Chapter 69: Who Can Understand My Heart?
"Impossible! How could you make it back from the Land of Rain so quickly? Don't tell me... you never left Konoha at all?!"
Danzō stared at the suddenly-appearing Yusuke, voice trembling with shock.
To eliminate the Uchiha clan in one decisive move, Danzō had conspired with the Third Hokage to execute a "lure the tiger from the mountain" strategy, sending Yusuke away. Together with Obito, he had also set up a trap, planning to use the Akatsuki's power to eliminate him for good.
Yet now—Yusuke had returned.
This wasn't just unexpected.
It was a nightmare come true.
Danzō's heart sank into despair. He had no forces left to deal with this man.
Which meant—his entire plan had collapsed.
"Danzō, aside from you and your three subordinates here, every other Root shinobi who took part in the Uchiha assault is dead.
That foreign mercenary you hired? He ran."
Yusuke's tone was calm—almost indifferent.
"Now that you're at the end... any last words?"
Danzō's face twisted grotesquely. His eyes, bloodshot and wild, made him look like a demon freshly emerged from the depths of hell.
Since Hiruzen became the Third Hokage, Danzō had built Root from the ground up—cultivating it over decades.
Root was his life's work.
Now, everything he had spent years building... gone in a single night.
The fury in his chest threatened to explode. He wanted nothing more than to throw himself at Yusuke, to take him down with one final blow.
But reason held him back—because he knew he couldn't win.
"Hold him off!
Stall for time!"
Danzō barked his final order to his three remaining Root shinobi—then turned and fled.
The three ninja exchanged a silent glance. Then, without hesitation, they charged at Yusuke, prepared to die.
In response, Yusuke activated his curse seal and unleashed Ryūjin Jakka's Shikai form.
He summoned his full spiritual pressure and met them head-on.
"Enjin — Scorched Ashes."
A crimson-gold arc of flame sliced through the air.
In the next breath, three charred corpses collapsed onto the earth—reduced to ash and blackened bone.
Yusuke didn't pause.
With a surge of speed, he took off after Danzō, who was already fleeing deeper into the woods.
There was no turning back now.
No hesitation.
Tonight, Danzō must die.
Feeling the searing heat rapidly closing in from behind, Danzō risked a glance back—
And saw those eyes.
Yusuke's eyes, brimming with fury and killing intent.
"Aaagh!!"
Danzō screamed as a sharp, sizzling pain tore through him.
A jet-black arm spun through the air—it was his own, severed at the elbow.
He had failed to dodge in time, and in desperation had blocked the blow with his left arm.
The flames still clung to the stump, burning mercilessly.
Without hesitation, Danzō grabbed a kunai with his right hand and sliced clean through his shoulder, fully severing the arm to save his life.
Blood poured out, drenching half his body.
Yusuke, watching from a short distance, couldn't help but admire him for a moment.
For all his evil, Danzō was terrifyingly resolute.
Though he ranked near the bottom among Kage-level powerhouses, in terms of cruelty, decisiveness, and sheer will,
he was second to none.
He had just survived Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu that fractured the mind.
Now, he had sacrificed an entire limb without hesitation.
And yet, despite everything, Danzō was at the end of his rope.
His body was broken. His mind had endured too much.
He was running on fumes.
Despite everything, Danzō hadn't abandoned his will to survive.
Staggering forward on trembling legs, he continued his escape—even though his pace was barely faster than an ordinary man's walk.
"I can't die... Only I can bring true, lasting peace to the Shinobi World..."
He muttered this to himself over and over, voice hoarse and slurred.
Suddenly, Yusuke appeared before him in a blur of motion, having released Ryūjin Jakka from its Shikai state.
He raised his blade, pointing it directly at Danzō's throat.
"Uchiha Yusuke! You can't kill me! You don't understand the mission I've carried all my life!"
Danzō roared in desperation, his face twisted with madness. "You all want my life—but tell me—who among you truly understands my heart?!"
"Who can understand my heart?!"
Seeing the dying man shout with all the strength he had left, Yusuke's voice was cold:
"Pathetic."
"A traitorous relic skulking in the shadows, who'd stop at nothing to feed his ambition—daring to speak of 'mission' and 'peace'? Laughable."
"If this world truly needs someone like you to bring peace... then there's no hope for it at all."
Before his words even finished echoing, Yusuke's blade flashed—and blood sprayed into the night.
Danzō's severed head landed in Yusuke's hand, his expression frozen in a grotesque mix of shock and fury.
A ruthless man, a self-proclaimed savior—died without redemption.
Danzō Shimura, a schemer in the shadows, fell that night.
With his death, the bandages wrapped tightly around his head and right side loosened and fell away—revealing the body he had hidden for so long.
The skin beneath was an unnatural shade of ashen green, completely different from the other half of his body.
"Sensei," Itachi asked from nearby, "what's going on with his body?"
Yusuke nodded slightly.
"As I suspected. Danzō had been experimenting with the First Hokage's cells. It looks like he even began modifying his own body."
At the words "human experimentation," Itachi's brow furrowed.
"Would the Third Hokage really allow something like that?
He couldn't tolerate Orochimaru's experiments—he exiled him for that very reason."
Yusuke didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked:
"And what do you think?"
Itachi sighed quietly. The answer was already clear to him.
After a brief pause, he asked:
"Then how did you find out about all of this, Sensei?"
Yusuke shot him a side glance and said casually:
"Why else would I be your teacher?"
Itachi: "…"
With Danzō dealt with, Yusuke turned and approached Shisui, who was still lying on the ground—barely alive.
Itachi followed, cradling Fugaku's lifeless body in his arms.
Yusuke spoke quietly:
"Any last words?"
Shisui stared up at the starless sky, tears streaking down his numb, expressionless face.
His eyes shifted slowly to Yusuke.
"Just kill me…" he murmured.
When the heart dies, what's left to grieve?
His dreams were shattered. He had nothing left.
"Sensei," Itachi said, "may I speak with him for a moment?"
Yusuke nodded.
Itachi stepped forward, standing over his once-idolized friend.
"Shisui... is this your so-called resolve?"
"You let outsiders sway you, turned against your own clan, and wanted to be the one to destroy it yourself.
And now that you've failed, you think you can just die and be done with it?"
"If this is what you call resolve, then I pity you."
"Shouldn't you be fighting with everything you have now, to atone for what you've done to the clan?"
His words cut deep. When he finished, he looked at Shisui with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Shisui's gaze wavered. A flicker of light passed through them—only to fade again into darkness.
He shook his head slowly, voice thick with guilt. Tears welled again.
"I'm sorry, Itachi... I no longer have the strength to face any of them…"