"So, you've finally made your move…"
"Heh heh heh."
At the entrance of an underground base somewhere.
Orochimaru gazed distantly in the direction of Konoha, a mocking glint in his eyes. When he sensed Kaede's chakra surge skyward, he turned and strode back inside the base.
Elsewhere,
Kaede followed Danzo at an unhurried pace.
Since the fight had already begun, he intended to root out the entire faction tied to Danzo. So he wasn't in any rush, merely swinging his sword occasionally.
Shing!
Several streaks of sword light flashed by.
After dodging a few attacks, Danzo couldn't avoid the last strike, his right arm was sliced off from the shoulder, blood splattering.
A grimace of pain crossed his face, but he ignored the severed limb and pressed forward. Reaching a certain building, he darted inside.
Running away outright wasn't an option.
Kaede's pursuit was relentless; someone had to stop him!
Kaede calmly approached the building.
Buzz!
A golden net-like barrier suddenly appeared, sealing off his path. But Kaede barely flickered his eyes and kept walking forward.
The net shattered instantly on contact with his body.
"Kaede! Wait!!"
Namikaze Minato appeared, throwing a Flying Thunder God kunai and calling out, "Let me handle this, Kaede! I am the Fourth Hokage, I owe you an explanation!"
"I'm not here for explanations…"
Kaede replied flatly, ignoring Minato. He stepped inside the building, cleaving the ground with a single strike to reveal an underground passage, then transformed into a streak of silver light and shot inside.
No sooner had he entered the passage than four or five figures charged at him, launching various ninjutsu, shurikens, and kunai.
Kaede didn't even glance at them. With one sword swing,
Boom!
The silver sword light tore through everything, cleaving a huge fissure dozens of meters long underground. Several attacking Root ninjas were swallowed by the rift.
Kaede strode onward, entering the Root organization's base.
"Do you really think these worthless lackeys can stop me, Danzo?"
"Don't get cocky, brat…"
Danzo, clutching his wounded right arm, had fled to a building inside the underground base. Numerous Root members appeared, surrounding him from all directions.
Gritting his teeth, he spat, "If I'd known it would come to this, I should have…"
Shing!
A flash of silver light.
Danzo's pupils shrank. Before he could react, he felt numbness in his left arm. Turning his gaze, he saw it had disappeared, blood spurting.
Such speed…
He bit his lip, more shocked than in pain, he didn't even have time to react against Kaede's speed!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Nearby Root ninjas surged toward Kaede. Danzo vanished from his high position, descending swiftly to the deepest part of the base.
Kaede's expression remained calm as he faced the oncoming Root ninjas and the barrage of jutsu. Sheathing his Kusanagi sword, he suddenly drew it again.
Time seemed to freeze.
Countless silver threads exploded outward from a single point, weaving a net inside the Root base.
All the ninjutsu and Root ninjas caught in the threads froze midair.
Then,
Like raindrops,
Both jutsu and bodies shattered into neat fragments, falling downward. In an instant, the entire Root base turned into a scene of hell.
"Are these the loyal subordinates you cultivated? No, from your mouth, they should be called tools, right? They don't seem very useful."
Kaede watched impassively as the bloody rain fell. Only then did he step to the edge and leap down to the base's lowest level.
Splurt!
Two bloodied arms burst out where Danzo's severed limbs had been. His face paled further, his whole body weakened to the state of a low-ranked ninja.
"Thinking you can kill me isn't that easy… You, who can't be controlled, will become a disaster sooner or later. Since that's the case, you'll die here!"
Danzo gritted his teeth, chakra swirling inside him as he suddenly activated something.
Buzz!
Black light erupted beneath his feet, spreading in all directions. Strange symbols glowed in the darkness.
This was the deepest part of his base and the site of his ultimate trap. Activating it would instantly engulf the entire Root base, leaving no trace, a last resort he had prepared.
Now, he was forced to use it against Kaede alone.
Clang!
A flash of silver light sliced through Danzo's body. But his form instantly turned to black ink, merging into the technique.
"So this is your final move."
Kaede's gaze swept over the encroaching darkness.
Illusions, control jutsu, sealing techniques, all forbidden arts that required preparation.
Danzo's personal strength was mediocre. Even Orochimaru couldn't defeat him head-on. But with all these traps laid out in advance, even Hiruzen Sarutobi might be caught off guard.
Unfortunately,
With the power of the Time Domain at his disposal, all these were as fragile as paper.
The black symbols writhed together, forming an endless darkness that surged toward Kaede, aiming to imprison him forever.
But Kaede merely flicked a finger.
Snap!
A small orb, formed from time's power and shimmering with countless dazzling fragments, flew upward into the darkness.
The darkness that seemed to devour the entire world instantly froze, then shattered like a piece of paper.
"No way…"
Danzo, fleeing outside the base, looked back in disbelief.
The incomplete Cursed Seal had been undone by Kaede.
The Four Violet Flames Formation was broken by Kaede.
This went beyond the intelligence reports that claimed Kaede was unskilled in sealing jutsu.
That last sealing technique should have been impossible to break, even the Uzumaki clan who created it could not undo it!
Shing!
A silver flash shot from the base's depths.
The lightning-wreathed blade of the Kusanagi pierced Danzo's chest. The explosive lightning shattered the ground above, blasting Danzo out of the earth.
"Ahhhhh!"
Danzo let out a pained roar as the last of his strength was ravaged by the thunderous chakra.
Enveloped in lightning, his body crashed to the distant ground.
Whoosh!
Kaede leapt out from the shattered hole, landing on the ground. He glanced calmly at Danzo's fallen form, then swung his Kusanagi sword, weaving countless silver threads.
Danzo's body twitched weakly, then stiffened completely, shattering into fragments that scattered on the ground.
"Kaede, you…"
Namikaze Minato arrived too late.
Seeing the scene before him, he clenched his fingers around the Flying Thunder God kunai.
"Want to spar with me, Minato?"
Kaede looked at Minato flatly.
Minato stared back and threw a stack of Flying Thunder God kunai from his left hand.
==========
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