Naruto: I am Uchiha Fugaku [123]

"Aah! Aah! Aaaah!"

Screams of agony echoed one after another. Under the relentless barrage of Fire-Style ninjutsu, one Root shinobi after another was incinerated.

Their numbers quickly dropped—now barely more than thirty remained.

"Damn it, who are they?!"

Danzo Shimura, barely managing to block the surprise attack from behind, looked back with a grim expression. Rage surged like a tidal wave in his heart.

Who was aiding Uchiha Fugaku and sabotaging his plan?

As the smoke cleared, the figures of the attackers came into view.

Every one of them had blood-red eyes, each iris marked with black tomoe.

Whoosh—

Danzo’s face went pale.

They were all from the Uchiha Clan.

These attackers weren’t some outside reinforcements—they were Uchiha as well.

It wasn’t just Fugaku and the dozen or so who had shown up earlier. The Uchiha Clan had brought far more.

He turned his gaze back to Fugaku, his voice trembling with suspicion and disbelief.

"Fugaku… you planned this. You knew I would ambush you, didn’t you?"

After all, this was supposed to be a mission to deal with mere bandits. There should’ve been no reason for the Uchiha Clan to send two separate squads—unless they knew there would be a trap.

"Danzo Shimura, the Clan Head saw through you from the beginning. So it really was you behind all this."

From among the reinforcements, the Uchiha’s Great Elder, Uchiha Satsuna, sneered coldly.

Danzo had long been the Uchiha Clan’s most detested enemy. This opportunity to strike him down—he wouldn't miss it, not even in old age.

"Danzo Shimura, this is the day you die!"

Third Elder Uchiha Shi was also part of the operation. His gaze was icy, locked onto Danzo.

Of all their enemies, he despised Danzo the most.

The Third Hokage, ever the hypocrite, masked his suppression of the Uchiha behind lofty ideals. But Danzo was the one who actually carried out those oppressive acts.

Shi hated Danzo for being the dagger in the dark.

"I told you once—just as you want me dead, I want you dead too."

Uchiha Fugaku narrowed his eyes coldly at Danzo, lips curling into a sneer.

"You thought this trap was for me—but it was actually for you. Today, Danzo, you die!"

"Kill me? With just you?" Danzo’s eyes gleamed with malice. "I was fighting on the battlefield before you were even born."

Though the odds had turned against him, Danzo was a hardened schemer. He wouldn't show fear so easily.

"Danzo Shimura is mine. The rest are yours. Don’t let a single one escape!"

Fugaku's voice rang out coldly.

"Yes, sir!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

One after another, the Uchiha shinobi surged forward, killing intent blazing from their eyes as they descended upon the remaining Root operatives.

The thirty or so surviving Root shinobi were immediately overwhelmed—some surrounded by two, others by three Uchiha at once.

"Aah! Aah—!"

Root members began falling almost immediately under the coordinated assault.

Danzo’s expression turned deathly grim as he heard the screams and watched his subordinates fall one after another.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"

Danzo infused chakra into his kunai, transforming it into a glowing, emerald-green chakra blade.

In a flash, he slashed at the nearest Uchiha with the super-sharp weapon. If it hit, the Uchiha’s body would be sliced through like butter.

Clang—!

A red-hot kunai, charged with Fire chakra, intercepted the strike.

Fugaku had arrived in time—blocking Danzo's blow.

"Danzo Shimura… your opponent is me."

As he spoke, Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan spun ominously.

A genjutsu surged through the eye contact, instantly invading Danzo's mind.

"Tch... Damn!"

Even as a Kage-level shinobi, Danzo was caught in the Mangekyō’s genjutsu for a brief moment.

But he was no ordinary shinobi. While it wasn’t Tsukuyomi-level, it was still a potent illusion—yet Danzo broke free within an instant.

Unfortunately, a single instant was all someone like Fugaku needed.

Shlick—

The red-hot kunai, charged with Fire chakra, was drawn back and thrust forward in a blur—piercing straight into Danzo's chest.

It drove in up to the hilt, its tip bursting out of his back.

"Khk—!"

Coughing blood, Danzo looked down in disbelief at the weapon protruding from his chest.

His heart had been punctured. Death was certain.

Yet… he did not look afraid.

Instead, he raised his head and gave Fugaku a twisted smile.

Whoosh—

His body disappeared—along with the blood dripping to the ground.

It had been a Shadow Clone.

Behind Fugaku—Danzo appeared.

His chakra-infused kunai, still glowing with Wind Style: Vacuum Blade, sliced toward Fugaku's back.

"Susanoo—!"

A black skeletal form erupted around Fugaku—the half-body of his Susanoo shielding him entirely.

Crack—!

Danzo’s chakra blade clashed against the black ribcage—and shattered like glass against stone.

But it didn’t end there.

Boom—!

With a roar, the Susanoo's massive black hand slammed behind it—smashing into Danzo before he could dodge.

Danzo was flung like a ragdoll, his body mangled and broken, seemingly beyond saving.

Yet—just a heartbeat later—

The broken body vanished, and Danzo appeared elsewhere—completely unharmed.

Coldly, he stared at Fugaku as he began unwrapping the bandages on his right hand and right eye.

His right eye revealed a Sharingan.

His right arm—held ten more Sharingan embedded into it, each eye spinning grotesquely.

"Izanagi..."

Fugaku’s expression turned glacial as he locked eyes with Danzo.

He had already suspected this—after seeing Danzo use Wood Release, he deduced that Danzo must have implanted Hashirama's cells.

And it was well-known that Sharingan could counteract the instability of Hashirama’s cells.

So of course, Danzo would’ve transplanted multiple Sharingan to stabilize himself.

What shocked him, though, was that even before the Uchiha Massacre, Danzo had already acquired Izanagi—a forbidden Uchiha technique.

A jutsu that rewrites reality, making any injury—even death—an illusion, in exchange for the permanent loss of the Sharingan used.

Understanding the implications, Fugaku’s gaze turned even colder.

"Danzo Shimura… you not only stole the eyes of the Uchiha Clan—you stole our forbidden techniques as well."