At this time, Danzo had not yet received Orochimaru's Hashirama-cell arm transplant, but his right eye had already been implanted with Uchiha Kagami's Sharingan.
After all, eye transplants weren't that technically demanding—any competent medical-nin could pull it off with a very high success rate.
Danzo's eyelid twitched violently. His right Sharingan spun, trying to seize control—
—but it was useless.
Only now did he truly understand why those ten Root members died so easily, and why the Third Mizukage had fallen to Kazuki.
Because Kazuki was simply too strong.
There was no resisting him.
Genjutsu didn't work on him at all.
And these wooden bindings had Danzo locked in place, unable to move—while steadily draining his chakra.
"Danzo, you deserve to die!" someone shouted. "You stole the Sharingan of the Uchiha—Kagami-senpai's Sharingan!"
The crowd stared at Danzo in disgust.
Uchiha Kagami, known as one of the two prodigies of that era—spoken of in the same breath as Hiruzen Sarutobi—
had supposedly fallen ill and died at only twenty-five.
So when was this eye taken?
Grave robbery?
Or worse?
An Uchiha elder trembled with rage, blood leaking from his eyes as his Sharingan flared open.
He tried to lock eyes with Danzo—
—and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.
He lost in an instant.
Kagami's Sharingan was too strong.
"Give back the Uchiha clan's Sharingan!"
The Uchiha elder roared—and collapsed unconscious.
"Elder!" Fugaku Uchiha shouted, face twisted with grief and fury. "Hokage-sama, what is going on?! Who is going to give the Uchiha an explanation?!"
"Danzo… how did you become like this…" Hiruzen stared at the bound man, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
He remembered the day they chose different paths.
You said I'd be Konoha in the sunlight… and you'd be the Root in the shadows.
Was this Root?
No.
This was poison.
Hiruzen's eyes hardened. He lifted the Adamantine Staff and swung it down at Danzo's head with everything he had.
That strike carried his decision.
To personally send off an old friend.
That was the last mercy Hiruzen could give Danzo.
I'll see you off. That's it.
Danzo watched the staff fall—and suddenly smiled.
"Hiruzen… so you're finally going to strike me yourself."
"Izanagi!"
Izanagi was a forbidden Uchiha technique.
And it was carved into Kagami's Sharingan.
For a brief window, it could turn any fatal damage—including death—into an illusion, while turning favorable outcomes into reality.
A technique that rewrote the line between dream and reality.
The price was simple:
After the jutsu ended, the eye would lose its light forever.
Rumble—!
Boom—!!
Hiruzen's staff came down like a falling mountain, smashing Danzo into paste.
The ground cratered.
The shockwave rippled outward—tiles fell, walls cracked, and nearby buildings shuddered, some even collapsing.
This was Hiruzen Sarutobi fighting at full power.
So… was that the end of Danzo?
In the next instant, the flesh on the ground re-formed.
Danzo stood back up.
Everyone recoiled in horror.
"What—?!"
Danzo exhaled sharply and spat a razor wind blade that screamed through the air toward Hiruzen.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
ANBU shouted in alarm.
"Careful, Hokage-sama!"
"Hokage-sama!"
The attack was too sudden. Danzo came out swinging with killing intent—no hesitation, no mercy.
Swish!
The Vacuum Wave cut across Hiruzen's front.
Hiruzen immediately used Body Flicker—
—but he was a split-second late.
A deep gash opened across his face. Blood sprayed. Half his face was streaked red.
"Danzo!" Hiruzen roared.
Then his expression changed sharply.
The Vacuum Wave's range was wide—it continued past him toward the crowd behind, where many genin and chūnin were standing.
Everyone went pale.
Kazuki moved instantly, stepping in front of them with hand seals snapping into place.
"Wood Release: Wood Ingot Wall!"
Layer after layer of wooden ramparts rose.
The Vacuum Wave sliced through the first.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Only at the fifth or sixth layer did it finally lose momentum and disperse.
Hiruzen exhaled hard, then turned on Danzo with rage burning in his eyes.
Danzo had already bitten his thumb and slammed his hand onto the ground.
Runes spread out in a circle.
Kazuki's eyes narrowed.
Summoning.
