Intense pain, like a red-hot branding iron, was fiercely branded onto Shimura Danzō's nerve endings.
Stiffly, he looked down. That arm which had once held a kunai and was about to pierce Uchiha Kaze's heart...
Now lay alone on the cold muddy ground, the blood gushing from the stump looking dazzling and absurd under the moonlight.
"Masaka... ?!"
The smugness and greed condensed in his single eye shattered instantly, turning into the most primitive horror.
He jerked his head up, looking at Uchiha Kaze, who should have been controlled by Kotoamatsukami and reduced to a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Kaze still stood in the same spot, not having moved half a step.
The long sword in his hand hung down, the tip slowly dripping blood belonging to Danzō.
In those scarlet Mangekyō, there was not a hint of haze from Genjutsu erosion, only abyss-like coldness and unconcealed mockery.
"Kotoamatsukami?"
Kaze tilted his head slightly, the arc of his mouth gradually widening, revealing stark white teeth.
"Are you referring to... this?"
In the depths of Kaze's left eye, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, a trace of a pinwheel-shaped pattern spread and rotated like ink dropped into water.
Then in an instant, it faded and melted away, as if it had never existed.
"How is that possible... This is impossible..."
"Once Kotoamatsukami is activated, it is irreversible... How could you..."
Danzō's voice was hoarse and dry, like rusty iron sheets rubbing together.
"Reflection."
One word, decisive and resolute, shattered all of Danzō's luck.
"Kotoamatsukami is indeed extraordinary, worthy of being called the strongest Genjutsu."
"But my Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto can reflect all Genjutsu... remember, it is all."
"As long as it touches my mental boundary, it will be marked, analyzed, and then... returned the way it came."
"I just let it fly a little slower."
"To give you time to dream a little longer... the sweet dream of being Hokage."
"As the head of Root, your intelligence analysis capability is too poor."
Kaze slowly raised his long sword, the tip pointing through the air at Danzō's panicked single eye.
"Sweet... dream..."
Danzō staggered back, the severe pain of the severed arm intertwining with the tearing sensation of the Genjutsu backlash on his spirit, making him almost unsteady.
He finally understood.
From the moment he thought he had succeeded and activated Kotoamatsukami.
Everything he "experienced"...
Controlling Kaze, killing his enemies with his own hands, suppressing the Uchiha, ascending to the top as Hokage, even that wanton laughter—it was all fake!
It was Kaze controlling the reflected Kotoamatsukami, carefully weaving for him an illusion leading to the abyss!
"Damn it, Uchiha Kaze, you truly deserve to die... I am...!"
Danzō's eyes were splitting with rage, his remaining left hand trembling violently from extreme anger and fear.
"Deserve to die?"
"Hehe, you, Shimura Danzō, indeed... deserve to die!"
"Clearly having the opportunity to sneak attack, yet insisting on waiting until the dust settled, wanting to swallow the biggest fruit alone with the smallest price?"
Kaze chuckled lightly, that laughter sounding particularly eerie in the night wind filled with the smell of blood and scorching.
"However, it's a pity."
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. And you, you don't even count as a mantis."
"You are just a... bedbug hiding in the gutter, yet delusionally attempting to swallow an elephant."
As Kaze spoke, he took a step forward, the shattered stones under his feet emitting piercing groans.
"Go to hell, Uchiha Kaze!"
"Fūton: Shinkū Renpa (Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)!"
The extreme humiliation ignited Danzō's last bit of madness. His single eye was crimson, and his left hand completed seals instantly.
Several invisible high-pressure wind blades tore through the air, shrieking as they shot towards Kaze.
At the same time, Shimura Danzō pushed off with his feet, his body retreating rapidly backward—he wanted to escape! He must escape!
However, Kaze didn't even lift an eyelid.
Amenoshinra activated silently.
Those wind blades, sharp enough to cut gold and jade, vanished and were annihilated silently like crashing into an invisible quagmire when approaching within three feet of him.
The next second, Kaze moved.
Not Body Flicker, not Spatial Jump, but speed pure to the extreme, surpassing the limit of visual capture!
The physique and Chakra stacked by the system, combined with the explosive power brought by Bijū Resonance, turned into an afterimage tearing through the night at this moment.
"Puchi!"
The muffled sound of a sharp blade entering flesh.
Danzō's forward-rushing figure suddenly froze.
He lowered his head in disbelief, looking at the section of blood-stained blade tip protruding from the center of his chest.
"How... possible... so fast..."
Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, carrying a rust-like sweetness.
"Because,"
"You indulged in conspiracies for too long, and long ago forgot... what true power is."
Kaze's voice rang out behind his ear like a ghost.
The long sword was withdrawn.
Shimura Danzō, the Darkness of Konoha, fell heavily to the ground with a face full of unwillingness and horror.
His single eye stared wide open, gazing hollowly at the burning Konoha night sky, devoid of life.
[Ding, killed Shimura Danzō, reward: Susanoo Exclusive Divine Weapons—Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto Wheel, Space-Time Severing Sword.]
[Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto Wheel: Artifact manifesting the power of illusion, can tamper with the boundary between reality and illusion, temporarily replacing reality with the power of Genjutsu.]
[Space-Time Severing Sword: Space-time rule artifact, can perform dimension-cutting slashes across time and space.]
The cold system prompts rang in his mind. Two distinct yet equally majestic powers of rules surged into the depths of Kaze's pupil power along the connection of the Mangekyō.
The left eye Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto transmitted a sensation of hot swelling, while the right eye Amenoshinra spread an icy sharp breath.
"Dual Divine Weapons?"
Looking at the prompt panel popped up by the system, the smile on Kaze's lips grew a few degrees.
Sure enough, Uchiha aren't suitable for thinking about what justice is, or what peace is.
What they need is to go crazy!
After all, Uchiha are either idiots or madmen.
Obviously... Kaze, he doesn't want to be that idiot...
Kaze was in no hurry to understand the power of these pair of divine weapons, but turned to look at the other side, where the roaring battle still hadn't ceased.
The orange-red half-body Crow Tengu Susanoo was engaged in a brutal fight with the fully unleashed Kyūbi.
Uchiha Itachi controlled the Susanoo, the Yata Mirror blocking left and right, struggling to deflect the Kyūbi's violent claw strikes and Bijū Bombs. The tactics were exquisite, but difficult to conceal the huge gap in absolute power.
Itachi's bleeding, scarlet Mangekyō were locked onto Kaze's main body, afraid of being surprise attacked by him.
Shimura Danzō's death had also disrupted Uchiha Itachi's combat rhythm a bit.
"Still paying attention to me while fighting?"
"Truly a... self-righteous, idiot!"
Uchiha Kaze clapped his hands together in front of his chest, the pattern of the Eternal Mangekyō blooming with strange brilliance in his eyes.
"Kyūbi, give me the power first!"
The Kyūbi, which was frantically attacking the Susanoo, paused suddenly. The violent scarlet Chakra rolled back like a receding tide, turning into a torrent that completely submerged into Kaze's body!
Not returning to Naruto, but being forcibly absorbed and stored by Kaze with his perfect Bijū Resonance physique!
The Uzumaki Naruto who lost the Bijū cloak was caught by Uchiha Nagasawa and temporarily moved to another location.