Sarutobi Hiruzen heard the voice and instinctively turned his head toward its source. His eyes landed on Shimura Danzō, and a flicker of surprise crossed his face.
"Danzo is still alive?" Hiruzen murmured to himself in disbelief. "Hasn't the Uchiha clan already taken care of him? It seems Uchiha Fugaku's efficiency leaves much to be desired."
Shaking his head lightly, he tried to dismiss the thought. Yet, something about Danzo's shout didn't sit right with him. What exactly had Danzo shouted?
"Wait... was he asking me to save him?" Hiruzen frowned, perplexed.
His gaze instinctively drifted behind Danzo, and what he saw made his entire body tremble.
There, glaring at him with innumerable scarlet Sharingan eyes, stood a terrifying mass of Uchiha clan members.
The sight was enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
"Uchiha... so many Uchiha! This is a nightmare!" Sarutobi Hiruzen gasped, feeling the cold dread creep up his spine.
"Tonic, come here! Tonic!" Hiruzen shouted urgently.
"Master Hiruzen!" Danzo's voice rang out, desperate and anxious. "Save me! The Uchiha clan is rebelling! They want to kill me!"
"I can't hear you! I can't hear you!" Hiruzen clapped his hands firmly over his ears and dashed into the clan's territory.
Seeing Hiruzen enter the clan land, Danzo's face twisted in panic. He pushed himself forward, quickening his pace to follow.
But before Danzo could cross the threshold, the massive gate slammed shut—Hiruzen himself had shut the gate tight.
Danzo froze, dumbfounded.
"Why... why did Hiruzen close the gate on me?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" he pounded furiously on the heavy wooden door. "Hiruzen! Open up! I haven't even gotten inside yet!"
Behind the gate, Hiruzen gritted his teeth and held it firmly.
"Danzo, I told you not to push the Uchiha clan into a corner. But you ignored my warning," Hiruzen said coldly. "Now look what's happened. You should be prepared to face the Uchiha's wrath!"
Danzo's desperate pounding grew frantic.
"Hiruzen, I know I was wrong! Please, open the door! The Uchiha are coming!"
"You know they're coming... and you still want me to open the gate to let you in?" Hiruzen's voice hardened. "I'm not risking it. What if they get angry and kill me too?"
Just then, a chilling voice came from behind Danzo.
"Hehehe! Prepare to die, old dog Danzo!"
Danzo turned sharply, his eyes widening in shock.
"When did you get here?" he gasped.
Uchiha Fugaku appeared as if from nowhere. Without hesitation, he plunged a knife deep into Danzo's body.
Danzo's eyes flickered with reluctant acceptance as he leaned against the gate of the Sarutobi clan's territory. Slowly, his body slumped to the ground, and finally, his neck twisted in an unnatural angle as his life left him.
"Haha! Old dog Danzo is finally dead!" Uchiha Fugaku laughed triumphantly toward the sky.
"The chief is mighty! The chief has Haki!" the Uchiha clan shouted in unison, their voices filled with fervor and victory.
Inside the clan territory, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a deep sorrow stir within him.
His old friend had fallen—killed in the uprising led by the Uchiha clan.
He sighed quietly. "Who told you to ignore my advice? Now look at you—dead right before my eyes."
"But don't worry, Danzo," he whispered softly, "we are friends after all. I'll make sure your body is taken care of."
Suddenly, a sharp command echoed from outside.
"Chop up Shimura Danzō's body and feed it to the dogs!" Uchiha Fugaku ordered coldly.
Hiruzen blinked in stunned silence.
He forced a bitter smile and shook his head. "Danzo... it's not that I don't want to help collect your body. But you just heard them. They plan to tear you apart and feed your pieces to the dogs."
He sighed again, his eyes clouded with pain.
"I can't just sit here and wait for the dogs to do their business on you. Do you expect me to collect their feces and bury it as your body? That's absurd."
A complicated storm of emotions flickered in Hiruzen's eyes.
He never expected his old friend to meet such a tragic end—ripped apart, discarded like refuse.
Uchiha Fugaku strode forward and knelt beside Danzo's body. With a cruel glint in his eyes, he reached out and untied the bandage covering Danzo's right eye, intending to extract Shisui's eye.
But just as he exposed the eye, Danzo's closed eyelids snapped open suddenly.
The Sharingan in his right eye, a distinctive Three Tomoe, ignited into the dazzling pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Not good!" Uchiha Fugaku exclaimed, taken aback.
He hastily activated his own Mangekyō to resist the sudden illusion Danzo was projecting.
Danzo's lips curled into a victorious smile as he slowly rose from the ground.
"I've got you!" he said with pride.
Uchiha Fugaku staggered slightly, caught off guard.
A worried Uchiha member near him whispered urgently, "Chief, what's wrong?"
Fugaku remained silent, his expression tense.
Danzo continued confidently, "Your clan leader said he would let me leave Konoha Village."
"What nonsense are you spouting, you bastard?" an Uchiha shouted angrily.
"Damn it! Laozi will kill you!" another Uchiha drew his samurai sword, preparing to strike Danzo down.
But before he could move, Uchiha Fugaku's commanding voice rang out sharply.
"Stop!"
The entire Uchiha clan froze in place.
They stared at Fugaku in disbelief.
"Chief, why would you let this man go?!" they demanded.
Fugaku frowned, his tone firm and resolute.
"He is the Hokage. Killing him will only bring trouble upon the Uchiha clan."
Despite their dissatisfaction, the Uchiha clan reluctantly backed down, unable to argue with Fugaku's wisdom.
Danzo looked proud, even smug.
He hadn't expected these so-called 'Distinguished Heavenly Gods' to be so formidable.
He had counted on using Distinguished Heavenly Gods on Fugaku to compel his mercy — and it had worked.
The power of the Distinguished Heavenly Gods was truly otherworldly.
Danzo was glad he had taken Shisui's eyes before; it was the smartest decision he'd ever made.
Turning toward the gate of the Sarutobi clan, Danzo said with bitterness, "Sarutobi Hiruzen, I didn't expect you to be such a person. You've truly disappointed me."
Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock.
"Danzo... aren't you dead?"
Danzo laughed coldly.
"Even if you think I'm dead, I'm not. Though I'm forced to leave Konoha Village now, I will definitely come back."
He turned away, preparing to leave.
"Goodbye, old friend," he said quietly.
Hiruzen slowly opened the gate, wanting to take one last look at his old friend.
But as the gate creaked open, Hiruzen's eyes immediately went wide with horror.
Suddenly, Uchiha Itachi appeared silently behind Danzo, a gleaming knife in his hand.
Before Hiruzen could warn him, Itachi plunged the blade deep into Danzo's back.
Danzo turned his head, eyes full of disbelief.
"How... how could you do this?" he whispered.
Itachi's expression was icy and unyielding.
"You controlled my father... not me. Why should I stand by and do nothing?"
Itachi had just witnessed his father under Danzo's illusion — an illusion fueled by Shisui's eyes.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Itachi had acted decisively to eliminate Danzo.
Danzo's eyes dimmed, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Alas," Hiruzen sighed, closing the gate behind him. "I saw you dead just after I opened the door. This time, you truly died in front of me."
With Danzo's death, the Konoha Pot King was finally offline.
Øóffer going on for diamond tier
pàtreøn (Gk31)