as Izanagi exists, I am immortal! Today, I will use this eye to make you Hidden Leaf's most obedient weapon!"

He was preparing to activate Kotoamatsukami under the bandage on his right eye socket, attempting to forcibly rewrite Naruto's will.

"Idiot."

Naruto didn't even dodge, letting the sharp Vacuum Wave strike his Perfect Sage Body, producing a sound like steel clashing and sparks flying, without leaving even a white mark.

The purple-gold light in his eyes suddenly surged without warning.

The Great Evolution Divine Soul Art unleashes its full power!

An extremely domineering mental storm transformed into an invisible blade, directly piercing into Danzo's sea of consciousness by flowing Danzo along the meridians through which he was channeling Chakra.

"Ah--!"

Danzo let out a shrill scream, his left hand, which was Hand Seals, instantly stiffening. Before the Genjutsu of Kotoamatsukami could even take shape, it was crushed to dust by that massive pure Yang spiritual power. His brain felt as if it had been pierced by a steel nail, and his vision turned blood red.

"Izanagi? I'll teach you to be so brainless you don't even know Hand Seals!"

Naruto raised his right leg, and with a whooshing sound, kicked Danzo hard in the right knee. With a crisp "crack," Danzo's right leg twisted into an extremely contorted arc, and he fell forward uncontrollably.

Before he could even land, Naruto grabbed him by the back of the neck, lifted him up, and slammed him against a nearby stone pillar.

"With those eyes and limbs, can you even see where you're going?" Naruto's gaze was icy, and his left hand glowed with a deep blue Chakra Scalpel light. Without the slightest hesitation, he plunged it directly into Danzo's pale, deformed right arm.

"Pfft!"

Blood splattered everywhere. Amidst a pig-like scream, Naruto forcefully shredded all the Sharingan and meridians that had been forcibly implanted with Hashirama Cells!

"My hand... my eye!!" Danzo convulsed in pain, his single eye filled with despair and disbelief. His prized trump card, the capital he had prepared to use to control the Shinobi World, was as fragile as a joke in front of this boy.

Naruto disgustedly shook the blood off his hands and tossed the completely crippled Danzo at Sasuke's feet like a dead dog.

"You can keep the interest you want yourself," Naruto patted Sasuke on the shoulder.

Sasuke drew his Kusanagi Sword, lightning crackling on its blade. He stared at Danzo, who was writhing in agony on the ground, his eyes no longer filled with confusion, but with icy killing intent.

At the entrance of the passage not far away, Tsunade, supported by Shizune, walked quickly. Her face was pale, but her eyes were sharp. Looking at the Root Base in disarray and Danzo had been stripped away, she let out a long breath.

"Lord Hokage, I've done the garbage sorting for you." Naruto turned around, shrugged, and said, "Hiding underground attempting rebellion, and even conducting illegal human experiments. According to the village rules, what's the sentence for such a traitor?"

Tsunade coldly looked at Danzo: "Shimura Danzō is suspected of treason. He is stripped of his title of elder and all his positions. He is to be immediately imprisoned in the heavy punishment cell and will be publicly tried after the war."

Shikamaru stroked his chin from behind, inwardly cursing, "This kid is really unreasonable, but... a brute force approach is definitely effective against this kind of old fox."

As the Anbu stepped forward and Danzo, this power grab brewing in the darkness was Naruto without even a ripple.

Meanwhile, the dark Amegakure.

The long-awaited sunlight shone on the ruins of the steel tower, and the puddles reflected the azure sky.

Konan stood in front of the broken windowsill, her hands wrapped in bandages, yet she deftly folded a pure white piece of paper. Soon, a lifelike paper crane appeared in her palm.

Nagato's body had been placed in a specially made ice coffin, and her empty eye sockets seemed to be calmly gazing at the clearing sky.

"Yahiko, Nagato, did you see that?" Konan murmured softly, holding the paper crane out the window.

A gentle breeze swept by, and the white paper crane spread its wings and soared into the sky, flying towards the Land of Fire. It was no longer a messenger delivering orders to kill, but a symbol of the bonds that led to the rebirth of Amegakure.

[Ding! Detected the death of the leader of Amegakure. Konan, the current de facto leader, has reached "Absolute Trust" in terms of favorability!]

[Main quest "Rain Tiger's Weeping" completed.]

[Congratulations, host, you have received a special reward: Paper Release Sealing Jutsu - Rain Curtain Messenger (can transmit top-secret information regardless of spatial barriers).]

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained: 1 Legendary-level self-selection lottery chance.]

A system notification sounded in Naruto's mind, far away in the basement of Hidden Leaf. He smirked, knowing that the mess over there was finally under control.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke's voice suddenly broke Naruto's thoughts.

Sasuke had just been searching behind a dark wall, used his Sharingan to break through an extremely well-hidden Four Symbols Seal and pulled out a scroll that was completely black and had dried bloodstains on its edges.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi stepped forward.

"That old guy has done far more dirty work behind Hidden Leaf's back than we imagined." Sasuke handed the scroll to Naruto, his brow furrowed. "The residual Chakra fluctuations on this scroll are exactly the same as those of that masked Obito Uchiha."

Naruto took the scroll and casually tore open the seal.

The scroll contained no text, only an extremely complex map of the Shinobi World. However, on a stretch of sea where the Land of Lightning and the Water Country met, a glaring blood-red eye symbol had been drawn with cinnabar.

Next to that symbol, in an extremely ancient code, was written a line of small characters.

Shikamaru leaned closer for a glance, quickly decoded the code in his mind, and his expression immediately changed. "This code means... 'The container of the Divine Tree has been found, and the transaction will take place on Turtle Island '?"

Divine Tree? Container?

Kakashi's mask twitched slightly, and he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. "Orochimaru mentioned in his previous intelligence that the ultimate goal of the Akatsuki seems to be to revive something that surpasses the Tailed Beast."

"I just crippled that Masked Man's arm in Amegakure, and now he's made some kind of deal with this old dog?" Naruto gripped the edge of the scroll, his knuckles cracking.

On the ruins of Hidden Leaf that had just been quelled, a new storm, powerful enough to sweep across the entire Shinobi World, seemed to be brewing.

Naruto raised his head, and a chillingly fierce glint flashed in his clear yet wild blue eyes.

"Since they like to pull these dirty tricks behind the scenes so much..." Naruto casually tossed the black scroll to Sasuke, a smug smile spreading across his face, "Then let's take down their lair and flip the table."