And with the Uzumaki Ashina S-rank character card active, this kind of summoning array was familiar.
He also still had an S-rank Dragon Cave summoning inheritance he hadn't used yet.
White smoke erupted.
The ground shook.
When the smoke cleared, a massive beast stood there—head shaped like an elephant, but with clawed limbs.
Its forehead was wrapped in bandages, just like Danzo.
"This is Danzo's summon… Baku!"
But Danzo himself had already used the moment to escape.
The Baku roared, deafening, then opened its mouth—
"Everyone, get down!" Hiruzen shouted.
Kazuki didn't hesitate.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"
A gigantic wooden dragon surged up from the earth and lunged forward.
The Baku immediately countered.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
Swish!
The wooden dragon was sliced in half—
—but it didn't matter.
The two halves became two dragons, twisting around the Baku and binding it tight.
In the blink of an eye, Kazuki subdued the massive summon.
People stared.
Hokage-sama was bleeding, and all he'd managed was shouting orders—
while Kazuki had locked down the threat in seconds.
The way some people looked at Hiruzen… subtly changed, even if they didn't say it out loud.
Meanwhile, countless ANBU chased the fleeing Danzo.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
Rumble!
With the summon buying him time, Danzo tore through the village outskirts.
He sent Vacuum Waves backward like scythes, faster than before—carving through trees, roofs, and boulders, shredding everything along his path.
"Watch out!"
"Move!"
ANBU dodged in panic. They hadn't expected Danzo to be this strong.
He hadn't fought openly in decades—yet the moment he moved, it was Kage-level pressure.
One-handed Wind Release, terrifyingly refined.
Plus that massive summon.
For a time, the route Danzo fled along became a storm corridor of destruction—smoke and dust blooming behind him.
Thankfully, most civilians had gone to the square to watch the trial, so there weren't many people in the houses along the way.
Danzo's escape didn't cause massive civilian casualties.
Hiruzen's shoulders shook with fury.
How could he not be furious?
ANBU chased Danzo beyond Konoha's walls, but still couldn't catch him. He was already racing toward the Forest of Death.
Then—
A golden flash dropped from the sky.
"Danzo. You think Izanagi means you can escape?"
"Shimura Danzo—stop right there!"
Minato Namikaze arrived.
Trees fell in rows as Minato moved, his body flickering again and again, rapidly closing the distance.
Danzo was panting. In a short time, he'd already burned through a significant amount of chakra.
Even his summon was something he couldn't spare focus for anymore.
Suddenly, several sharp whistles tore the air behind him.
Danzo's eyes narrowed.
"Hmph. Flying Thunder God? Don't flatter yourself!"
He recognized Minato's Flying Thunder God kunai instantly.
The technique wasn't a secret.
And Danzo, as a student of the Second Hokage, was painfully familiar with it.
He saw the kunai fly and understood what Minato was trying to do.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
A storm of Vacuum Waves swallowed the kunai.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, the forest was shredded. Trees collapsed in waves.
The kunai were chopped apart.
Seeing Minato's angle blocked, Danzo smiled and turned to run—
"Trying to hunt me down? You're still green!"
But the moment he turned—
He froze.
His expression stiffened as he stared forward.
Kazuki was standing right in his path.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!"
Danzo fired chakra bullets in a rapid stream—like a machine gun—trying to turn Kazuki into a sieve.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shots tore through empty air.
Kazuki had already vanished.
Danzo's face twisted. "That fast?!"
Then a harsh cry erupted behind him—like a thousand birds screaming.
Kazuki appeared behind Danzo.
Danzo's face changed violently.
"No… you're using Flying Thunder God—?!"
He spun—
—and the brilliant lightning filled his vision, turning his pale face blue.
"No—!"
Kazuki's right hand, wrapped in terrifying lightning, drove forward like a blade.
Poof!
It punched straight through Danzo's chest.
A mouthful of blood burst out.
Danzo's eyes shook—disdain, rage, hatred… and a faint, bitter regret mixing together.
What Danzo regretted most was that day—
why he didn't strike personally.
Why he sent ten Root members instead.
If he had moved then… maybe the outcome would have been different.
The light in Danzo's eyes slowly dimmed.
