The ground churned. Thick, sturdy tree trunks burst through the earth, transforming into a dense, sprawling forest.
The creaking, groaning sound of twisting wood was unnerving.
Danzo was horrified, his face no longer a mask of calm.
He knew the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara had a unique relationship, but why did Uchiha Madara possess the First's Wood Release Kekkei Genkai?
Tree trunks flew everywhere, crashing towards Danzo.
Danzo swiftly swung his Vacuum Blade, slicing through the trunks before him.
Yōkō had long since kept his distance from Danzo. Now, at the periphery of the flowering trees, he rolled and leaped backward, evading the technique.
The dense trunks blocked the line of sight. Neither Danzo nor Uchiha Madara paid any further attention to the small cannon fodder at the edges.
The Yamanaka Root ninja was too close to Danzo. Anxious to protect his master, he was pinned by a twisting trunk, his abdomen crushed.
Immobilized, he used the Mind Body Switch Technique on Uchiha Madara with his dying breath.
Uchiha Madara didn't even glance at the Yamanaka ninja. A mental attack of that level was like an extra gust of wind to Madara.
The other Root ninja was also quite far from Danzo and, like Yōkō, escaped the range of the flowering trees.
The Root ninja released a swarm of insects resembling a tree canopy, which gnawed at the Wood Release trunks.
This Root member was from the Aburame clan, trying to relieve the pressure on Danzo.
Uchiha Madara tilted his head slightly, glancing sideways at the Aburame ninja, seeming somewhat surprised by his skill.
A flower bloomed within the wooden forest, releasing a cloud of poisonous pollen.
The insects died in droves on the Wood Release trunks, leaving behind clumps of insect corpses.
The Aburame ninja switched through three types of Parasitic Destruction Insects, but none could withstand the poisonous pollen, dying miserably.
As for Yōkō, he diligently attacked the Wood Release trunks before him with Earth-Style Rising Spears, making a grand show of it while fighting his way farther and farther back.
Uchiha Madara, despite his frail, aged appearance, possessed an abnormally vast chakra reserve.
He stood upon a rainbow bridge formed of tree trunks, looking down at Danzo.
Danzo formed hand seals and used a ninjutsu: "Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
A high-pressure sphere of wind shot from Danzo's mouth, shattering numerous trunks of the flowering trees.
Wooden splinters flew everywhere in the rainy night.
Uchiha Madara's eyes became slightly more animated, his interest in Danzo growing.
"Not bad, your Wind Release proficiency is passable," Uchiha Madara said. "But how will your Wind Release handle this technique?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a giant wooden humanoid erupted from the ground within the forest of flowering trees.
The wooden humanoid swung its fist, smashing towards Danzo.
Danzo used Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere again. However, the wooden humanoid's durability was far higher than expected.
The surface of the fist cracked thinly, then broke through the Wind Release and slammed towards Danzo.
Danzo barely dodged the wooden humanoid's fist at the last moment.
He immediately changed tactics, no longer trying to withstand the attacks directly, but instead leaping swiftly through the forest straight towards Uchiha Madara.
He believed Uchiha Madara, in his advanced age, might be straining himself like Uzumaki Mito had, a spent force.
Now wasn't the time to dwell on why Uchiha Madara had Wood Release; he had to kill the aged Madara first.
Once Uchiha Madara was dead, it would all be over.
Danzo had long wanted to master Wood Release but hadn't grasped the essentials. Perhaps the secret lay with Uchiha Madara.
If Uchiha Madara could master Wood Release, why couldn't he?
Danzo's Sharingan spun wildly as he dodged the trunks and vines along his path.
The trunks multiplied, growing incessantly. Danzo also utilized his Mangekyō dōjutsu.
"Susano'o!"
A turquoise Susano'o skeleton manifested around Danzo.
Seeing the turquoise Susano'o, Uchiha Madara's voice rang out again:
"That fool Tobirama taught nothing but trash like you. Using Susano'o before me?
Those foolish Uchiha, played by Konoha, couldn't even protect their Mangekyō."
