"Useless."
Uchiha Jhin's expression stayed calm.
"Izanagi is an Uchiha technique. How could there be no precautions?"
The blood-red, diamond-edged six-point star spun in his eyes. His dynamic vision surged—multiplying again and again—until Danzō's movements looked sluggish, almost clumsy.
Then it happened again.
Danzō revived—
and died.
Revived—
and died.
Over and over, until the Sharingans embedded in his arm were burned out one by one, used up like candles at the end of a vigil.
Only then did Danzō flicker away and dive behind Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Hiruzen—help me!"
By that point, the remaining three were practically numb.
Especially Danzō.
Watching a man die and return, die and return, like a broken toy—no matter how many years someone had lived in the darkness, it still rattled the bones.
Hiruzen sighed, then stepped forward, shielding Danzō behind him.
"Uchiha Jhin. Enough!"
His shout cracked through the office, and his voice followed—stern, measured, heavy with authority.
"I can remove Root and ANBU from outside the Uchiha District. How about that?"
"Hiruzen, you can't!" Danzō blurted, stunned.
A joke.
He'd spent years scheming, using the chaos of the Nine-Tails incident to force the Uchiha into a corner—only for Hiruzen to throw it away with a single sentence?
Hiruzen didn't even look back. "Shut up. I am the Hokage."
Danzō ground his teeth. "You'll regret this."
Jhin's eyes narrowed, killing intent leaking out in a quiet, murderous tide.
He truly wanted to take Danzō's head—here and now.
Danzō had attacked first. Hiruzen wouldn't tear Konoha apart over a corpse. Not with the village this weak. Not when one wrong step could invite the other great villages to bite.
But Danzō was a coward through and through. The moment he sensed danger, he hid—no pride, no dignity, nothing a "strong man" was supposed to have.
Still… Hiruzen's offer had value.
Konoha wasn't ready to go to war.
And neither was Jhin.
Not yet.
"Fine," Jhin said, giving a small nod.
Then he turned—no more attention for Konoha's four elders, no more words—and walked out of the Hokage's office as if the meeting had ended the moment he decided it had.
Hiruzen's face stayed dark.
His eyes followed Jhin's retreating, killing intent thick enough to spill. But in the end, he lifted his pipe and drew a long breath, smoke curling as he forced himself into thought—searching for a way to break the deadlock.
Danzō's voice came like frost. "Hiruzen. You're too soft."
Koharu, who'd been almost invisible during the clash, slammed the desk in fury the moment Jhin left. "Uchiha Jhin is too arrogant! We should eliminate him at all costs. How can you withdraw the Root and ANBU surrounding the Uchiha?"
"I also oppose it," Homura added quickly.
Hiruzen's headache sharpened.
These idiots.
When Jhin was right in front of them, Danzō could only cower behind his back, and Koharu and Homura did nothing but stay like any furniture in this office.
Now that the boy had left, they suddenly found their courage.
He wanted to smash them with one punch.
But the Sarutobi clan alone couldn't truly control all of Konoha—not anymore. He still needed these three to prop up the structure.
So Hiruzen drew a slow breath and spoke, voice turning cold.
"You three fools… didn't you notice?"
"Uchiha Jhin isn't like any other Uchiha. He is genuinely willing to gamble his life against ours."
"More than that—he controls the Uchiha's most elite radicals. Even if I could rally the whole village with my current place… and even if the whole village agreed to fight the Uchiha… Konoha would be gutted by the time it was over."
"Then how does a weakened Konoha face the other four great villages?"
"And keep in mind..."
His gaze turned sharp.
"The radicals are standing outside the Hokage's office right now. Do you want the whole place wiped out as well?"
His tone cut like a blade.
Hiruzen could see it clearly: Jhin was serious.
The boy had already prepared himself to die—and to drag the Sarutobi down with him on the way out.
Kill Uchiha Jhin?
Was that a joke?
Or was it a plan to erase the Sarutobi clan?
Danzō: "…"
Koharu: "…"
Homura: "…"
All three fell silent; they barely breathed.
Because it was true.
An ordinary radical only barked.
Uchiha Jhin killed—and he killed with the calm certainty of someone ready to die, someone determined to take a whole clan as a burial gift.
Hiruzen sighed, the smoke from his pipe trailing like a tired ghost.
"Danzō. Explain."
"What is that arm full of Sharingan?"
"And what was that dying-and-reviving nonsense?"
"And Jhin's Mangekyō—did you learn anything from fighting him?"
Danzō's face tightened. He didn't dare conceal it.
He admitted the arm was Orochimaru's work—experimental, unstable even now.
As for the Sharingan…
They were taken.
Root had quietly captured Uchiha and stolen those eyes. The clan massacre hadn't happened yet, but Root never lacked methods.
The "revival" came from Izanagi.
But when he spoke of Jhin's dōjutsu, fear crawled into his eyes—real fear, the kind that made a man's voice turn thin.
"Uchiha Jhin's dōjutsu is terrifying. It's… unstoppable."
"Any ninjutsu that touches it gets erased. And once he locks onto someone, no defense works—not even barrier ninjutsu."
"In the fight, Jhin rarely used it. That technique's consumption is too great."
"In the future, if you fight him, use numbers. Wear him down. Once his ocular power runs out, he becomes useless!"
Danzō's explanation was serious—too serious.
Hiruzen's brow furrowed.
He'd thought Wood Release had finally stabilized.
Instead, it was still just a half-baked experiment.
The disappointment sat heavily.
As for Izanagi… it held no temptation.
Not everyone could turn their body into a monster the way Danzō had.
"Wait—that's not right." Koharu suddenly spoke
"Danzō, your arm full of Sharingan was right there in the open. Jhin clearly saw it."
"Why didn't he question it? Why didn't he demand you return them?"
"It doesn't make sense."
Hiruzen drew on his pipe, then spoke slowly, the words sinking like stones.
"That only proves how dangerous Uchiha Jhin is."
"Someone who can ignore the theft of his clan's bloodline limit… imagine how deep his patience runs."
"And imagine how outrageous his goal must be."
"Wait, Hiruzen." Danzō cut in abruptly, eyes flashing. "I have a way."
"There's something I didn't tell you."
"Uchiha Jhin awakened the Mangekyō… and I suspect I had something to do with it."
He smiled—thin, ugly.
"Jhin's parents are in Root's hands."
"The day after Root captured them, word spread that Uchiha Jhin had awakened the Mangekyō—and decided to join the radicals."