[Devastating white light filled everyone's vision, swallowing every sound—and the last, unwilling thoughts of the Four Elders.]
[The next moment, the scene changed.]
[Shimura Danzō reappeared, completely unharmed, in the courtyard of the Great Elder's Residence—where he had first attacked the Four Elders.]
[He stood in the same position as before, as though the brutal battle in the sealed Stone Chamber and its earth-shaking self-destruction had been nothing but a terrible hallucination.]
[Only the terrifying, ghostly evil spirit behind him seemed to offer silent proof that it had all been real.]
[Danzō glanced back at the spirit. He understood that this formless stand-in had taken the fatal blow for him.]
[As the spirit faded, screams and explosions rose in greater numbers from the Uchiha Compound.]
[Danzō knew Itachi Uchiha had begun his operation. But just as Danzō prepared to make his next move, something happened.]
[The shadow on the ground beside him began to writhe violently! The familiar dark shape of Naraka burst out of it, but its usual mocking composure was gone!]
[Its form had grown terribly unstable. Black mist churned around it, dissolving at the edges as though some force were purifying it against its will!]
[Naraka let out a rapid shriek of terror and pain that pierced straight into Danzō's mind:]
["Danzō! Save me! Hurry!"]
[Whoosh!]
[A pure white arrow tore through the night sky. With a sharp whistle and a sacred, purifying aura, it arrived in an instant from the distant horizon!]
[Its target was unmistakable: the writhing demon Naraka!]
[The arrow came too fast, and the nature of its power struck Naraka with instinctive fear!]
[At the brink of death, the demon's malice and selfishness took over! Without a moment's thought, it seized Danzō, the nearest person to it, and yanked him in front of