Chapter 69 — Yujiro: Oh, Isn't That Shimura Danzo? Look How Beat-Up You've Become in a Few Days
There are four escape routes out of the Land of Fire.
Out to sea toward the Land of Water.
North to the Land of Lightning.
South to the Land of Wind.
East to the Land of Earth.
After Shimura Danzo defected, Konoha's pursuit never stopped. ANBU, shinobi clans, the ninja army — everyone reacted in outrage when they learned what Danzo had done.
The village was founded by the First Hokage (and by Uchiha Madara). You desecrate his corpse, you betray your teacher and your ancestors — that's unforgivable!
There are two acts in human society considered utterly vile: kicking a widow's door in and digging up an entire family's grave. Danzo had committed both. He was no longer human. He had to be dealt with, and decisively.
…
After giving the village widow at the gate a sympathetic hearing, Minato—wearing Kushina's death-stare—declared loudly:
"Don't worry. We'll not let Shimura Danzo, that monster, go unpunished! All of Konoha's forces will mobilize; we will bring Danzo to justice!"
The New Konoha Times labeled him "A Most Vile Traitor." The Hokage's office endorsed the headline.
There's an old saying: when someone loses, others pile every blame onto them. Once a man's down, you can paint anything on him. Danzo had lost; the smear campaign was already running full-tilt. The Times's reporters — half-drunk on catnip and creativity — could now write six hundred thousand words cataloguing his sins, from peeping at old women to backstabbing the Second Hokage, to stealing children's lollipops at sixty. The paper could turn him into the incarnation of a certain german—pure villainy.
If Danzo had the time to buy a newspaper on the run… he'd probably die of fright.
"Is that me? No— that's not me!" he'd want to cry, but there was no time for self-justification.
Danzo was running like a beaten dog toward Uchiha Yujiro's direction — more precisely, toward the Rain Country. In the chaos of his escape, his information network and loyal lieutenants were being torn apart; his intel was getting spotty.
From his point of view, Hanzo was still in control of the Rain Village. If Danzo went begging to a major power, that power would swallow him whole. If he tried to rebuild on his own, it would take too long — he couldn't outlast the Fourth Hokage.
The Rain Village looked attractive: the scale was right, and Lord Hanzo was senile. Danzo thought he could con Hanzo into becoming a second Sarutobi Hiruzen, use the Rain as a base, and from there strike back at Konoha. At best, he could eye the Hokage seat again; at worst, he'd reclaim a small domain. That was the plan.
He didn't yet realize the sky over the Rain had changed. Hanzo was history; the Rain Village now orbited a single sun — Uchiha Yujiro. Even if he knew, where could Danzo hide? The world had nowhere left for him.
…
Shinobi run fast. Even with detours, firefights, and bait set along the way, Danzo reached the Rain Country in three days.
"One more step and I'll be inside the Rain Village, and then…" he told himself, panting.
But the world had turned since he'd last marched with confidence. The Rain Village was no longer Hanzo's realm; it answered to a different power now. Danzo's hope of finding a seat there — a safe haven — began to crumble.
He needed to pick a route, a patron, anything. He had to be quick, because every village that learned of his crimes would come hunting. The New Konoha Times had already made him public enemy number one. The nets were closing.
Still running, he stumbled on mud and roots. The Rain's eternal drizzle seemed determined to wash the world clear of men like him.
And then, ahead, he saw figures moving easily through the rain—someone with a presence like a sun, flanked by company he could barely imagine: Uchiha Yujiro, the three Legendary Sannin, and the trio of allies that had rewritten the power balance. Danzo's chest tightened.
"Is that…?" he thought. "Yujiro? No—no, it can't be."
He pushed on anyway, because there was nowhere else to flee.
Danzo kept up his staggering sprint for a few more steps before halting, eyes narrowing warily toward the sheets of rain ahead.
Something terrifying was out there — a chakra so vast and oppressive it made his heart skip a beat.
Was it Jiraiya? Tsunade? Orochimaru?
The reports had said that Uchiha Yujiro had gathered all three of Konoha's Legendary Sannin.
Even for someone as arrogant as Danzo, that revelation had been… alarming.
A three-Sannin alliance — and under the banner of a single Uchiha.
The thought alone was absurd enough to make him grit his teeth.
But when the figure finally emerged from the curtain of rain—
It was just one man.
No Sannin. No reinforcements.
Only Uchiha Yujiro, standing alone beneath the storm, a faint grin curving his lips.
"Yo," Yujiro greeted lightly, his voice carrying easily through the rain.
"If it isn't Elder Danzo himself. You've really let yourself go these past few days, haven't you?"
Danzo froze, every muscle tensing.
"Uchiha… Yujiro…"
If he still didn't understand by now that Yujiro was the hidden hand behind Minato's scheme,
then all his years in the shadows would've been for nothing.
Alongside the rage welling in his chest, there was also bitterness—
and a quiet, bitter regret.
If he could turn back time,
he would never have personally invited Yujiro into ANBU.
That wasn't recruiting talent. That was inviting a wolf into the sheepfold.
Still, one question continued to haunt him even now:
How on earth had Yujiro convinced Orochimaru to defect?
Was it really… just with that male enhancement tonic rumor?
That was too ridiculous to believe.
Yujiro's tone was relaxed, almost casual, as he spoke again—
the faintest smirk playing on his face.
"See? I told you old-timers — when you can't keep up with the times,
just retire already. Go tend a garden, play some shōgi in a nursing home or something.
Why insist on making such a spectacle of yourselves?"
Danzo wanted to retort —
to declare that everything he'd done was for Konoha,
that no mere Uchiha could ever comprehend his "sacrifices."
But in the end, he said nothing.
Words were meaningless now.
In his final moments, the man who'd manipulated countless others with speeches and lies
finally chose to meet death as a warrior, not a politician.
---
"Lord Danzo!"
His surviving Root operatives rushed to his side,
desperation clear in their battered voices.
"We'll hold him off! Please, retreat!"
They were bloodied, broken, barely able to stand—
and yet still willing to die for him.
Danzo shook his head.
Not out of compassion—he simply knew escape was impossible.
"Stand down," he ordered coldly. "This is my battle."
And then, Shimura Danzo joined the hunt.
Under the pounding rain, he drew a kunai,
his one remaining eye burning with resolve as he assumed his fighting stance.
Yujiro's expression softened—
not with pity, but with something closer to respect.
"That's more like it. Face your fate with some dignity, Danzo.
At least now, you finally look the part."
He drew his twin blades in one smooth motion,
their edges flashing like lightning.
"I'll give you the send-off you deserve."
Danzo's voice was low, rasped by age and fury.
"Boy… do you really think victory is certain?
Arrogance will be your downfall."
Yujiro smirked, raising both blades as crackling chakra gathered around him.
"We'll see about that.
Let's find out whose arrogance ends first."
---
He shifted into his signature stance—Uchiha Two-Sword Style—
and as lightning and flame began to entwine around his arms,
a familiar chime echoed in his mind.
[Boss Mission: "The Rot of the Root"]
Since you call yourself the Darkness of the Shinobi, then be buried within it.
Objective: Defeat Shimura Danzo.
Reward: +1 Free Attribute Point.
Yujiro's lips curved into a faint, sharp smile.
The storm raged on.
One sun and one shadow stood across from each other—
and only one would walk away.
--