In a secluded and shadowy corner of Konoha, there stood a Japanese-style room, with two fearsome statues standing on the elevated platform before its entrance.
This was the sleeping quarters of Root's leader, Shimura Danzō.
Inside the room, Danzō sat at a table, examining by candlelight a secret letter sent by the Rain-nin leader, Hanzō of the Salamander.
The contents of the letter read: Nagato has escaped from my grasp and is secretly rebuilding the Akatsuki organization; the ninja who rescued Nagato from under my command called himself Uchiha Raito, possessing strength no less than mine, and is likely a rare prodigy of the Uchiha Clan to emerge after Madara.
"For Konoha, and for lasting peace across the ninja world, the Uchiha must be eliminated." Danzō murmured to himself, then burned the letter to ash.
Suddenly, the candle flame before Danzō flickered violently and went out.
'Killing intent.' Danzō narrowed his eyes.
"Who's there!!"
"Ahhh!!"
The Root members standing guard outside cried out and collapsed, and the silhouette of a long-haired figure was cast upon the paper sliding door.
Crack!!
A bolt of lightning tore through the door and pierced straight through Shimura Danzō's body.
Bang! The door shattered, and Obito stood outside, his dark eyes fixed on the space in front of the desk where Danzō should have been, but there was only a wooden plank with a hole through it.
"Substitution Jutsu. That was fast." Obito raised his head and looked up at Danzō standing on the overhanging eaves.
A cold wind swept through, and under the moonlight, the two faced each other.
"Uchiha Raito. I have long wanted to meet you." Danzō said in a low, heavy tone.
Bzzt! Obito's left eye shifted into its Mangekyō Sharingan, locking onto Danzō's head.
Kamui!
Crack!
Danzō's head was twisted off by Kamui, blood spraying from his neck as the headless corpse toppled from the wall and then faded away within a blur of distorted light.
"A ocular technique capable of manipulating space. Truly terrifying." Danzō's voice came from another direction, and he appeared completely unharmed atop one of the stone statues, unwrapping the bandage from his right eye to reveal the Sharingan beneath, while his hands flew through seals as he drew in a deep breath.
Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!
Whoosh! The Vacuum Wave swept across everything, splitting houses, walls, and anything else in its path clean in two, yet Obito remained completely unharmed.
"I see. Allowing physical objects to pass through your body to nullify attacks. So that is the power of your other Mangekyō Sharingan. What a flawless pair of eyes. Why not let them become a replacement for this right eye of mine!"
As Danzō spoke, he removed the bandage from his right eye, and the Sharingan beneath turned to a desolate white, losing its light forever.
Obito said flatly, "Izanagi, a forbidden ocular technique that requires the power of both the Senju and the Uchiha and demands the permanent loss of sight as its price. Setting aside your right eye, that right arm of yours embedded with Hashirama cells, along with the ten Sharingan implanted on it, that is what they exist for. Orochimaru's handiwork, I take it."
"What!?" Upon hearing Obito's words, Danzō's pupils contracted sharply: he knows the full extent of my secrets. That wretch Orochimaru has truly colluded with him and betrayed Konoha!
"Although you can allow objects to pass through your body, in order to attack you must become physical, which means that the moment you fight, you will lose!"
As Danzō spoke, he drew his right arm out from within his clothing and removed the iron plate covering it, revealing the ten Sharingan on it, each one independently spinning, a deeply unsettling sight.
Each Sharingan he consumed could sustain Izanagi for one minute, and with ten of them, Izanagi could be maintained for a full ten minutes, meaning that no matter how many times Danzō was killed or by what means during those ten minutes, he would not die. This was the foundation of Danzō's confidence.
"Then go ahead and try." Obito said.
Boom!
Danzō activated the Body Flicker Technique to close the distance and drove a kunai into Obito, but as expected, Danzō along with the kunai passed straight through him with no effect.
Slash!
He spun around, the kunai sweeping sideways, and passed through again. His heart tightened: this man is not going to retaliate at all. He intends to drain my Izanagi by doing nothing.
Obito said with a mocking smile, "You could consider releasing Izanagi, but the ocular technique in my left eye will twist your head off in an instant, just like before. You know I am capable of it."
This was what could be called 'strategic deterrence,' forcing Danzō to walk knowingly into a trap with no choice but to comply.
"Damn you!!" Danzō raged, yet could do nothing, forming seals and launching devastatingly powerful Wind Release attacks.
"Not finished yet!!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Danzō unleashed one powerful combat jutsu after another without pause, and one had to admire the fact that each technique flowed seamlessly into the next.
