Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

The air on the riverbank felt as if it had frozen solid.

Hyuga Soma stood rooted to the spot, his legs as heavy as lead.

His eyes were wide, his pale pupils reflecting Shimura Danzo's figure.

The man was supposed to be dead. His heart had been crushed into mush, his chest pierced through, and he had been lying motionless on the ground. Yet now, he stood completely intact under a large tree over ten meters away.

There was no blood on his clothes, no gaping hole in his chest. It was as if everything that just happened had never occurred.

It was unbelievable.

"H-how is this possible..."

Hyuga Soma's voice was dry and raspy, as if he had swallowed sand.

He subconsciously took a step back, stepping on a loose stone. He stumbled and nearly fell. A Branch House ninja behind him caught him, but he remained completely oblivious.

Izanagi, the ultimate visual prowess of the Uchiha clan.

As an elder of the Hyuga Main House, he had lived for decades but had never seen this jutsu with his own eyes. He hadn't even known of its existence.

Now he had seen it, and the shock far outweighed his fear.

A man who was thoroughly dead was now standing alive and well right in front of him.

How did this make any sense?

His mind was in absolute chaos.

Shimura Danzo didn't even look at him.

At this moment, Danzo's expression was thunderous, intense killing intent surging in his exposed eye.

His cheek twitched slightly as his gaze swept over the corpses scattered across the riverbank.

Of the thirty-plus Root elites, nearly half were now dead on the ground. These were men he had spent over a decade cultivating. Every single one was handpicked, having survived countless grueling training sessions and eliminations.

Now, they were tossed aside on the riverbank like garbage.

Blood seeped into the gravel, dyeing patch after patch red.

His heart bled at the loss, but he held it in.

As long as he got those eyes, all these sacrifices would be worth it.

The Mangekyo Sharingan, and that fully matured Byakugan.

He had to have them!

His fingers curled slightly, his nails digging into his palms, using the pain to suppress the fury in his heart.

The next moment, Shimura Danzo raised his hand and gave a signal.

In the woods on the opposite side of the river, several figures moved simultaneously.

These were the Root members he had ambushed on the other side. They hadn't made a move until now, waiting for this exact opportunity. One of them leaped from a branch, his hands weaving signs so fast they blurred.

At the same time, the others launched their attacks.

Shuriken, kunai, and paper bombs flew toward Uchiha Taiga from different directions.

Others were weaving signs. Fire Style, Wind Style, Lightning Style—various ninjutsu intertwined in the air, forming an airtight net.

But once those attacks reached a certain distance from Uchiha Taiga, they seemed to hit an invisible wall, instantly freezing in mid-air.

Fireballs hovered, shuriken halted, and paper bombs continued to burn, but the flames did not advance.

This was the range of Tokoyokuni.

Shimura Danzo narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the exact spots where the attacks had stopped.

His mind raced, calculating the size of that area. With Uchiha Taiga as the center, the radius was about five meters.

Right at that moment, Uchiha Taiga's body suddenly stiffened.

His hand stopped in mid-air, his footsteps halted, and the expression on his face froze for a split second.

Mind Transfer Jutsu.

The secret jutsu of the Yamanaka clan, transferring one's spirit into the target's body to temporarily take control.

The Shadow Possession Jutsu might be countered by the Mangekyo Sharingan, but the Mind Transfer Jutsu acted directly on the soul and consciousness. It couldn't be broken so easily.

The corners of Shimura Danzo's mouth curled up slightly.

"Attack!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an uncontainable excitement.

The remaining Root members charged forward simultaneously.

They had been waiting just outside Tokoyokuni's range for this exact moment.

Over a dozen figures lunged at Uchiha Taiga from all directions. Some wielded ninja swords, some gripped kunai, and others had already finished weaving signs, waiting only to enter the range before unleashing their attacks.

Uchiha Taiga's body was still rigid.

Although that brief control lasted only an instant, it was enough to deactivate Tokoyokuni.

The ninjutsu and weapons suspended in mid-air lost their restraints at the exact same moment. The fireballs continued forward, the shuriken resumed their flight, and the fuses on the paper bombs burned to their ends.

Boom!

Flames erupted, and smoke and dust billowed into the air.

