"Did I kill him?"
Looking at Danzō's blood-soaked, mangled corpse,
Ren jumped down from the tree trunk.
His expression remained calm.
"Not necessarily…"
Suddenly—
a voice echoed.
The supposedly dead Danzō appeared behind him.
Without giving Ren time to react,
his hands rapidly formed seals.
He spat forward violently.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
One wind bullet after another shot forward.
Like real high-speed bullets,
they tore through the air toward Ren from behind.
There were more than ten of them.
They locked onto every blind spot around him.
There was no escape.
"Been waiting for that!"
Ren sneered.
As if he had expected it all along.
He raised his right hand lightly.
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
Shrrk! Shrrk!
Thick wooden beams burst out of the ground.
They rapidly formed a half-spherical shield.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
The wind bullets slammed against the wooden barrier one after another.
Wood splinters scattered.
The deafening impacts made one's scalp tingle.
But the shield—
as hard as steel—
was not pierced.
Inside the barrier,
Ren remained completely unharmed.
At the same time—
several vines suddenly grew beneath Danzō's feet.
They wrapped around his legs like lightning.
While draining his chakra,
they dragged him violently toward the ground.
"What?!"
Danzō's face changed drastically.
He struggled—
but couldn't break free.
As he was pulled underground,
sharp vines suddenly pierced his body.
"AAAAH—!"
A miserable scream rang out.
Danzō died instantly.
But before Ren could even smile—
the corpse disappeared.
In the next moment,
a perfectly unharmed Danzō appeared several meters to Ren's left.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
His hands formed seals rapidly.
Wind chakra gathered in his mouth—
then he exhaled sharply.
SHING!
A razor-sharp wind blade shot forward.
It slashed toward Ren at lightning speed.
"Danzō… is Wind Release your proudest technique?"
Ren remained calm.
He sneered lightly.
His sensory ability had already locked onto Danzō's position.
At some point—
he had already finished forming hand seals with one hand.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
SHING! SHING!
Multiple wind blades tore through the air.
Even Danzō was shocked.
He never expected that Ren—
with a single-handed seal—
would instantly use an advanced version of Vacuum Wave.
And attempt to crush him with it in his own specialty.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
Danzō's wind blade was shredded instantly.
Numerous wind blades followed.
They slashed toward him relentlessly.
"Boom—!"
Danzō dodged left and right.
Many wind blades missed—
cutting through large numbers of trees instead.
But he couldn't avoid them all.
"AAAH—!"
One blade sliced straight through him.
His body was cut in half at the waist.
He collapsed instantly.
Yet—
the bloody corpse vanished again.
Moments later,
Danzō reappeared several meters away.
His eyes were full of suspicion as he stared at Ren.
"You don't seem surprised that I can resurrect repeatedly…"
"Isn't it just Izanagi?"
Ren replied casually.
He glanced at the Sharingan embedded across Danzō's right arm.
The eyes rotated slowly,
as if truly connected to his optic nerves.
A disturbing sight.
"There are nine eyes left."
"Try harder."
"I want to see whether your chakra runs out first… or mine."
"Hmph."
"So you know quite a lot."
Danzō smirked confidently.
With Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan as his trump card,
he felt completely secure.
He wanted to test just how powerful this prodigy truly was.
Looking at Ren with burning eyes,
he shouted:
"Chiye Ren!"
"Join Root and serve me!"
"With the two of us working together, we can sweep across the ninja world!"
"I promise you—one day I'll support you to become Hokage!"
"Sorry."
Ren remained unmoved.
He looked straight at Danzō.
His tone full of ridicule.
"I refuse."
"Give me time and I'll sweep the ninja world alone."
"Why would I need dead weight like you?"
Before his words even finished—
Ren charged forward.
Under Danzō's shocked and gloomy gaze—
his body suddenly expanded.
In an instant,
he transformed into a giant wooden figure over ten meters tall.
"And besides…"
"I'm not interested in the Hokage seat."
"What?!"
Danzō's pupils shrank violently.
He remembered clearly—
there was no such technique in Konoha's Wood Release scrolls.
But before he could react—
"WHOOOSH!"
A violent wind pressure surged.
The wooden giant stood before him.
Looking down from above.
Its massive fist gathered terrifying chakra.
The air itself collapsed under its pressure.
Then—
it smashed down.
"Monstrous Strength: Absolute Power!"
"BOOOOOM—!!!"
The explosion shook the forest.
Dust filled the sky.
Within a radius of hundreds of meters—
the ground shattered and collapsed.
A violent shockwave erupted.
Trees bent and snapped in half.
Debris and rocks were thrown everywhere.
The storm-like blast made it impossible to open one's eyes.
More than a hundred meters away—
deep in the forest.
Tsunade had just arrived.
She had planned to watch the battle from a distance.
But the sudden shockwave nearly blew her away.
She quickly gathered chakra under her feet—
clinging tightly to the massive tree beneath her.
Barely stabilizing herself.
Looking at the scene ahead—
as the dust gradually cleared.
Her eyes widened in shock.
Inside the fading smoke—
a gigantic wooden figure stood tall.
…
----------------◇ Bonus Chapter Reward◇-----------------------
Every 10 Reviews = 1 Bonus Chapter
◇ Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◇ You can read 60 chapters ahead on Patreon if you're interested:
patreon.com/Luna023
Your support helps the story grow and motivates faster updates.