"It seems I'll have to take matters into my own hands after all."
Despite his entire unit being wiped out, Danzō—the shadow of the ninja world—remained eerily composed. He tossed aside his cane and slowly unwrapped the bandages covering his right arm, revealing something truly grotesque.
"Sharingan?!"
Under the protection of Susanoo, Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Yashiro instantly flew into a rage.
"He desecrated our clan's ancestors?!"
"You Uchiha are a cursed lineage," Danzō said coldly. "Only in my hands can the power of the Sharingan be used to protect the Hidden Leaf."
Then his eyes fixed on the towering black Susanoo standing amidst the storm.
"Uchiha Dohan… today, I will personally put an end to your evil."
With that, Danzō charged forward, forming hand signs as he moved.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!"
Wind chakra surged in his throat, then burst forth like a barrage of high-speed bullets aimed directly at Dohan's Susanoo. Danzō darted between the blasts, kunai in hand, closing in for the kill.
But from high above, Susanoo swung its blade once—shattering the wind bullets and cutting Danzō cleanly in half at the waist.
The black avatar slowly dissipated, revealing Dohan and his two comrades within.
"Is it over?" Inabi whispered, still catching his breath.
Dohan nodded. "Yeah. It's over."
He stepped forward and approached the bisected corpse of Danzō—who now shared the same fate as many before him in the ninja world.
But then, in the next instant, Danzō's body vanished.
A sudden gust of wind sliced through the air behind Dohan.
"Uchiha Dohan… your eyes… now belong to me."
Danzō's voice was trembling with greed. If he could kill Dohan now, he would possess both pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan—including Shisui's. That power would surely elevate him to Hokage.
Just as the kunai reached within a hair's breadth of Dohan's back, Danzō realized—his body had frozen in place.
And it was starting to fade.
"Wh-What… is this?!"
His right arm—along with the kunai—was already crumbling into dust.
"Your trick… was Izanagi, wasn't it?"
Dohan finally turned around. His left eye spun with Mangekyō patterns.
"A genjutsu that bends reality to your will."
"But unfortunately for you… it's completely countered by mine."
"My Mangekyo ability—Mukagenmei."
"As long as this eye watches over you, all illusions are stripped away. Your false realities no longer exist."
As his words fell, Danzō's body disintegrated into air, and the bisected corpse from before reappeared in its place.
With Danzō truly dead this time, the Hashirama cells implanted in his body began to rampage without the chakra suppressing them. Dohan stepped forward and marked several sealing formulas with practiced precision, suppressing the cellular chaos.
Then he bent down and hoisted what was left of Danzō's body.
"Let's go. We're heading back to the village," he said.
"Back… to the village?" Yashiro blinked in surprise.
"Yeah. It's time we got some answers."
Dohan gestured toward a nearby Root operative still barely breathing.
"Bring him, too."
---
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's Office...
Hiruzen Sarutobi lit his pipe for the twenty-seventh time that day.
A deep sense of unease had lingered since morning—suffocating, inescapable.
"Lord Hokage!"
An ANBU burst into the office, urgent and breathless.
"Uchiha Dohan has returned from his mission. There's been a confrontation at the village gate."
Hiruzen's heart sank.
Dohan returned?
That could only mean one thing—Danzō had failed.
"He just returned from a normal mission. Why the conflict?" Hiruzen asked, trying to keep calm.
"It's what he's carrying…"
The ANBU hesitated, then swallowed hard.
"He brought back Lord Danzō's body. There were multiple Sharingan implanted in it."
"What?!"
Hiruzen nearly dropped his pipe. He had already assumed the worst—that Danzō might fail, or even fall under Kotoamatsukami. But for him to die outright… this exceeded even his fears.
"Lord Hokage, the two village elders are already on their way to the gate," the ANBU added.
"The Uchiha Clan has also been alerted. They're mobilizing."
Hiruzen could sit no longer. He stood and quickly left the office.
---
At Konoha's Front Gate – Dusk
Tension was at a breaking point.
Dozens of elite shinobi in flak jackets surrounded Dohan and Inabi, who now carried the unconscious Yamato over his back.
None had attacked yet.
In the eye of the storm stood Uchiha Dohan, calm and composed. He dropped Danzō's mutilated corpse in front of him like discarded garbage.
"How dare you! You killed a village elder!"
A booming voice cried out.
"Is the Uchiha Clan declaring open rebellion?!"
The crowd parted as the village's two senior advisors—Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane—stepped forward. Upon seeing the grisly remains of their former comrade, their expressions twisted in rage.
"Guards! Arrest these traitors immediately!" Koharu bellowed.
"I'd like to see you try."
A new voice rang out as ranks of Uchiha ninja surged in from behind Dohan. The crimson gleam of countless Sharingan lit the dusk like blood-red fire.
At their head were the hardliners of the clan council, with clan head Uchiha Fugaku reluctantly in tow.
After Yashiro delivered the news, the entire clan had mobilized with stunning speed. Even the moderate elders lost their temper upon learning about the Sharingan-studded arm Danzō had secretly assembled.
Shisui—still recovering from his eye transplant—was forced to abandon his rest. Itachi, who had rushed to stop the escalation, failed to halt the tide. The clan, now fueled by fury, refused to listen to reason. The two nearly came to blows within the compound.
And so, both followed—helpless to stop what had already begun.
"The Uchiha Clan is rebelling?!" Homura shouted.
"To desecrate the bodies of our kin… even rebellion would be justified!"
One of the militant elders stepped forward, eyes blazing.
"Everyone—stand down!"
Just as the two sides were seconds from clashing, a thunderous voice broke through the tension.
A small figure stepped between them, clad in robes that bore the unmistakable title:
Third Hokage – Sarutobi Hiruzen.
At once, both factions froze.