Chapter 116: Danzo—An Inspirational Civilian Genius
With the village under wartime lockdown, even though most areas showed no signs of enemy invasion, ninja escorted civilians to the nearest shelters.
The streets of Konoha now lay completely empty. Many shop doors stood wide open—their owners had clearly been evacuated in such haste they hadn't had time to close up.
On the deserted street, only three figures remained: Shimura Danzo and his two subordinates.
Danzo's expression was grim. Bandages wrapped his right eye in layers—supposedly an old war wound that left only his left eye intact. That dark pupil held nothing but endless coldness and composure.
He ordered in a low voice, "Shiratori, contact Umatori, Muchi, and Yosuzume. Tell them to get here immediately."
"Yes, sir."
Behind him, another figure in black robes responded. The voice was melodious and pleasant—clearly a woman. After acknowledging the order, she closed her eyes, dropped to one knee, and rapidly formed hand seals.
In the next instant, invisible and intangible mental waves emanated from her body.
Her name was Yamanaka Shiratori, a member of the Yamanaka clan and Root. She was using the Yamanaka clan's mental secret technique: the Mind Link Jutsu. Without speaking aloud, she could transmit her thoughts directly into others' minds. With the proper equipment, she could even relay commands across hundreds or thousands of miles.
Of course, Yamanaka Shiratori's current targets were within Konoha Village itself. With her abilities, she needed no equipment to transmit Lord Danzo's orders.
After roughly ten seconds, Yamanaka Shiratori opened her eyes. "The order has been transmitted. They're heading here now. But this means the Uchiha situation—"
"The Uchiha don't matter. Right now, the Uchiha clan is nothing but scattered sand. Their clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, has no backbone whatsoever. Even if you handed him an opportunity on a silver platter, he couldn't seize it. Worrying about the Uchiha causing trouble is pointless. On the other hand, that Hyuga Ritsu brat is the real threat. Not just anyone has the guts, the ability, and the confidence to flip the table right in Sarutobi's face at the Hokage building."
Danzo's words dripped with wariness toward Ritsu.
After speaking, his eyebrow twitched. "Shiratori, contact Sarutobi. Tell him Hyuga Ritsu and Hiruko are coming for me. He needs to stop wasting time and get here fast. If he's late, he might just be collecting my corpse."
"Yes, sir."
Hearing such ominous words, Yamanaka Shiratori became solemn. Not daring to delay, she used the Mind Link Jutsu again, attempting to contact the Third Hokage. However, the Third had used a physical clone technique, making it impossible to identify his true body among so many targets or transmit information to all of them simultaneously.
She could only selectively choose a few targets to receive the message.
She trusted that with the Third Hokage's cunning, even if the message reached a clone, it would eventually find its way to his true body.
Then she opened her eyes, speaking urgently, "They're here!"
The moment she finished speaking, Aburame Torune held nothing back, attacking with everything he had.
Secret Technique: Parasitic Destruction Insects.
The swarm that had been circling overhead like a dark cloud suddenly accelerated, wings buzzing with a deafening roar. Like a black torrent, they surged toward the two figures appearing ahead.
Though Torune had never personally witnessed Ritsu fight, he'd gathered intelligence on him and had even sent a Yamanaka clan subordinate to observe one of Ritsu's battles.
Of course, the data collected then differed significantly from the current situation.
But that's exactly why he needed to test Ritsu himself. His failure to eliminate Ritsu at the frontlines had allowed this threat to reach the village, causing the current chaos.
Aburame Torune's killing intent was resolute.
Best case: he'd personally kill Hyuga Ritsu. If that proved impossible, he'd settle for probing Ritsu's abilities as thoroughly as possible, creating the foundation for Lord Danzo's victory. Even sacrificing his life for this was acceptable.
He spared no chakra, pouring everything into his insects.
The Aburame clan were insect users. They raised parasitic destruction insects inside their bodies using chakra. These insects could devour chakra, consume matter, heal their hosts, and gather intelligence—their abilities were comprehensive to the point of having almost no weaknesses.
