Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Five massive Magatama were hurled by Seimei's controlled Susano'o, directly targeting Danzo.
Yes, five.
Previously, when his Mangekyo Sharingan progression was at (20,000/50,000) and Susano'o could only reach its second stage, he could use the Yasaka Magatama, but at most, he could throw only three at a time.
Now, that number had increased to five.
This confirmed his earlier theory—that as his chakra reserves grew and his mastery of Susano'o deepened, the number of Yasaka Magatama he could launch would increase.
Although five was still far from Uchiha Madara's fourteen, it had already surpassed Uchiha Itachi's four.
For Seimei, this was a significant encouragement.
Clearing his thoughts, Seimei refocused his attention on Danzo.
Watching Danzo attempting to evade, Seimei immediately adjusted the trajectory of the five Magatama, narrowing Danzo's escape paths as much as possible.
Seeing this, Danzo's already grim expression turned even darker.
He stopped trying to evade and quickly formed a series of hand seals, performing a water-style jutsu. Without hesitation, he plunged into the water beneath him, disappearing into the now-shallow water created earlier.
Almost instantly, the five Magatama struck the water's surface.
Boom, boom, boom...
A series of violent explosions erupted.
The water below, which Seimei had created using Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave and Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, began to evaporate rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, the surrounding area was engulfed in thick white mist.
However, this mist was just ordinary vapor, unlike the Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique, which mixed chakra into the fog.
As such, Seimei effortlessly saw through the mist using his Byakugan, observing everything around him.
He quickly located Danzo.
At this moment, Danzo didn't appear the least bit disheveled. Despite being so close to the explosion, his body bore no signs of injury.
Not only that, but Danzo was charging toward him at high speed.
This strange inconsistency made Seimei frown slightly.
Ignoring the question of whether Danzo had sustained any injuries, the mere fact that Danzo dared to approach after witnessing the destructive power of Susano'o and its defensive capabilities was highly unusual.
Danzo should have realized he had no chance.
As the saying goes, "If the green mountains remain, there will always be firewood to burn."
Seimei did not believe Danzo was foolish enough to misread the situation.
Under normal circumstances, Danzo should have taken advantage of the mist to flee and then devised another plan to deal with him.
Yet Danzo had returned. This could only mean one thing—he had a reason to believe he could turn the tables.
With this in mind, Seimei's mind raced, recalling everything he knew about Danzo in an attempt to figure out his trump card.
Using his Byakugan, Seimei observed Danzo's right arm through the mist.
He could confirm that there were no seals on Danzo's arm, nor were there any Sharingan hidden there.
Without the yin-release power of the Sharingan for balance, it would have been impossible for Danzo to transplant Hashirama's cells.
Seimei had verified this with his Byakugan as well.
This meant that Danzo's right arm was just an ordinary arm.
Thus, any abilities related to wood release were out of the question.
"So, what else does he have up his sleeve?"
"Izanagi?"
Indeed, Izanagi could alter reality and rewrite life and death, but it couldn't serve as a game-changing trump card.
First, Danzo only had one Sharingan, which meant the technique could only last a minute—hardly enough to make a difference.
Second, how could Danzo be sure Seimei was unaware of this forbidden technique?
Wait a minute...
"Forbidden technique?!"
A spark of realization flashed through Seimei's mind.
"That's right—'Izanagi' is considered a forbidden technique, even within the Uchiha clan."
Under normal circumstances, the Uchiha clan would never teach such a technique to someone like Danzo, especially not to a young genius like Seimei.
After all, the clan's leadership would prioritize nurturing their prodigies to awaken the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan over giving them an extra life. Losing an eye would drastically lower the chances of such a miracle occurring.
This was evident in how Danzo had exploited Izanagi to ambush Uchiha Shisui and steal one of his eyes.
The idea that Seimei had already informed the Uchiha clan about his Mangekyo Sharingan and gained access to all their secrets—including Izanagi—was highly improbable.
If that were true, the Uchiha clan wouldn't have remained so quiet, nor would Root have been able to monitor Seimei in the Uchiha compound for so long.
If Seimei had indeed shared this information, the Uchiha clan would have secretly assigned guards to protect him, whether he wanted them or not.
Yet Root had found no such evidence.
Considering this, along with other clues, it would have been easy for Danzo to deduce that Seimei had hidden his Mangekyo Sharingan from the clan.
This would explain why Danzo might believe he had the upper hand.
Adding to this, Danzo might also suspect that Seimei's use of Susano'o came with certain limitations, making Danzo's confidence even more plausible.
The more Seimei thought about it, the more he felt his hypothesis was correct.
Especially given Danzo's urgency—it all fit together.
After all, one minute wasn't much time.
Various thoughts flashed through Seimei's mind. By the time he refocused his attention, Danzo had just used the cover of the mist to appear in front of him.
Seimei looked at him, his mind quickly forming a plan to turn the tables—leveraging the information gap to deal with his opponent.
And what if he guessed wrong?
Well, what else could he do? Of course, he'd just keep fighting.
After all, he had an abundance of chakra, and his body was due for another transformation in a few days.
By then, his physique attribute would improve once again.
Based on his past experience, this transformation would also slightly alleviate the blindness caused by his Mangekyō Sharingan.
As such, it wouldn't be a big deal even if he used his Mangekyō Sharingan for a bit longer.
As long as he didn't go completely blind, he was confident he could hold out until the Mangekyō Sharingan's evolution reached completion, transforming into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
At that point, blindness would no longer be an issue.
So, it was just a single attempt—nothing too risky.
