Chapter 71 Breaking into Root's Headquarters

“Think about it.” Danzo’s voice slithered into Maemon’s mind like poison: “You grew up together, but he was always ahead—Chunin, Special Jonin, praised by the entire village. Why is it always him, and never you? Why must you spend your life in his shadow?”

His tone grew sharper, every word started digging deeper: “Everything should have been yours. But because of him, it was taken away. He stole it from you!”

“No!” Maemon’s fading consciousness fought back, and said in a shaking voice: “That’s not true. Renjiro earned everything he has. I’m proud—no—honored to call him my friend!”

Danzo leaned closer, his voice was low but ice-cold: “Remember the times when all eyes were on him? When the praise was his alone? And you? You were nothing but ‘Renjiro’s friend,’ a tag-along who only got anywhere because he dragged you up with him.”

Danzo’s words, laced with chakra and malice, seeped into Maemon like venom. Backed by Genjutsu, his psychological attacks were precise and relentless, chipping away at Maemon’s will until cracks began to show.

“Ahh!” Maemon’s face twisted as envy flared: “Yes… it should have been mine. But he—he took it all!”

“Exactly.” Danzo pressed, his tone turned sharper and louder: “Why should he be the only one in the light? Pull him down, and the spotlight will be yours.”

“Yes… if I just—”

“No! That’s not right!” Maemon snapped back, struggling to break free. He wasn’t a fool—his mind could push back against manipulation. But while Danzo’s words might falter, the Genjutsu’s grip did not.

His eyelids grew heavier by the second. The left had already shut, and when the right followed…

“There’s nothing wrong with it!” Danzo shouted, pressing harder: “Have you forgotten your dream? Always trailing in someone else’s shadow! When will you ever lead your own team? Never! That’s right—your dream will never come true. And do you know why?”

His voice dropped to a freezing whisper: “Because Renjiro stole your glory. He took the place that should have been yours!”

The words slammed into Maemon like a hammer, shattering the last of his resistance.

“Got him.” Danzo murmured, as his eyes were gleaming coldly. In his mind, he could already see Renjiro’s downfall—betrayal, disgrace, isolation.

But then—

“Danzo!”

The name entered the room like a death sentence.

Crkkk!

Lightning cracked into the interrogation room, coiling through the air like a living serpent.

Crkkk! Boom!

A bolt shot toward the wooden frame, followed by a hand gripping the throat of the Root shinobi maintaining the Genjutsu.

Boom!

The man slammed into the wall, helpless as lightning chakra surged through him.

“Danzo!”

Crkkk!

Renjiro stepped forward, lightning dancing across his body, eyes locked on the older man with a fury hotter than fire. He had arrived, just in time to stop the worst from happening.

“Renjiro…” Danzo’s voice was cold, though a flicker of surprise betrayed him.

“…Ren… jiro…” Maemon’s broken voice rasped from behind.

Renjiro turned instantly—and froze. Maemon’s body was covered in whip marks, he could feel his friend's spirit nearly shattered.

“Be… careful… Danzo… is… after… you…”

With that final warning, Maemon collapsed.

Dang!

For a heartbeat, Renjiro stood still. The truth was clear: Danzo hadn’t been able to reach him directly, so he had gone after one of his closest friends instead. Maemon had suffered this… because of him.

“Shimura Danzo! I going to kill you!”

Crkkk!

When Renjiro looked up again, his eyes had changed—black irises now ringed with deep white-blue, and at their center… a glint of blood-red.

Conqueror’s Will!

Boom!

A surge of killing intent exploded in the cramped interrogation chamber, crashing over everyone like a violent storm. Minds buckled under the pressure, one Root shinobi dropped unconscious on the spot, another staggered, clinging desperately to awareness.

Danzo’s voice finally cut through the tension: “Renjiro… this is Root, Konoha’s most secret domain. You’ve trespassed here, and now you dare raise your hand against us? This is treason.”

Renjiro’s hand tightened around the silver-white hilt at his hip. His voice was cold, unyielding: “That’s not what I asked, Danzo. I asked why you laid a hand on my friend. ANSWER ME!!”

“…Because he’s suspected of treason. That’s all.”

Danzo took a slow step toward the door, creating distance—he knew too well that fighting Renjiro in close quarters would be suicide.

“Kindness mistaken for weakness…” Renjiro muttered, his voice filled with regret: “Perhaps I’ve been too forgiving.”

