Susanoo wasn't about to show Danzo any mercy. The colossal skeletal hand snatched him up with ease, fingers tightening around his body.
Splurt!
A sickening crack echoed as blood sprayed from between the chakra fingers. When Susanoo opened its hand again, Danzo's body had vanished.
In the next instant, Danzo reappeared before the Konoha shinobi, his face dark with fury and frustration.
"Uchiha Chiga is no longer one of us! He's a rogue shinobi—take him down!"
But no one moved. Not even a flicker of obedience showed on the faces of the Konoha ninja. All eyes turned to Tsunade.
She hesitated for a beat, then nodded. "He's gone too far. We can't let him continue this rampage."
Her gaze shifted deliberately toward Danzo. "But don't be foolish. Susanoo isn't just the God of Destruction. It's also the Uchiha Clan's guardian deity—and its defense is nearly impenetrable. Use long-range jutsu, not close-range combat."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" the shinobi shouted in unison.
The sound of "Tsunade-sama" cut like glass through Danzo's pride. His face twitched as bitterness gnawed at him.
If I were Hokage...
No one cared.
The shinobi sprang into action. Ninjutsu crackled through the air as fire, water, earth, and lightning surged forward toward Susanoo.
Among them, a man with a bowl haircut clenched his fists.
"Chiga-senpai... I'm sorry," he whispered.
Then he erupted with power.
"Sixth Gate, Gate of Joy—Open!"
A vivid green aura exploded from his body as he soared upward and unleashed a barrage of burning punches.
"Morning Peacock!"
A dazzling storm of multicolored fists hammered Susanoo's ribcage, merging with the jutsu attacks and erupting into a thick cloud of smoke. The ground trembled beneath the onslaught.
The storm raged for nearly a full minute before Tsunade raised her hand.
"Enough!"
Everyone halted. She gave Danzo a sharp look.
"Wind Release. Clear it."
Danzo grit his teeth. Forming a hand seal, he spewed out a fierce gust of wind that dispersed the battlefield haze.
As the smoke cleared, silence fell.
Susanoo still stood.
But not in its skeletal form.
The once-bare bones were now wrapped in glowing purple energy. Its body had grown taller, bulkier—coated in a chakra armor resembling muscle and plated mail.
Gasps erupted across the field.
Susanoo had entered its second form.
Danzo's eyes narrowed, and with a shiver of panic, he activated Izanagi again. Another Sharingan on his arm went dim.
Chiga's voice rang out calmly.
"My target is Danzo alone. But if you still intend to protect him..."
He raised Susanoo's massive arm. A circle of spinning magatama formed in its palm.
"Yasaka Magatama."
The divine weapon shot forward like a comet, hurtling toward the forest behind the Konoha forces.
BOOM!
A blinding explosion tore through the terrain, and when the light faded, the forest was gone—erased.
Someone in the Konoha ranks swallowed audibly.
"This... this isn't a battle we can win..."
Another shinobi dropped to his knees, whispering,
"What kind of monster are we fighting...?"
Even Tsunade hesitated, the weight of leadership heavy on her shoulders.
Was it worth sacrificing her shinobi for Danzo?
Danzo noticed the shift in morale and grew desperate. His mind raced until a grin crept across his face.
"Uchiha Chiga!" he shouted. "You're still using your Mangekyō Sharingan... Your vision must be fading by now, isn't it?!"
Chiga blinked.
He tilted his head. "What?"
Danzo's confidence surged. "I know the Mangekyō. The more you use it—the faster you go blind!How long can you last?"
The crowd murmured. Sasuke, wounded on the ground, lifted his head. His expression was uneasy.
Danzo pressed on. "You're nearing your limit, aren't you?! Your eyes will give out any moment now!"
But Chiga only chuckled.
"You do know quite a bit, Danzo. You're right. The Mangekyō Sharingan carries a heavy price. From the day it awakens, blindness looms."
Danzo's grin widened.
But Chiga continued.
"However—there exists an evolution beyond Mangekyō. One that casts off the curse of blindness. Its name is the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Nani?!"
Danzo froze.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. A memory surfaced.
"Uchiha Madara," she said quietly. "So he... awakened that power? And you too..."
Chiga's smirk widened.
"Heh... Don't you already know the answer?"
His arms folded as he floated higher above the field.
"You're here to confirm it, aren't you?"
Sasuke's heart pounded. His gaze locked on Chiga's crimson eyes, swirling with the pattern of eternity.
Now he understood.
This pressure... this fear... it wasn't just Mangekyō—it was something more.
He recalled Itachi's gaze—and it wasn't nearly as suffocating as this.
The rest of Konoha's forces stood paralyzed. They didn't understand the full mechanics of Sharingan evolution, but they understood one thing:
The Uchiha were terrifying.
Then how? they wondered. How was such a clan wiped out overnight?
Chiga shook his head with a smile and took a step forward. The crowd instinctively parted, leaving Danzo isolated.
Danzo raised his arm in panic.
"Wood Release: Violent Tree Spear!"
Thick roots burst from the ground, lashing toward Chiga.
Susanoo didn't even flinch. It swatted the attack aside like twigs, then clenched its massive hand into a fist and smashed down.
BOOM!
Danzo's body shattered—then flickered and reappeared nearby.
Susanoo followed, unrelenting.
BOOM! BOOM!
Strike after strike landed, carving deep craters into the earth. Danzo's form was crushed, reappeared, and crushed again.
One Sharingan after another shut on his arm as Izanagi burned through his arsenal.
And the Konoha shinobi?
They watched in silence, frozen by awe, by fear—by truth.
None of them stepped forward to help.
Because none dared.