Chapter 49: This is, a Parting Gift
"Can you give the thing in your hand to me, Lord Danzō?"
Hearing the amusement-filled voice beside him, Danzō's breath caught involuntarily.
This voice, this tone...
Danzō turned his head and saw a masked, exceptionally familiar figure standing there.
"Damn you! You actually dare to appear before me again!"
This masked man before him – he had contact with him years ago when the Hyūga kidnapping incident occurred.
At that time, the masked man directly opened the seal to the Root base, walked right up to him openly, in front of all the Root guards.
Afterwards, under the guise of being Orochimaru's assistant, he proposed numerous war-related suggestions, including a public opinion war, and tempted him to use the opportunity to divide the Hyūga and the Third Hokage, while simultaneously inciting war between the Cloud and Konoha.
"Lord Danzō, Lord Orochimaru will lend you a helping hand."
Then, before leaving, he even took numerous experimental instruments from him, stating that Lord Orochimaru would share the results of his research.
But in the end...
Not only did war fail to break out, but the Third became even more wary of Root.
The Jōnin also believed it was Danzō who ruthlessly killed those nearly hundred Konoha ninja, almost completely cutting off his important path to becoming Hokage – the Jōnin vote.
Boom!!
Danzō wanted to say more, but a loud explosion from the distant forest suddenly interrupted him.
That was the direction Shisui and the Root members had left in.
Danzō's heart dropped. He instinctively averted his gaze.
But in that brief moment,
Menma's figure instantly vanished from Danzō's peripheral vision.
In an instant, Menma appeared behind Danzō, a blade of azure chakra condensed in his hand.
He swung it lightly.
Rip!
"Ah!!"
Only a barely audible sound was heard, yet blood splattered everywhere. Flesh was cut open, bone was severed.
An arm wrapped in bandages flew directly through the air.
"How is that possible?!"
Danzō clutched his severed arm stump, watching wide-eyed as the masked man caught the arm cultivated from Hashirama cells and three Sharingan.
Disbelief, panic, pain, anger, fear...
All sorts of complex emotions intertwined, twisting his aged face.
How does this guy know his secret?
Without that arm, he couldn't use Izanagi.
Could he really be Orochimaru's subordinate? Does Orochimaru want to discard him after he served his purpose?!
...Wait!
"My Kotoamatsukami?!"
Snapping back, Danzō suddenly realized not only had his arm been severed,
But the Mangekyō Sharingan he had just snatched was also gone!
"Looking for this?"
A voice full of playful amusement sounded. Danzō followed the sound.
He saw the masked man had already completely sealed the Hashirama cell arm.
Then, right before Danzō's eyes, he placed the Mangekyō Sharingan into a test tube filled with green liquid.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
Danzō roared, eyes splitting with rage: "That's my Kotoamatsukami! Give it back to this old man!!"
Saying this, he was about to circulate the chakra in his body.
But was horrified to find he couldn't mobilize his internal chakra at all.
"How can this be..."
Danzō abruptly looked down.
At some unknown point, black seal formulas already covered his entire body.
That masked man had silently inscribed the Four Symbols Seal on him, completely imprisoning his chakra.
"Lord Danzō!"
The group of Root members arrived at this moment, blocking Danzō's front.
But he only roared: "Kill him! At any cost!"
Mangekyō Sharingan, Kotoamatsukami!
That was his hope of becoming Hokage, his hope of unifying the ninja world!
No matter who this masked man was, he absolutely would not allow Kotoamatsukami to escape his grasp!
Watching the hysterical Lord Danzō, Menma's tone still held amusement.
"Sorry, my time is limited."
As his voice fell, Menma symbolically formed a seal with his single hand.
But in an instant, turbulent chakra finished brewing within him.
"This is... a parting gift."
A small black sphere slowly condensed on his raised index finger.
Surrounded by a halo like planetary rings, looking both real and illusory, possessing a unique kind of beauty.
Small Rasenringu!
Then, with a gentle toss, it flew towards the location of Danzō and the group of Root members.
The speed of the small sphere's flight was ridiculously slow.
Yet it struck a chill deep into the Root ninjas' hearts.
They reacted instantly. Some pulled Danzō towards the flank to take cover, while others directly performed ninjutsu attempting to block it.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
The small sphere lightly collided with the earth and water walls, looking as if it would dissipate into formless chakra the next second.
But the next second...
BOOM!!
Under the stunned gazes of the crowd.
Dust clouds several meters high soared into the air. The violent explosion instantly disintegrated the sturdy Earth Flow Wall, and the Water Formation Wall evaporated completely.
The few Root ninja taking cover with Danzō were thrown back by the explosion.
And those Root ninja who attempted to block it didn't even have time to scream before being turned directly into ashes in the explosion, scattering with the wind...
When the dust settled, Danzō crawled out from under several Root ninja bodies.
But the masked figure was already completely gone.
Danzō stared blankly at the wreckage before him.
The intense pain from his severed arm, combined with the fury in his heart, had completely driven him mad.
"AH! Orochimaru! I'll kill you!!"
...
Meanwhile, inside the forest, the battle between Uchiha Shisui and the Root ninja was also nearing its end.
An incomparably tall, skeleton-shaped green giant stood there. Shisui, face contorted in pain, clutched his eyes, standing within the giant's body.
And of the group of Root ninja, only three remained standing opposite him, completely unharmed.
"Wh-what is this!?"
Facing that power as mighty as ghosts and gods, they could only stand dumbfounded, a strong sense of powerlessness rising in their hearts.
Just as the two sides faced off,
A figure suddenly appeared on a tree above them.
"Only the first stage?"
Menma looked at the giant, tall as ghosts and gods, a strange light flashing in his eyes.
Susanoo. The third power unlocked only by awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, the power of a god symbolizing strength and destruction.
Shisui had only activated the first form of Susanoo, and even that seemed somewhat strained.
"But this feeling... the Sharingan indeed doesn't come from the Ōtsutsuki clan's power."
Looking at those eyes filled with an evil aura, a certain speculation in Menma's heart was confirmed.
The Sharingan is definitely a product of mutation within the Ōtsutsuki bloodline.
(End of Chapter)
---
Read up to 20 Chapters ahead on patreon.com/Fanglin
[Please leave a 5 Star review and power stone for this novel]
*Thank you*