The instant he heard that voice, Danzo's breath caught. He knew it all too well-who else could it be but Hiruzen Sarutobi?
Except the words Hiruzen Sarutobi had used sounded oddly familiar. Weren't those his lines?!
Danzo's mind immediately went into overdrive. In a mere instant, he had his explanation ready, and he slowly turned around while speaking with an air of righteous conviction.
"Hiruzen, you've finally arrived. I have been standing guard here to quell the Uchiha rebellion...!"
But halfway through, as he turned his head, Danzo's pupil abruptly contracted.
"Heh heh heh heh, Elder Danzo, why did you stop?"
Crouched atop the wall, Sasuke rested his chin on one hand and quietly savored Danzo's expression.
He had finally cornered the bastard.
As for Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice just now, he had simply imitated it with chakra.
If only he had heard Tobirama Senju's voice before, he would have loved to whip up a perfect transformation with Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements. Forget anything else-wouldn't just standing in front of Danzo like that scare him senseless?
But after thinking it over, Sasuke felt that, given Danzo's current state, seeing him as Tobirama Senju might actually make the old man go to meet his teacher with a perfectly clear conscience.
After all, the bastard had already brainwashed himself. Though he was the sort who would absolutely sell out his organization to avoid sacrificing himself, he had cast a spell over his own mind day after day, until he almost believed he truly was that kind of pure-hearted man.
Ha. With everything Danzo had done over the years, if he really went down below, the First and Second Hokage would probably want to chop him into mincemeat.
Tobirama & Hashirama: Not chunks that big.
At least he had been an outstanding figure back in the day, only to disgrace himself in his later years. No, more precisely, ever since his youth ended, Danzo had charged down a road of no return without once looking back.
There was a saying: the more someone lacked something, the more they liked to emphasize it. Though Danzo constantly claimed everything was "for the village," Root had done nothing during either Pain's invasion or the Nine-Tails' Attack. Even when they did act, they only made things worse to serve their own interests.
You could even say that, of all the tragedies in the Shinobi World, Black Zetsu had caused eighty percent before Danzo was born, and after his birth, eighty percent became Danzo's handiwork.
His title as the ultimate king of blame was no joke!
"You inherently evil brat from the Uchiha Clan! How dare you impersonate the Hokage to deceive me! You have already courted death!"
Sasuke: ???
Still resting his chin on his hand and spacing out, Sasuke heard an exceptionally familiar line. Courted death? Isn't that my line?
"Hey, hey, hey, you old dog, think before you speak. This is the Uchiha Clan's compound. What are you doing barging in here in the middle of the night and lurking in front of our shrine?"
"Yeah, you old geezer, don't get too cocky. What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying you want to kill Sasuke?"
Naruto popped up atop the wall and crouched beside Sasuke, a look of disdain on his face beneath his fox mask.
"Hmph, a mere fox demon. Since when did you have the right to run wild here?"
His expression turned cold as he stared at that tuft of blond hair. Danzo did not even need to think to know who it was. He had no idea how Sasuke had talked him into it, but Naruto had kept wearing a mask ever since he was three or four. Whenever he met strangers he did not want to deal with, he put on his mask and went about playing on his own.
That had rendered ineffective the rumors Danzo spread to break down Naruto's mental defenses and make him show resentment toward the village, which would then let Danzo persuade Hiruzen Sarutobi to place Naruto under his command so he could brainwash him into a tool.
After all, no matter how viciously the Demon Fox legend spread, if no one saw the Demon Fox for years, how could it remain a rumor? It became nothing more than an urban legend.
All Sasuke could say was that this trick from some of the novels he had read in his previous life really worked.
"Tsk, you old dog. Sending Root in here to stir up trouble wasn't enough, so you came yourself? Were you planning to ambush someone here? From the looks of it, you've got accomplices too?"
"Hmph, silver-tongued brat!"
Looking at the two irritating brats before him, Danzo sensed that the distant giants' attacks seemed somewhat weaker than before, and a vicious gleam burst from his eye.
But at the thought that a truly fierce fight might draw out the big creature inside Naruto, Danzo felt that perhaps this was not the ideal moment.
"Looks like you wanted to wipe us all out in one fell swoop during our clan meeting today. But you and Root alone certainly couldn't pull that off. Given your usual habit of sacrificing the village's interests for your own gain, you must have called in outside help. Don't tell me that help was the Mysterious Man from the Night of the Nine-Tails a few years ago?"
Grinning, Sasuke jumped down from the wall, folded his arms, and quietly savored the sight of Danzo's pupil shrinking to a pinprick.
Sure enough, making guesses with spoilers in hand felt fantastic.
And just as he had expected, Danzo revealed an icy smile.
"Heh heh. As expected of a brat from the inherently evil Uchiha Clan-truly evil enough. To make Konoha more prosperous, to eliminate your clan, the grave threat festering in the village's heart, certain sacrifices are necessary. Certain compromises are necessary too.
"You forced my hand. For the village's sake, I had no choice but to swallow humiliation and bear the burden of working with an enemy like that!"
Danzo still wore an air of righteous conviction, but the venom seeping through his voice seemed to have been suppressed for a long time.
As soon as he finished, he stared into Sasuke's eyes, which shimmered with red and purple light, and could not help chuckling.
Why waste words on these two brats? One was as good as dead anyway, and the other was already destined to be brainwashed by him. Why keep up the act?
"Heh, two mere brats. So what if it was? I'll let you die knowing the truth. After today, the Uchiha Clan will be erased from the Shinobi World, and I will reap three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. You should feel honored to become kindling on my path to ruling Konoha.
"As for you, Jinchūriki, I like that look in your eyes. There's no need to rush. You will spend the rest of your life as the ultimate weapon in my hands, laying down your life and spilling your blood for Konoha, for me, to atone for your sin-laden existence."
For some reason, Danzo suddenly no longer felt like pretending. They were just two brats, and he possessed the mighty power of the First Hokage!
Never mind that the Fourth Hokage's Sealing Jutsu had been incredibly secure-even if it were not, with the First Hokage's Bloodline Limit, he was invincible against tailed beasts!
As for Sasuke, that evil Uchiha brat, he did not consider him a threat at all.
Whoosh-
Before his words had even faded, Danzo vanished from where he stood. With a sharp whistle through the air, he appeared before Sasuke, a kunai in hand.
Even against two brats, Danzo chose a sneak attack. He intended to seize them both in one stroke while they were still stunned!
Except...
Clang!
A sound like clashing metal rang out, and Danzo's lone eye widened abruptly. The kunai, barely an inch from Sasuke's pupil, could advance no farther. Two jade-like fingers lightly pinched it in place. No matter how much force he exerted, the kunai could neither advance nor retreat.
Looking straight into Danzo's shock-filled eye, Sasuke curled his lips upward.
"Who gave you the illusion that trash like you could hurt me?"
Before you continue