That's why, despite the Aburame clan rarely appearing in the public eye, their strength was exceptional—arguably second only to the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
Aburame Torune controlled his parasitic insects. Though each individual insect was tiny, together they formed something like cloud and mist.
Once a living creature fell into this cloud, it would be devoured to death within mere breaths.
As the insect swarm rushed forward—
"Ritsu, leave this to me."
Hiruko formed hand seals and expelled a breath. White mist sprayed forth, colliding with the approaching insect swarm. Parasitic destruction insects had tough bodies with a degree of impact resistance—they weren't as fragile as ordinary insects.
But unfortunately, the mist Hiruko released was far from ordinary.
Boil Release: Skilled Mist Jutsu.
This was one of Hiruko's recent research achievements.
The white mist possessed not only shocking heat but also powerful corrosive properties. The parasitic insects released shrill death cries, but ultimately couldn't withstand the dual assault of high temperature and corrosion. Their wings were destroyed first, and they fell like rain.
"Sensei, don't forget about what's underfoot!"
Ritsu called out a reminder.
Hiruko responded calmly, "I've dealt with Aburame clan ninja before. I know their tricks. Besides the obvious swarm, they hide small numbers of especially lethal insects in the shadows. I'll leave those to you, Ritsu."
The moment he finished speaking, among a pile of insect corpses on the ground, over a dozen insects suddenly took flight, charging toward Ritsu and Hiruko. Before they could get close, Ritsu struck with an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
The insects were crushed to powder by the powerful shockwave.
The brick-paved ground was also blasted into a crater by the undiminished force.
Ritsu complained aloud, "Sensei, if you'd told me earlier, I wouldn't have needed such crude methods. I could've tested out a secret technique I mastered recently."
Hiruko laughed heartily. "Can't be helped! I've only controlled these Kekkei Genkai for such a short time. Fully developing and converting them into combat effectiveness will take more time. I really don't have a good solution for those hidden insects."
"True enough—"
Ritsu paused, forming a single-handed seal. His long black hair suddenly grew rapidly, hardening as it shot out. Each strand of hair pierced through the insects flanking them from all directions like steel wires, leaving not a single escapee.
He continued, "But Sensei, weren't you researching Ice Release before? I think you should focus on mastering one Kekkei Genkai at a time, achieving results before moving to the next."
"I know. That's why I chose Boil Release."
The teacher and student conversed casually, as if Shimura Danzo and his two subordinates weren't even present.
This made Danzo secretly furious, though his face remained grim and expressionless, betraying no emotional fluctuation. Being underestimated didn't matter—because Ritsu currently had that right.
That's also why he was happy to see Ritsu in no hurry to attack. The three of them together had little chance of victory. Better to wait for his subordinates to arrive, wait for Sarutobi to arrive. Then they could join forces and kill Hyuga Ritsu.
Aburame Torune's mood was considerably worse. In the past, he'd always teamed up with Hyuga clan members, using them in various situations. He'd never tasted what it was like to face the Hyuga as enemies.
Now that he'd tried it, he deeply understood just how disgustingly troublesome the Byakugan truly was.
As Hiruko had said, the Aburame clan's greatest strength lay in using their insects' inconspicuousness to launch surprise attacks. But the insects he controlled were completely exposed under the Byakugan's perception. The moment they approached, they were mercilessly killed.
He was completely out of options.
Insects were everything to the Aburame clan. If insects couldn't be used, he could only resort to taijutsu. But competing in taijutsu with the Hyuga clan... what was the difference between that and suicide?
"Ritsu, he's out of moves."
Hiruko quickly noticed Aburame Torune's predicament.
"I can see that, Sensei."
"Quick battle, then?"
"Agreed."
Ritsu responded.
In the next instant, he slammed his hands together.
Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Seedling Fern.
He opened with a merciless killing technique.
