Shinigami in the Ninja World (Re-upload)

The Uchiha clan was wiped out, and although Hiruzen Sarutobi, as the Hokage, bore the primary responsibility, the one who truly fanned the flames was Danzo Shimura. It was his obstinacy and underhanded actions that pushed the situation to such an extent, forcing Hiruzen to agree to his proposal to eradicate the Uchiha clan.

The person who caused this outcome was Danzo.

Thus, the one who should bear the bitter consequences was also Danzo.

Faced with the aggressive questioning from everyone, Danzo remained unperturbed, showing no hint of panic or negativity.

In fact, he struggled to suppress the corners of his mouth from curling into a smile. He could hardly hold back his laughter.

This situation...

He loved it.

This was the scenario he had always dreamed of achieving.

Konoha had fallen into a crisis, one triggered by that fool Hiruzen Sarutobi. Though Danzo himself was the mastermind, in the eyes of others, the Third Hokage would shoulder the heaviest blame.

Then Danzo would step forward, solve the problem that no one else could, and become the savior.

Under the people's unanimous support, he would rise as the Fifth Hokage.

Although it was a bit delayed...

It had finally arrived, and in the most ideal form.

"Homura, Koharu, you two are nearly a hundred years old combined. Why are you still acting so panicked, like rookies on their first mission?" Danzo spoke calmly and leisurely. "It's just Sasuke Uchiha."

Homura Mitokado stared at him in disbelief, unable to understand how Danzo could say something so dismissive.

"'Just Sasuke Uchiha?'"

"That's the one who killed Itachi Uchiha, and he already possesses strength beyond that of a jōnin," Koharu Utatane said gravely, her face darkening. "In today's Konoha, there's almost no one who can match him."

"Jiraiya is not in the village; he already left."

Danzo shook his head lightly. "No one who can match him…"

"What do you mean by that?"

The eyes of the two senior advisors lit up as they looked at Danzo with hope.

"Does the Root have someone who can contend with Sasuke?"

"Why didn't you use them before?"

"Why hide such resources until now?"

They complained while hoping for a miracle, their hearts full of anticipation.

"The Root has no such person," Danzo said, shaking his head again.

The faces of the two senior advisors fell immediately.

"Then why did you say that?"

"Honestly, Danzo, we're seriously discussing this issue right now. No one is in the mood for jokes."

Danzo coughed twice, straightening his posture to assert his presence.

But…

Neither of them paid him any attention.

One frowned in deep thought, while the other waved impatiently, both indifferent to him.

"Danzo, if you have a solution, just say it."

"With Hiruzen gone, the village can only rely on us old folks now."

Unable to hold back any longer, Danzo spoke up.

"Exactly. It's us old folks who must take responsibility."

"Especially me."

He paused, stepped toward the window, and gazed into the distance. Lowering his voice slightly, he said in a deep tone, "Leave Sasuke Uchiha to me. I will take care of him."

"Are you insane?"

What greeted him was not the praise, shock, or joy he expected but a sharp rebuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha is at a level beyond that of a jōnin!" Koharu Utatane stressed each word with emphasis. "He is not an ordinary jōnin."

"He's someone who could even kill Itachi Uchiha."

"Danzo, you…"

Homura Mitokado spoke softly, "Don't act recklessly. This is a critical moment."

"If you're careless, even if Sasuke gets away, the outcome of our negotiations with the Sand Village will be completely different."

"If Sasuke…"

He didn't dare say the rest.

Konoha could not afford such an outcome.

After being invaded twice, if they failed to handle Sasuke this time, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Although the village would be left in chaos, it would still demonstrate that Konoha had the strength to protect itself.

But if Sasuke succeeded—and even managed to escape—then it would be the third time.

To others, especially the nobles of the Land of Fire, Konoha would become known as an unreliable village.

Unreliable...

That would mean fewer missions, reduced funding—factors that could lead Konoha to spiral into decline.

This was something the ninja of Konoha, from top to bottom, could not accept. It was the baseline of what it meant to be a ninja.

