—Gulp.
Danzo watched, baffled beyond measure, as the Genjutsu he had cast with his stolen eyes was swallowed whole. The illusions that plagued the senses of everyone contained by the battlefield wavered like a mirage.
Then, like a whirlpool, dissolved into a vast ocean of chakra that poured into the body of a single individual.
Furthermore, it wasn't just the illusions that were devoured. Danzo felt a significant portion of his own chakra disappearing into the abyss.
His subordinates, either from Root or from Konohagakure's main force, all staggered from where they stood. It was a collective gasp of exclamation that indicated their shared loss.
"What...?"
Danzo's gaze was drawn towards the figure at the center of this entire ordeal. Silver hair cascaded down his shoulders, gleaming vibrantly in the flames of war.
Eyes with a painted silver sheen, fogged over by satisfaction yet still breeding an endless, ravenous hunger, were gazing directly at him.
Meeting his gaze.
Suddenly, this child-like figure brought his hands together.
'Shadow Clone Jutsu,'
Danzo could easily read the flow of his chakra despite his apparent suppression. The overflowing chakra in the child's body was like a bomb waiting to explode.
If he did not pour all that chakra out in the process, then the child's body would break down.
Not even ashes would remain of his mortal coil.
Thus, the patterns in Danzo's eyes spun. A pulse of chakra emanated from a point in his gaze.
'These characteristics...'
As if the boy was both there and nonexistent at the same time.
'Hiryu... Suguru..!'
Malice shone within the depths of Danzo's gaze. His expression was cold, void of any fluctuations.
However, his bloodthirsty desires were palpable, spreading through the air like a needle heading straight for his foe's heart.
'You will be reduced to ashes... Amaterasu!'
There was no need to discuss anything else.
Just like the taunting notes he had burned once before, it was finally time to do the same.
As black flames erupted where his gaze fell, Danzo watched as Suguru retreated behind a clone. The latter's Body Flicker Jutsu had barely been caught in the former's dynamic vision.
'Afterimage clones...' Danzo instantly recognized Uchiha Shisui's signature jutsu.
All three clones flickered as one, moving around his field of view to create multiple images of themselves.
It was a harassment of the eye.
"Tsk!"
Clicking his tongue, Danzo cursed the boy's speed. His reply was thus quite simple.
—Vwhoom!
Overwhelming power.
Danzo's Susanoo brandished its saber, sweeping across the land where Suguru moved. The air boomed with the sudden exertion of force.
However,
—BOOM!
A blazing azure paw met it, mid-swing. Even before Danzo could generate enough momentum, his attack was intercepted.
Then, the Nibi exhaled a blazing breath from point-blank range.
—SWAHHHHHHH!
The surrounding forestry was thus reduced to ashes. The mix of black and blue flames created a surreal visage as if the world's greens were not being burned at all.
Yet, it was clear which flame was more potent.
—Swish.
A dull, slicing swipe suddenly echoed from the Nibi's forearms. It was a movement that flowed freely. A cut that was born from a blocked strike, transitioning seamlessly from failure to success.
"Mrrrreow!"
Yugito roared in pain upon realizing the Susanoo's white saber cleaved straight through her fiery body. She reeled back in surprise and fired a few more fireballs in reply. These ones could not hold the same azure tinge as earlier.
They were crudely made, but enough to block one's vision for just that one split second.
Indeed.
Yugito and Danzo were not the only ones here.
"..!?"
Suddenly, the two giants of the shinobi world felt a piercing sense of danger.
Their attention was thus drawn to a spinning ball of flame that had been lobbed from a distance. The spinning sphere was a shining white, blending into the Susanoo's pure-white physique.
Holding this sphere was a silver-haired body, whose grin was subtle but clear.
"A gift,"
It was a whisper compared to raging forest flames. However, to Danzo and Yugito, still dulled by their exchange, it echoed loud and clear.
Just as their eyes dilated, and their hair stood on end—
A spark came into existence.
Everyone on the battlefield was refused even a single extra thought.
Even Hiruzen, who was on his way to fulfill his end of Suguru's proposal, couldn't help but stagger to a stop.
"What..!"
Then, the world was engulfed in pure white.
At the same time—
'Bishamonten!'
Blood flowed from a strained right eye. It was desperate, eager for the summoning of the Genjutsu battlefield.
'Battlefield of Manifold Illusions!'
Thus, came its command.
Yet... another pair of eyes flashed at the same time, tracing the flow of chakra in Danzo's gaze to infiltrate and deceive.
Red dust flowed.
'Shinrakugan!'
***
Suguru's eyes gleamed with a newfound calmness. Devouring the chakra that Danzo had been using to maintain his Doujutsu's Heaven and Earth Reconstruction, he almost exploded.
Had he failed to create the Plasma Rasengan, perhaps he would no longer exist.
'That was quite dangerous,'
He had to admit how badly his mental state was being influenced. When he watched the Plasma Rasengan, primed to explode right at Danzo and Yugito's feet, his gaze swept the surroundings, absorbing information from the traces left untouched by Bishamonten.
As he had already been standing here, satisfied by the meal, he wanted more.
'This is a chance.' Suguru thought to himself.
Danzo was facing a fully transformed jinchuriki, Hiruzen was nearby, and the battlefield was vast.
There were a lot of variables he could abuse to get what he needed.
That was... if he could somehow push Danzo far enough or catch him by surprise.
"Sigh,"
Thus, when he covered his eyes with a layer of earth, Suguru awaited the inevitable explosion.
And it arrived, just on time.
—BWOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Rivaling a really small Tailed Beast Bomb, Suguru's Plasma Rasengan — supplemented by the chakra of a shinobi army — exploded in a flash of white and the embrace of immense heat.
It was a different type of explosion that the Nibi had used to change the Land of Fire's topography. Searing through flesh and melting everything that the light touched, the Plasma Rasengan was invariably light.
It did not shake the very earth beneath one's feet nor shatter the mountains nearby.
Instead, it vaporized through sheer heat.
"At least,"
Suguru chuckled.
"That's what it seems."
[]=[]=[]=[]
I appreciate your support on P@treon! Hehe~
Link: pa treon.com/ubemantou
(No space.)
You can read up to 35 chapters ahead!
[]=[]=[]=[]