Sage Art · Lightning Release · Extreme Lightning Chidori

Had he been holding an ordinary ninja hostage, Danzo really would not have minded driving his blade in hard right then, rattling Sasuke enough to let him snatch that Mangekyō Sharingan the boy had scavenged from who knew where.

But once he remembered that the person in his grasp was a Jinchūriki, the corner of Danzo's mouth twitched violently. That damned Uchiha had actually made him overlook that!

Had he secretly used the Sharingan to alter some of his perceptions?! A brat born evil, just as he thought!

How the fuck was he supposed to dare kill a Jinchūriki? Never mind that he could not bear to kill one unless it was absolutely necessary-even whether he could kill one was a problem. Everyone knew Jinchūriki were strange things. Beat one three-quarters to death, and he still would not die. Instead, he would switch accounts on the spot and make you fight his powered-up second form.

Just as he began wondering whether rage had clouded his head and considering what to do next, Danzo noticed Naruto suddenly moving beneath his blade. There was none of the resistance he had expected. Instead, Naruto excitedly sized up the tip of the blade, then slammed himself straight onto it.

"Sasuke! Open fire on me! Let me play with that eye afterward, too!"

Wait!

His pupils dilated instantly. The sudden turn of events left Danzo utterly bewildered. Why was this Jinchūriki trying to get himself killed??

Yet the moment he saw those six whisker-like markings on Naruto's face, clarity flooded Danzo's eyes.

Oh, shiiit!

He's about to power up into phase two!

Just as he tried to withdraw his blade and retreat, Naruto crashed straight into its tip at a speed he could not comprehend. The sharp Vacuum Blade pierced clean through Naruto. To Danzo's horror, when he tried to pull it out and back away, the blade was caught fast in Naruto's wildly regenerating muscle tissue. Then he heard a roar like that of a primordial ferocious beast.

"Awoooo-woof!"

Danzo: ???

Sasuke: (一`ˊ一)

That... wasn't right, was it?

Was that how a fox sounded?

Even shouting "Great Chu shall rise! Chen Sheng shall be king!" would have made more sense than that noise!

The first part had sounded pretty imposing, but what the fuck was that last part?

Unable to fathom Sasuke's thoughts, Danzo stared at the layer of orange-red chakra bubbles seeping out of Naruto's body and trembled slightly, nearly furious enough to give himself a heart attack.

You bastard, that's how you're going to play it?

He should have been able to take down these two brats easily. How had things come to this? One had summoned a Gundam, and the other had outright released the big thing inside him?!

"You bastard, what are you spacing out for? Take a hit from me first!"

At the sound of that voice, Danzo whipped his head around. The blue skeletal giant behind him had vanished, replaced by a pair of scarlet eyes.

Screeeee-

Golden lightning became something like a divine spear in Sasuke's hand, skewering Danzo and hoisting him into the air. Sasuke smiled at the look in Danzo's eyes, which had become impossible to describe, and curled his lips. With Danzo at its center, golden lightning formed countless Thunderbirds around him, each seeming alive. As Sasuke abruptly clenched his outspread fingers, the thousand birds that had been hovering silently surged toward Danzo like swallow chicks flying into an embrace.

"Sage Art · Lightning Release · Extreme Lightning Chidori!"

In an instant, the entire world seemed to have been muted. Only the piercing cries of a thousand birds rang out, as though waiting for everyone to listen in silence.

The instant the thousand birds poured into Danzo's body, the world seemed to freeze, as though nothing at all had happened. Then, as their cries rang out from within him, the world seemed to speed up again in an instant. Brilliant lightning radiated from him, illuminating the night sky for a hundred miles around. Even the two Susanoo still trading blows in the distant sky seemed to pause.

[Sasuke, what's going on?] Uchiha Itachi's voice rang out in Sasuke's mind almost immediately. Shisui and Fugaku seemed to be getting genuinely heated in their fight overhead. He could only watch from the ground, causing a little trouble and fanning the flames for both of them along the way, occasionally poking them with the Totsuka Blade, that forty-meter-long sword.

[Nothing. I caught Danzo. I'm testing a newly developed jutsu.]

Sasuke glanced at the mere two Sharingan left on the arm of Danzo, who had promptly re-formed nearby. Extreme Lightning Chidori continued crackling in his palm, and tiny arcs of electricity filled the air for several hundred meters around him. Within this domain, not so much as a rustle of grass could escape his perception.

In a sense, this move was a stitched-together monstrosity, combining various systems from multiple worlds, local abilities, developments from the original story, and his own flights of fancy.

It could count as his first self-created S-rank jutsu. Although its power depended heavily on the user's strength, the difficulty of learning it was absolutely S-rank. After all, this thing could essentially be considered the "brute force works miracles" version of senjutsu.

If he learned Ryūchi Cave's Inorganic Reincarnation in the future, he might be able to take this move to an even higher level.

Of course, improving his mastery of Yin-Yang Release would work too.

Once he really made it big, he would swap Chidori straight out for Thousand Kirin, turn Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, Suction Palm, Fire-Blowing Palm, and the like into Universal Pull and Planetary Devastation, and upgrade Eight Extremes Collapse into Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus. Whoever faced that combo would die.

Ummm, of course, if we're talking about those late-game guys who are all immune to ninjutsu, or even senjutsu, forget I said anything.

Still electrocuting Danzo, Sasuke turned his attention to Naruto, who was wrapped in a thick Tailed Beast Cloak.

Only one tail had emerged, but why was this thing not red? Why the fuck was it gold?

And an ordinary Tailed Beast Cloak was definitely highly corrosive, so why was there not a trace of corrosion on Naruto? Even if his regeneration as Asura was incredibly strong, that was only regeneration.

And what happened to supposedly losing all reason?

"Hahaha, Sasuke, what do you think? Your jutsu's impressive, but mine isn't bad either."

Wagging his tail, Naruto showed off with delighted fascination. At the same time, he spotted an opening and lunged forward, giving the newly resurrected Danzo a vicious hit.

"Speaking of which, how exactly does Danzo's jutsu work? Does he revive based on time, or on how many times he's killed? It looks like it's time-based, so why doesn't he use some more destructive jutsu that take the enemy down with him?"

Gathering an enormous ball of wind-nature chakra in his mouth, Naruto blasted Danzo to death with one shot, then scratched his head in puzzlement.

Hearing that, Sasuke immediately curled his lip. What could he say? Danzo simply did not know how to play. Did he not have the Reverse Four Symbols Seal? The only question was which took priority: Izanagi or those sealing jutsu.

After all, they were all mechanics-based monsters; it depended on whose code stood a level above the rest. Still, Danzo could hardly help playing this way. Although Sasuke himself was no expert at genjutsu, now that he had the Mangekyo, how could he not throw in a little?

All he had done was magnify certain thoughts deep in Danzo's heart, making him overlook a few unimportant perceptions.

"It's time this farce ended, Danzo."

Pinning Danzo down once more, Sasuke glanced at his single remaining Sharingan and spoke in an indifferent voice.

It was about time. Danzo was about to enter Ultraman's three-minute countdown mode.

He had had his fun. He had deliberately strung Danzo along all this time to lure Obito out, but Obito had never shown. It was time to end this.

"Damn brat!"