Chapter 720: The Truth and Reward

After sealing the small Nutrition capsule containing the pair of Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan inside a storage scroll, Kuroto put the scroll inside his Kimono and then step-by-step walked towards Danzo.

At this time, all the madness and ruthlessness from Danzo’s head has disappeared, his face was filled with panic and embarrassment as he crawled on the ground with difficulty, moving away little by little, struggling meaninglessly.

As Danzo was crawling, his back was exposed and everyone could see the stab mark and the decayed flesh around the stab, the decay was clearly visible and it was constantly spreading.

The same is true for Danzo’s arm as well, in fact, the condition of his arm is worse as the scope of the wound on his severed arm is much more compared to the stab wound on the back, so his entire shoulder and chest are affected by the decay.

“Why? Why is this injury not healing? Before, even if my chest was pierced, the wound easily healed, but why is this wound not healing?!” Danzo murmured with a frustrated expression.

As Kuroto approached the crawling Danzo, he explained in a calm tone, “I told you before… this small black ball in my hand may look simple and fun to play with, however, it is one of the most dangerous things in this Shinobi World, it is made up of all the seven chakras… if touched by this little thing, anything will disintegrate, there’s basically no counter unless the thing that touches it possesses Six Path Chakra which you clearly don’t… so your body is no exception.”

Danzo was stunned upon hearing Kuroto’s words, earlier when Kuroto said this, Danzo felt that maybe Kuroto is bluffing and he will be able to escape the crisis if his eyes evolve but now that he clearly understands the implication of Kuroto’s words, he suddenly realized something, “In the first attack… you deliberately retrained yourself and avoided severely injuring me?”

Having lost the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, Danzo’s emotions were no longer influenced by those eyes, he was able to get past his greed and think objectively as he understand all of Kuroto’s actions.

“Yes.” Kuroto nodded lightly, and explained, “If you felt your life disappearing, you would have immediately used Izanagi… I didn’t want that.”

Exactly as Kuroto said, in the first attack he made on Danzo, Kuroto made sure to retrain himself to some degree and avoided immediately killing him, because Danzo would have felt his life force disappearing and he wouldn’t have hesitated for even an instant to use Izanagi. If Danzo had used Izanagi, then the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan would have been destroyed and Kuroto didn’t want that.

So, Kuroto made a small attack that would slowly decay Danzo from inside and while that happened, he distracted Danzo with talks to ensure that Danzo doesn’t notice anything inside his body.

This was a foolproof plan, and Kuroto was sure that it would succeed because anyone who has touched the Truth-Seeking Orbs can not survive unless they possess the Six Path Chakra.

Danzo may have survived the Kekkei Genkai Absorption Ritual, and acquired Yin-Yang chakra, it was only enough to awaken the Rinnegan, not enough to survive the decay caused by the Truth Seeking Orbs.

It can be said that the moment Danzo was touched by the Truth-Seeking Orbs, he had already lost the battle, and the countdown of his last breaths had already started. Even if Danzo had succeeded in awakening the Rinnegan, he wouldn’t have been able to revert the decay in his body caused by the Truth-Seeking-Orbs and would have perished either way… In fact, this was Kuroto’s plan on weakening Danzo in that situation in order to easily deal with him. Thankfully, Danzo didn’t awaken the Rinnegan and the plan went on smoothly.

Understanding the ins and outs of the matter, Danzo couldn’t help but smile miserably, “So it turns out that rather than being afraid of me, you were afraid of the possibility that I might ruin those eyes through the use of Izanagi?!”

Kuroto nodded, “Yes.”

Hearing Kuroto’s acknowledgment Danzo felt that the real reason why he lost this battle is not because of Kuroto or somebody else, rather it was because of his own greed… If instead of greedily absorbing Homusubi’s Visual Prowess on that battlefield because of his overconfidence in his strength, he had chosen to steal her eyes and run away and secretly absorbed the Visual Prowess, then the result would have been completely different.

