Chapter 67: Got You!
Hearing those familiar words, Shimura Danzo stared at the "Uchiha Madara" before him in disbelief. For a moment, he even forgot to be afraid.
'Has this old bastard's memory gone bad? Why did he say the exact same thing twice?'
Danzo had a hundred questions, but he suppressed them and forced himself to remain calm.
"Madara, so you were behind all of this. You still haven't given up on destroying Konoha?!"
The black-robed man paid little attention to Danzo's confusion. As far as he knew, Danzo's strength topped out around elite jonin, nowhere near enough to threaten him.
The only thing worth guarding against was Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan.
Rather than attack, the masked man remained wary of a desperate Kotoamatsukami while trying to win Danzo over.
"I founded Konoha. Why would I destroy the village I created myself?"
"Once I've cleaned out the descendants of these traitors, I'll become Konoha's next Hokage. You can continue serving as the Darkness of the Shinobi."
"But first, you'll cooperate with me again and provide some information."
The name Uchiha Madara had nearly crushed Danzo's spirit, but the prospect of regaining power immediately revived him.
In Danzo's own mind, every scheme he'd carried out had been for Konoha. As long as the village survived, that proved he had been right.
Who Konoha belonged to wasn't particularly important.
As long as Danzo remained among those who held power, that was enough.
"Fine. Ask what you want to know."
"It's simple. Who destroyed Root earlier, and are those two people alive or dead?"
Danzo kept his face expressionless while his thoughts began racing.
'This "Uchiha Madara" is hunting the "Uchiha Madara" who attacked me earlier? Otherwise, how would he know there were two intruders?'
'Is someone impersonating Uchiha Madara?'
'Then which one is the fake? The man in front of me, or the one who attacked Root?'
Danzo had no objection to siding with Uchiha Madara.
But if he pledged himself to an impostor, he would become a complete joke.
"What are you thinking about? Answer me."
The black-robed man frowned, realizing something was off.
Danzo maintained his indifferent expression.
"That man accidentally triggered the self-destruct system I left behind. He's probably already buried with the base."
"Unless he can breathe underground, or possesses Space-Time Ninjutsu like you. But that should be impossible, shouldn't it?"
The masked man paused, his expression turning strange.
"Impossible."
His answer sounded confident, but he had already decided to personally hunt down the two opposing Players.
If they truly possessed Space-Time Ninjutsu as well, today's operation could become troublesome.
They didn't even need to be particularly strong.
All they had to do was take Uzumaki Naruto away, and everything the masked man and his teammates had invested would collapse.
From his reaction alone, Danzo had now confirmed that there was more than one "Uchiha Madara."
Whether these men were Madara's descendants or products of some forbidden experiment didn't matter.
If they were enemies, Danzo had an opportunity to profit from their conflict.
"I'll stabilize Konoha from here. You should withdraw your subordinates as well."
"The Third Hokage is dead. If you return now, the village will surely welcome you."
The black-robed man snorted.
"Once a war begins, it doesn't end that easily. Danzo, just wait obediently for my return. Don't do anything unnecessary."
He lightly touched his mask.
A spiral formed around him, and his body vanished.
The instant he disappeared, Danzo raised a hand. The remaining Root shinobi hidden nearby rushed out and formed a protective ring around him.
"Four of you stay and protect me. Everyone else, contact every clan head, especially the Hyuga Clan."
"Tell them Uchiha Madara is behind everything. If any clan continues hiding its strength, Konoha will face total destruction."
"From this moment onward, all of Konoha will follow my orders. Send forces to the borders and prepare for another Shinobi World War."
One shinobi after another vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.
Only then did Danzo move toward the viewing platform under guard. He reached down and picked up Sarutobi Hiruzen's Hokage hat.
Danzo resisted the urge to put it on and instead held it against his chest.
Since he couldn't determine which Uchiha Madara was fake, he would simply use Madara as the enemy around whom Konoha's power would gather.
That "Madara" had better possess enough strength to fight an entire village alone.
Otherwise, Danzo would have every justification to become Konoha's next Hokage.
With Danzo's orders spreading through the village, Konoha's forces, which had already stabilized the battlefield, suddenly erupted with nearly twice their previous ferocity.
