Bang!
The sound of the hospital room door being pushed open startled Sasuke out of his shock.
Shimura Danzo walked in, his single eye sweeping the room like a hawk's, but he didn't notice Setsuna's presence.
"Uchiha Sasuke." Danzo got straight to the point. "What was that power you used at the inn today?"
Seeing Danzo, for some reason, Sasuke felt an instinctive surge of intense discomfort and disgust.
He stared coldly at Danzo, his lips pressed together, refusing to utter a word.
Danzo's single eye narrowed slightly: "Hah, it's been a long time since I've seen that defiant, arrogant look of you Uchiha."
"That spineless father of yours never had that look."
"Don't you dare speak badly of my father!" Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Sasuke was instantly enraged.
Setsuna, observing from the shadows, thought Danzo's words weren't entirely wrong.
Fugaku was indeed too timid, unable to suppress the radicals within the clan or change the relationship between the Uchiha and Konoha.
Driven by anger, Sasuke activated the [Cursed Seal of Heaven] left by Orochimaru on his neck. Black markings spread instantly like living things.
Wild, cold Chakra erupted uncontrollably. Sasuke let out a low growl and lunged recklessly at Danzo, who was right in front of him.
Facing this clumsy, instinct-driven attack, Danzo didn't even move his feet.
He simply sidestepped slightly, easily avoiding the lunge, and then his right hand shot out like iron tongs, precisely gripping Sasuke's neck and lifting him effortlessly into the air.
"This isn't the power I wanted to see." Danzo sounded somewhat dissatisfied.
"You bastard!" Sasuke glared, activating his Sharingan's Genjutsu.
Yet, Danzo showed no reaction to his Genjutsu whatsoever.
"How is this possible?" Sasuke couldn't understand it. 'Wasn't the Sharingan's Genjutsu supposed to be unbeatable against a single person?'
Danzo tightened his grip, speaking sinisterly: "Calm down. You're the Uchiha bloodline Itachi went through hell to preserve. Don't make me kill you."
"Went through hell... to preserve?" Sasuke sneered through gritted teeth, his voice choked. "Are you joking? I'm his... greatest enemy!"
Danzo knew well that the Uchiha were stubborn... simple threats and physical torture would have limited effect.
To pry open Sasuke's mouth and learn the source of that power, he first needed to completely shatter his psychological defenses.
So, Danzo loosened his grip slightly, allowing Sasuke to barely breathe: "It seems you don't know the truth behind your clan's massacre. Let me tell you."
"In truth, the conflict between your Uchiha Clan and the village had reached an irreconcilable point."
"The radicals within your clan, with the tacit approval and even support of some elders, had long been plotting a coup to overthrow Konoha's government."
"Caught between his family and the village, between personal feelings and duty, your brother, Uchiha Itachi, chose the latter."
"He personally slaughtered the entire clan, including the unsuspecting women and children..."
Danzo chuckled: "Heh, even I have to admit, he was a truly loyal dog!"
"He snuffed out a rebellion that would have left Konoha drowning in blood and torn apart, right before it could erupt."
"And his only request to the higher-ups... was to let you, Uchiha Sasuke, live."
"N-no... impossible!" Sasuke looked as if he'd been struck by lightning, his body trembling violently. "It can't be like that! You're lying!"
"Why lie to yourself?" Danzo's voice was like a demon's whisper. "You should be able to judge for yourself, right? You should know better than anyone what kind of person Itachi is."
Sasuke's thoughts were in complete disarray, his mind blank, his soul seemingly screaming.
Danzo, seeing Sasuke's deeply shaken, crumbling expression, knew the time was right.
He spoke again, his voice regaining that superior, controlling tone: "Now then, tell me the source of that power from earlier."
"For Itachi's sake, if you confess honestly and prove that power is harmless to Konoha, I might make an exception and take you as my disciple."
"Incidentally," He paused briefly, a bone-chilling cruelty flashing in his eyes, "I was the one who gave Itachi the order to carry out the massacre."
Boom!
This final sentence was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
The string named 'reason' in Sasuke's mind snapped completely!
Extreme anger surged like a breached dam, shattering all his psychological defenses.
Those scarlet Sharingan, which had been slightly unfocused due to the shock, suddenly erupted with unprecedented bloodlust.
In this extreme emotional storm, he finally awakened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
More importantly, he 'understood'!
He understood how to use the darkness, hatred, and anger within him as fuel to ignite that technique.
Setsuna, observing from the shadows, was quite impressed, 'Sasuke could really endure pressure... he still couldn't awaken the Mangekyo even after all this?'
"Heh, hehe..." Sasuke lowered his head, letting out a low, twisted laugh, his shoulders shaking.
Danzo frowned, sensing something was wrong, but still confident in his control.
"You want to know what that power was, don't you?" Sasuke's voice was hoarse. "Now, I'll show you..."
Sasuke's right hand clenched into a fist: "It's the power to kill you, you old dog!"
The moment the words fell, he swung his fist violently at Danzo.
Genro Mao Ken!
Although Sasuke had only just grasped its basics, this forbidden martial art was simply too powerful.
Danzo felt his vision darken, his consciousness seemingly dragged into a bottomless abyss.
His schemes against the Uchiha, his greed for power, his fear of his own weakness, his fear of death… all were infinitely magnified and twisted.
These dark aspects manifested as countless terrifying phantoms, frantically tearing at his soul.
Danzo let out an inhuman scream, clutching his head as he stumbled backward. Faint traces of black aura even seeped from his seven apertures.
Within mere seconds, Danzo's spirit was utterly shattered. With a 'thud', he fell straight backward.
"Dead?" Sasuke panted heavily, looking at Danzo's fallen form. A conflicting sense of vengeance fulfilled and hollowness washed over him.
This old dog was finally dead!
Yet, just as he began to relax his guard the next moment.
Danzo's corpse on the ground twisted like an illusion and suddenly vanished.
In the opposite corner of the room, the air rippled, and Danzo's figure reappeared, completely unharmed.
Only the bandages wrapped around his right arm had loosened slightly, revealing a single, tightly shut, greyish-white Sharingan beneath.
That eye was slowly losing its luster, as if its power had been exhausted.