The night wind of the Naka River blew across the devastated cliff, carrying a thick scent of blood. But strangely, no blood flowed from the severed parts of the mutilated corpses on the ground, as if a part of them had been directly erased by some higher-dimensional power.

This was even more chilling to the soul than a blood-soaked scene.

Danzo Shimura stood in place, his wooden staff tapping rhythmically due to his violent trembling. His single eye stared fixedly at Uchiha Kei; there was no longer greed in his gaze, only deep wariness, anger, and a trace of well-hidden fear.

Annihilated.

The elite Root squad he had carefully cultivated, capable of overthrowing a small country, had been slaughtered by this youth before him in less than a minute, in a manner that felt almost like play.

He hadn't even touched the corner of the other's clothes.

This overwhelming and completely incomprehensible power made Danzo realize for the first time how pale and powerless his vaunted schemes and methods were in the face of absolute strength.

Kei walked slowly toward Danzo. His footsteps were light, but every step landed on Danzo's heartbeat, bringing him immense psychological pressure.

Shisui stood to the side, silently watching this scene. The Chakra in his body was slowly recovering, but the shock in his heart was wave after wave. He had completely given up on thinking, serving only as an onlooker, witnessing this trial led by Kei against one of Konoha's highest-ranking officials.

Kei stopped five steps away from Danzo, not rushing to act. For an old man who had power struggles carved into his very bones, killing him directly would be letting him off too easily. He had to first peel away the cloak of "Will of Fire" that Danzo was so proud of, layer by layer, exposing him naked and ugly under the moonlight, and destroying him completely from a mental standpoint.

"Is the position of Hokage really that fascinating to you, Elder Danzo?"

Kei spoke, his voice calm, yet carrying a sharpness that pierced through the heart.

"For that position, you didn't hesitate to order your Root to stand by during the Nine-Tails Incident, watching the village fall into a sea of flames, all just to weaken the Third Hokage's prestige and frame us Uchiha."

"For that position, you didn't hesitate to collaborate with a rogue ninja like Orochimaru, conducting inhumane human experiments, just to transplant this power that doesn't belong to you onto yourself."

"For that position, you didn't hesitate to incite internal conflict within the village, weakening clans that were also members of Konoha, and suppressing all voices that did not submit to you."

Every word of Kei's was like a precise scalpel, dissecting Danzo's layers of disguise and digging out the dirtiest ambitions hidden in his deepest depths, exposing them bloodily.

These were the conclusions Kei reached by combining his memories from his past life with his deductions in this one. He had no evidence, but he knew these were the facts.

"Is everything you've done really for the sake of Konoha, or is it for that Hokage dream of yours, cowering in a dark corner, never able to see the light of day?"

Having his inner thoughts exposed, Danzo's pale face instantly flushed to the color of liver. The veins on his hand gripping the wooden staff bulged; because of his anger, his body's trembling actually stopped.

"Shut up! What do you know!" he roared in a fit of rage, letting out a beast-like howl. "Everything I have done is for the sake of Konoha! It is precisely because this great tree of Konoha has too many wavering branches like you, and too much of the naive, womanish benevolence of the Third, that it is not strong enough! That it has paid a painful price time and time again in the Shinobi World wars!"

He waved his arms excitedly, as if proclaiming a truth he firmly believed in.

"Only I! Only I, Danzo Shimura, can sever all unnecessary emotions and use means of iron and blood to twist all power into a single rope! Only I can lead Konoha toward true unification, becoming the sole ruler of this continent!"

Hearing this fanatical sophistry from Danzo, Kei laughed. That laughter was filled with disdain and pity.

"Unification?" he retorted, his voice turning abruptly cold. "In your eyes, is so-called unification just killing everyone who doesn't listen to you? Is it making everyone's thoughts the same as yours?"

"That is not called unification, Danzo. That is called a graveyard."

"What you want is not a Konoha full of vitality and life, but a dead, stagnant, massive mausoleum where only your will exists! You don't want to become Hokage; you want to become the god of everyone! A despicable god living in the gutter!"

Kei's words were like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely onto Danzo's philosophy, and also smashing into the heart of Shisui, who stood by the side.

Shisui's original faith in the "Will of Fire" had already begun to waver tonight. And Kei's words made him see clearly that, while all acting under the banner of "for the sake of Konoha," some, like the Third Hokage, wanted to "protect"; others, like Danzo, wanted to "control"; and some, like Kei, wanted a "rebirth."

That vague yet great "Will of Fire" he had always believed in was, at this moment, torn into three distinct and even contradictory things. His faith, at this moment, developed even deeper cracks.

Danzo knew that, verbally, he had completely lost. The thoughts of the youth before him were sharper and more lethal than his Dōjutsu.

He looked at Kei's calm Mangekyō Sharingan, and the fear he had suppressed in his heart surged up again, mixed with unwillingness and madness.

He couldn't lose like this! Absolutely not!

A flash of crazy determination crossed his eyes.

He suddenly raised his right arm and tore off the tightly wrapped bandages!

The bandages scattered, revealing a hair-raising arm exposed under the moonlight.

The skin tone of that arm was completely different from the rest of his body, presenting a sickly pale color. From wrist to shoulder, a row of exactly ten scarlet Sharingan was shockingly transplanted onto it!

Those eyes were currently rotating in disorder, as if behind every single eye, an unwilling Uchiha soul was imprisoned.

In the very center of the arm, there was also a bizarre human face, which was none other than the face of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju!

"Uchiha brat, you are indeed strong, stronger than I imagined." Danzo panted heavily, a crazy and hideous smile appearing on his face. "But you know nothing about power! You know nothing about the power of a god that can be born after the combination of Uchiha and Senju!"

He prepared to use his final and strongest trump card.

At the cost of the light of one Sharingan, within an extremely short time, it would transform reality unfavorable to the caster into a dream. It would turn the caster's attacks into reality.

The ultimate forbidden jutsu of the Uchiha clan—Izanagi!