Fireballs, wind blades, lightning strikes, and explosions—all the attacks landed on Uchiha Taiga's position simultaneously.

A deafening roar echoed across the riverbank, making everyone's eardrums ache.

A crater was blasted into the ground. Rubble and dirt were hurled into the air before raining back down, clattering against the earth.

Smoke filled the air, and flames soared into the sky.

Shimura Danzo's eye lit up.

His mouth stretched into a wide, long-suppressed smile.

*Did we get him?*

His heart raced, his exposed eye gleaming with greed.

The Mangekyo Sharingan and the Byakugan would soon be his.

He waited for the smoke to clear, waited for the boy to fall, so he could walk over and gouge out those eyes.

The smoke didn't clear.

Instead, the smoke abruptly stopped moving.

The dust particles lingering in the air, the still-burning flames, the flying debris—everything froze at the exact same moment.

They weren't blown away by the wind, nor were they settling naturally. It looked more like someone had pressed a pause button, freezing them all in mid-air.

Then, everything began to reverse.

The smoke contracted, gathering from its dispersed state before vanishing.

The flames rolled backward. The exploding fire seemed to be pulled back by an invisible hand, reforming into fireballs, wind blades, and lightning strikes, then flying backward in the directions they came from.

The rubble flew up from the ground, returning to where it had been before the blast, and the dirt filled the crater back in.

Everything was moving backward.

The ninjutsu reversed, the explosions reversed; time itself seemed to be flowing backward.

In almost an instant, everything returned to its original state.

The fireballs, wind blades, and lightning strikes vanished in the directions they originated from. The smoke completely dissipated, the crater on the ground disappeared, and the rubble and dirt returned to their original positions.

Uchiha Taiga stood exactly where he was.

There was no dust on his clothes, no wounds on his face, and no scorch marks on his hair.

He just stood there, as if he had never been attacked at all.

Completely unscathed.

Shimura Danzo's smile froze.

His eye widened, his pupil shrinking. The expression on his face shifted from greed to sheer shock.

*How is this possible?*

He had seen those attacks hit with his own eyes. He had seen the flames swallow Uchiha Taiga, seen the explosions detonate right on his body.

Yet the boy stood there, not missing a single hair.

*Is it Izanagi?*

*No!*

*Izanagi doesn't look like this when activated!*

*What kind of jutsu is this?*

Suddenly, Shimura Danzo's vision blurred. It was as if the entire world flickered before him, all the lines shifting out of place for a split second before realigning.

When he regained his senses, he realized his position had changed.

He was no longer under that large tree.

He was standing on the riverbank, right in front of Uchiha Taiga.

His right hand was reaching forward, three fingers spread wide, the tips aimed directly at Uchiha Taiga's eye sockets.

This posture, this position... he was far too familiar with it.

This was the exact position he had been in when he tried to gouge out the boy's eyes earlier!

The same sensation struck him.

The same muffled thud.

The same agonizing pain spreading from his chest to the rest of his body.

It was as if history was repeating itself.

He looked down and saw a hand piercing through his chest.

The hand was pale and slender, the fingers slightly curled, with sparks of lightning still dancing on the fingertips.

In the palm of that hand, a still-beating heart was firmly grasped.

Exactly the same.

Even the position was identical.

"No..."

Shimura Danzo's voice sounded as if it was being squeezed from the depths of his throat.

But the five fingers of that hand suddenly clenched tight.

Squelch.

The heart was crushed into mush.

Blood squeezed through the gaps between the fingers, flowing down the hand and dripping onto the ground.

Shimura Danzo's body went limp. His eye remained open, his pupil dilating as his body powerlessly pitched forward, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

Motionless.

"Second time."

Uchiha Taiga's voice came from behind him, as calm as if he were merely counting.

Shimura Danzo lay on the ground, his consciousness struggling in the darkness.

He heard that voice, but he couldn't comprehend it.

He had used Izanagi. He should have returned to an earlier point in time. He should have avoided that fatal position.

*Why am I back here?*

*Why is it the exact same death?*

*How did he do it?*

*It has to be the other ability of that brat's Mangekyo!*

*That's it. Time. It's time!*

Countless questions churned in Shimura Danzo's mind as his breathing gradually ceased.

But he was still alive.

Izanagi activated once again.