Fusss!

In a flash, Thunder Fang slid free of its sheath, the blade humming in Renjiro’s grasp—trembling with anticipation, hungry for blood.

“Renjiro, I am one of Konoha’s elders, and the Hokage’s advisor. To draw your blade against me is to betray the village itself.”

“Betray the village?” Renjiro’s tone dripped with contempt: “First, someone like you has no right to speak for Konoha. Second, if I kill you here, this all ends.”

His grip on the hilt tightened. In one swift motion, the blade flashed.

Whoosh!

Puff!

The nearest Root shinobi didn’t even have time to register the strike before his head separated cleanly from his body, falling to the floor with a dull thud.

“Scatter!” Danzo shouted. He and the last conscious Root operative bolted for the door.

Crkkk!

Boom!

The moment they crossed the threshold, the interrogation room convulsed with a deafening roar. The ceiling split apart, and tons of stone and earth crashed down, burying everything beneath as if the entire village itself was caving in.

Danzo halted just beyond the wreckage, two dozen Root shinobi closing in to form a living shield around him. His gaze stayed fixed on the swirling dust.

“Dead…?” He muttered, though even he didn’t quite believe it.

“You’re the one who will die.”

Crkkk!

A flash of lightning split the dust apart. Renjiro emerged, arcs of electricity crawling over his body, his sword leveled straight at Danzo.

Thunder God Crescent Slash!

Crkkk! Whoosh!

A blazing crescent of lightning tore through the air, screaming toward Danzo in an instant.

---

There were no words strong enough to capture the fury burning in Renjiro’s chest. His rage now could have set Konoha itself ablaze.

He had never once sought to provoke Danzo. From the beginning, he had stayed away from that man’s filth and schemes. Yet no matter how far he kept his distance, the trouble still came.

As the saying went, sometimes kindness invites exploitation. His title, Lightning Flash of Konoha, might have struck fear into enemies… but it had done nothing to keep away the predators lurking behind him.

What use was such a hollow title?

He had overestimated the strength of his own name… and underestimated the darkness festering in human hearts.

From the moment Danzo first approached him, Renjiro should have been on guard. But he hadn’t been. He had underestimated the depth of Danzo’s venom. For the seat of Hokage, Danzo would go to any length—no matter how vile.

Guilt gnawed at him. His own carelessness had dragged others into this mess.

That guilt… that regret… only fanned the flames of vengeance roaring in his chest.

But Danzo had made a mistake as well. His boldness came from one belief—the Will of Fire. He assumed Renjiro, raised in Konoha and known as a Hokage-faction shinobi, would place the village above all else.

That for the sake of “stability,” Renjiro would swallow any humiliation in silence.

And so, Danzo had acted without fear.

Never imagining Renjiro would be willing to kill him, even if it meant branding himself a traitor.

---

“Danzo-sama!”

“You bastard! How dare you?!”

The Root shinobi finally moved after Renjiro’s lightning crescent sent Danzo flying. Twenty-one shinobi split instantly—half forming a circle around Renjiro, the rest rushing toward Danzo’s crumpled form.

Puff!

But before they could reach him, a puff of white smoke erupted—Danzo’s body dissolving into a splintered chunk of wood.

A Substitution Jutsu!

Of course, Danzo wouldn’t die so easily, he had been prepared for this from the very start.

From the shadows of another corner, he emerged, and said in a cold voice: “Betraying Konoha… Takane Renjiro, harboring such dangerous thoughts? For the safety of the village, you will die here today.”

At his signal, twenty-two elite shinobi, Danzo among them, tightened the noose around their prey.

Renjiro didn’t even glance at the circle closing in. His senses locked on Danzo alone. In this moment, nothing else mattered. Consequences were irrelevant. There was only one thought in his mind, kill him.

“Attack!” Danzo shouted.

Hands blurred into seals all around him—twenty-two Jutsu primed to strike from every direction.

Conqueror’s Will!

Boom!

A crushing wave of willpower erupted from Renjiro, slamming into every enemy at once. Fingers froze mid-seal, eyes widened in shock.

“Now.”

Crrrkk! Crrrkk!

Lightning flared around him, his white-blue eyes narrowed to slits. In the next heartbeat, arcs of electricity exploded outward from his body in all directions.

Lightning Domain!