Sharp white bones broke through the brick pavement, growing rapidly like bamboo shoots after spring rain. In the blink of an eye, they became as thick and tall as trees. Aburame Torune couldn't dodge in time—or rather, the Aburame clan's taijutsu level was truly mediocre. Bone spears pierced his chest, severing his arms and legs, lifting him high. Blood slowly dripped down, staining the white bones red.
Yamanaka Shiratori fared slightly better. She was alert enough, and the Yamanaka clan's sensory abilities were exceptional. She immediately sensed the danger came from below and that the attack range was extremely wide—using Body Flicker wouldn't let her escape. So she leaped high, curling her body as tightly as possible. Though she wasn't pierced through any vital points, the bones were simply too dense. Her right arm was inevitably impaled, and she too was lifted up.
In the best position was Shimura Danzo. The old bastard's reaction was genuinely fast. He immediately used a summoning jutsu, calling forth a baku the size of an elephant to serve as a meat shield beneath his feet. He himself emerged without a scratch.
Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Standing atop the baku's still-warm corpse, Danzo formed seals and summoned two shadow clones.
Aburame Torune, that useless fool, was already dead. Though Yamanaka Shiratori lived, he couldn't count on her contributing anything more. Her injured right arm had sent her combat effectiveness plummeting.
He could only rely on himself.
Though he lacked confidence in defeating Hyuga Ritsu, he had plenty of confidence in stalling for time. That's why he'd chosen to face Ritsu head-on rather than retreat when they met.
His shadow clones immediately counterattacked.
Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere.
Danzo expelled small wind spheres from his mouth like a Maxim machine gun, sweeping toward Ritsu and Hiruko. The seemingly tiny wind spheres could leave visible marks on bones as hard as steel and easily shatter brick and stone.
Naturally, they could also easily riddle a human body with holes.
The other shadow clone formed different seals.
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.
The shadow clone expelled a handful of chakra-refined soil. After landing among the bone forest, it immediately expanded and proliferated, encasing the bone spears and creating a towering earthen wall to serve as footing.
His greatest expertise was Wind Release.
But jonin possessed at least two chakra natures. Danzo was no exception. Beyond his specialty in Wind Release, he'd also trained in Earth Release and Water Release—the two natures that could best leverage terrain advantages.
"I suppose he's not unworthy of being called the Shinobi of Darkness. He's got some skill."
While dodging the machine-gun-like barrage of wind spheres, Ritsu's three-hundred-sixty-degree Byakugan still captured Danzo's every move.
Though he disliked Danzo, Ritsu had to admit the old bastard genuinely had ability. In the past, he'd been something of a genius.
The Shimura clan had no inherited Kekkei Genkai, no clan secret techniques—just an ordinary minor ninja family. They weren't even as notable as the Sarutobi clan with their generations-old summoning contracts and their self-proclaimed Fire Release second only to the Uchiha.
Danzo's current position came entirely from his own exceptional talent and the good fortune of being taken as a student by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. Only through that had he become today's Hokage's advisor, the infamous Shinobi of Darkness.
His achievements were actually quite remarkable—even inspirational, in a way.
Unfortunately—
The shinobi world believed in bloodline supremacy.
The essence of ninjutsu was bloodline.
And the current Shimura Danzo hadn't yet stolen Sharingan from the Uchiha clan or implanted the First Hokage's Wood Release cells. All he had was a sharp Wind Release that caught Ritsu's eye.
Beyond that, he had no other notable strengths.
Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees.
Ritsu clapped his hands together, using this Wood Release signature technique again. Unlike his restraint at the Hokage building, this time he didn't need to worry about collateral damage. There wasn't a single innocent person around—only them. He could attack with full force.
In an instant, wildly growing trees submerged the bone forest, pulverizing Danzo's earthen wall and burying Danzo and both his shadow clones in the deadly deep green.
However—
Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves.
The Hokage's advisor without exceptional bloodline didn't surrender.
The shadow clone trapped in the forest rapidly completed hand seals, expelling massive scythe-like blasts of air sharp enough to slice through the tough trees. Branches and leaves flew everywhere. Danzo's true body seized this brief opening and escaped from the self-contained forest.
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