"…What jutsu is that?"
"Lightning Blade—Chidori."
Before the words finished, Danzo stopped breathing.
From that day on, Konoha's darkness lost its master.
Kazuki withdrew his arm. Danzo's body collapsed to the ground.
A boom came from behind—trees still falling, dust rising.
A golden figure appeared.
"Kazuki!"
Minato stared at the corpse, stunned.
Why was Kazuki faster than him this time?
"Kazuki," Minato said, "I'll bring the body back."
Minato nodded at himself a beat later, realizing what he'd just agreed to.
"…Yes."
Then he blinked, annoyed—why was he hauling Kazuki's bodies again?
This wasn't even the first time.
"Kazuki…" Minato started to speak—
—but Kazuki had already vanished again.
Minato stared at the empty space.
"…Seriously?"
He sighed, lifted Danzo's corpse, and headed back.
When Kazuki returned to Konoha, ANBU were already escorting away the high-ranking members of the Shimura, Mito, and Koharu factions.
When they saw him, they greeted him one after another.
"Kazuki-sama!"
"Kazuki-sama…"
Even ordinary shinobi on the street treated Kazuki with visible respect.
Tsunade was treating Hiruzen's face.
Seeing the scene, she couldn't help but marvel.
Since when did Kazuki become this respected?
Hiruzen saw Kazuki return empty-handed, and a flicker of light passed through his eyes.
Had Danzo escaped after all?
Hiruzen's feelings toward his old teammate were complicated—love and hate tangled together.
As Danzo always said: Hiruzen in the light, Danzo in the dark—two halves that once balanced each other when the Second Hokage died.
But at some point Danzo changed.
Darker.
Crueler.
More vicious.
Even willing to betray Konoha.
For all his anger, Hiruzen still didn't want Danzo to die at Kazuki's hands.
Then Minato returned—
carrying Danzo's corpse.
When Hiruzen saw it, his heart suddenly felt hollow.
Danzo really was dead.
…Maybe that was for the best.
Hiruzen took a deep breath and said, "Announce it publicly: Shimura Danzo betrayed Konohagakure. His crimes were unforgivable. He has been executed by Kazuki."
"The Shimura clan, the Mito clan, and the Koharu faction's upper ranks will be detained and interrogated by ANBU. This matter will be overseen by Kazuki."
Tsunade's eyes flickered at that.
Sensei isn't just calming the village… he's also signaling to Grandma Mito.
With this, Kazuki's prestige will rise again—he'll start to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Sannin, and it's only been days…
Tsunade had no objection.
It was logical.
Kazuki represented the Senju's banner now.
And Tsunade would back him fully—because she was Senju too.
At the same time, atop Hokage Rock, a figure watched Konoha's chaos unfold.
His Sharingan turned, three tomoe spinning slowly.
Uchiha Madara had been watching the entire spectacle—
without making a move.
"Danzo is trash," he murmured. "All malice, no backbone."
"And Hiruzen… he wants to imitate Hashirama's mercy."
"But he doesn't understand what mercy really is."
As soon as the words fell, the figure vanished.
Late at night, deep within ANBU Headquarters, Hiruzen sat alone before Danzo's corpse.
The ANBU guards outside kept their distance, not daring to listen.
Hiruzen held a bottle of sake and spoke softly.
"Danzo… you really did deserve to die."
"But it doesn't matter now."
"We're old."
"We shouldn't be blocking the road for the next generation."
He poured a cup for Danzo and spilled it onto the floor.
Then he drank his own cup in one gulp and turned to leave.
Later that night, Uzumaki Mito found Kazuki.
"Kazuki… the collapse of the three factions today, and Danzo's death—it's satisfying, yes."
"But it also hit the Third Hokage hard."
"He's full of regret, exhausted by what happened. He's already met with the heads of thirty-five clans, and he intends to begin delegating Hokage authority."
"He wants to gradually pass the burden to the younger generation."
"And now the Hidden Cloud delegation is already on its way."
"This time, receiving Kumogakure's mission will be entrusted to you."
"This will build your seniority. And when the time is right…"
"It will be the Third Hokage's abdication."
"And it will be time for you to sit in the Hokage's seat."