"What abomination is this?!" Hiruzen roared, his face contorted in disgust and fury at the sight of the Sharingan arm. The pale, scarred limb, grotesquely studded with a dozen crimson eyes, was a blasphemy against everything the Uchiha held sacred, everything Konoha purportedly stood for.
"Danzo, you have defiled your own body, desecrated the fallen of a noble clan for your twisted ambition!"
Danzo simply smiled, a cold, humorless twisting of his lips that didn't reach his visible eye.
"Sacrifice is necessary for power, Hiruzen. A lesson you were always too soft to truly learn. These eyes," he gestured with the monstrous limb, the Sharingan irises swiveling with unnatural, horrifying unison, "grant me the vision to protect Konoha from itself, from weakness, from sentimentality. They grant me the ability to ensure its future, even if I must erase inconvenient realities."
He then lunged, not at one individual, but with surprising speed into the center of the Konoha shinobi, his ninjatō flashing, aiming to create immediate chaos, to exploit any hesitation their revulsion might induce.
Minato, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen reacted instantly, their years of combat experience overriding their disgust.
"Spread out! Don't let him isolate anyone!" Minato commanded, already flashing via Hiraishin to intercept Danzo's initial charge, his tagged kunai appearing in a defensive arc.
Jiraiya, already deep in Sage Mode, his features slightly more toad-like, his senses hyper-acute, bellowed, "Senpō: Kawazu Kumite!" (Sage Art: Frog Kata!) His Taijutsu, amplified by natural energy, became an invisible extension of his will, striking out with blows that carried immense force even without direct physical contact, aiming to disrupt Danzo's balance and create openings.
Hiruzen, his Adamantine Staff a blur, moved to support Minato, using the staff's reach to deflect Danzo's ninjatō and create a defensive perimeter.
"Kakashi! Itachi! Flank him! Watch for Wind Style jutsus and those cursed eyes!"
Danzo met their combined assault with a desperate, cornered ferocity. He moved with an unnatural agility, the multiple Sharingan on his arm granting him near-panoramic vision and precognitive abilities that allowed him to anticipate their coordinated attacks with unnerving accuracy.
He unleashed a barrage of Fūton: Shinkūjin (Wind Release: Vacuum Blade) attacks, sharp, invisible blades of wind slicing through the air, forcing Minato to teleport repeatedly, Jiraiya to use his Sage-enhanced reflexes to dodge, and Hiruzen to spin his staff into a defensive whirlwind.
Minato, spotting a fractional opening as Danzo overextended on a wind attack, flashed behind him, a Rasengan already formed and churning.
"Just give up, Danzo!"
Minato roared, slamming the spiraling sphere of chakra directly into Danzo's back. The impact was devastating, a sickening crunch of bone and flesh. Danzo cried out, his body contorting, then collapsing heavily to the stone floor, seemingly lifeless.
A stunned silence fell. Kakashi lowered his Raikiri, panting. Itachi stared, his Sharingan wide. Had it been that easy?
Before anyone could confirm, one of the Sharingan eyes on Danzo's grotesque arm snapped shut, its light extinguishing forever. Danzo's "corpse" shimmered, then vanished, reappearing a few meters away, completely unharmed, a sneer on his face. "Foolish. Did you truly think it would be so simple, Fourth?"
The Konoha shinobi stared in horrified disbelief. What manner of jutsu was this?
Jiraiya, enraged by the deception, didn't hesitate. "Senpō: Ōdama Rasengan!" A colossal Rasengan, amplified by Sage chakra, slammed into Danzo, engulfing him in a maelstrom of destructive energy that tore up the floor and shook the very foundations of the chamber. When the dust settled, Danzo was gone, leaving only a smoking crater.
Again, relief was short-lived. Another eye on his arm closed. Danzo reappeared on a higher ledge, looking down at them with contempt. "Your power is Impressive, Jiraiya. But ultimately, futile against one who can rewrite his own fate."
Hiruzen, his face a mask of grim determination, entered the fray.
He engaged Danzo in a fierce Taijutsu exchange, his staff a blur, but Danzo's multiple Sharingan allowed him to predict Hiruzen's movements. Kakashi and Itachi joined, coordinating their attacks. Kakashi managed to land a Raikiri, piercing Danzo through the chest.
Izanagi.
Itachi followed up, his ninjatō slicing deep into Danzo's neck. Izanagi again. Two more eyes winked out. Danzo was panting now, the repeated use of the unknown jutsu clearly taking a toll, but his smirk remained.
"How many more times can you die, Danzo?" Minato demanded, his Hiraishin kunai already scattering around the chamber, preparing for another assault.
"As many times as it takes to secure Konoha's future, Minato," Danzo rasped, launching a powerful Fūton: Shinkū Daihō (Wind Release: Great Vacuum Cannon), a massive blast of concussive wind that forced them all back.
