Chapter 152: Konoha's Wind Release Expert's Swan Song
The cell's barrier only held for a single breath before being shattered by Uchiha Tatsuhata's Lightning Release: Heavy Flow Violent. Shimura Danzo glanced at Uchiha Tatsuhata breaking through the door. Seeing those irritating crimson eyes, he hastily lowered his gaze, voicing puzzled words. "Uchiha?"
He sat on the bed's edge without moving.
Not because he didn't want to move, but because his chakra was sealed and suppressed—fundamentally unusable. Like fish meat on a chopping board, he could only be slaughtered. One never heard of fish meat leaping up to slap the butcher.
Moreover, having lost the power struggle to that Hyuga Ritsu brat, he was already a lamb awaiting slaughter. His heart held no fear—more curiosity. He wanted to see what this tiger-masked Uchiha intended by breaking into his cell.
Kill him when his death was already inevitable?
Or... well, he didn't think other possibilities existed. He and the Uchiha were incompatible as fire and water. This tiger-masked Uchiha coming for him definitely meant nothing good.
Uchiha Tatsuhata didn't look at the forest-growth commotion behind him. Instead, he stared fixedly at this old man harboring endless malice toward the Uchiha, harshly declaring, "Shimura Danzo, I've come to kill you!"
As expected, here to kill me!
Shimura Danzo felt no surprise. He'd exhausted all methods trying to execute and weaken the Uchiha. Naturally, the Uchiha could likewise come assassinate him. This was inherently fair and reasonable.
He didn't look at those loathsome crimson Sharingan eyes. He only said coldly, "Then strike."
Watching Danzo's indifferent expression, violent energy boiled in Uchiha Tatsuhata's heart. Countless pale Life Threads surged from his right palm, all entering Shimura Danzo's body.
"What is this?"
Shimura Danzo couldn't maintain composure.
He didn't fear death's arrival—only regretted losing by a single move. But he absolutely couldn't accept this damned Uchiha playing tricks on his body. Though he felt no pain or discomfort, he was one hundred percent certain this damned Uchiha was up to no good.
"Bastard Uchiha, what are you doing?! Damn it! Damn—hmm?"
Danzo's curses abruptly halted mid-rant.
The seal within his body was broken by these fine, dense threads. His sealed, suppressed chakra returned to his control. Feeling the taste of regained power, he decisively chose to strike lethally.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade.
He snapped off one iron bed leg. Wind Release chakra attached to this iron leg, instantly sketching a blade sharp enough to cut hair on contact.
The wind blade's edge boldly slashed toward Uchiha Tatsuhata. If this strike landed solidly, it would inevitably split Uchiha Tatsuhata into two or many pieces.
However—
Susanoo: Initial Form.
Circles of pale yellow ribs appeared around him, clamshell-like, protecting him in the middle. The wind blade carved deep notches into them but exhausted its force there, unable to continue deeper and bring Uchiha Tatsuhata any real harm.
"Susanoo?!"
Shimura Danzo cried out in shock.
Having inherited the Second Hokage's hostility and wariness toward the Uchiha clan and evolved it into loathing, he was among Konoha Village's foremost Uchiha experts—surpassing even most Uchiha themselves in knowledge.
Thus, he immediately recognized Susanoo.
His heart also sank accordingly. Because he understood the Uchiha sufficiently, he knew clearly the Mangekyō Sharingan's formidability. If he'd been prepared, fighting wasn't entirely impossible. But now, even with his seal broken, his condition remained at its nadir.
His odds of victory were negligible.
Thoughts raced through his mind in a flash. The situation before his eyes likewise changed within an instant. The Life Threads that had penetrated deep into Shimura Danzo's body were already recovered by Uchiha Tatsuhata. In an eyeblink, a younger Shimura Danzo—approximately thirty years old—appeared in the cell.
The next instant, replica Danzo caught a kunai Uchiha Tatsuhata passed over. Identically deploying Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, he slashed toward the opposing Danzo.
Seeing this younger version of himself, Danzo's brain froze momentarily. Not until that Wind Release: Vacuum Blade attack pressed close to his face did he recover. Too late to withdraw his wind blade to parry, he hastily shifted his body. But his reaction was still a beat slow. His left arm was sliced open with a deep, bone-visible wound. Blood gushed forth.
