"Hah—"
Yingue succeeded with his strike, but instead of retreating, he endured the pain by force. Clenching his teeth, he made no sound as he reached back and tore out his own Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō.
His face twisted violently, veins bulging across his forehead.
Darkness swallowed his right eye.
His brain trembled.
A wave of agony far beyond human tolerance surged through him. Thick blood seeped between the fingers of his right hand.
Gasping heavily, Yingue showed no hesitation. He stored away the Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō and forcefully pressed the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō into his now-empty right eye socket.
Within the socket, nerves and chakra pathways were sustained by chakra, transforming into countless connecting lines that successfully interfaced with the Mangekyō's universal adaptive structure.
The Uchiha stared, mouths agape, eyes wide—
as if they themselves could feel Yin Yue's bone-piercing pain.
Izumi's heart clenched tightly.
The ROOT members who witnessed this scene felt their scalps go numb.
That man… when replacing his eye, he didn't hesitate for even a second. He made no sound at all.
Even within ROOT, such ruthless individuals were exceedingly rare.
Yin Yue opened his eyes. His right vision shifted from blurry to clear. The pain was still there—but greatly reduced.
The Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō lay quietly in its new socket, observing everything around it, trembling slightly as it regained vitality.
"Big brother…"
Tamayoshi stared at Yin Yue's back as he endured the pain alone. The viciousness on his face deepened as he kicked Danzō's body aside.
Yin Yue swept his gaze across the ROOT members in the trees.
He had consumed seventy percent of the Yin Release chakra of the Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō to impose mental control over the hundred elite ROOT operatives in this forest.
Even now, without that Mangekyō, once the imprint was planted, these puppets could not break free without external intervention.
Among the ROOT members were eight disguised Uchiha police officers.
At this moment, beneath their masks, their faces were deathly pale. Watching the scene unfold below, their hearts pounded violently, emotions surging uncontrollably.
On the way here,
Yin Yue had explained nothing about the objective of this mission.
Before leaving Konoha, he intended to do one thing for the Uchiha—
Assassinate Danzō.
And reclaim what belonged to the Uchiha.
Just moments ago—
Aside from Tamayoshi, even Uchiha Izumi believed Yin Yue had gone mad.
Assassinating the Hokage's advisor!
Even Uchiha leaders harboring rebellion never dared to imagine such a thing—let alone act on it!
Even the elite jōnin of the other Four Great Villages wouldn't dare dream of assassinating the man known as Konoha's Darkness.
Even if Captain Yin Yue awakened the Mangekyō—
This should have been impossible.
Yet the scene before them proved otherwise.
Yin Yue had used the chaos to infiltrate ROOT unnoticed and execute a perfect decapitation strike.
Before this moment, no one except Tamayoshi believed Yin Yue could lead them this far.
"He actually… did it."
Nanpu stood frozen on the tree branch. Instinctively, he drew his ninja blade—
only to realize in shock that he had regained control of his body.
The other Uchiha reacted as well.
They looked toward the Uchiha compound.
The cries and screams there had already faded.
There was no going back.
The clan was gone.
Grief, desolation, and endless agony exploded in their minds. Under the intense stimulation of pain, their ocular power surged violently.
"Damn the Konoha higher-ups!!"
"If Shisui hadn't died, how would the Uchiha have fallen to this point?!"
Since everything was lost—
They would follow Yin Yue, who had led them here, and pour their fury onto the true instigator.
At this moment, even the usually gentle and kind Izumi thought the same.
They drew their blades and guarded Yin Yue in silence, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Yin Yue withdrew his gaze and looked at Danzō's corpse. After a brief assessment, he confirmed that his Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō now had only ten percent Yin Release chakra remaining.
One portion had been spent controlling the nine clansmen earlier.
Another portion had been carried by his shadow clone into the clan head's residence and implanted into Uchiha Mikoto.
Although he had obtained a Kotoamatsukami—
His chakra reserves were nearly exhausted.
From here on, he needed to finish things quickly, conserve strength, and prepare to flee.
But the battle was not over yet.