Many shinobi began using desperate techniques without hesitation, rapidly wiping out the remaining Sunagakure and Otogakure forces.
Even Baki was left critically wounded after being surrounded by an enraged Hatake Kakashi and several special jonin.
This was the true foundation of the strongest hidden village in the shinobi world.
In that sense, Orochimaru drawing Jiraiya away had unintentionally given Konoha room to recover.
What no one knew was that Orochimaru had done exactly that on purpose.
By now, Jiraiya was covered in blood and barely capable of fighting. Even the two Toad Sages had been injured.
If Orochimaru hadn't held back, both of them would already have been forced to retreat to Mount Myoboku and recover.
"Jiraiya-chan, you might not believe me, but that man isn't trying to kill you."
Shima panted as she spoke beside his ear.
Jiraiya coughed up blood and gave a bitter laugh.
"I noticed too. Orochimaru, you've vented enough by now. Why don't you just tell me what you actually want?"
Orochimaru responded with a sinister chuckle.
"Don't tell me you still think I'm the one deciding the outcome of this war."
"If it isn't you, then who? Is there really someone here stronger than you?"
Jiraiya clearly didn't believe him.
Orochimaru gave a dismissive snort.
"You're still as naive as ever, Jiraiya. After traveling across the continent for so many years, you've surely heard of Akatsuki."
Jiraiya frowned.
"I know them. They're mostly S-rank missing-nin. You were a member too."
"Correct. And I wasn't the only one. Uchiha Itachi was there as well."
Orochimaru's smile widened.
"You don't honestly believe Itachi could have wiped out the entire Uchiha Clan without anyone noticing all by himself, do you?"
Jiraiya's expression darkened.
"Hiruzen-sensei and Danzo were involved too?"
"Heh. I may think Sensei had grown so stubborn and senile that he deserved to die, but even he hadn't fallen far enough to personally slaughter one of Konoha's great clans."
"The ones who truly carried it out were Uchiha Itachi and..."
"Uchiha Madara."
Jiraiya shot upright despite his injuries.
"Impossible! Uchiha Madara died long ago. If he were still alive, he'd be more than a hundred years old!"
"What a foolish assumption."
Orochimaru smiled coldly.
"I successfully developed Living Corpse Reincarnation. With Uchiha Madara's power, do you really think he couldn't find some method to extend his life?"
Jiraiya's face went pale.
If Orochimaru was telling the truth, then Konoha truly stood on the brink of destruction.
His expression hardened.
"Orochimaru, I don't care what resentment you still carry. Surely you've had enough revenge for one day."
"If it still isn't enough, then once this is over, you can do whatever you want with me."
"But right now, fight for the village one more time."
Jiraiya stared directly at him.
"I know Konoha still matters to you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have limited your revenge to Sensei."
Coming from Jiraiya, those words sounded almost treasonous.
But he was also one of the people who understood Orochimaru best.
If Orochimaru truly wanted Konoha destroyed, all he had to do was order Senju Hashirama to unleash large-scale Wood Release inside the village.
Almost no one in Konoha would survive.
Yet Orochimaru had summoned both the First and Second Hokage and kept them inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, settling his grievances with the Third Hokage alone.
That already revealed plenty about his true objective.
Orochimaru studied his battered former teammate. The cold smile on his face never disappeared, and no one could tell what he was thinking.
His answer, however, gave Jiraiya a glimmer of hope.
"Not enough."
Jiraiya's expression tightened.
"Then what else do you want?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.
"I want his body, and I want those eyes."
Jiraiya's face sank, but he didn't immediately refuse.
He was no longer the hot-blooded young man who saw morality in simple black and white.
If sacrificing Uchiha Sasuke could save Konoha today, it was a price Jiraiya couldn't completely dismiss.
His remaining conscience still forced him to set one condition.
"I can promise that I personally won't interfere with Sasuke."
"But if Naruto goes looking for him later, you aren't allowed to kill Naruto."
Orochimaru chuckled.
"You're planning to take Uzumaki Naruto as your student, aren't you?"
"The Nine-Tails isn't something easily controlled. You'd better make sure you don't die to it first."
"You don't need to worry about that."
Jiraiya steadied his breathing.