Feeling severe pain from his left arm, Danzo's heart completely plummeted into the abyss. His peripheral vision glimpsed the corridor blocked by dense forest.
This was a desperate dead-end with no escape!
"This is your ocular jutsu? Creating others' replicas?"
Shimura Danzo stared at the tiger mask on Uchiha Tatsuhata's face, directly meeting the pitch-black elongated curved blade patterns in those crimson eyes.
He'd already realized his death approached. No need to avoid looking at those crimson eyes anymore.
Uchiha Tatsuhata didn't answer. This ordeal had dragged unexpectedly long. He hadn't anticipated that using his ocular jutsu Toyoakitsushihime would inadvertently help break the seal within Danzo's body. In any case, no surplus time remained for continued waste. He must swiftly kill Shimura Danzo.
The next second, he used genjutsu to bind Danzo's consciousness. Simultaneously, a wooden spike from his palm was forcefully thrown, directly penetrating Shimura Danzo's chest. The instant the spike entered flesh, it madly grew crisscrossing branches, thoroughly churning Danzo's internal organs. Blood-stained wooden spikes pierced through flesh and skin, exposed outside.
In just an eyeblink, Shimura Danzo became a bloody porcupine—dead beyond dead.
Wood Release: Cutting Technique.
Even among numerous Wood Release techniques, this ranked among the cruelest, capable of bringing enemies tremendous pain. Only using this move against Shimura Danzo could let Uchiha Tatsuhata vent his fury.
Uchiha Tatsuhata didn't touch Danzo's bloody corpse. He recalled replica Danzo, deployed Mayfly Technique to submerge underground. At the same moment, White Zetsu Abu's figure also entered rock and earth, vanishing.
Then another fifteen seconds passed.
Minato's figure emerged from the ceiling. Immediately after, Kakashi also emerged. Master and student landed in the corridor outside the cell. Their gazes swiftly rotated, detecting no enemy presence—only Shimura Danzo's corpse with its horrific death remaining in the cell.
Kakashi stepped forward, carefully observing Danzo's corpse with his Sharingan. In a low voice: "Sensei, the corpse temperature differs little from a normal person's. Shimura Danzo's death time won't exceed one minute. The attacker shouldn't have gone far."
"Already impossible to chase."
Minato shook his head.
He looked at Danzo's corpse—turned porcupine-like by wooden spikes exploding from within. He sensed that familiar chakra signature from the spikes. Sighing, he said, "The attacker possesses extremely sophisticated stealth techniques. Even Hyuga Clan Head's Byakugan cannot penetrate their movements. You and I have absolutely no way to pursue."
Hearing this, Kakashi—who'd been about to summon the Eight Ninja Hounds—immediately stopped. Though the Eight Ninja Hounds' sense of smell was keen, against enemies using Earth Release burrowing techniques, their effectiveness was actually minimal. Certainly inferior to the Hyuga clan's penetrating Byakugan.
Since even the Hyuga Clan Head's Byakugan proved useless, he truly needn't make meaningless attempts.
Kakashi glanced again at Danzo's corpse, returning to Minato's side. He asked quietly, "Then, Sensei, what do we do next?"
Minato still stared at Danzo's corpse. He answered with a single word: "Wait." Kakashi obediently stood beside him without speaking.
After receiving word that Konoha Prison suffered an attack, Minato-sensei had rushed here to support at the first moment. Moreover, he hadn't come alone—he'd brought most of his newly formed Shadow Guard.
However, among everyone, only he and Minato-sensei mastered Earth Release burrowing techniques. So the two had bypassed that solid, dense forest—momentarily difficult to break through—rushing to the cell area first. Unfortunately, still a step too late.
Kakashi looked toward the forest blocking the passage tight. He felt continuous trembling sensations. Obviously, the three jonin trapped in the duty room plus Shadow Guard members were all working hard.
About forty-some seconds passed. Accompanied by a tremendous roar, the dense forest broke open with a large hole. In an eyeblink, Uchiha Shisui appeared beside Minato.
He looked left and right, seeing no enemy presence—only Danzo's gruesome corpse. His pupils sharply contracted. Feeling uneasy, he asked, "Hokage-sama, did we arrive late?"
Minato answered aloud, "Not just you all. Kakashi and I also arrived late."
