Breaking the Rules of Death

[On the screen, Naraka seemed to freeze for an instant at Shimura Danzō's question. Even the roiling miasma slowed.]

[Only after a long pause did that hoarse voice, layered with echoes, sound again, carrying an almost sacred yet sinister mystery:]

["Break it?"]

["Only the dead," Naraka said, his voice dropping, "can be freed from the curse."]

["Other than that, neither a change of heart by the writer nor outside interference can reverse what has been set in motion."]

[Shimura Danzō had received an answer that put him completely at ease.]

[According to Naraka, once a name was written, the target was as good as dead. Nothing else could change that.]

[The last trace of doubt vanished from his lone eye.]

["I understand." Shimura Danzō's voice regained its usual gloom and authority. "As for purging the Uchiha, you'll see the result you want."]

["Heh heh heh... I look forward to that day, Lord Danzō." Naraka's figure slowly melted into the shadows once more, leaving his final whisper lingering in the miasma.]

[Only Shimura Danzō and a corpse growing cold remained in the hidden chamber.]

[Shimura Danzō did not spare the corpse a glance, as if it were merely waste to be disposed of after an experiment.]

[Then he immediately wrote four characters on the paper.]

[The view suddenly zoomed in, and the four characters for "Minato Namikaze" filled the entire screen.]

The Canopy Screen went black, marking the end of today's broadcast.

In the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi's pipe lay broken in two. He stood rigid, as though all his strength had been drained in an instant.

He had watched his old friend test and accept such an evil power with such ease, then use it on Minato.

Grief and fury flooded his heart. "Danzō! What kind of darkness have you embraced?"

When Kakashi Hatake saw a Root ninja killed by a tiny Senbon, cold sweat soaked his back.

Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan spun furiously, but he could find no logic in what he had seen. "No Chakra flow, no hand signs, no exchange of a medium. This defies every basic principle of Ninjutsu!"

Kakashi Hatake had fought Root ninja years ago. If the elite ninja on the screen could be killed in such an uncanny way, he would be no exception.

But in the Hokage's Office, Shikaku Nara, who had kept his brows furrowed and unconsciously traced his fingers across the desk, suddenly looked up.

His face, usually touched by a hint of laziness, now held a sharp, intensely focused look.

"Lord Third! Advisors!" Shikaku's voice broke the silence. It was still hoarse, but urgent with the discovery of a way through.

"Think carefully about what Naraka said on the Canopy Screen! He said, 'Only the dead can be freed from the curse'!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi jolted, his dim gaze focusing on Shikaku again. "Shikaku, you mean?"

"That sentence... is the key!" Shikaku spoke faster as his mind raced. "It wasn't meaningless!"

"It tells us exactly how to break the rules governing this power!"

He drew a deep breath and laid out his analysis:

"First, and most importantly: death isn't necessarily the end. It can break the curse!"

Shikaku's gaze sharpened. "What if... what if the person whose name was written really did 'die,' but was then brought back somehow?"

"By Naraka's own rule, 'the dead will be freed from the curse.'

"When that person comes back to life, they're in a 'newborn' state! The paper's power may well be unable to affect the same target a second time!"

He looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, his eyes bright. "Resurrection sounds unbelievable, but it isn't impossible!"

"The Second Hokage's Impure World Reincarnation, the Sage of Six Paths' legendary resurrection technique, perhaps even techniques in other ninja villages with similar effects... All of them are theoretical possibilities!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes lit up, as though he had glimpsed dawn in endless darkness!

"Of course! If death breaks the curse, then the curse should be gone after resurrection! There's a loophole in its logic!"

"Second, building on that, we might even deceive it with a faked death!" Shikaku pressed on, his thoughts growing quicker.

"What if we could create a state of apparent death so convincing it fooled even the 'curse' itself?"

"For example, a Yamanaka Clan Secret Technique that temporarily shuts down mind and body completely, or a special drug or Sealing Technique that makes all vital signs appear to vanish."

"Once the 'curse' judges the target dead and releases them because its 'task is complete,' the target could recover from that deathlike state, breaking the curse just the same!"

It was an even bolder idea, but it offered another path that did not require an actual resurrection technique.

"Third, and most practical for now: the limit on names!" Shikaku's voice steadied as he regained a strategist's composure.

"The Canopy Screen showed that Danzō used one name to test it, then another on the Fourth Hokage."

"That paper can hold only one more name!" Shikaku emphasized. "It can't be used on a large scale."

"It's more of a strategic deterrent than a weapon for clearing a battlefield."

"Danzō won't use that final name lightly. He'll save it for the target whose death would bring him the greatest advantage."

"A mortal enemy he can't deal with by conventional means, like the Fourth Hokage,"

"or whoever poses the greatest obstacle to his becoming Hokage in the future."

"It's like a long blade hanging over our necks, with no telling when it will fall."

"But for that very reason, Danzō will be more cautious about using it. Its power as a threat far exceeds the killing it can actually do. We mustn't lose our heads over it."

Shikaku finished, breathing a little hard, and looked resolutely at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Resurrection, faked death, a limit on names," Hiruzen Sarutobi murmured, the light in his eyes growing brighter. "Shikaku, your analysis makes sense!"

Resurrection and a perfect faked death would both be extraordinarily difficult, but they offered at least a theoretical hope and a direction to pursue.

And the limit on names greatly eased their strategic fears.

"Immediately!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice regained its old decisiveness. "Summon Shimura Danzō to the Hokage's Office. Make sure he hands over that Death Paper."

"Yes!" Shikaku Nara bowed and accepted the order, relief stirring in his heart.

When faced with a power they could not understand, the most frightening thing was not the power itself, but losing the courage to analyze and fight it.