"So what's your plan?"
Orochimaru dismissed the jutsu maintained by the two Hokage and spoke a single name.
"Kabuto."
Yakushi Kabuto appeared beside Jiraiya with the Body Flicker Technique. He began treating Jiraiya's wounds while quietly explaining Orochimaru's plan into his ear.
Meanwhile, Makoto had finally recovered inside his storage space.
He looked over his own body in surprise.
'Why didn't I suffer a reaction anywhere near this intense when my power increased in the Jujutsu Kaisen world?'
'Is the Sharingan's burden really that severe, or was the power I gained from Uchiha Madara simply too much?'
"Kitano-kun, what happened to you just now?"
Yukinoshita's voice carried obvious concern.
Makoto didn't answer immediately.
"Yukinoshita, if a Player's strength increases too quickly, are there any side effects?"
Yukinoshita immediately understood what he was asking.
"You've increased your attributes inside the Main God Space before, so you should know that everyone's starting values are different, right?"
Makoto nodded.
That part was obvious.
"Then you should also know that before becoming a Veteran, none of your attributes can exceed 20."
"Even if you obtain an extremely powerful ability, you still can't break that attribute cap."
Yukinoshita's expression became serious.
"It's a restriction the Main God Space uses to prevent Players from endlessly farming resources."
Makoto's eyes lit up as everything clicked into place.
He'd hit the attribute cap.
The strength he gained from Uchiha Madara could easily push him past that limit, but doing so conflicted with the shackles imposed by the Main God Space.
If his power kept rising, the likely result wasn't those shackles breaking.
It was Makoto's body being torn apart by power it wasn't allowed to contain.
Unless he used Making Fake Become Real to break through the limit and risk drawing the Main God Space's attention.
The thought sent a lingering chill through him.
He had only gained 3% of Uchiha Madara's strength.
Madara at his peak was unquestionably beyond the Veteran level.
Makoto clearly wasn't capable of inheriting all of that strength yet.
This also highlighted a major difference between Naruto and Jujutsu Kaisen.
In the Jujutsu Kaisen world, sorcerers who didn't reinforce their bodies with cursed energy generally remained within normal human physical limits.
Itadori Yuji and sorcerers with physically enhancing Heavenly Restrictions were exceptions.
Makoto's cursed energy reserves hadn't been especially large back then, so his growth hadn't pushed against the Main God Space's restrictions.
In the Naruto world, however, chakra constantly strengthened a shinobi's body as they developed.
Even Uzumaki Naruto as an academy student could leap from the Hokage Rock without injury.
That alone demonstrated how different the two systems were.
Makoto now realized that he would probably have to undergo the Veteran Qualification soon.
There was no avoiding it anymore.
He simply didn't know what kind of world would be waiting for him during that qualification.
"I just took a Three-Tomoe Sharingan and fused it with Lattice Eyes."
Makoto pointed toward his eyes.
"It gave me the Sharingan's abilities, while its Yin-nature chakra raised all of my physical attributes."
Three tomoe were currently rotating within his eyes.
Unlike an ordinary Sharingan, however, Makoto's tomoe were blue-green.
Yukinoshita finally understood what had happened.
Her voice carried a trace of displeasure.
"Kitano-kun, that was far too reckless."
"Wanting to become stronger is good, and finding opportunities is part of your luck."
"But in the Main God Space, behaving too abnormally will inevitably invite disaster. My former captain warned me about that over and over."
Makoto nodded seriously.
Still, what had happened was difficult to avoid.
The opportunity had been right in front of him, and he hadn't wanted to waste it.
At the same time, he couldn't openly explain why he could grow so quickly.
That was how he'd nearly ended up strangled by the Main God Space's restraints.
Makoto unconsciously touched his neck, almost imagining a real shackle wrapped around it.
"Kitano-kun, what should we do next?"
Yukinoshita glanced around the sealed storage space.
"We don't know how far the battle outside has progressed. Should we take a look?"
Makoto opened several tiny ventilation holes in different directions, intending to check the situation outside.
At that exact moment, a black-robed figure abruptly appeared behind him.
A hand shot toward the back of Makoto's neck.
The attacker spoke with almost triumphant satisfaction.
"Got you, insect."
…