The Root Squad captain slowly turned his head, disbelief in his voice.
"Root has no need for people with feelings."
"You seem to have forgotten why you exist."
Danzo spoke coldly.
Then he shouted at Deidara and the others.
"What are you standing around for? Find the Nine-Tails and finish them off!"
Deidara and the others hesitated at his words and looked toward Tobi beside them.
"Things have gone beyond what we expected."
"But we can't forget why we came here."
Tobi sighed.
Then his figure flickered, and he headed forward.
Asuma charged at Danzo in fury, lunging and swinging his weapon.
Danzo easily raised his Kunai to block. Their weapons clashed, throwing off a shower of sparks.
"Hiruzen had only one son. Leave now, and I might be merciful enough to spare your life."
Danzo's voice was low.
"You hypocrite."
"This is who you really are, Danzo!"
"You call yourself Konoha's darkness, but you're rotten to the core—the foulest, filthiest rat in the entire Ninja World."
"You'd even turn on your own village."
"You've lost everything that made you human. You have no home left!"
Asuma cursed him at the top of his lungs, striking harder and harder.
"No matter how powerful you become, you'll be nothing but a wandering ghost in the Ninja World!"
Danzo's face grew colder. At the last words, he laughed instead of getting angry.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Good! Good! Good!"
"I'll send you to Hiruzen, then. You can tell him about me and let him know how high I've risen!"
Laughing, he thrust out his right hand.
"Universal Pull!"
Asuma's body jerked to a halt, then hurtled toward him under the pull of that force.
Smack!
The next instant, Danzo seized him by the throat.
Danzo swung his Kunai, knocking aside the weapon Asuma brought down