At that moment—
"Hah—"
Danzō staggered backward, attempting to gasp for air—
only to suffocate instantly.
His trembling left eye fixed on the two figures before him as life drained away.
The instant his heart was pierced by the blade—
Danzō died.
Yet in Yin Yue's Mangekyō vision, just before death,
the corner of Danzō's mouth curled upward into a cold, sinister smile.
Just as the Uchiha believed everything was over—
The black robe on Danzō's corpse suddenly slipped away, revealing his bandage-wrapped right arm.
His index and middle fingers were raised, forming a half-completed hand seal.
The white bandages unwound layer by layer.
Under the moonlight, the Uchiha stared in horror.
Danzō's arm was pale and withered like dead wood.
Embedded in the back of his hand was a three-tomoe Sharingan, slowly closing.
It was deeply unsettling.
"Shimura Danzō actually possessed a Sharingan… The dōjutsu he activated feels familiar—yet disturbingly strange."
Nanpu, wearing glasses, stared at Yin Yue in shock.
A sense of foreboding rose sharply in his heart.
Then—
Without any warning—
The Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō in Yin Yue's right eye vanished.
So did Danzō's corpse leaning against the tree.
As if erased from a blackboard.
Danzō reappeared five meters away.
Within his hollow right eye socket, the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō gleamed—
as though it had never been removed.
Before Yin Yue struck—
Danzō had already formed a one-handed seal with his concealed right arm and activated the Uchiha clan's forbidden technique:
Izanagi.
He forcibly rewrote all unfavorable outcomes—
Being branded by Eight Thousand Spears,
His physical death,
And even the fate of losing his Mangekyō.
During that interval—
He had already died.
Even though Yin Yue took the Kotoamatsukami, it was impossible to use that "ultimate genjutsu" to alter his will.
For the next one minute, Danzō could manipulate reality itself, rewriting all unfavorable factors.
This was the forbidden technique—
Izanagi.
The ROOT members in the trees exhaled in relief.
The Uchiha, meanwhile, tensed completely.
"Young man," Danzō sneered,
"a piece of advice—next life, don't talk so much when assassinating someone."
His feet slammed forward, shattering the ground. A violent gust erupted as he exhaled sharply toward Tamayoshi.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Hoo—!
The wind howled.
Sand and debris filled the air.
Tamayoshi was dragged into the eye of the storm. The violent wind transformed into countless steel blades, shredding his armor and carving dense wounds into his flesh. The crushing pressure also compressed his internal organs.
"Pff—!"
Tamayoshi spat blood and drove his blade into the ground, trying to endure the Wind Release with sheer physical strength.
But the overwhelming force still hurled him backward. He smashed through multiple trees and crashed heavily onto the forest floor.
Large sections of the forest were flattened by the attack.
Izumi's heart jolted. Activating her three-tomoe Sharingan, she skillfully evaded the residual winds, leapt down, and carried away the severely injured, unconscious Tamayoshi.
The Uchiha scattered from the trees, evading the terrifying Wind Release.
Boom—
Several immobilized ROOT members could only watch as the attack swept over them at full strength.
They didn't even have time to scream—
Their bodies were torn apart, flesh collapsing into bloody mist.
The surviving Uchiha looked back at the devastated forest, eyes wide, momentarily unable to breathe.
After clearing the obstacles, Danzō appeared instantly before Yin Yue, greedily reaching toward his left eye socket.
His counterattack was completed in an instant—
even faster than Yin Yue and Tamayoshi's coordinated strike earlier.
He would kill this inherently evil Uchiha brat—
And seize his Mangekyō!
The lack of response from his subordinates could only mean one thing—
That Mangekyō ability!
Such a dangerous power belonged to Konoha—and only Konoha was fit to control it.
He would gladly accept it.
At the same time—
Clang—
Danzō's right eye flared crimson.
The shuriken-shaped pattern of Kotoamatsukami rotated.
Silent Yin Release chakra surged through eye contact, forcefully flooding into Yin Yue's mind.
The situation reversed in an instant.
(End of Chapter)