Konoha's Mission Master

A blinding, dazzling light erupted from behind Yakumo, as if the entire world was shaking.

A terrifying heatwave, carrying shockwaves, swiftly breached the entrance to the secret chamber and poured into the underground passageway.

The explosion was so powerful that Danzo had incorporated some kind of even more powerful explosive in addition to the nearly one thousand detonating tags.

At this moment, Yakumo should have collapsed to protect his organs as much as possible; that is human instinct, to succumb to the explosion that resembled a natural disaster.

But he turned around abruptly, feeling the intense light and heat hitting him, and slowly closed his eyes.

"My life is in my own hands."

"It's under my control!!!"

He even took a step forward, directly into the high-temperature shockwave, and suddenly swung the double blades in his hand!

No one could see how many times Yakumo swung his weapon in that single second. All that could be seen was that Fumo burst forth with light as bright as the midnight sun, with bright white arcs of electricity swirling around it. All that could be seen was that Jieyu left afterimages, creating a black hole as if space itself had collapsed.

This is the best defense!

The giant black and white cocoon enveloped Yakumo's entire body, and the explosive light and heat prevented it from advancing even an inch further.

Yakumo quietly opened his eyes and watched as the corpses of the Root ninjas were crushed into fragments of blood and bone by the shockwave, disappearing in a flash.

Beyond the blade lies explosion, high temperature, and blinding light.

Within the blade, there was no explosion, no high temperature, and even the light produced by an explosion was blocked, allowing more chakra to flow into the weapon.

Yakumo's sword swings grew faster and faster, the large black and white cocoon continuing to expand outwards, drowning out the sound of the explosion and emitting a sword cry like a dragon's roar!

Unable to break through the black and white cocoon, the shockwave from the explosion changed direction and surged toward the top of the underground tunnel.

Before Yakumo could even feel a surge of joy, he discovered that the underground base at the root was beginning to collapse due to the violent explosion. He then leaped upwards with the force of his legs, changing the direction of his sword swing. The silver blade energy pierced through the soil, and Yakumo's black hair seemed to emanate from his body, bursting out of the ground like a triangular cone.

"Danzo... is actually quite difficult to kill."

Danzo was not dead. He must have used some method to avoid some of the damage from the explosion. A dozen seconds later, Danzo crawled out of the ground covered in soot.

When he saw that Yakumo was completely unharmed, Danzo did not hesitate and fled into the distance.

"I haven't become Hokage yet, I can't die!"

This has always been his guiding principle.

Yakumo immediately stepped forward and blocked Danzo's path.

"Lord Danzo, why be so pathetic? Wouldn't it be better to die in battle like a ninja? Or are you simply a complete coward?"

As he spoke, Yakumo had already launched an attack with his blade.

"Damn it... I'm not a coward!"

Danzo clashed with Yakumo while holding a kunai, and was instantly knocked back, the kunai slipping from his hand.

He's not good at close combat...

The collision instantly brought him back to his senses.

At this point, Danzo was truly pitiful. Without an arm composed of Hashirama cells, he couldn't use Wood Release. He also didn't have the twenty-odd resurrection coins, so he couldn't recklessly use it and could only rely on Wind Release to attack.

Yet it was completely crushed by "compassion"...

Danzo can only keep slashing around with kunai right now. It's a pity that Yakumo isn't of Uchiha blood, otherwise Danzo could have shown off his kunai-stabbing Susanoo technique.

"Wind Escape·Vacuum Jade!"

Yakumo ejected a water droplet that canceled out the vacuum jewel.

The wind-type chakra surged wildly.

Danzo forms hand seals again…

"Wind Release: Vacuum Dance!"

Swish, swish, swish, swish.

Countless transparent wind scythes rushed towards Yakumo, who quickly swung his sword to defend himself while continuing to approach Danzo.

Danzo retreated and bit his finger.

A dream tapir appears…

"Wind Release: Vacuum Dance!"

At the same time, the Dream Eater exhaled, and the transparent wind scythes and speed increased exponentially. The dense wind scythes formed an invisible net, and the whistling wind carried... a chilling killing intent.

Danzo sneered and tossed out several senbon needles. With the aid of wind-style chakra and the cooperation of Baku, these ordinary senbon needles were faster than bullets...

Yakumo stopped, wielding her twin swords to block the wind net, while simultaneously knocking down the senbon thrown by Danzo. However, Danzo gradually gained control of the battle's rhythm.

"Fog burial!"

As the thick fog spread, Yakumo took the opportunity to create shadow clones.

After decades of fighting side by side, Baku and Danzo's teamwork had become so perfect that it was almost flawless.

Each time Tu Zang forms a hand seal, the Baku blows air at the same time.

The number and power of wind sickles increased exponentially.

Danzo gazed at the spreading mist and continued to form hand seals, using Gale Strike once more.