A searing sphere of electricity expanded ten feet in every direction, sealing off every angle, a perfect 360 degrees of death.

This was Lightning Release: Lightning Domain—a Jutsu Renjiro had developed with Arkain's help after mastering the Chidori, inspired by Sasuke’s Chidori Nagashi, but evolved into something far deadlier.

This Jutsu carried the defensive essence of Chidori Nagashi, but when fused with Lightning-Nature Body Stimulation Mode, its lethality skyrocketed. Think of it as Chidori Nagashi… evolved.

Its only flaw, it could be unleashed only while Body Stimulation Mode was active.

Crkkk! Crkkk!

Boom! Boom!

The Root shinobi never stood a chance. Those closest were frozen in place instantly, nerves overloaded by the lightning surge. The five nearest were roasted alive before they could even scream.

“How… is this possible?!”

Danzo’s lone eye widened. These were his finest, elite shinobi he had personally honed for years—wiped out in seconds.

“What… what is that Jutsu?!”

“Tch… I underestimated this brat…” Danzo grit his teeth. Even after bringing over twenty of his best in a perfectly coordinated assault unit, he had been caught off guard—and it had cost him dearly.

“It seems… I’ll have to kill you myself!”

His cane clattered to the ground as he pulled back his cloak, revealing his right arm. His expression hardened into cold steel.

Renjiro’s gaze stayed fixed, icy, unshaken. One thought burned in his mind, kill Danzo.

“Die!”

Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!

Fushhh!

A storm of high-speed air projectiles erupted from Danzo’s mouth, fanning out to cover multiple angles at once, a smart tactic against Renjiro’s ghost-like movement speed.

But Renjiro had no intention of charging in, not yet.

Crkkk! Crkkk!

Lightning Flash!

Blood sprayed through the air as several more Root shinobi fell—decapitated before they even could catch Renjiro’s shadow.

“You bastard!” Danzo roared. These weren’t just soldiers—they were the very backbone of Root. And Renjiro was cutting them down like overgrown weeds.

Wind Release: Shuriken!

Fusshh! Fusshh!

Two wind-chakra-enhanced shuriken screamed toward him.

Renjiro’s lips curled into a cold smile: “You think that will stop me?”

He didn’t even move. The moment the shuriken struck, they passed straight through him—splitting an unfortunate Root operative behind him clean in half.

Danzo’s lone eye narrowed: “Genjutsu…”

Indeed, Renjiro had left nothing but an illusion in his place.

Boom!

Another Root shinobi crumpled to the ground, reaching weakly toward Danzo before falling silent forever.

“Renjiro!”

Even Danzo, usually the picture of icy control, now burned with rage.

But Renjiro’s vengeance had only just begun.

Crkkk!

Lightning Flash!

In an instant, Renjiro appeared behind another shinobi, his blade resting cold against the man’s throat.

“Angry already?” Renjiro sneered coldly: “My fury is a thousand times greater. I know Root is your life’s work… so I’ll tear it down before your eyes. Then I’ll kill you.”

“You won’t get the chance! Summoning Jutsu!”

Danzo slammed his palm to the ground.

Pufff!

A massive cloud of smoke erupted, and from it emerged Baku, the elephantine chimera. Its gaping maw opened wide, unleashing a terrifying suction that ripped through the air.

Crkkk!

Renjiro felt his lightning chakra peeling away from his body, the pull forced him out of Body Stimulation Mode.

Swoosh!

Even so, his expression remained cold. The silver edge of his blade drew a clean line across the throat of the Root operative in his grasp.

"Ah!"

As the man’s body twitched and fell limp, Renjiro shoved him aside and locked eyes with Danzo.

“That was the last one.” Renjiro said flatly: “You’re next.”

Crkkk!

White-blue lightning flared to life again, more intense, more volatile, as the seal carved into his body released. Against Danzo, he would unleash Thunder God Mode.

Danzo’s lone eye narrowed, his instincts were screaming: “Thunder God Mode?! …A troublesome Jutsu indeed.”

This was the very technique that had forged Renjiro’s legend during the Nine-Tails Incident. Danzo had investigated it thoroughly, only to learn from Orochimaru that it drew upon Natural Chakra, carried severe drawbacks, and was a Forbidden Jutsu among Forbidden Jutsu.

Naturally, its power was monstrous, enough for Renjiro to stand toe-to-toe with the Nine-Tails itself.