One-Eyed Susanoo

"Danzo, I told you—you're dead!"

The azure giant radiated such overwhelming power that no one present dared make a move.

Opening Susanoo with a single eye was a feat only Shisui Uchiha had achieved in the original story. Now Uchiha Yoru had done it through sheer talent.

"Is that really my brother—the slacker who's useless at everything except eating?" Sasuke Uchiha stared at the giant, stunned.

"Kamui Shuriken!"

Two enormous Shuriken formed in Susanoo's hands.

It hurled them straight at Danzo.

Those Shuriken are dangerous!

The moment Shimura Danzō saw them, a powerful sense of danger surged through him.

He barely dodged, but the space around him twisted. His upper body was wrenched apart and sucked in.

"Lord Danzo!"

Uchiha Yoru seemed to relax. He dismissed Susanoo and staggered—then suddenly sensed something!

He reached behind him.

With his other hand, he drove a Kunai backward.

The man behind him was Danzo. No one knew how he had survived that attack!

But now a Kunai pierced his heart, and he collapsed helplessly to the ground.

"You've got a lot of extra lives."

Uchiha Yoru shook his head.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet!"

Shimura Danzō, who should have been dead, appeared before Uchiha Yoru once more. He spat a barrage of small wind projectiles, firing them like bullets with a shriek through the air.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

A wall of earth rose, but Root Base could no longer withstand a battle like this. It collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Yoru!"

Uchiha Itachi had arrived. He stared at the fallen building and shouted.

"I'm fine! Did you get Shizune out?"

Uchiha Yoru crawled from the rubble and brushed the dust off himself.

"Uchiha Yoru, just you wait!"

Shimura Danzō hurried away with the remaining Root members.

He knew Konoha had no place for him anymore.

These Root members were loyal to him to the death. For now, he could only leave Konoha, build his own power outside the village, and make his plans from there.

As they pressed on, a masked girl appeared in their path.

"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"

Four or five chains burst from her body and shot toward the Root members.

"Everyone, stay clear of her! Run!"

A survivor of the Uzumaki Clan? What is she doing here?

How could Shimura Danzō fail to recognize the Uzumaki Clan's secret technique? Even weakened after giving birth, Kushina had used it to bind the Nine-Tails.

Everyone scattered, but several were caught fast. Their Chakra was sealed, leaving them unable to move.

Shimura Danzō had no intention of fighting. He abandoned those members and fled.

At last, after who knew how long, Konoha disappeared from sight. Only then did Shimura Danzō stop with his Root members and burst out laughing.

"That fool Uchiha Yoru didn't set an ambush here! If he had, Root would have been wiped out!"

In the darkness of night, a golden arrow tore through the air beneath the moonlight, flying straight at Shimura Danzō.

"Who's there?"

It pierced his chest. He fell, revived, and shouted.

"Kidomaru, quit playing around! Don't forget the mission Lord Orochimaru gave us!"

"I know, Tayuya!"

"Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"

A square barrier of violet flames trapped everyone inside.

To Shimura Danzō, the scene felt strangely familiar. Hadn't Hiruzen Sarutobi faced the same situation?

"Orochimaru? Where are you? We can talk!"

"Lord Orochimaru isn't here. But he ordered us to kill you!" Tayuya's voice rang out, and Shimura Danzō's heart sank.

At last, he understood why Orochimaru had never gone after Uchiha Itachi. Orochimaru had been working with Uchiha Yoru from the start, while he, Shimura Danzō, had been nothing but a clown making threats.

A handsome young man with white hair and a red mark between his brows appeared before Shimura Danzō, a bone blade in his hand.

"What's Lord Orochimaru thinking, sending him in alone?" Kidomaru muttered. He wanted to rush in and have some fun himself!

Just thinking about killing Shimura Danzō excited him.

Orochimaru had already cured Kimimaro's bloodline disease. He was no longer a sickly boy who could barely use his full strength. In fact, he had grown even stronger.

Shimura Danzō felt no fear of Kimimaro. What could a boy in his teens possibly do?

Instead, he considered how to escape the barrier. If Uchiha Yoru and Uchiha Itachi caught up, he was as good as dead.

Three of the Sharingan on his arm had already closed.

"Fox, Demon, deal with him."

Shimura Danzō waved the two Root members beside him forward.

"Argh!"

What happened next stunned him.

The white-haired boy cut the two Root Ninja down with ease, overwhelming them as though they were helpless before him.

"Uchiha Yoru, Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi—you'll pay for this!"

Shimura Danzō fled in disgrace with the few Root Ninja he had left.

That morning, the Sound Five, including Kimimaro, knelt before Orochimaru and confessed their failure to bring back Shimura Danzō's head.

"It's fine. Forgive them. Once Shimura Danzō vanished from sight, I never expected them to keep him there." Uchiha Yoru lay with his head in Karin's lap and tasted a strawberry she offered him.

That old bastard has a ridiculous number of extra lives. If he hadn't picked a fight with Sasuke in the original story, he wouldn't have been so easy to kill!

"Then we'll do as you say, Lord Yoru. You may go."

"Yes!"

"Orochimaru, what do you think of Sasuke?" Uchiha Yoru asked.

"An ordinary genius," Orochimaru said.

Compared with Uchiha Yoru and Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke Uchiha simply did not stand out. Among Ninja of his generation, he counted as a genius, but that was all.

"What if I entrusted him to you?"

"What do you mean, Lord Yoru?" Orochimaru's interest was piqued.

"Exactly what I said. Konoha is too peaceful for him to get the training he needs. I want you to take him with you and train him."

"Oh?"

"Trust me. He has more talent than I do."

"If you say so, Lord Yoru, I'll accept."

Out in the courtyard, Sasuke Uchiha trained with all his might, unaware that Uchiha Yoru and Orochimaru had just decided the course of his next few years.

He was still consumed by the helplessness he had felt yesterday. How could he have been so weak that Shimura Danzō had captured him and used him as leverage against Uchiha Yoru?

He never wanted to feel that powerless again.

If Uchiha Yoru had really killed himself because of him, Sasuke would have spent the rest of his life drowning in regret.