Uchiha Keizumi slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the eerie pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan had vanished—replaced by a pair of calm, indifferent black pupils.
Only the twin trails of fresh blood running silently down his cheeks served as proof that he had just used the power of his Mangekyō.
His right eye… He now fully understood its ability.
—It could unleash the Heaven's Punishnt Fla, an inferno that burned both the body and soul of evildoers down to the deepest pit of hell.
The greater the sin carried by the target, the more powerful the Heaven's Punishnt Fla would beco.
The fire even etched a permanent brand onto the soul. No matter where the soul might flee, the Heaven's Punishnt Fla would follow it, like a shadow bound by fate.
In so ways, it resembled Uchiha Itachi's Amaterasu—impossible to extinguish by any ans.
But if the target had committed no evil in their life, the Heaven's Punishnt Fla would transform into a Fla of Salvation—burning away all negative afflictions, even guiding the soul to paradise after death.
Its only flaw was the imnse chakra cost.
It consud at least ten tis more than the left eye's Eye of Judgnt.
The toll on physical stamina was just as visible.
Fortunately—
Uchiha Keizumi had always been gifted with extraordinary endurance.
…
"Keizumi… What kind of dōjutsu did you just use on Danzō-sama?"
Fugaku felt utterly numb. He had prepared himself in every possible way—always guarding against Keizumi turning on them, always alert for sudden betrayal.
But he had never expected Keizumi to invoke the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
And just like that, the unexpected happened.
By the ti Fugaku realized things had gone wrong, it was already too late.
Hiruzen's expression was equally grim.
The echoes of Danzō's blood-curdling screams still seed to linger in the air.
It gave him a whole new understanding of Uchiha Keizumi's iron-willed defiance.
He clenched his teeth and asked, "Keizumi… is Danzō still alive?"
"Who knows?" Uchiha Keizumi replied indifferently.
"The righteous flas of absolute justice will forever burn the evil of the ninja world."
Sarutobi Hiruzen was starting to lose his composure.
After exchanging a few aningful glances, several ANBU mbers broke formation and quickly moved in the direction Danzō had been taken.
But the mont Hiruzen noticed Kakashi making a move as well—
He imdiately called out to stop him.
"Kakashi, you stay here."
That simple command made Kakashi freeze mid-step.
Hiruzen had made this decision out of caution. After all, Uchiha Keizumi had just publicly accused Danzō of being involved in Hatake Sakumo's death.
He feared Kakashi might let hatred cloud his judgnt.
Even though he knew Kakashi wasn't that kind of person, he couldn't afford to take any chances.
Because...
Sarutobi Hiruzen was starting to develop a psychological complex because of Uchiha Keizumi.
Every ti he thought he could predict what would happen next, reality shattered his expectations.
Then—
Hiruzen looked deeply at Uchiha Keizumi, his face somber. His voice grew low and heavy as he said: "Keizumi… this old man hopes that soone like you—who wields such dangerous power—will not turn it against your fellow villagers. I understand that you are pursuing justice, but justice must be grounded in the protection of the village."
He knew full well that Keizumi wouldn't take those words to heart.
But those words weren't really for Keizumi—they were for everyone else.
This way, it wouldn't seem like the Third Hokage was protecting Danzō out of personal loyalty; rather, it would appear as though he was doing so for the good of the village.
As for whether Uchiha Keizumi should be severely punished for disobeying the Hokage's direct orders in front of everyone?
Hiruzen quickly pushed aside that dangerous notion.
The image of Danzō's miserable state was still fresh in his mind.
If he were to openly clash with Keizumi, who had grown even stronger…
Hiruzen couldn't guarantee how many people would have to die tonight to bring him down.
…
"Seems like… the dust has finally settled for now," Hyūga Hiashi muttered, no longer hearing any signs of upheaval.
His voice was low, just barely audible to the Hyūga clansn behind him.
"Hokage-sama… has compromised with Uchiha Keizumi tonight. But Keizumi hasn't fully compromised—only halfway. After all, he still insisted on protecting Danzō."
"Hiashi-sama," one of the Hyūga jōnin whispered anxiously, "Could it be that Danzō has also tried to steal the Byakugan from our Hyūga clan?"
Hiashi fell silent for a mont. A shadow flickered across his eyes.
That resentnt was directed solely at Danzō.
With a cold, expressionless face, Hiashi said, "The Byakugan of the branch family is all sealed with the Caged Bird. Danzō could never break that seal."
The jōnin fell silent as well.
