Staring down at the desolate Shimura Clan compound, Menma's golden-red chakra gradually dissipated. He descended slowly, landing softly on the ground.
His clan was destroyed. The Root elite had been wiped out. His limbs were crippled, just like Hiruzen Sarutobi's.
Under this triple blow, Danzo fell to the ground, unconscious.
Looking at Danzo's wretched state—snot, tears, and blood streaming down his face—Menma shook his head. He walked over and lifted the man from the ground.
"If you had become the Hokage, perhaps you would have had a decent chance of turning me into your puppet back then."
"Unfortunately, the Hokage is the hypocrite Hiruzen Sarutobi, not you, the true villain Danzo."
Menma spoke to himself as he gouged out the Kotoamatsukami from Danzo's right eye.
"Of course, if you were the Hokage, I wouldn't have been so high-profile."
Compared to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Menma had always been more wary of Danzo, the wielder of Kotoamatsukami. He maintained a high level of vigilance whenever facing him.
It was precisely because of this caution that the moment Menma saw Danzo's right eye, he relinquished control of his body to Naruto. He dared not gamble on whether he could withstand the alteration of Kotoamatsukami's will.
However, because Danzo was so dangerous, Menma gave him the highest respect—he eliminated him completely.
With the aid of his malice perception and the Kagura Mind's Eye, even the Shimura clan members hiding in the basement were not spared. The Nine-Tails chakra version of the Wood Splinter Technique pierced through everything.
Carrying Danzo, Menma walked to the edge of the Shimura Clan territory, waiting for Hashirama and Tobirama to arrive. At the same time, his eyes glanced at the dark alleyway behind him.
"Come out, you four."
Hearing Menma's emotionless voice, the four guards stepped out from the alley. Their faces were pale, their bodies trembling.
They had witnessed the horrific massacre of their own clan! They had come to find Danzo, and they had seen it all.
From powerful shinobi to ordinary people, the elderly, and children—not a single one was spared. All were powerless to resist, pierced through by those terrifying chakra spikes. It was nothing short of hell on earth.
It was precisely because they were terrified by what they had seen that they dared not show themselves.
"Don't be afraid," Menma said flatly. "If I really wanted to kill you, you would have already died along with those Shimura clan members."
Because Menma hadn't sensed any malice from the four in his perception, they became the only survivors of this massacre.
"So you discovered us all along, and even showed mercy!" Genma Shiranui breathed a sigh of relief, trying to lighten the mood. "Damn it, I actually believed Hayate Gekko's nonsense, thinking his teleportation technique protected us!"
"I... cough, cough, cough..." Hayate Gekko, eager to explain, broke into a violent fit of coughing.
"Alright. Go back, all of you," Menma interrupted coldly. "What happens later is not something you can get involved in."
These four were ostensibly the Fourth Hokage's guards, but they were basically errand boys. Menma had no intention of contacting them and looked down on them.
"We..." Raido Namiashi started to explain their purpose.
But he was stopped by the calmest of them all, Aoba Yamashiro, who quickly pulled the others away.
Just as they moved, the Shimura Clan territory nearby shook. Hashirama, Tobirama, and Jiraiya—faces grim—were rapidly moving through the buildings filled with corpses and blood, running toward them.
Seeing the three getting closer, Menma touched the Kotoamatsukami he had dug up, covering it with a Flying Thunder God Technique mark. Then he channeled chakra, and Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan vanished without a trace.
Just as the Kotoamatsukami was teleported away, Hashirama and the others landed in front of Menma.
Looking at Danzo, who was being carried by Menma, missing his limbs and unconscious, Tobirama suppressed his anger and growled, "You killed Danzo, so be it. He deserved to die. But what about the entire Shimura clan? Did you slaughter them all? And the four clans of shinobi I recruited? Did you kill them too?!"
Menma chuckled, tossing Danzo to Tobirama like trash.
"Don't frame me, Second Hokage~"
"Your beloved disciple didn't die. I merely activated a trial card for him, similar to Hiruzen Sarutobi's."
"Damn it, I wasn't asking about Danzo!" Tobirama didn't catch him in mid-air, instead staring intently at Menma. "I was asking about the innocent members of the Shimura clan, and the four clans of shinobi who were about to serve the village!"
"You know perfectly well," Menma shrugged indifferently, making no attempt to offer an excuse.
"You!!!" Tobirama clenched his fists, suppressing his rage. "You must give me an explanation for this clan annihilation, which shakes the very foundation of the village!"
"An explanation?" Menma's smile vanished, his gaze turning cold and menacing. "The Shimura clan, led by Danzo, colluded with shinobi from the other four clans to attempt a sneak attack on the jinchūriki, releasing the Nine-Tails to destroy the village. Is this explanation satisfactory, Second Hokage?"
Whoosh!
As the word "intention" landed, golden-red Nine-Tails chakra materialized and rapidly erupted from Menma's body. In an instant, it formed a gigantic demonic face with only eyes filled with murderous intent, hovering in mid-air behind him. The terrifying pressure stirred up rings of white air currents. A howling wind swept in all directions!
"Enough, Tobirama."
Hashirama sighed behind Tobirama. Then, purple chakra suddenly shone from his body, and he took a step forward. As he shattered the ground, he also blocked the terrifying power of Menma.
"I said before, we can't..."
"Brother!" Seeing that Hashirama was about to say something he shouldn't, Tobirama immediately interrupted him.
Jiraiya, noticing the somewhat delicate situation, also stepped forward to smooth things over. "Calm down, everyone calm down! This time, it was Danzo who broke the rules first, leading the Root and Shimura clan to attack Menma. And those shinobi from the other four clans too. They disregarded the orders of Zō and Ōkami, obeying Danzo's orders; they deserved to die."
"Furthermore, Danzo was also involved in the Uchiha clan massacre. If we handle it the same way we did then, the other clans won't object!"
With the Uchiha massacre as a precedent, the Shimura clan's massacre can be seen as karmic retribution. Furthermore, Danzo had already caused extremely poor relations between the various clans by abducting shinobi, including the Shimura clan. Therefore, this incident won't shake the foundation of the village; it will only cause some turmoil.
"The Uchiha are an inherently evil clan, and someone has been implicated..." Tobirama, halfway through his sentence, finally sighed and picked up Danzo from the ground.
He had just been blinded by anger and understood that conflict now would be futile. Instead of pursuing blame, it was better to think about how to minimize the subsequent trouble.
Thinking this, Tobirama closed his eyes to calm himself. After reopening his eyes, he regained his composure and looked at Menma.
"Danzo and the Shimura clan colluded with an enemy, ambushing the jinchūriki and causing the Nine-Tails' power to spiral out of control. As a result, the Shimura clan, along with the four clans of shinobi who came to their aid, were all annihilated. Finally, with the help of the First Hokage's Wood Release, the jinchūriki was restored. What do you think of this explanation?"
Upon hearing this, Menma withdrew the Nine-Tails' chakra, his smile returning.
"I will follow the Second Hokage's arrangements."
---
New Fan Fiction Released — Naruto: Electromagnetic God
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