Immediately after, Hyuga Takuma, Akimichi Dōmasa, Sarutobi Asuma, and Shiranui Genma also burst from the broken hole. They were all Shadow Guard members.
The other three jonin responsible for guarding Danzo also came before Minato, kneeling on one knee, heads hanging dejectedly, faces black as pot bottoms.
Their voices irregularly asked for punishment. "Hokage-sama, this subordinate is incompetent. Please punish us."
This could only be called bad luck. They'd actually been quite dutiful and responsible guarding that old bastard Danzo—no negligence whatsoever. But encountering Uchiha Tatsuhata, this obsessive maniac determined to personally torture and kill Shimura Danzo—one could only say their luck truly wasn't good.
However, their luck also wasn't genuinely terrible. The Fourth Hokage was obviously wise and discerning, understanding right from wrong. He understood this couldn't be blamed on them and didn't intend making them bear the blame for incompetence.
Minato waved his hand. "All of you, rise! This can't be blamed on you."
Dismissing the three profusely grateful men aside, Minato directed his gaze toward the Shadow Guard he'd personally assembled, ordering, "Kakashi, go notify the Corpse Disposal Team. Have them rush here immediately to recover and process Shimura Danzo's corpse."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Kakashi departed on orders.
Minato looked at the remaining five Shadow Guard members, instructing, "Takuma, go request Hyuga Clan Head. Shisui, contact Uchiha Clan Head. Genma, liaison with Hokage Advisor. Dōmasa, Asuma—you two respectively request both Advisor Elders. Tell all of them—ask them to rush to the small conference room as quickly as possible."
Though Shimura Danzo had already been a dead man on futures, his premature death now would still bring many unplanned troubles. Moreover, the one who'd killed Danzo was that unknown Uchiha... Being able to ambush and kill the heavily guarded Danzo meant many people's safety in the village couldn't be guaranteed. This matter required proper consultation on countermeasures.
The Shadow Guard members departed on orders.
Minato remained in the prison without rushing to leave. When Kakashi arrived with Corpse Disposal Team members, watching these professionals process Danzo's corpse—after observing for approximately several minutes—he prepared to leave.
But at this moment, one Corpse Disposal Team member made a discovery after removing the iron pipe bed leg from the corpse's hand. He hurriedly came before Minato, presenting this iron pipe. "Hokage-sama, please look at this."
"Hmm?"
Minato voiced puzzlement.
But Kakashi preemptively intercepted the iron pipe, examining it with his Sharingan. He immediately said, "Sensei, there's writing on this."
He carefully inspected it thoroughly, confirming the iron pipe indeed had no problems before handing it to Minato—clearly remembering his Shadow Guard member duties.
Minato examined it, seeing messy characters. After careful discernment, he found several words: "white threads," "copy chakra," "fake Danzo," and "Mangekyō Sha[ringan]"—the final two characters apparently weren't completed in time, but sufficed for understanding the meaning.
He touched these characters with his hand. The traces were smooth and sharp. He said softly, "Carved using Wind Release. This Wind Release technique is truly sophisticated!"
Based on the scene circumstances, one could see Danzo should have secretly used Wind Release chakra to carve these words on this tightly gripped iron pipe. Without sufficiently formidable Wind Release mastery, leaving such clear characters on an iron pipe would be impossible.
Looking at this iron pipe serving as a bed leg, Minato couldn't help feeling somewhat improved opinion toward this annoying old bastard Danzo.
Though this old fellow's character was poor, he truly counted as an excellent shinobi. In such desperate circumstances, still leaving this string of information about the enemy—one could clearly feel Danzo's love for Konoha. Even if the Konoha in his heart might differ from the Konoha in many people's hearts.
"Continue tidying former Hokage Advisor Danzo's corpse. Afterward, produce a report as quickly as possible and send it over. Kakashi, we're returning."
Minato collected this iron pipe, instructing the Corpse Disposal Team members once before bringing Kakashi back to the Hokage building office using Flying Thunder God.
Outside the window was Konoha Village's most prosperous street in late winter. The road thronged with people, shoulder to shoulder—letting one directly feel the word "lively."
Minato looked deeply at the pleasing scenery outside the window, silently steeling his resolve. He absolutely wouldn't allow anyone to destroy such beautiful scenes!
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