Danzō remembered why he had planned all this.
Nawaki Senju was a living gold mine. Wood Release. Hiraishin. Tactical talent. Youth. Everything Danzō had wished for his cause, concentrated in a single individual. If he could implant the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, he could control him. Turn him into his ultimate weapon. Use him to protect Konoha in his own way, without the Hokage's sentimental attachments.
But now…
He looked at the Mangekyō spinning in Noah's left eye.
A Mangekyō Sharingan. The same power that had made Madara Uchiha an almost invincible being. And combined with Hashirama's Wood Release…
Danzō felt a chill that did not come from his wounds.
Noah was the perfect combination of Hashirama and Madara. The impossible balance between creation and destruction. A being that no living shinobi could match if he were allowed to grow.
No… he could not let this end like this.
—Self-Curse Seal.
Danzō activated his technique, and a wave of energy shot toward Noah, seeking to adhere to his skin to paralyze him and seal his chakra.
But the Susanoo's skeletal arm carried something else. A shield. The Yata Mirror shone with a reddish light, and Danzō's seal rebounded, striking his own body.
—What?!
Dark marks spread across Danzō's skin, sealing his own chakra pathways. He felt his energy weaken and his muscles lose strength.
Meanwhile, below, the screams continued to echo. Garaga carved his way through the jōnin with unstoppable ferocity. Twenty were no longer left. Twelve remained. Then ten. Then eight.
—Stop! —shouted Danzō, his voice hoarse—. You can't kill me! I am one of Konoha's top leaders! If you kill me, it will be treason! The entire village will turn against you!
Noah looked at him.
Then, without a word, he slapped him.
Danzō felt his teeth loosen. Several of them flew out, mixed with blood, and fell to the ground beside the rocks.
—Trash —Noah said.
Apparently not satisfied with just one, Noah slapped him again. This time on the other side. More teeth flew. Danzō could barely keep his eyes open.
—I won't kill you —Noah said, his voice calm, almost kind—. That would be too easy. Too fast. No, Danzō… I'm not going to kill you.
He raised his hand, bloodied with Danzō's blood, and looked at it for a moment, as if admiring his work.
—I will make you wish you were dead.
The words fell on Danzō like a tombstone.
And for the first time in years, the man who had always been in control, who had always had a backup plan, felt the world crumbling around him.
Garaga finished devouring all the jōnin Danzō had brought with him, and now only the two of them remained in this desolate place.
Danzō Shimura, the most incompetent character with the most limited mental capacity in the entire Naruto universe. At least, that was Noah's opinion.
—Sigh.
Noah exhaled slowly as he dispelled his Susanoo, as if Danzō's mere presence before him consumed his vital energy.
—Poor pathetic creature… You are such a mentally retarded animal that it defies the limits of human understanding.
As he looked at the guy in front of him, Noah's face filled with contempt.
Never, not once in his life, had the man before him made a single correct decision —whether for good or for ill.
Every character Noah remembered from the original story, even those with negative IQs, had at least one moment where their neurons fired.
But Danzō had not made a single good decision throughout the entire work.
And every single one of the infinite stupidities he committed always came back to bite him in the ass.
—You…!
—Tsk! Don't speak, trash.
Noah's hand struck Danzō's cheek with a force that made his jawbone crack. Two more teeth flew out, mixed with saliva and blood, and fell to the ground like small white stones.
—Let me reflect in silence on how much trash you are.
Danzō could barely keep his eyes open. His face, once impassive and full of authority, was now a mask of blood and bruises.
—You are so narrow-minded that you don't even realize, even when you grow old in a few decades, that all the problems that arose, arise, and would arise in your life were caused in one way or another by yourself. Do you even know what the word "retrospection" means?
—I…
—Don't bother answering —Noah interrupted him, his voice sharp as a blade—. It was a rhetorical question.
He snapped his fingers, and Danzō's mouth was suddenly sealed shut, as if an invisible hand had sewn his lips together. The man let out a muffled sound, his eyes opening with a mixture of fury and, for the first time, something resembling genuine fear.
—But I will be magnanimous and explain it to you —Noah continued, pacing slowly around Danzō like a teacher giving a lesson to his most inept student—. "Retrospection" means looking back, examining or remembering past events from the present to reflect on them. But don't worry, it's never too late to learn something new, even when you're at death's door.
Danzō tried to speak, but only managed to produce more muffled sounds.
Danzō's stupidities were at a level where almost every single one of them ended up causing the whole world to be affected by them.
Many people believe Obito is the cause of all the tragedies in the original story, but this guy was not far behind. Everything bad that happened in history was, in one way or another, Danzō's fault.
Noah smiled playfully and snapped his fingers again.
Danzō's body tensed. His limbs moved on their own, adopting a strange and humiliating posture. He fell onto all fours, like an animal, and his back formed a flat, uneven surface.
Noah sat on him with the naturalness of one occupying a throne. He crossed his legs, rested his elbows on his knees, and placed his chin on his clasped hands.
—Mmm! Mmmm! —Danzō tried to shout, to struggle, but his body did not respond. He was trapped, immobilized by his own jutsu and controlled by a power he could not comprehend.
—Let's see —Noah said, as if beginning a story—. Your origin story is shit to begin with.
He rubbed his chin, adopting a feigned thoughtful expression.
—Heh! Let's review the legendary saga of Danzō Shimura. Yosh, yosh!
His tone was mocking, with a childish inflection, but his eyes remained as cold as ice.
—The origin of the legendary Danzō is that you are an envious, narrow-minded coward from an early age. Always doubting and hesitating at crucial moments, never having the balls to risk your life for your own convictions. Which has always left you relegated to being Hiruzen Sarutobi's second fiddle.
Noah made a dramatic pause.
—Wow! Look at that paradox: spending your entire life losing to a guy who is already known for his renowned incompetence. Now that's a great achievement. Not just anyone can achieve something practically impossible, but you have. Ha, ha!