The battle raged. Each "death" was more brutal than the last. Jiraiya trapped him in a Gamayou Endan (Toad Oil Flame Bullet), incinerating him.
Izanagi.
Minato used a Hiraishin second step, appearing behind Danzo and driving a Rasengan through his skull.
Izanagi.
Hiruzen, in a desperate move, used Katon: Karyū Endan combined with Doton: Doryū Taiga (Earth Release: Earth Flow River), engulfing Danzo in a torrent of fire and molten earth.
Izanagi.
Three more eyes gone. The arm was now visibly scarred where the eyes had closed, the flesh looking dead, grey. Danzo was slowing, his movements becoming more ragged, his chakra visibly depleting with each revival.
"He's weakening!" Kakashi yelled, pressing an attack with Itachi. "The jutsu must have a cost beyond just the eyes!"
Danzo, now with only three Sharingan remaining active on his arm plus his original eye, laughed, a desperate, manic sound. "The cost is irrelevant! The victory will be Konoha's!" He focused his malevolent gaze on Itachi, the youngest, perhaps perceived as the weakest link despite his obvious talent.
"Young Itachi Uchiha," Danzo said, his voice dripping with false sympathy, even as he dodged another of Minato's Hiraishin attacks.
"Such wasted potential. So concerned for your traitorous clan, so blind to the true path of strength. You worry about Shisui? A sentimental fool who threw away his power. Perhaps," Danzo's visible eye gleamed with malicious intent, "you should be more concerned about your other family members. The ones left vulnerable back in your compound."
Itachi tensed, his Sharingan narrowing. "What are you saying, Danzo?"
"While you heroes play your righteous game here," Danzo sneered, narrowly avoiding a blow from Hiruzen's staff, "do you truly believe my Root is idle? My most loyal operatives are not all cowering in these tunnels. Some have... other assignments. The Uchiha Compound is so poorly defended tonight, isn't it? With Fugaku and the elders distracted by their little coup meeting, and you, their prized prodigy, here with me."
He let the implication hang, a venomous seed, his gaze flicking towards Itachi with deliberate menace. "Little Sasuke... such a promising vessel for new eyes, wouldn't you agree? Perhaps even my new eyes, once these are expended."
A blinding, white-hot rage, unlike anything Itachi had ever experienced, surged through him. Sasuke. His innocent younger brother. Threatened.
Used as a pawn in Danzo's twisted games.
Shisui grievously injured, one eye stolen by this monster who now paraded a collection of their clan's sacred dōjutsu, callously sacrificing them.
His clan on the brink of self-destruction, manipulated and feared, partly due to this very man's machinations. The years of suppressed emotion, the frustration, the grief, the desperate desire to protect – it all erupted.
The tomoe in Itachi's Sharingan spun with impossible speed, blurring, twisting, reforming into the sharp, three-bladed pinwheel, tears of blood streaking down his young face. The Mangekyō Sharingan awakened.
The power that flooded him was terrifying, immense, cold. He saw Danzo not just as a physical opponent, but as a nexus of lies, deceit, and corruption. He saw the flickering chakra of the remaining eyes on Danzo's arm.
"You..." Itachi whispered, his voice a low, dangerous growl, resonating with newfound power, "will not touch Sasuke."
Before anyone could react to Itachi's sudden, terrifying transformation, Danzo cackled, a sound of triumph despite his dwindling 'lives'.
"The Mangekyō! At last! Such delicious despair! Yes, boy, embrace your hatred! It is the Uchiha's true strength! The catalyst for ultimate power!"
He clearly intended to provoke Itachi further, perhaps to push him into an uncontrolled rage, or simply to witness the birth of another powerful tool he might yet covet, even in his desperation.
But Itachi wasn't consumed by raw rage. The Mangekyō brought with it a horrifying clarity, a cold, precise focus. He looked at Danzo, the monster who had threatened everything he held dear. He focused all his rage, all his grief, all his despair into that single gaze.
"Tsukuyomi."
The word was barely spoken, but it carried the weight of absolute, undeniable power.
Danzo, who had been preparing to use Izanagi again to dodge an incoming attack from Jiraiya, suddenly froze.
His one visible eye, and the two remaining active Sharingan on his arm, widened in unimaginable terror as his mind was plunged into Itachi's custom-made hell – days, weeks, years of agonizing torture, reliving every betrayal, every sacrifice he had forced, every life he had destroyed, all compressed into a single, inescapable second of perceived reality.
The Sharingan on his arm, the one he was about to activate, flickered and died, its light extinguished as his will, his very sanity, shattered under the genjutsu.
Danzo shrieked, a sound not quite human, a sound of a mind breaking apart, then collapsed, catatonic, smoke beginning to rise from his body as his chakra system destabilized under the immense psychological trauma.
His grotesque arm twitched once, then lay still, the remaining Sharingan now just dull, lifeless orbs.