“You deliberately allowed me to absorb Uchiha Tsukihi’s Visual Prowess…” he paused, and recalling Tsukihi’s odd behavior while he help her by the throat, he suddenly realized, “No… rather than you… it can be said that it was Tsukihi who tempted me by allowing me to absorb her Visual Prowess and affected my judgment…”

Only now did he realize that rather than him capturing her, she allowed him to catch her and do whatever he wants without losing much resistance. Initially, Danzo was confused, but he attributed this to his strength and focused on absorbing her Visual Prowess… But now that he thinks about it, he finally understands everything. It turns out that from the very beginning he was dancing in the palms of Amatsukami members!

Thinking of this, Danzo asked inexplicably, “Why?! Why do these Uchiha shinobi and the other members of Amatsukami follow you so selflessly? This is completely unreasonable… the one they should be loyal to is me…not you! So why? Answer me!”

Before Kuroto could say anything, Shisui interrupted, “Because unlike you, Kuroto-san doesn’t want to spread terror over the Shinobi World! He is not driven by greed and he doesn’t desire power! And most of all, unlike who only cares only about himself, he is trying to protect Konoha and the Shinobi world.”

Danzo angrily shouted at Shisui, “Shut up! I am Konoha’s Hokage! Only I can save Konoha, you damn Uchihas are ruining everything… you idiots should be obeying my orders, not him!”

“Humph… only in your dreams.” Both Shisui and Itachi snorted at Danzo’s claim.

Seeing the three of them arguing, Kuroto chuckled lightly, then instructed Shisui and Itachi, “Since this matter has been resolved, the two of you should go back to the village… I will take care of the aftermath here.”

Shisui glanced at unconscious Tsukihi lying on the ground and asked, “Kuroto-san… do we need to take back Tsukihi with us for treatment at Konoha Hospital?”

Kuroto shook his head, “No, she can’t be treated in the village… I will personally take care of her treatment, don’t worry about it.”

“All right then.” – said Shisui, then without asking anything, both Shisui and Itachi used their own means and disappeared from the sinking island.

After Shisui and Itachi left, Kuroto turned toward Danzo and said, “Shimura Danzo, to be honest, I am quite grateful to you… All things considered, although you were a major headache and irritated me on several occasions, you were still a major help to me and help me understand the loopholes as well as hidden dangers of the Kekkei Genkai Absorption Ritual.”

Hearing this, Danzo was taken aback, “It turns out that the one behind all that was you, not Uchiha Tsukihi!”

Danzo always thought that the ones interested in the ceremony were only Fujin and later Homusubi, only now is he realizing that even Hyuga Kuroto is also interested in the ceremony.

Kuroto chuckled and explained, “I think you are misunderstanding something… Fujin and Tsukihi were only acting as per the instructions I gave them… from the very beginning I am the only one interested in this ceremony… From the day Fujin approached you with the intention of selling the Chimera Jutsu as well as the Chimera Buds, to the moment when Uchiha Tsukihi continued the research in place of Fujin to the final moments when the ritual was completed… all of that was done according to my instructions. All I needed was a pawn who had enough funds and was foolish enough to take the risk… your greed for power was the only thing I needed to manipulate you to make you do what I wanted from you…

So you see, you were meant to be nothing more than a pawn anyway, and I gotta say, you outlived your value.”

His tone was flat as if he was in the middle of after-meal talks.

Although Kuroto said all of this flatly, however, when Danzo heard all of this, his heart turned cold. He always thought that he is the one using Amatsukami and Orochimaru, but only now did he realize that the young man standing in front of him is the real mastermind pulling all the strings. And Hyuga Kuroto controlled him like a donkey.

No, it should be more accurate to say that Danzo was only a pawn who was used as a pavement to further build the road of godhood.

Realizing this, Danzo was horrified and couldn’t help but question, “But… why… why are you telling me all of this?!”

“Yeah… about that…” Kuroto waved his hand as several Truth-Seeking Orbs appeared around his hand, and while playing with those black orbs, he answered Danzo’s question, “This is your reward for helping me explore the road… cherish it as I am gonna make you completely disappear after this.”