Chapter 70 — Yujiro: Strike Up the Band, Farewell to the Pot-Hokage!
A killing wind swept across the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
Both warriors stood motionless beneath the storm, the silence between them heavy, electric — the air trembling with chakra.
Yet neither Yujiro nor Danzo moved first.
Not right away.
They began, as shinobi often do… with words sharp as kunai.
---
"Tell me, old man," Yujiro said with a smile, resting his twin blades on his shoulders.
"How much of a chance do you really think you have?
Be honest — even if you were in your prime, healthy, uninjured, full of chakra...
do you seriously believe you could defeat me?"
Danzo's single eye narrowed.
A low breath escaped his lips.
"Monster of the Uchiha clan," he muttered.
"Against monsters like you, no number of lives would ever be enough."
Yujiro chuckled.
"Oh? So what — planning to save me the trouble and kill yourself, then?
That would be awfully considerate."
---
Danzo didn't answer. He only let out a gravelly "hmph," refusing to take the bait.
He knew that in a battle of words, he would never win against this sharp-tongued devil.
This was not the night of the Uchiha Massacre yet —
Danzo was still human, still mortal, still a man without those grotesque augmentations.
No Hashirama cells,
no Sharingan grafts,
no Wood Release,
no Izanagi,
no Kotoamatsukami.
Just an aging body, a few old Wind Release techniques, and the taijutsu he had honed through decades of stubborn discipline.
Facing Yujiro with that was suicide.
He already knew the truth — he wasn't walking away from this battle.
But if he was doomed to die, then he would at least make his death meaningful.
He would strike one last wound — not with a kunai, but with words — and let it fester in Yujiro's heart forever.
---
"You think killing me will make Minato trust you?" Danzo sneered, his voice rising above the thunder.
"Yes, at first he'll thank you. He'll be grateful. But that won't last.
Gratitude fades. Suspicion doesn't."
He raised a trembling finger toward Yujiro.
"You're an Uchiha — born of madness, bred for betrayal!
You think you're the exception? You'll end up just like the rest of them — feared, distrusted, discarded!
That's the fate of your cursed clan.
You'll die hated, hunted, and alone.
I just got there before you.
I'll be waiting for you in hell, Uchiha Yujiro!"
His laughter split through the rain, manic and ragged.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
---
Yujiro stood there quietly, his hair and cloak plastered to his skin by the storm.
When Danzo finally stopped laughing, Yujiro tilted his head slightly.
"You done?"
Danzo blinked.
Because Yujiro wasn't angry.
He wasn't shaken, or insulted, or even mildly annoyed.
There was nothing — no flicker of emotion, no shadow of fear, no bite of pride.
Just that calm, unnervingly confident smile.
As though Danzo's words hadn't even reached him.
As though all of this — the fear, the hatred, the talk of destiny —
were just noise beneath a storm.
If Yujiro had been a big-hearted fool like Might Guy, Danzo might've found comfort in that.
But he knew better.
Uchiha Yujiro wasn't just powerful—he was the most cunning, calculating devil he'd ever faced.
He wasn't reckless. He wasn't naïve.
He was a predator who smiled while sharpening his blade.
So if he knew the danger, why—why was he so calm?
"Because I already planned for this, of course."
"What?"
"I said—I've been ready to turn against Minato bro from the very start, idiot."
Before Danzo could process the words, danger struck like lightning.
Instinct took over—he raised his kunai to block—
and agony exploded in his left arm.
He leapt back with a Shunshin, blood spraying from the wound, and tried to form a seal for Wind Release: Vacuum Wave—
only to realize his left arm was… gone.
He looked up just in time to see it hit the ground with a splat.
Yujiro's twin blades had moved faster than sound—
Danzo's kunai had parried the left sword, but the right blade had cleaved through flesh and bone in a single motion.
He had no time to scream before the pain swallowed him.
---
Without his left arm, he couldn't form seals.
Without seals, half his jutsu were useless.
And Danzo wasn't a taijutsu fighter like Yujiro—
his strength was intellect and strategy, not raw power.
Now, most of his abilities were gone.
"Lord Danzo—!"
"—Aaarghhh!!!"