The rapidly spinning storm shattered the thick fog, and standing amidst the storm gave Danzo a rare sense of security. The sharpness of Yakumo's twin swords often reminded him of... Hatake Sakumo.

The rain in the sky gradually intensified, and the two's all-out battle may have already attracted the attention of Amegakure, meaning that Yakumo's time was running out.

Raindrops were swept into the storm, forming a roaring water dragon.

Fortunately... Yakumo's shadow clone was ready.

"Ding, ding, ding."

Yakumo continued to approach Danzo, directly slashing his sword at Danzo's Thousand Needles attack, and pressed forward step by step...

"Wind Release: Vacuum Ball!"

At the same moment, Danzo and Baku opened their mouths, and the invisible air blasts increased in speed, almost instantly covering a distance of tens of meters to reach Yakumo... Blood splattered.

Defenses can fail eventually. This was the first time Yakumo had been injured since the two began fighting. Hardening Technique had failed to withstand the sharpness of Vacuum Jewel.

Danzo's mastery of wind-style chakra nature transformation was unparalleled in Konoha. Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, who chose to specialize in all five elements, he chose to specialize in wind-style ninjutsu. His choice of ninjutsu was just like his personality... obsessive.

Yakumo leaped towards Baku, splashing water columns from the muddy ground. In an instant, Yakumo reached extreme speed, leaving afterimages flying everywhere.

Danzo's summoning beast was the key to the outcome of this battle. It was like a living amplifier of wind-type ninjutsu, making Danzo's ninjutsu extremely...deadly.

"Wind Escape·Vacuum Jade!"

Danzo instantly appeared in front of Baku and roared loudly.

The massive amount of chakra eventually coalesced into a huge, transparent, high-pressure vortex, which then rapidly rammed into Yakumo under the influence of Baku's breath.

"Sever the Void!" Yakumo shouted softly.

Strands of silver blade energy swirled around the long, imposing blade of Fumo, and the next moment the blade pressed down inch by inch.

With a whoosh, the blade energy collided with the enhanced Vacuum Ball, and both shattered simultaneously. The wind-type chakra that splashed everywhere easily cut through Yakumo's skin, and blood immediately flowed out from the wound.

Danzo stood before Baku, surrounded by a blue storm, but his face was already somewhat pale. Although he used Izanagi with the Sharingan of the Uchiha Kagami to escape a fatal situation, his chakra was severely depleted.

"Although I don't know who you are, we don't have any deep-seated hatred between us, so why don't we each take a step back...?"

Danzo began to offer his advice.

"The hatred between us is immense; even tearing you to pieces wouldn't quell the fury in my heart. Besides, there are countless others who want to kill you..."

Danzo... the number one villain in Naruto's ultimate killing list.

"How arrogant..."

Danzo continued forming hand seals, completely unaware of the impending crisis, a scenario that had been planned long before the thick fog descended.

Several hundred meters away, Yakumo's shadow clone began to gather power.

Raise your right arm horizontally and flick your fingers.

The cone-shaped water droplet traveled hundreds of meters before crashing into the tapir's head, splashing out a spray of blood resembling an umbrella.

The water droplets gathered by "compassion".

…It was unassuming and inconspicuous.

But it was enough to be...deadly!

The giant beast crashed to the ground, staring at Danzo's retreating figure.

He stopped breathing... The victory was already secured.

A deep sadness appeared in Danzo's eyes.

In fact, he also expended a lot of chakra to escape the explosion. The simplest way at that time would have been to summon a dream beast and let it take the hit, but he couldn't bear to do that...

The ruthless Danzo gave his last act of tenderness to Baku, who had fought alongside him since childhood, but Baku still died in the end, right before his eyes.

The power of the surging wind scythe suddenly decreased, and Yakumo took the opportunity to break through the wind net, easily tearing apart the defenses that Danzo had set up around him with a sweeping double-bladed attack.

Without the support of the wind, the water dragon shattered instantly.

A real anger surfaced in Danzo's eyes.

Knowing he was doomed, Danzo began to trade blows, hoping to use the Reverse Four Symbols Seal to send his enemies to the underworld.

However, the enemy seemed to have realized his plan and stopped confronting him head-on, instead adopting a tactic of attrition using ninjutsu.

A thick fog rolled in, obscuring Danzo's vision.

A strong wind rose, and the fog dissipated.

Danzo's face grew increasingly pale...

In the rain, transparent water droplets shot out continuously.

Danzo was repeatedly pierced by the water droplets, and blood kept gushing out from the wounds. He charged at Yakumo like a ferocious beast, constantly seeking an opportunity to perish together with him.

"I... am not reconciled... who exactly are you...?"

Standing in the rain, Danzo, covered in wounds, asked Yakumo his final question. He had this question all along: it seemed that the enemy knew all about his trump cards.

"...That's not important, is it?"