Boom…! Boom…! Boom…! Boom…! Boom…!
A series of explosions reverberated in the forest, and amidst these explosions, the figure of ‘Danzo’ dragged a series of afterimages and shuttled between the trees, herbs, and shrubs seemingly unharmed.
From time to time, his body would flicker, and every time it did, painful screams of Kumogakure shinobi would resound on the battlefield.
No one… No one among the Kumogakure squad except the Yondaime Raikage was able to keep up with Danzo’s speed at this moment.
“Damn!”
Seeing his Shinobis being slaughtered by ‘Danzo’ one after another, and that too in his very presence, Yondaime Raikage grew furious by the minute, however, he was helpless.
Earlier, Ay was able to beat ‘Danzo’ in terms of speed and power, so he was confident that no matter what means ‘Danzo’ uses in the battle, the old man would be beaten by him… But as the battle started, Ay quickly realized how wrong he was!
True, he has mastered the Lightning Chakra Mode that gives him good reflexes, immense power, and most of all, speed, but, that speed seems to be nothing in the face of ‘Danzo’s’ Swift Release!
Much less stopping Danzo, Raikage is finding it hard to be able to keep up with Danzo’s speed.
Raikage wondered, ‘How is it possible? Even Hiruko wasn’t as fast as he is! Just how?!’
In fact, Raikage was finding the situation before him quite strange, Danzo’s speed was too fast, fine, but what was up with his combat skills?
Oh… and for all those wondering that ‘Danzo’s’ combat skills have also improved significantly along with his speed, don’t… they haven’t, rather, they, have degraded… degraded far too much…
Based on what Ay is seeing, it is as if ‘Danzo’ doesn’t even know the first thing about combat… all he is relying on at this moment is his speed, which is quite strange and a matter to be frowned upon, but it is also a blessing at this moment for if that was not the case, the number of casualties his shinobis would have suffered at this moment would have been much more!
Whoosh…
Another flicker, another shinobi fell…
Thump… Plop…
As the blood of the shinobi splattered on his face, a strange expression dawned on Danzo’s face. It seemed to be the joy, excitement, and pride that a new shinobi would have on succeeding in killing his enemies…
Raikage muttered to himself in confusion, “What the hell’s going on?!”
Although he was unable to figure out the situation before him, this didn’t stop him from doing his best to stop Danzo.
‘Lightning Operation Horizontal!’
As Raikage used his Nin-taijutsu, an enormous amount of lightning gathered on his hand, and using his hand like a battle-ax made out of lightning, he slashed it towards Danzo creating a thunder blast!
Boom…!
Facing one of the most dangerous Nin-taijutsu of Ay, Danzo was unable to resist head-on and instantly flew out like a cannonball, slammed into trees creating holes in them, and finally smashed into the ground… creating a deep pit.
After delivering such a powerful and dangerous blow to Danzo, Raikage panted heavily, and after recovering, he turned towards Kumogakure Shinobi, and instructed, “Seal his body inside a scroll, and we will immediately be leaving the hinterlands of the Land of Fire.”
Raikage did not worry whether ‘Danzo’ is really dead or not… Raikage has confidence that no one can survive such an attack after taking it head-on. In Raikage’s eyes, Danzo is already a corpse!
“Understood Raikage-sama!” his shinobi nodded and got to work; they too were convinced that Danzo is dead after taking Raikage’s ‘Lightning Operation Horizontal!’ head-on!
They couldn’t have been more wrong…
As Kumogakure shinobi walked towards the pit where the supposed corpse of Danzo should be lying, they heard a sound…
Kacha…
It was the sound of a twig being stepped upon… and it definitely came from the pit…
The Kumogakure shinobi looked at each other’s faces as the figure of Danzo walked out of the smoke step by step.
Although the Hokage robe he was wearing was tattered, his body had no signs of damage whatsoever.
Witnessing such an unrealistic situation before them, all the Kumogakure shinobi were taken aback…
“But how? How is this even possible?”
“What sort of monster has he become?!”
“Has he… Has he really become a perfect shinobi just like Hiruko of the five styles?”
Even Raikage was out of his wits and realized that he could no longer assess Danzo before him with the same eyes, the supposed old man standing before them had completely changed… he was no longer the same guy he used to be… he had become a monster, just like Hiruko.