Uchiha Madara snorted coldly and raised his hand for the first time.
For all previous ninjutsu, Uchiha Madara hadn't moved his hands, at most calling out their names.
This time, Uchiha Madara formed hand seals, indicating he was taking things slightly seriously.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
A wooden dragon erupted from the forest of flowering trees, let out a piercing shriek in the air, and charged straight at the Susano'o.
The Susano'o was entangled by the wooden dragon. The dragon devoured its chakra, causing the newly formed muscles of the Susano'o to recede and vanish, leaving only the skeleton.
Blood instantly streamed from beneath Danzo's right eye.
The Mangekyō Sharingan consumed a great deal, compounded by the chakra absorption of the wooden dragon. Danzo felt pain and soreness in his right eye.
His vision suddenly blurred. Danzo thought had his body had already reached its limit after using the Mangekyō only twice?
The Susano'o vanished. The wooden dragon entwined around it lost its grip in an instant, finding nothing within.
Wind Release propelled Danzo, allowing him to leap out of the dragon's coils.
While in the air, he formed hand seals and launched a ninjutsu at Uchiha Madara: "Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!"
Accumulated Wind Release chakra shot from his mouth like bullets, firing continuously with short, sharp exhalations, akin to a machine gun.
The wind projectiles carried terrifying, penetrating force towards Uchiha Madara.
Uchiha Madara raised his hand and also used a ninjutsu.
"Wood Release: Wood Spikes!"
Dozens of wooden spikes shot forth from the rainbow bridge beneath his feet.
Danzo's Vacuum Bullets were neutralized one by one by the wooden spikes. Not only that, but several spikes rapidly pierced Danzo's body.
The wooden spikes exploded inside Danzo's abdominal cavity, bursting out from his back.
Danzo turned into a pincushion. With such injuries, his internal organs were surely utterly destroyed.
Yōkō's eyes were fixed intently on Danzo.
His vision blurred!
Danzo's figure suddenly vanished, as if he had never been there.
The spikes from the Wood Spikes technique fell from the air.
Only the red blood and green bile on the spikes proved Danzo had indeed been impaled.
At the foot of the hillside, Danzo emerged from behind a tree trunk and fled hastily into the distance.
Yōkō cursed inwardly. Damn it, he didn't even say anything when he ran.
From the side, Yōkō saw that the Mangekyō in Danzo's right eye had turned pale and white, like a dead fish's eye.
Uchiha Kagami's precious Mangekyō Sharingan had become a one-time-use Izanagi tool for Danzo.
Yōkō and the Aburame ninja quickly followed.
Uchiha Madara stood on the hillside, showing no intention to pursue. He cast a contemptuous glance at the fleeing figures and turned back into the cave.
Yōkō guessed there were still some final steps in transplanting Nagato's Rinnegan.
Nagato was far more important than a few Konoha minnows.
After putting distance between them, Yōkō felt no relief, but increased tension.
Big trouble!
Yōkō followed behind the Aburame clansman, who in turn followed Danzo.
Yōkō didn't dare make a sound. He avoided every puddle, every pile of leaves, terrified that any noise might cause Danzo to turn around and kill him to vent his fury.
Yōkō's current mood was three parts delight, seven parts regret.
He was delighted that the old scoundrel Danzo had been humbled, had a major failure before Uchiha Madara, and painfully lost one Mangekyō Sharingan.
You have a day like this, too, Danzo. Your fresh Mangekyō Sharingan, not even warmed in its socket, was ruined by Uchiha Madara.
The regret was that Uchiha Madara was too disappointing.
Uchiha Madara talked the biggest game; his taunts were maxed out, yet he couldn't even kill a single Danzo.
Would it have been so bad to transplant the Rinnegan a little later? With just an ordinary Three Tomoe, what could you really do?
Can't even kill Danzo? You're a loser, a total loser. No wonder you never accomplished anything in your life.
It wasn't just Yōkō; the Aburame ninja ahead was also trembling with fear, no better off than Yōkō.
(Chapter End)