Because he himself was a mber of the branch family.
The Caged Bird—
It was the ever-present shadow looming over every mber of the Hyūga branch house.
...
"Uchiha Keizumi… has he awakened the highest level of our Uchiha clan's Sharingan? That legendary eye said to transcend all realms, capable of unleashing powers that shake heaven and earth—the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
The Uchiha Police Force shinobi were almost entirely focused on this single revelation.
Compared to the fate of Danzō, the ergence of the Mangekyō Sharingan made it hard for them to care about anything else.
A living, breathing Mangekyō Sharingan user stood right before their eyes!
"Patriarch Fugaku… it seems he has that legendary power too! I caught a glimpse of his eyes from a higher vantage point just now—they looked nothing like a regular three-tomoe Sharingan!"
That discovery left the Uchiha shinobi utterly bewildered.
Two Mangekyō Sharingan users… in one single night!
Could it be that the Uchiha clan was finally rising again? That they might soon seize true authority in Konohagakure?
"But Fugaku-sama… just now, he stopped us. He wouldn't let us help Uchiha Keizumi."
Soone finally broke the illusion with an icy tone: "He… he stood with the Hokage, not with the Uchiha."
Many of the more radical Uchiha imdiately fell silent.
Their own clan leader had sided with outsiders.
Was there anything more tragic than that?
"As for Uchiha Keizumi…"
A police force shinobi exhaled slowly and said with calm conviction: "Does that man strike you as soone who could be manipulated?"
...
At the mont the fourth Sharingan eye on his arm slowly closed, it ant only one thing: Danzō had already used the forbidden technique Izanagi four tis in just one night.
And yet—
The Heaven's Punishnt Fla, which clung to the deepest parts of his soul, refused to fade.
No matter what he did, it would not let him go.
In less than two minutes…
He had already experienced the agony of being burned alive by divine punishnt countless tis, each ti rewriting his dood fate using Izanagi's invincibility.
But over and over again, this cycle tore at both his body and spirit.
"There must be a way…"
"There has to be a way out—aaaargh!!!"
Only five Sharingan eyes remained on his arm.
Including the transplanted one in his eye socket, that left him with six minutes of invincibility.
But when he saw another surge of crimson flas erupting from beneath his feet, the light in Danzō's eyes turned to utter despair.
The searing pain of those flas, scorching both flesh and soul, never dulled—he could not grow used to it, nor could he beco numb.
His entire body burst into flas in an instant!
"Aaaarghhh!!"
Just as frantic as Danzō were the nearby Root shinobi.
They had exhausted every thod they knew—dical ninjutsu, sealing techniques, even Water Release jutsu. Despite pouring in everything they had mastered over a lifeti, none of them could extinguish the terrifying, otherworldly flas of divine punishnt that clung to Danzō.
Even trying to seal the fire into a scroll proved utterly useless.
When the power of Izanagi took effect once more—
Danzō reached out with a trembling hand and gripped his deeply wrinkled, distorted face.
His fingernails dug bloody gashes across his skin.
Despair and panic surged within him, so overwhelming that, for a mont, a thought of surrender surfaced—
Maybe I should just give up.
"No! That fire… even if I'm burned to the lowest depths of the underworld, it will follow there and tornt my soul!"
A flash of terror lit up Danzō's eyes.
The soul…
The body…
He clenched his jaw so hard that one of his teeth cracked with a snap.
But before he could fully grasp the spark of insight that had just flashed across his mind, the flas of divine punishnt—rising from nothing—once again engulfed his body and soul completely.
The unbearable pain shattered his thoughts.
"Aaaarghhh!!"
When his body reappeared again, unscathed thanks to Izanagi, Danzō stared in horror at a dumbfounded Root shinobi nearby—the one with the greatest innate talent for sealing jutsu in the entire organization.
This was the sa subordinate Danzō had once trained in secret, even going so far as to copy nurous forbidden techniques from the Sealing Arts Records without Sarutobi Hiruzen's permission, just to pass them down to this man.
"Gen! Use that jutsu!"
The fourth Sharingan eye's Izanagi was about to end. As Danzō quickly ford the hand seals to activate the next one, he shouted at the top of his lungs, veins bulging: "Use Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"
"Danzō-sama, I haven't—"
"Silence!!"
Danzō nearly killed the fool on the spot for wasting even a second more.
Face flushed with rage, he roared, voice cracking from desperation: "Just do it! The flas started from my legs! Use it to sever the soul of my legs, you damn idiot—aaaarghhh!!"
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