Chapter 398: Spoils of War
Failed.
Danzo Shimura really couldn't imagine that his long-premeditated Kotoamatsukami actually failed to be cast and was dodged by Haruno Sakura.
The old man's figure suddenly froze in place.
The look of pride on his face before had not yet dissipated, but froze. His smile collapsed all of a sudden, his expression half-smiling, extremely weird, like a comical statue.
"Why...?"
Danzo spoke with difficulty, his voice dry and unpleasant, extremely bitter.
Izanagi being suppressed was still within his acceptance range. After all, this ninjutsu was just a defensive genjutsu, and Danzo didn't expect to rely on it to defeat Haruno Sakura who could use Body Flicker quickly.
Performing life-saving ninjutsu first when facing a strong enemy was just a choice based on the habit of caution maintained all along. Danzo just hadn't thought that he would be forced by Haruno Sakura to the point where he couldn't even activate Izanagi.
Even so, Danzo was still not panicked or confused. Instead, he used this as bait to lure Haruno Sakura into attacking, and the moment his hands were chopped off, he was ready to activate Shisui's Mangekyo secret technique—Kotoamatsukami.
Kotoamatsukami is known as the strongest genjutsu in the history of the ninja world. Its effect is to implant genjutsu into the opponent's brain the moment the Mangekyo Sharingan makes eye contact with the enemy, thereby completely changing a person's thoughts.
This was Danzo's real trump card!
It was also his real reliance for being confident in making a move on Haruno Sakura and subduing her.
Compared to binding the body and tongue with cursed seals and brainwashing thoughts through long imprisonment, this powerful genjutsu was undoubtedly much more convenient, fast, and reliable.
In Danzo Shimura's conception, the moment Haruno Sakura cut off his hands and relaxed because victory was assured, would be the best time for him to strike.
Using Kotoamatsukami at the moment the two looked at each other, Haruno Sakura couldn't possibly dodge it!
But, why...
Why was Haruno Sakura vigilant, as if she knew he had this move?
"Why... were you able to dodge this move?!"
The wrinkles on the old man's face twitched, his angry eyes widened, and he asked incredulously.
"Are you talking about Kotoamatsukami?" The girl's leisurely voice came from behind. She accurately pronounced the name of the genjutsu, which completely destroyed the last trace of luck in Danzo's heart.
"With preparation, dodging this move is not too difficult for me. It's just that Shisui's eye being controlled by you is truly a bright pearl cast into darkness."
Danzo took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and suppressed the twisted expression and complex emotions on his face. Only the cold sweat on his face couldn't stop coming out—because of the pain of the severed wrist, and even more because of the extreme disappointment in his heart.
"Where did you get this intelligence?"
He just wanted to know who leaked his intelligence, causing this operation to fail on the verge of success!
"Hiruzen Sarutobi?" Without waiting for Haruno Sakura to answer, Danzo guessed on his own, "No, impossible."
The figure of the Third Hokage flashed first in his mind, but he immediately denied this idea. The Third would never tolerate a dangerous technique like Kotoamatsukami falling into his hands—so if the Third knew, he would have stormed Root long ago and taken the Sharingan back.
The only people in Root who knew this secret were his confidants, who had always been strictly restrained and couldn't possibly reveal such intelligence to Haruno Sakura.
"Uchiha Itachi... was it him?"
It was a question, but Danzo's tone was very certain. Excluding impossible options, the answer to the question was easy to guess.
"Having time to care about such questions," Haruno Sakura did not answer his question, just said coldly, "you might as well care about yourself!"
Danzo's intelligence was indeed told to Haruno Sakura by Itachi, just before the previous Tsukuyomi was about to end. In this battle, Itachi's reminder played a huge role, and Sakura had to owe this favor...
How to repay such a big favor, the Ice Style girl felt a headache.
However, she remained calm on the surface. Her left hand held the ice blade tightly against Danzo's neck, the cold edge warning him not to move, while her right hand took the opportunity to climb over and touch the old man's right eye socket.
The cold touch on the girl's fingertips rested on the Sharingan.
"What do you want to do, Haruno Sakura!" Danzo's eyes widened. Feeling the position where those scallion-white slender fingers rested, he was almost scared out of his wits and shouted in surprise!
"A Mangekyo Sharingan capable of casting Kotoamatsukami, being controlled by someone like you is too dangerous." Haruno Sakura said calmly.
"So, I'm taking it."
As mentioned before, Haruno Sakura did not intend to kill Danzo here; not killing Danzo was not only because Danzo and his Root still had a role in the upcoming turmoil in the ninja world—this was only a secondary reason. The main reason was that Danzo had many karmic ties, and Haruno Sakura vaguely felt that handing him over to the appropriate person to deal with was the best choice.
But this didn't mean she wouldn't do anything to Danzo.
Cutting off his palms was only a slight punishment. After all, such smooth wounds could be reattached well even on Earth in her previous life. In the Naruto world, a superb medical ninjutsu could solve this problem. Taking away the Mangekyo in his eye would be a blow that hurt Danzo to the bone.
Haruno Sakura didn't hesitate at all.
Before Danzo could say anything more or make any response, that slender white hand exerted force violently, fingertips pierced into the old man's eye socket, and forcibly dug out a bloody eyeball!
Danzo Shimura only felt a chill on his eyelid, followed by a sharp pain, and the vision in his right eye became pitch black!
"B-Bastard...!" He cried out in pain and cursed subconsciously, but he had no ability to resist, and could only watch helplessly as Haruno Sakura took away Shisui's eye!
Then, a sudden severe pain from a heavy chop on the back of the neck came. The old man rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.
Haruno Sakura watched Danzo fall, confirmed that he had really fainted, and then withdrew her gaze.
Looking around, in the small cave, apart from Haruno Sakura, there was no one else awake at this time.
Finally over.
Sakura let out a long breath, and her tense shoulders relaxed immediately; however, she started to have a headache again soon.
"Tch..." She looked at the wet eyeball in her hand and frowned.
"This thing... how to deal with it?"
Shisui's Sharingan was, of course, a good thing. It was just a bit too good. Sakura suddenly felt the round ball in her palm was a bit hot!
Kotoamatsukami, capable of manipulating other people's thoughts, such a ninjutsu was too sensitive. No one would like others to possess such a ninjutsu.
Even if the other party is a very close person...
Putting herself in others' shoes, for example, if Sasuke mastered Kotoamatsukami, then Haruno Sakura would also feel awkward when getting along with him. Although she knew he wouldn't hurt her, who knew what thoughts would suddenly pop up in his head?
What if... right! People's thoughts cannot be forced. Otherwise, she wouldn't be Haruno Sakura!
Sasuke won't do... Naruto won't do either! Simple-minded people sometimes have even stronger destructive power...
Sakura shook her head vigorously, shaking off some weird thoughts in her mind.
"Tch... what am I thinking?" The girl muttered to herself, "It's not like they got Shisui's Sharingan!"
Speaking of which, if she really installed the Sharingan on herself, could she control herself not to misuse it?
For her, whose combat power was already extremely high, using Kotoamatsukami on enemies was not very meaningful. Sure enough, using it to change the thoughts of close people would be the most cost-effective! Even... use Kotoamatsukami on herself?
"Troublesome." She bit her lower lip and said.
"What a troublesome thing!"
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