"Cough, cough... Uchiha... Makoto..." Danzo's voice was faint and broken, yet unusually clear. "You won... completely..."
He struggled for a few breaths, then slowly spoke as though exhausting the last of his strength. "Tell... Hiruzen... no, never mind... he... is stronger than me... he's the one... best suited to that seat... I... always knew... I just... couldn't accept it..."
The corners of his mouth actually curved into an exceedingly faint, bitter smile.
"In my life... I schemed too much... made too many mistakes... but in the end... let me use this... filthy heart... to do something... for Konoha again..."
His voice grew softer and softer, but his final words carried an almost tragic resolve:
"Protect... Konoha..."
With that, his head slumped to one side, and his breathing stopped for good.
His blind, gray-white eyes "stared" straight up at the gloomy sky over the Land of Rain, seemingly filled with endless regret, as well as a trace of relief at finally laying down every burden.
Uchiha Makoto watched coldly throughout.
Listening to Danzo's "last words," with their supposed "awakening," "dying request," and "sacrifice for Konoha," he felt no emotion whatsoever. Instead, his stomach churned, and nausea surged straight to his head!
"Pah!"
Uchiha Makoto couldn't help spitting.
"Even on death's door, you're still trying to make yourself look good! 'Protect Konoha,' my ass! What the hell did you ever protect? How many of Konoha's messes weren't caused by you, you scheming old bastard? And now you're playing the tragic hero, the innocent saint of the shinobi world? Disgusting! Fucking disgusting!"
Danzo was easily among the top three on Uchiha Makoto's "blacklist," the sort of person whose very appearance felt like it sullied his eyes.
In principle, as a Kage-level expert, he would have made perfectly good experimental material.
But making him