The remaining Root operatives, realizing what had happened, broke formation and charged at Yujiro in desperation.
A second later—they were all dead.
Danzo's eye widened.
From Yujiro's back burst twelve chakra threads, each ending in a hovering kunai.
They slithered through the rain like serpents, each motion sharp, deliberate—
and in a blink, eight of them had already found their targets.
The Root ninja collapsed mid-charge, bodies falling like cut marionettes.
Some didn't even realize they were dead, still stumbling forward two steps before crumpling to the ground,
their eyes glassy with disbelief.
Too fast.
Unrealistically fast.
So fast it made even an old warlord like Danzo feel a cold hand clutch his spine.
"A manipulation technique…? No—that's not wire, it's chakra threads!"
"And they're… lightning-based! That's why they're so fast!"
Even now, the veteran analyst in Danzo couldn't help breaking down the technique's logic.
He'd always been a thinker, even in defeat.
But understanding it was useless.
Knowing the name of the storm didn't make it stop raining.
---
The next instant, he was engulfed in a rain of blades.
A dozen kunai danced through the storm, weaving arcs of blue lightning, trapping him from every direction.
This was the same move Yujiro had used against Pain—with no effect then, because one Shinra Tensei could wipe it away like dust.
But against a man of flesh and blood?
It was overkill.
Danzo was forced into the defensive, parrying, weaving, bleeding—
as if he were fighting ten swordmasters at once.
Every block came with a new wound.
Every breath brought him closer to collapse.
And then, after one last desperate swing, his legs buckled.
He fell to his knees before Yujiro.
---
"Why?"
His voice was hoarse, trembling—not from fear, but confusion.
"Why side with the Fourth? You and I… we're the same. You should've joined me!"
Yujiro tilted his head, amused.
"Even villains like working with decent people sometimes," he said lightly.
"Besides, I'm not a villain at all. I'm a good guy, remember?"
He smiled faintly, eyes glowing crimson as he activated his Sharingan.
"You said my alliance with Minato is doomed to fail. Maybe.
But teaming up with you, Danzo?
That'd be worse than making a deal with the devil."
His gaze sharpened—
the spinning tomoe locked onto Danzo's single, terrified eye.
"You've been coveting these eyes of mine, haven't you?
In that case…"
Yujiro raised his blade, voice calm.
"…you deserve to die."
---
Danzo's lips twisted into a mad grin.
"Heh… heh heh… HAHAHAHAHA!!"
Hearing his darkest secret spoken aloud, the last pretense of control shattered.
The old warhawk let out a final, manic laugh and hurled himself forward,
his voice echoing over the storm:
"Uchiha Yujiro!!!"
He was charging to die.
So be it.
Yujiro's Sharingan flared—blood-red light piercing the rain.
"Then let me send you off… with the very eyes you wanted most."
The world stilled.
A single breath.
A single flash.
And then—silence.
---
Inside the genjutsu, Shimura Danzo found himself young again.
It was the day his mentor, Tobirama Senju, fell.
The day he'd hesitated.
Tobirama had asked, "Who will stay behind to cover the retreat?"
Danzo had remained silent.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had stepped forward instead.
And from that single moment of cowardice, everything changed.
Danzo had spent his whole life chasing that lost step, that lost chance—
forever the shadow behind someone else's light.
But now—
in this illusion—
time had turned back.
When Tobirama asked again, Danzo stepped forward first.
"Sensei—I'll go!"
Tobirama's stern face softened, a rare smile touching his lips.
"Good. That's very good."
The young Danzo smiled too—bright, proud, fulfilled.
---
A dull thud.
The real Danzo's body hit the mud, lifeless.
Rain poured down, washing the blood from his face.
He died smiling.
Yujiro stood over the corpse for a long moment,
then raised his blade in salute.
"Rest easy, Shimura Danzo."
The blade fell.
Steel flashed.
And with a single stroke, the shadow of Konoha was severed.
A soft chime echoed in his mind:
[Boss Mission: "The Rot of the Root" — Complete.]
Reward: Granted.
Yujiro exhaled slowly, letting the tension fade from his shoulders.
Shimura Danzo—the so-called Darkness of the Shinobi World—
was no more.