Danzo's face darkened.

He couldn't quite understand the attitudes of these two advisors.

Were they overly confident in him, or did they lack confidence in him entirely?

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were, in fact, overly confident in Danzo. Having grown up together, they knew exactly what kind of person he was—his character and abilities were no secret to them.

Danzo was not incompetent; otherwise, he wouldn't have been chosen as the Second Hokage's personal bodyguard.

But he was far from a genius.

His strength had peaked at the jōnin level in his prime. Now, in his old age, he was weakening—just like Hiruzen Sarutobi had—and Danzo, who was always slightly weaker than Hiruzen, was deteriorating even further.

How could someone who was already weaker than Sasuke hope to keep up after aging and weakening further? Could he somehow reverse the process and match a far stronger opponent now?

"Your perspectives are too narrow!" Danzo chuckled. "I am not the same as that old fool Hiruzen."

"What he cannot handle, I can resolve. You will see that soon enough."

His words carried a hint of frustration and indignation.

"Are you saying…" Koharu looked up suddenly, a flash of realization in her eyes. "You still have those Sharingan in your possession?"

It wasn't hard for her to connect the dots.

Sasuke Uchiha had once questioned Konoha about the fate of the Sharingan from the clan's corpses. At the time, Konoha claimed that Itachi Uchiha had taken them.

But now, in hindsight…

Sasuke's arrival and Danzo's inexplicable confidence made the fate of those eyes clear.

"To deal with the Uchiha, you must use the Uchiha's eyes. Isn't that only logical?" Danzo replied calmly. "I merely utilized available resources to prepare for the worst."

"Just as I am doing now."

"Isn't the Uchiha's strongest knocking on Konoha's door?"

The two senior advisors were at a loss for words.

If they had known about this earlier, they would have rebuked him—not out of any strong moral conviction, but instinctively, as a way of maintaining power balance.

But now…

The reality aligned with Danzo's reasoning.

An Uchiha's might had indeed come to threaten Konoha, and Danzo's preparations now seemed justified.

"So, leave Konoha to this old man," Danzo said as he pushed open the window. A gust of fierce wind blew into the room, scattering loose papers in every direction. "Hiruzen was too indecisive."

"After enjoying the benefits brought by the First and Second Hokage, all he left for Konoha was a series of problems."

Homura looked down in silence.

With the Third Hokage dead, he couldn't refute the accusations against him. If Danzo successfully resolved this crisis, then all the blame thrown on Hiruzen Sarutobi would cease to be slander—it would become fact.

Koharu, however, couldn't hold back. "Danzo, isn't this assessment of Hiruzen too harsh—"

Danzo turned back, cutting her off with a cold glare. "Isn't it true?"

"If he hadn't been so soft, if he'd had the resolve to cleanly handle these issues, how could so many problems have arisen?"

"If he had handed things over to me earlier, the Root would already have a powerful war machine by now."

Koharu fell silent.

It was impossible to prove the validity of such hypotheticals.

Danzo was alive, and Danzo was strong. His words now carried more weight than those of a dead man.

"Let's go." Danzo leapt to the windowsill, his cloak billowing in the wind. "Time to deal with this problem once and for all."

With a single body flicker, he disappeared, heading toward the village gates where Sasuke awaited.

…

At the Konoha Village Gate

For ordinary ninja, Susanoo is an almost insurmountable challenge.

Their ninjutsu cannot damage the solid armor of energy it generates.

As for genjutsu, there's hardly any point in attempting it. Against the Sharingan, simply avoiding being trapped in genjutsu is already a victory.

Susanoo doesn't even need to employ complex techniques. Just by extending a hand, its enormous size, strength, and speed make every move unbearable for these ninja.

"Choza!" Shikaku Nara shouted after observing the situation for a while, calling out to his friend.

A large man responded, "I'm here."

"It's up to you now," Shikaku said quietly. "Even this technique has its weaknesses."

"Although its attack range is vast and its defense formidable, it hasn't moved a single step so far."

"That's our chance."

