"Advisor Danzo, what is the meaning of this?"
Surrounded on all sides, Uchiha Fugaku's expression remained calm as he frowned and looked directly at Shimura Danzo.
"Uchiha Fugaku, you are now suspected of orchestrating the Nine-Tails attack five years ago. You are to be taken into custody."
"Surrender quietly, or I won't hesitate to kill you on the spot."
Leaning on his cane and surrounded by Root operatives, Shimura Danzo spoke in a cold, firm voice.
"The Nine-Tails incident from five years ago?"
Fugaku was stunned at first, then let out a cold laugh, his eyes full of undisguised mockery.
"Danzo, if you want to kill me, just say it. Why bother making up such a reason?"
"Don't try to talk your way out of it, Uchiha Fugaku. I already have solid evidence that you were behind the Nine-Tails attack."
Danzo stomped his cane forcefully and shouted.
"Oh? What evidence?"
Fugaku sneered, his tone laced with disdain.
"The Sharingan of the Uchiha clan possesses the power to control Tailed Beasts. As the clan head and the strongest among them at the time, you couldn't possibly be unrelated to the Nine-Tails attack."
Danzō stated coldly.
"That's your evidence?"
Fugaku laughed aloud, his face full of sarcasm.
"Danzo, you think you can arrest the Uchiha clan head based on that alone? Do you take the Uchiha so lightly?"
"This is slander blatant slander!"
"When we return to the village, the Uchiha clan will report this to the Hokage!"
Enraged by Danzo's accusations, Uchiha Wenzi, Uchiha Arashi, and the others couldn't hold back and spoke out one after another.
Danzo calmly swept his gaze over them and slowly said:
"Since you're all acting alongside Fugaku, you're suspects too. Arrest them all."
Uchiha Wenzi and the others turned livid with rage, eyes nearly blazing with fury.
"Danzo, if the village learns of this, even you won't escape punishment."
Fugaku said in a deep voice.
"The village won't know."
Danzo sneered.
With that, he gave a small hand gesture.
Immediately, over a hundred elite Root shinobi surrounding them sprang into action.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Blazing Meteor!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
"Wind Style: Wind Net!"
One after another, high-ranking jōnin and special jōnin launched coordinated Fire and Wind Style jutsu.
The Wind Techniques fueled the flames, making the fire attacks vastly more destructive.
A sea of fire surged from all directions like tidal waves, overwhelming Fugaku and his group.
In an instant, they felt as though they were trapped in a hellish inferno, flames surging from every angle.
"Counter with jutsu—now!"
Seeing the wall of fire engulfing them, the remaining ten Uchiha—those who hadn't stayed behind in Shangtian Town—grew pale but acted quickly, launching their strongest ninjutsu in defense.
Even the weakest among them was a special jōnin, so their jutsu were powerful.
However, the storm of flames easily overwhelmed and devoured their defenses.
Still the fire came—unstoppable.
Seeing their jutsu crushed so easily, the Uchiha were shaken.
They felt no despair, only because their clan head, Fugaku, remained utterly calm.
And they remembered—he was no ordinary shinobi. He had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, like Uchiha Madara before him.
"Susanoo—"
Fugaku's face remained composed.
His eyes transformed into Mangekyō Sharingan, and the patterns within began to rotate rapidly.
Dark, tangible chakra erupted around him, and in an instant, it formed into a giant black skeletal torso.
The semi-complete Susanoo surrounded Fugaku and the ten Uchiha with him, shielding them inside.
BOOM!
A thunderous roar followed as the massive wall of fire slammed into the Susanoo's black skeleton-like form, exploding like crashing waves.
Wind-enhanced fire, launched by over a hundred elite shinobi, was unimaginably powerful.
But the black skeletal Susanoo's defense was even more fearsome. Not a single flame could breach its shell.
Despite appearing porous, every opening in the skeletal frame was filled with chakra, preventing any fire from seeping through.
After a moment, the roaring flames faded, and silence returned.
As the smoke cleared, Danzo coldly stared at the area that had just taken the full impact of their combined jutsu.
With that level of power—especially from over a hundred high-level shinobi—even someone of Fugaku's assumed Kage-level strength should have taken heavy damage, if not died outright.
And this was only the first wave. More attacks were ready to follow.
"Susanoo...?"
He muttered in shock.
The ground where the flames had passed was scorched and melted, turning to crimson magma in places.
But where Fugaku's group stood, none of that devastation existed.
There stood a massive, dark Susanoo skeleton its frame melting slightly under the heat, but still completely intact.
Within its core, the Uchiha could be seen, unharmed.
Not a single injury.
Not just Fugaku—none of the Uchiha had been hurt.
Susanoo.
This towering black skeleton was unmistakably Susanoo a terrifying ability that only those who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan could wield.
"Mangekyō Sharingan…"
When Danzo saw Fugaku's eyes clearly, shock turned into sheer terror. His face twitched uncontrollably.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Fugaku's eye pattern was not the typical three-tomoe Sharingan—it was the higher-tier Mangekyō.
Uchiha Fugaku had actually awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the Susanoo had been cast by him!
"Uchiha Fugaku… you—you awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
Danzo's face turned grim.
He had accepted the speculation from Naoya that Fugaku might possess Kage-level strength and prepared accordingly.
But he never expected this.
He knew well the terror of those in the Uchiha Clan who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Their strength would rise drastically, potentially exceeding even standard Kage-level.
Not everyone could rival Madara Uchiha, but even so, they were a fearsome force to face.