Danzō still wore that same corpse-like face, giving no hint of what he was thinking.
He cast a glance at Tsunade and the Konoha shinobi behind him, then turned his gaze toward the ruins ahead. Slowly, he spoke,
"Uchiha Kaito, what do you mean by this?"
Pfft!
Before the words had even faded, a black spike pierced straight through Danzō's body. He spewed out a mouthful of blood with a sharp cry, his arms falling limply to his sides as though he were dead.
Tsunade's expression darkened. No matter how much she despised Danzō, he was still a high-ranking figure in Konoha. To have him killed so brazenly before her, the Hokage, was too much—even for her temper.
The diamond-shaped mark on her forehead lit up with a violet glow. Black curse marks spread rapidly from it, crawling over her entire body.
"Ninjutsu: Creation Rebirth – Strength of a Hundred Technique!"
Tsunade knew Kaito's power was far beyond what any of them had imagined. This time, she immediately unleashed her full strength.
But Kaito didn't even glance at her. His eyes remained fixed on the impaled Danzō as he said calmly,
"Stop pretending. You've already used Izanagi, haven't you? Keep stalling, and you'll just waste that precious minute."
"Nani?"
Tsunade froze. She quickly turned her gaze to Danzō, only to see his body gradually become translucent before vanishing completely from the spike.
Kaito suddenly let out a cold snort and drove his fist into the air beside him.
Danzō reappeared exactly where Kaito's fist struck. Countless azure cracks swallowed him whole, shattering his body into fragments.
Yet his form vanished again, reappearing a moment later at Tsunade's side.
Tsunade couldn't help but examine him. Not a scratch on his body—he looked even more unscathed than she did under her Strength of a Hundred Technique.
Danzō's face was grim. His eyes narrowed on Kaito as he demanded,
"How did you know I could use Izanagi?"
He had intended to use Izanagi for a surprise attack, but Kaito had exposed him with a single sentence. The plan had crumbled before it began.
Kaito smiled faintly, his eyes flickering with red light as he looked at Danzō's bandaged arm.
Danzō was still within the safety of Izanagi, so he felt no fear of injury. Yet Kaito simply triggered an explosion along the bandages wrapped around his arm.
Since the bandages weren't part of Danzō's body, Izanagi couldn't restore them.
The wrappings burned away into ash, revealing—
Sasuke's eyes went wide with shock and rage. He roared,
"Those Sharingan—what the hell is going on!?"
Danzō didn't spare him a glance. A look of disdain twisted across his face as he said,
"Of course, they came from your Uchiha clan. What's wrong? You want to avenge them?"
"You bastard! I'll kill you!!!"
Sasuke's eyes instantly spun into the three-tomoe Sharingan. But to Danzō, that was hardly worth notice. Ignoring Sasuke entirely, he turned back to Kaito.
"Uchiha Kaito, your existence has already become a threat to Konoha. You cannot be allowed to continue."
Kaito let out a mocking laugh.
"And what exactly do you plan to do about it?"
Danzō gave Tsunade a look. Then his hands blurred into seals, before he spat a massive sphere of compressed wind.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Tsunade didn't hesitate. She launched herself at Kaito, her speed so great that her strike nearly landed at the same moment as Danzō's jutsu. She raised her leg high, slamming it down with brutal force.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
Facing the combined attack of two Kage-level opponents, Kaito's expression didn't change.
A mass of deep violet energy surged around him, rising high before forming into a towering skeletal giant.
Kaito's ocular power had long since surpassed the limits of the Mangekyō. Even in its first stage, his Susanoo stood a hundred meters tall.
Tsunade and Danzō's attacks both crashed against it—and stopped dead.
Tsunade's eyes widened in shock.
"Susanoo!?"
She immediately tried to retreat, but Susanoo gave her no chance.
The giant's massive hand closed around her and hurled her violently at Danzō.
She flew back even faster than she had charged forward. Danzō couldn't react in time, taking the full collision. Blood burst from his mouth as his body flickered out of reality—another Izanagi triggered.
Tsunade herself wasn't much better off. Her bones felt like they'd all been shattered. If not for her Strength of a Hundred Technique, she'd be bedridden for half a month at least.
Danzō reappeared, but the time on his Izanagi had already run out. One of the Sharingan embedded in his arm slowly closed, never to open again.
Not daring to hesitate, he immediately activated a second Izanagi. Only that gave him a shred of reassurance.
Most of Konoha's shinobi didn't even know what Susanoo was. But a hundred-meter-tall skeletal giant looming before them was all the explanation they needed.
Not one of them dared to advance.
Tsunade dragged herself up from the ground, gazing up at Susanoo with a murmur,
"Grandfather… was this what you fought against back then?"
What she didn't know—this was only Susanoo's first form.
Danzō, on the other hand, stared with naked greed and envy. With that kind of power, he thought, he could surely become Hokage and lead Konoha to dominate the entire shinobi world.
Sasuke, also an Uchiha, felt nothing but shock. Susanoo was utterly foreign to him, and its presence left him shaken to the core.
He couldn't help but ask,
"So this… this is also the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Kaito gave him a sidelong glance and replied flatly,
"That's right. This is the third power of the Mangekyō Sharingan—the Susanoo, the embodiment of destruction."
"Susanoo…? My Uchiha clan still possesses such a power? Then Itachi…"
The thought struck Sasuke immediately. If Itachi also had the Mangekyō, then he must also have been able to manifest Susanoo.
He had believed until now that the gap between three-tomoe and Mangekyō wasn't that vast.
But looking at Susanoo, he couldn't help doubting. With just his three-tomoe Sharingan… could he really defeat Itachi?
Feeling the overwhelming chakra radiating from Susanoo, Sasuke fell into silence.
Suddenly, a sharp sound rang out from Susanoo's body.
Ding!
Everyone turned toward the noise. Somehow, Danzō had gotten behind Susanoo, a kunai in his hand. But the blade had already snapped clean in two.
"..."
In that instant, Kaito and every Konoha shinobi fell into the same stunned silence as Sasuke.
Danzō, however, didn't seem to notice anything wrong. Staring at the broken kunai in his hand, he muttered to himself,
"As expected of Susanoo. That defense is truly remarkable!"