As Danzo walked out of the smoke, his demeanor and aura were completely different from a while ago. It was as if the Danzo standing before them at this very moment was a completely different Danzo from a while ago. Although his expression was still a bit dignified, there was neither any trace of nervousness or anxiousness on his face nor was there anger or insidiousness hidden in his eyes.
‘Danzo’ glanced at the Kumogakure Shinobi surrounding him, then quickly formed the hand signs and shouted, ‘Vapor Style: Solid Fog Jutsu!’ as he released a large amount of acidic mist from his mouth.
The acidic mist quickly played its role, and the Kumogakure Shinobi who weren’t prepared for such an attack started to suffer and cry out in pain and misery.
“My eyes… I… I can’t see anything!”
“Aaahhhhh… my face is melting!”
“This is the Vapor Style of Kirigakure… everyone, use Wind Style to blow away the acidic mist, or we’ll all be dead!”
After being reminded by one of their companion shinobi, the Kumo shinobi who could use Wind Style used their Jutsu to blow away the mist, while the rest tried to distance themselves from the mist.
But even with timely action, there were still a few casualties among the ranks of Kumogakure shinobis.
As the Kumogakure shinobis distanced themselves from the acidic mist, ‘Danzo’ also moved… and in the blink of an eye, he had already pierced and crushed the hearts of seven shinobis surrounding him.
Unlike before, this time his combat skills were not poor… and this shocked Ay, “How did he improve so much in such little time?”
Ay was able to feel it… ‘Danzo’ at this moment was completely different from ‘Danzo’ a while ago. The face and body of the man are still the same, however, he is a completely different person!
And while Ay was wondering in confusion, Danzo was doing his job.
With the help of Swift Release and Crystal Release, Danzo started a killing streak…
All the shinobi surrounding him were elites, however, these elites were being ruthlessly killed by him with ease.
One after another, shinobi fell, and the next number was of Dodai…
Dodai could see Danzo’s eyes on him, and he understood that he was the next target, however, in the face of speed that could outrun the fastest Raikage, he knew he wouldn’t be able to put up any resistance…
Seeing Danzo appear before him, Dodai closes his eyes, accepting his fate… he understands very well that he is going to die, but he doesn’t plan to die a meaningless death…
He planned to create an opportunity for Raikage-sama using his life…
And so, he tried his best… and for a moment, it seemed to work… He didn’t understand why, but strangely enough, Dodai was able to keep up with Danzo…
Ding Ding Ding Ding…
Their Kunai collided with one another… creating sparks of metal collision.
While having a heated battle with Danzo, Dodai was thinking of what he could do to create an opportunity for Raikage-sama, and just as he thought of a strategy, Danzo’s movement came to an abrupt end, and he shouted, “Stop!”
Dodai, other Kumo Shinobis, as well as Ay, all were taken aback and looked at Danzo in confusion, and stated, “It’s too late to beg for mercy Danzo…”
‘Danzo’ clutched his head, and shook his head painfully, “Stop it, it’s not Danzo… It’s me… me… Hamu!”
“Hamu?!”
Everyone was taken aback, be it Raikage, Dodai, or other Kumogakure Shinobi… More so, given the fact that ‘Hamu’ is the name of the boy who awakened the ‘Storm Release’ Kekkei Genkai and went missing not long ago.
Raikage took a step forward, the lightning surrounding him roaring fiercely as he questioned, “Danzo… are you trying to mock me?”
‘Danzo’ shook his head, and knelt on one knee as he replied, “Raikage-sama… It’s really me, Hamu… this man’s ritual had some flaw in it, which is why I am able to take control of his body at this moment… It is really me… please believe me!”
Yondaime glared at ‘Danzo’ for a moment, then said, “Prove it… prove that you are indeed Hamu.”
‘Danzo’ questioned, “How?”
Ay said, “Tell me something that only the two of us know…”
Danzo thought for a while, then nodded, “On the night I awakene-…”
However, before he could continue any further, the sound of shinobis approaching them reached their ears.
‘Danzo’ got worried, and hurriedly said, “Raikage-sama… I will prove that I am indeed Hamu later, Right now, we must leave, more than fifteen hundred Konoha Shinobi were present near the volcano, and they are probably the ones approaching us… I don’t know how many of them are still alive, but we can’t risk being seen by them… we must leave, right now!”
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