With a slight gesture, Shikaku signaled.

Choza Akimichi straightened and nodded. "Understood."

"Leave it to me."

With a leap forward, he quickly formed hand seals.

"Multi-Size Technique!"

This was a secret technique of the Akimichi clan, allowing the user to temporarily enlarge their body into a colossal form.

In the blink of an eye, Choza's body, along with his clothing, expanded to over ten meters tall.

"Human Bullet Tank!"

He launched himself high into the air, curling his massive body into a ball, and rolled forward with tremendous force, barreling toward Sasuke with unrelenting ferocity.

"The Akimichi clan's secret technique?" Sasuke muttered softly, his tone calm. "If it had been a surprise attack, it might have caused me some trouble."

"But to plot so loudly right in front of me—are you underestimating me too much?"

He raised his hands.

Sasuke didn't even activate a higher stage of Susanoo.

With a harsh grinding sound, the massive human boulder collided with Susanoo's hands, sending up a burst of white smoke from the friction.

The attack was powerful, but it still couldn't shake the half-bodied, purple giant.

Susanoo's strength was at least equal to, if not greater than, Choza's. The momentum of the boulder visibly slowed until it finally came to a halt.

Shikaku remained silent, simply waving his hand.

Another figure bent down, raising their hands toward Sasuke from a distance.

"Mind Body Switch Technique!"

This was the Yamanaka clan's secret technique.

While both this and genjutsu fall under 'yin release', they are fundamentally different. Genjutsu disrupts the mind, creating illusions for the target to perceive.

This technique, however, directly attacks the target's spirit.

Inoichi Yamanaka gritted his teeth.

He was already a man in his thirties—surely his mental strength wouldn't lose to that of a twelve-year-old boy.

An invisible wave of spiritual energy emanated from him, penetrating into Sasuke's mind.

This technique usually seizes control of the target's body by ejecting their consciousness. Unless the target, like Sakura, possesses a unique second personality within them, the body becomes empty once the original consciousness is expelled.

But it didn't work on Sasuke.

Inoichi found himself entering Sasuke's mental world.

It gave him an unusual feeling.

A typical mental world resembled a room—larger for those with strong spirits, smaller for the weak.

But Sasuke's mental world wasn't a room; it was a palace.

A palace magnified several times over.

No…

Inoichi quickly realized that the proportions weren't wrong—it was he himself who had shrunk.

His heart sank.

This was something he had never encountered before. However, as the head of the Yamanaka clan, whose expertise lay in spiritual techniques, he immediately understood.

Compared to Sasuke's mental world, his own spirit was too weak. The environment naturally compressed his spirit to match the density of this world. With the density increasing, his size was naturally reduced.

Damn it.

What he had worried about had turned out to be true.

This twelve-year-old boy's mental world was far stronger than his own.

At the highest point of the palace, sitting on a throne, was Sasuke, dressed in a kimono. He clapped his hands lightly.

"The Yamanaka clan's secret technique lives up to its reputation," Sasuke said with a faint smile.

"So this is your plan?"

"Turns out you were the ace up their sleeve."

"But it's a pity..."

Sasuke extended a hand, his fingertip glowing white, while his other hand casually supported his head.

"Hadō #4. Byakurai (白雷, Pale Lightning)"

Inoichi had seen this technique before.

But within this mental world, it seemed far more potent.

Faster, stronger—it pierced straight through Inoichi's forehead.

With his spirit injured, the technique could no longer be maintained.

Inoichi stumbled backward, collapsing behind Shikaku.

Shikaku instinctively looked up toward the battlefield. The purple giant was completely unharmed, and within it, Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, his expression calm and unshaken.

Shikaku's heart sank.

The spiritual technique had failed.

Even the combined efforts of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio hadn't managed to affect Sasuke in any way.

But if they couldn't find a way to break through Susanoo, how could they possibly defeat him?

Just then, a man's voice rang out.

"That's enough. This ends here."

"Shikaku, stand down."

"I'll take care of Sasuke Uchiha."