If it succeeded, it would save him a lot of trouble.
With this thought in mind, Seimei commanded Susano'o to launch an attack on Danzo.
Sensing the wind pressure coming from the front, Danzo immediately reacted as anyone would upon being exposed—he quickly retreated.
At the same time, he dodged Susano'o's attacks with great effort, putting on a convincing display of fighting for his life.
If Seimei hadn't already guessed Danzo's intentions, he might have been deceived by this realistic performance.
But now?
Seimei was even more confident in his assumptions.
Especially when, a few seconds later, Danzo failed to dodge in time and was pierced through the chest by Susano'o.
After all, no matter how realistic an act may be, it can never truly mimic someone facing life and death.
Seimei clearly remembered how, after being defeated by Sasuke, Danzo had decisively activated his trump card, intending to take Sasuke down with him.
But now, all Danzo showed was pain and unwillingness.
Thus, Seimei concluded that Danzo was undoubtedly in his Izanagi invincibility state—a state where any reality unfavorable to him could be turned into an illusion with just a thought.
Even though Seimei had figured out Danzo's state, he didn't expose him. Instead, he played along. After a brief moment of observation, he deactivated Susano'o.
Then, in a flash, he appeared in front of Danzo, drew the long blade at his waist, and made a move to finish him off.
At that moment, the seemingly dying Danzo vanished.
Seimei displayed an appropriate expression of shock and uncertainty on his face, though inwardly, he was elated. He thought to himself, "So it really is Izanagi. This will save me a lot of trouble."
While Seimei was thinking this, Danzo suddenly appeared behind him, holding a kunai that he aimed straight at Seimei's back.
Using the Byakugan's vision, Seimei could even see the look of triumph on Danzo's face.
Unfortunately for Danzo, the moment his kunai pierced Seimei's body, Seimei's figure also disappeared.
At that moment, the expression on Danzo's face shifted noticeably. However, he didn't panic too much.
He believed that with the several dozen seconds of invincibility granted by Izanagi, he had more than enough time to kill Seimei, who had deactivated Susano'o.
Earlier, he had prepared for two scenarios:
If Seimei didn't deactivate Susano'o, Danzo would use the remaining seconds of his invincibility to escape.
If Seimei did deactivate it, Danzo would seize the opportunity to kill him.
As for the possibility of Seimei reactivating Susano'o, Danzo had considered that as well.
Reflecting on the earlier battle, he noticed that Seimei couldn't activate Susano'o at will.
There was a brief window of vulnerability during activation. The last time, it had been Danzo's first encounter with Susano'o, so he hadn't been able to exploit that moment.
But now, he was fully confident in seizing this opportunity.
This was the confidence of an elite ninja seasoned by countless battles.
As for the speculation about Seimei having a prophetic dojutsu, Danzo had largely dismissed it after their earlier exchanges. He merely attributed Seimei's sharp awareness to exceptional sensory abilities and access to unique intelligence sources.
Therefore, he didn't have to worry about Seimei discovering his schemes through the ability to foresee the future.
Now, he only needed to wait for Seimei to reappear, and he would be able to carry out his plan.
Unfortunately, no matter how long he waited, Seimei's figure was nowhere to be seen, let alone an opportunity to kill him.
"What's going on?"
Danzo looked at the empty surroundings, doubt and unease creeping into his heart.
Although Seimei had previously demonstrated the ability to delay his appearance when using this move, the delay had only been a few seconds at most.
But now, more than ten seconds had passed, and Seimei still had not shown up.
Danzo couldn't help but feel unsettled.
Time continued to pass.
After a few more seconds, Danzo's expression darkened completely.
Suddenly, he realized that at some point, he had simply assumed Seimei's move could only delay his appearance for a few seconds—without any actual evidence to support this.
And, if foresight wasn't just another eye technique of Seimei, what exactly was his other eye technique?
Additionally, did Seimei know about the existence of Izanagi?
All kinds of questions flooded Danzo's mind in an instant. Only then did he realize how many assumptions he had made this time and how unprepared he truly was.
"No, I can't stay here any longer."
Danzo made up his mind instantly. His entire body turned into a flickering afterimage as he sped off into the distance with all his might.
Within tens of seconds, he was far from the battlefield.
At the same time, his right Sharingan lost its radiance, turning completely gray and lifeless.
Danzo didn't pay any attention to this and kept running forward.
But in the very next moment, a figure silently appeared in front of him.
Who else could it be but Seimei?
As soon as Danzo saw him, his pupils contracted sharply.
Fortunately, even though the possibility of Seimei maintaining an "invisible" state and catching up to him was extremely low in Danzo's view, he had still considered this possibility and prepared a contingency plan for it.
Swish!
A streak of sword light flashed.
Almost as soon as he saw Seimei, Danzo swung his sword and stabbed forward.
But at that moment, Seimei's figure vanished once again.
This time, however, he didn't stay invisible for long. Almost immediately, he reappeared—this time to Danzo's right.
Because his right eye was now blind, Danzo was unable to see clearly in that direction.
When he suddenly sensed Seimei's presence nearby, he instinctively turned his head slightly to look.
What greeted him was a pair of eyes that looked like black suns.
"Not good!"
Danzo instantly realized he had fallen into a trap and immediately tried to shut his eyes.
But how could Seimei, after preparing so thoroughly, let him succeed?
Almost in the instant their gazes met, Danzo was under Seimei's control.
Without hesitation, Seimei thrust out his palm, pressing a Rasengan directly against Danzo's chest.
The crisp sound of cracking bones echoed as Seimei shattered Danzo's heart.