Obito furrowed his brow: 'I see. He plans to keep up a sustained barrage within the duration of Izanagi, so that I cannot easily release my intangibility either.'
Slash slash slash slash slash! Danzō's hand seal speed had already become a blur of afterimages as he calculated inwardly: the Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular techniques may be godlike, but they have their limits. The time he can maintain intangibility mode must be finite!
Obito thought to himself: 'Heh. Looks like he wants to bet that the duration of his Izanagi outlasts my intangibility mode. Fine. I will gamble with you.'
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the relentless barrage of Danzō's jutsu, the entire surrounding area had been nearly reduced to rubble.
The seconds and minutes passed one by one, and the Sharingan eyes on Danzō's right arm closed one after another, each one spent and never to open again.
Four minutes had passed, and four Sharingan eyes had already closed, yet Obito's intangibility mode still had not been released.
"This cursed ocular technique!!!" Danzō was burning with anxiety, yet did not dare to let up on his seals for even a moment, fearing that if he stopped, Obito's ocular technique would reset and all his effort would have been for nothing.
But the consequence of maintaining this unrelenting assault was not only the drain on his eyes. His chakra was also rapidly heading toward exhaustion.
Time continued to pass, an immense torment for Danzō, and finally, the fifth Sharingan eye closed.
Slash slash! At that exact moment, Obito formed seals with both hands.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Bang!! The fireball collided with the Wind Release ahead, and due to the elemental advantage, it transformed into an even more intense blaze that swallowed Danzō whole. Izanagi activated, turning the unfavorable outcome into a dream as Danzō reappeared elsewhere and, though suppressed, bore an expression of wild, hard-won elation: "Five minutes. That is your limit. I win!"
"That remains to be seen." The pair of Mangekyō Sharingan in Obito's eyes blazed to life.
Susanoo!
Whoosh!
Blazing blue chakra flames enveloped Obito's entire body, forming into a massive skeletal figure as muscles and sinew wove between the bones to form an outer layer.
"Susanoo. Troublesome as it may be, I am not without the means to break through it!" Danzō's expression grew slightly heavier, yet he did not panic.
In the original story, the battle between Danzō and Sasuke also proved that he did indeed possess the ability to break through Susanoo's second form.
But then Danzō's expression froze completely.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
Because outside the outer layer already wrapped around Susanoo's skeleton, an even more powerful surge of chakra flames ignited, and as that vast chakra flame moved toward stability, it formed into a mighty suit of armor that encased Susanoo entirely.
Susanoo, third form, Tengu. This was the half-body Susanoo's most powerful form. The higher-tier 'Complete Body Susanoo' could only be unlocked after awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, or upon obtaining the power of the Six Paths.
Danzō stared up at the Susanoo towering twenty meters high, his expression blank.
Obito said in a deep voice, "Danzō, do you still have confidence that you can break through this within the remaining five minutes?"
Danzō clenched his teeth, refusing to give up. "A chakra construct of this magnitude. I refuse to believe you can sustain it for long!"
"Heh. It seems you have forgotten one thing." Obito smiled, and beneath his right arm, tree trunks twisted and coiled downward like wrung rope.
Wood Release!! 'How could I have forgotten. He also possesses the power of the First Hokage!!' Danzō's heart went cold. He knew. The power he had left was not enough to break through this Susanoo.
But Danzō was after all a battle-hardened Kage-level figure, and even now he kept his composure: "The commotion from our fight must have already alerted the powerful shinobi in the village. They will arrive before five minutes are up. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Yellow Flash, and countless elite jonin. No matter how powerful you are, you cannot survive an assault from all of us at once!"
Obito smiled with a noncommittal air and said, "Oh, there is no rush to kill you. Orochimaru is already at my disposal, and the eyes on your right arm can no longer be replenished. Even if you survive this encounter, with only five Sharingan remaining on your right arm, or rather, four shortly, do you have confidence you will survive the next?"
Obito issued the threat to Danzō in the most naked terms possible.
Danzō's fist clenched tightly, and finally his stance softened: "What exactly is your purpose in coming here."
"Cease all efforts to impeach the Fourth Hokage, and do not lay a hand on the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Kushina. Otherwise, you and your Root will vanish from this world entirely. Remember my words, Danzō."
Whoosh! Before his words had even finished echoing, Obito disappeared into the swirling vortex of Kamui, and only a dozen or so seconds after his departure did the towering Tengu Susanoo finally dissipate with a rumble, leaving behind only the marks upon the earth that could never be erased, and Danzō, whose expression was one of boundless resentment and humiliation.