"Hey, old man, not bad."
"If I hadn't witnessed the pinnacle of Wind Release before, your Wind Release technique could truly be called the strongest."
"But now? Heh, heh. It's only decent at best!"
Relying on nothing more than an ordinary Wind Release technique infused into a kunai, he had actually managed to block the Rasengan head-on.
No wonder Gekko Chizan had praised Danzo a little.
"Hmph, I don't need praise from a junior like you!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
With the Vacuum Great Sphere released at such close range, Danzo was confident he could severely injure Gekko Chizan—provided it hit.
For Gekko Chizan, whether the attack came from long range or point-blank made no difference.
As long as the attack was directed at him, his sixth sense would respond.
Over the years, he had given this ability a name: Don't hit me—if you try, I'll sense it!
"Dream on. Flying Thunder God!"
The release speed of Wind Release was already extremely fast, especially for a veteran master like Danzo who specialized in it.
Unfortunately, the moment Danzo approached, Gekko Chizan had already sensed it.
His first thought was simple: Hmph, this old fossil wants to hit me—so naturally I have to dodge!
"Boom!"
The raging wind slammed into the crystal-covered ground, blasting a massive crater into the crystal-coated surface.
Yet it didn't even touch the edge of Gekko Chizan.
Danzo remained calm, still gripping the kunai coated in Vacuum Blades, waiting patiently for his next opportunity to strike.
"Tsk tsk tsk, old fossil. I'm done playing with you."
"I'll finish you quickly so I can leave this damned Daimyo's residence."
"Though that eye of yours—I'm taking it back."
Gekko Chizan's tone suddenly changed.
This time, he no longer had the mood to play around. He was getting serious.
Facing Gekko Chizan's words, Danzo showed no reaction at all and simply prepared for battle.
"Crystal Release."
"Crystal Release: Mirror Reflection!"
He immediately unleashed killing moves.
The surrounding crystals began to glow, beams of light rapidly condensing, while crystal mirrors started appearing one after another.
"Danzo, come on."
"Let me see if your Izanagi can escape this prolonged assault."
"Fall!"
Before Danzo could react, Gekko Chizan waved his hand.
Countless beams of light rained down instantly.
"Boom!"
The violent attack caused the entire underground area to tremble.
Even the ground above in the Daimyo's residence was affected by the impact.
"Whoa? Is it an earthquake?"
"My heavens, this is the Daimyo's residence!"
"Tch. It must be those ninja staging some explosive performance again. Didn't something like that happen before?"
For a moment, residents and nobles throughout the Daimyo's residence began discussing it among themselves.
Inside the Daimyo's castle, the Daimyo was currently summoning Kazuma.
"Kazuma, what exactly is going on?"
"Why is my castle experiencing an earthquake?"
"Go investigate immediately!"
Kazuma nodded, then left the castle with a dark expression.
"Kazuma, this earthquake came very suddenly. Personally, I don't think it feels like a real earthquake."
"And the center of it seems to be around the Root headquarters."
"Should we send people to check it out?"
When Suirai saw Kazuma come out, he immediately approached and reported the information he had gathered.
Hearing that Root was involved, Kazuma's expression changed.
"Call two squads. I'll go there personally."
"Alright. I'll go with you. Should we inform Chiriku and Asuma as well?"
Kazuma stopped and thought for a moment before replying.
"No need to notify them yet."
"We'll go check the situation first. If things are serious, then we'll contact them for support."
Suirai nodded and waved his hand.
Very quickly, two squads assembled.
...
Root Base.
The beams of light had already disappeared, and all the eyes on Danzo's arm had closed.
At this moment, Danzo's body was covered in piercing wounds.
In front of him, Gekko Chizan stood with his arms crossed, watching him.
"Old fossil, even Izanagi can't save you now."
Gekko Chizan looked at Danzo with complete disdain as he pretended to struggle.
But the next second—
"In the end, I underestimated you."
"I never expected that a boy from a fallen clan would actually know so much about the Uchiha."
"Hmph. But what of it? This blade still pierced your body in the end, didn't it?"
The illusion before his eyes vanished entirely.
Gekko Chizan was still standing in place.
However, a blade of rippling light had pierced through his chest.
It was the Vacuum Blade in Danzo's hand.
"Hehehehe. Do you really think you touched me?"
"That's hilarious..."
Just as Danzo thought he had succeeded, Gekko Chizan's body began to crack apart, slowly transforming into crystal fragments.
Danzo's face filled with shock and confusion.
"Old fossil, did you really think I didn't know which eye you used to activate Izanagi?"
"You sacrificed the Mangekyō in your right eye to use Izanagi. An eye connected directly to the optic nerves—of course it's on a completely different level from the ones on your arm."
He didn't know much about the Uchiha.
But he understood the Mangekyō very well.
After all, it was the power that dominated the latter half of the original story.
Especially Izanagi.
In the original story, Obito sacrificed his Sharingan to nullify Konan's Paper Person of God technique.
That explosion of six hundred billion explosive tags—how long could it last?
The reason the Sharingan was so powerful was because of its ocular power.
Eyes were eyes.
If they weren't inside the eye sockets and connected to the optic nerves, how much power could they really display?
That was exactly what Gekko Chizan believed.
If the eyes weren't in their sockets, their power would be greatly reduced.
Just look at how long Danzo's Izanagi lasted each time in the original story, and then compare it to Obito and Madara.
There was simply no comparison.
"You..."
"You what?"
"Without the Mangekyō, your time has come."
Crystal Release: Mirror Shadow Clone.
Gekko Chizan had already prepared this the moment he launched his attack.
He knew very well that Danzo still had two Izanagi uses left.
And his attack lasted for quite a long time.
With Izanagi activated using ordinary Sharingan, avoiding it completely would be rather difficult.
He was certain that this old fossil Danzo, in order to survive, would sacrifice the Mangekyō in his right eye.
And the result turned out exactly as he predicted.
"Don't even think about activating Izanagi again."
"If the Wood Release cells inside your body lose the dual suppression of Sharingan and chakra, do you really think you can control them?"
"So just die obediently in my hands."
"I'll take your corpse back to Konoha and hand it over to that old fossil Sarutobi."
A large amount of crystal gathered in Gekko Chizan's hands as he walked toward Danzo.
Despite the repeated blows, Danzo did not give up resisting.
Even without the Sharingan, he still had other ways to fight.
But when he tried to move, he suddenly discovered that his feet had already begun turning into crystal.
"Damn it!"
"Wood Release—"
The moment he shouted "Wood Release," Gekko Chizan had already arrived in front of him.
The crystal-condensed hand had touched him first.