Minato's Rasengan, aimed at a Danzo he expected to use Izanagi one last time, impacted only empty air as Danzo fell. He stared in shock at Itachi, at the bleeding Mangekyō, then at the utterly broken form of Danzo on the floor.
"Itachi... your eyes..." Minato whispered, horrified and awed by the power unleashed, and the terrible price clearly being paid.
"He... is finished," Itachi gasped, swaying, the immense strain of using Tsukuyomi for the first time, combined with his earlier injuries and chakra depletion, threatening to overwhelm him.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his burning eyes.
Jiraiya and Hiruzen rushed forward, cautiously approaching Danzo's body. Hiruzen prodded him with his staff. No reaction. He checked for a pulse, then looked up, his face a mixture of grim satisfaction and profound sorrow. "His mind is gone. Shattered beyond repair. He's alive, physically, but... Danzo Shimura, as we knew him, is no more."
Minato caught Itachi as he began to topple, guiding him gently to the ground. He looked at the young Uchiha, barely eleven years old, now bearing the terrible power and the inevitable curse of the Mangekyō Sharingan, forced to awaken it by facing the absolute depths of depravity and threatening loss.
"You did it, Itachi," Minato said softly, a mixture of pride for the boy's strength, sorrow for the innocence lost, and profound respect for the sacrifice his eyes represented. "You stopped him. You protected your brother, and in doing so, likely saved Shisui from further torment and the village from... from Danzo."
Itachi looked up, his Mangekyō still visible through the blood and tears, though the pattern was beginning to waver before returning to 3 tomoe and then back to their original onyx color.
"Sasuke… save him…"
Minato caught Itachi as he began to topple, the young Uchiha's body limp with exhaustion, the power of the newly awakened Mangekyō having utterly drained him. He gently lowered Itachi to the dusty stone floor, concern etched deeply onto his face as he looked at the blood still trickling from his student's closed eyelids.
"Medical team, now!" Minato barked to one of the ANBU who had cautiously entered the devastated chamber. "And secure Danzo's body – what's left of his mind, anyway. Highest priority for T&I."
Hiruzen knelt beside Itachi, his expression a complex mixture of awe and profound sorrow. "The Mangekyō Sharingan... at such a tender age. The burden he will carry..." He shook his head, the weight of history pressing down on him. "Danzo pushed him too far."
Jiraiya, his Sage Mode receding, leaving him looking weary, stared at Danzo's catatonic form. "He got what he deserved. But the cost..." His gaze shifted to Itachi. "This changes many things, Minato. For the Uchiha. For this boy."
Minato nodded grimly, his mind already racing through the political and strategic implications. "First, Sasuke." He looked towards the direction of the Uchiha compound.
"The threat Danzo made... I had already reinforced the guard around my own home and placed discreet surveillance on key Uchiha residences tonight, including Fugaku's, precisely because I suspected Danzo might try something desperate if cornered or if Shisui's attempt failed."
He had anticipated chaos, but not this specific chain of events. "But I will dispatch a dedicated ANBU team to Fugaku's house immediately, to confirm Sasuke's safety and ensure no lingering Root elements attempt anything foolish."
He issued swift, quiet orders to another ANBU operative, who flickered away instantly. Minato knew Danzo was manipulative, but threatening a child as a diversion tactic was a new low, even for him. It was the act that had clearly shattered Itachi's carefully controlled composure and unlocked that terrible power.
"Take Itachi to the hospital," Minato instructed Kakashi, who had approached, his visible eye wide with shock as he looked at his young teammate. "Same secure wing as Shisui. Absolute discretion. I need to know the extent of the damage to his mental."
Kakashi nodded silently, carefully lifting the unconscious Itachi, his movements gentle despite the grimness of the situation. He, too, understood the terrible price of the Mangekyō.
As Kakashi departed, Minato turned back to Jiraiya and Hiruzen, the three of them standing amidst the wreckage of Danzo's ambition. "Danzo is neutralized," Minato stated, the finality in his voice echoing in the ruined chamber. "Root, as an organized force directly under his command, is decapitated. But the cleanup... the political fallout with the Uchiha... Shisui's condition..." He ran a hand through his blond hair, the weight of the Hokage hat feeling heavier than ever. "This night has changed Konoha profoundly."
Hiruzen looked at him, a flicker of the old Kage's steel in his eyes. "You acted decisively, Minato. You did what had to be done to remove a festering wound. The consequences... we will face them together, as Konoha always has."
Minato nodded, drawing strength from his predecessor's words. "First, we secure the village. Search everywhere for Shisui's eye, then, we deal with the Uchiha clan meeting. Fugaku must be informed of Danzo's treachery, of Shisui's sacrifice to protect them all from Danzo's grasp. Perhaps," a grim hope entered his voice, "this exposure of Danzo's villainy, his theft of their sacred eyes, will be enough to finally quell the coup and unite them against a common internal enemy, rather than against the village."
It was a slim hope, but it was all they had. The night was still young, and the shadows, though one of their darkest had fallen, still lingered.