"It seems I have no choice but to make a move." Though his subordinates had been completely wiped out, the Darkness of the Shinobi still appeared composed. He discarded his walking stick, slowly unwrapped the bandages around his arm, and revealed a terrifying right arm.
"Sharingan?" Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Saitou, protected by Susanoo, were instantly infuriated. "How dare you desecrate the remains of our clan's ancestors!"
"Your Uchiha clan is naturally evil by birth. A power like the Sharingan can only be used to protect Konoha in my hands," Danzo said, raising his eyes to look at the dark war god standing tall in the torrential rain. "Uchiha Toukan, today, I will personally put an end to your sins."
With that, Danzo lunged fiercely at Uchiha Toukan while forming hand seals with both hands.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!" Wind-style chakra gathered in Danzo's mouth, then barraged Uchiha Toukan's Susanoo like bullets. Weaving through these high-speed flying vacuum spheres, Danzo rushed forward with a kunai in hand to stab Uchiha Toukan.
Yet the high-altitude Susanoo destroyed the vacuum sphere diversion with a single slash, and Danzo was directly cut in half by that very blow.
The Susanoo slowly dissipated, revealing Uchiha Toukan and the other two who had been sheltered within it.
"Is it over?" Uchiha Inabi finally reacted, murmuring under his breath.
"Yes, it's over." Uchiha Toukan nodded, then walked over to Danzo's corpse—which shared the exact same iconic modern death pose.
However, the next second, Danzo's corpse vanished right before their eyes, and a piercing sound of wind rang out behind Uchiha Toukan.
"Uchiha Toukan, I'll be taking your eyes." Danzo's voice was laced with unconcealable excitement. As long as he killed Uchiha Toukan, those two pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan—including Shisui's Mangekyo—would surely help him become Hokage.
Yet, just as the kunai was less than a millimeter away from Uchiha Toukan's back, Danzo suddenly found his figure freezing in place as his body began to slowly dissolve.
"This... what is this?" Danzo stared in disbelief as his right arm and the kunai completely vanished into the wind.
"Your trump card was Izanagi, wasn't it?" Uchiha Toukan slowly turned his head, the Mangekyo pattern in his left eye spinning rapidly. "An illusion capable of toying with falsehood and reality, but unfortunately, it is completely hard-countered by this eye of mine."
"My pupil technique, Truth-Shatterer. Under the gaze of this eye, all falsehood ceases to exist." As Uchiha Toukan's words fell, Danzo's figure completely vanished into the air, and the corpse that had disappeared earlier reappeared once more.
Deprived of chakra restraint, the Hashirama cells within Danzo's severed corpse immediately began to riot. Uchiha Toukan raised a hand to cast several sealing techniques, suppressing the chaotic cells before bending down to pick up the half of Danzo that remained.
"Let's go, back to the village," Uchiha Toukan said.
"Back to the village?" Uchiha Saitou was momentarily stunned.
"Yes, back to the village to demand an explanation," Uchiha Toukan said, then looked at the Wood Style ninja not far away who still clung to a thread of life. "Bring him."
...
Inside the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen lit his pipe for the 27th time today. For some inexplicable reason, ever since this morning, he had been enveloped by a profound sense of unease.
"Lord Hokage, Uchiha Toukan, who left the village this morning, has returned and clashed with the guards at the village gates." An Anbu operative suddenly burst into the Hokage's office in a panic.
Hiruzen's heart sank heavily. Uchiha Toukan had returned—which meant Danzo had failed?
"He merely completed his mission and returned to the village, why would there be a conflict?" Hiruzen asked hurriedly.
"In his hands..." The reporting Anbu swallowed hard. "He is dragging Lord Danzo's corpse. Moreover, there are several Sharingan embedded in Lord Danzo's body."
"What?" Hiruzen's expression changed drastically. To be fair, he had already vastly overestimated Uchiha Toukan's strength, preparing himself for the possibility that Danzo's ambush had failed, or even that Danzo had already fallen victim to Kotoamatsukami. He never expected Danzo to die directly at Uchiha Toukan's hands.
"Lord Hokage, the two elders have already received the news and are currently on their way to the village gates," the Anbu continued, "Furthermore, the Uchiha clan has also gotten word and is currently mobilizing."
Hearing this, Hiruzen could no longer sit still and hurriedly stood up to walk outside.
By evening, the atmosphere at the gates of Konoha was fraught with tension.
Dozens of ninjas wearing flak jackets had already formed a perimeter around Uchiha Toukan and Uchiha Inabi, who was carrying Yamato on his back. Yet no one made the first move. Uchiha Toukan stood calmly in the center of the encirclement, looking utterly composed as the mangled half of Danzo lay discarded at his feet like trash.
"Audacity! How dare you murder a Konoha elder! Does the Uchiha clan intend to betray the village?" A stern shout broke the silence. The ninjas surrounding Uchiha Toukan parted to make way as Konoha's two senior advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, strode out. Upon seeing the miserable state of their former comrade, they immediately demanded sharply, "Men, take these two rogue ninjas down!"
"Let's see who dares!" At that exact moment, wave after wave of Uchiha ninjas arrived from behind Uchiha Toukan. In the glow of the setting sun, pairs of scarlet Sharingan emitted a dangerous light. At their forefront were several militant elders of the Uchiha clan alongside their patriarch, Uchiha Fugaku, who had been swept along by them.
After Uchiha Saitou returned to the clan to relay the news, the Uchiha ninjas had mobilized at maximum speed. The news he brought back—specifically about Danzo's arm full of Sharingan—had ignited furious rage even among the clan's doves.
Shisui, who had just completed his eye-transplantation surgery and was still recovering within the clan, could not sit still upon hearing the news. Itachi, who had rushed to find him the moment he heard, intended to prevent this escalation, but the Uchiha had lost most of their reason by then. Their dissuasive efforts were entirely useless and almost sparked an internal conflict within the clan, leaving them with no choice but to accompany the rest of the clan members to the gates.
"Is the Uchiha clan attempting a rebellion?" Mitokado Homura demanded angrily.
"You dare desecrate our clansmen's remains—a rebellion today is hardly out of the question!" one of the militant Uchiha elders refused to yield an inch.
"Cease this at once, all of you!" Just as the two opposing forces were on the verge of clashing, Sarutobi Hiruzen's robust voice rang out. A slightly short figure appeared in the center between the two factions, wearing the Third Hokage's customary haori with the bold characters for "Third Hokage" prominently displayed. At the sight of his arrival, both sides immediately froze.