Chapter 36: 12-Year Sentence!
"Grandpa agrees to disband Root, but imprisoning those Konoha villagers for a full twelve years… isn't that a bit…"
Naruto suddenly raised his hand, cutting off the Third Hokage's next words.
"This is already the limit of what I can tolerate. If you're unwilling to imprison them, you can also choose to hand them over to me in a neat package."
Hand them over to me in a neat package… These calm yet terrifying words made the Third's scalp tingle.
"I've already thought of a place to imprison them — the islands of the Land of Whirlpools.
At that time, I will use Earth Flow Wall to build a wall around the edge of the island. As for their daily treatment, it will also be carried out according to my plan!"
"The islands of the Land of Whirlpools? According to your plan?" Hiruzen Sarutobi exclaimed in a low voice.
Naruto nodded with a sharp gaze, indicating there was no room for discussion.
In the end, Hiruzen Sarutobi could only helplessly agree to Naruto's demands.
Although the implementation process would undoubtedly be extremely difficult, the Third now had no choice.
Given Naruto's uncompromising attitude, if he didn't do this, Konoha would inevitably suffer even greater losses.
Naruto raised his hand, preparing to retract the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
But after thinking of something, he turned his head toward the Third and reminded him,
"As for which villagers to imprison, I will personally name them at that time. But rest assured, the number won't be less than ten thousand."
Hearing the unit of "ten thousand," the Third's last bit of wishful thinking vanished completely.
He had indeed considered just rounding up a few hundred of the people who had treated Naruto the worst and making a perfunctory show of it.
Now it seemed impossible.
Just thinking about tens of thousands of people locked on a small island…
If the plan Naruto mentioned wasn't perfect — or was deliberately imperfect — how many of those villagers would be able to survive the long twelve years?
The old fox-like Third Hokage didn't dare think too deeply about it.
After Naruto finished speaking, he finally retracted the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Hundreds of Anbu fell like raindrops, crashing onto the ground or rooftops. They all appeared to be heavily injured.
The Third quickly ordered a new wave of ninjas to send the wounded to Konoha Hospital.
Naruto clapped his hands. "Now, take me to Root."
The Third raised his hand and looked at the shadow guards beside him. "You all withdraw as well."
One of the shadow guards said worriedly, "Lord Hokage, if you go alone…"
The Third remained firm. The shadow guards had no choice but to obey and leave.
He then looked at Enma, who still had his arms crossed. "Enma, you should go back too."
Enma frowned, glanced at Naruto, then at Sarutobi.
Seeming to sense Sarutobi's determination, he didn't say much. With a worried look, he canceled the summoning and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Now, only the Third, Naruto, and his Shadow Clones remained.
After unleashing such large-scale Adamantine Sealing Chains and Flying Thunder God, the Shadow Clones still had plenty of chakra left. Naruto had no intention of dispelling them.
Dozens of Narutos followed the Third, flickering across rooftops as they advanced.
When they reached the entrance to Root, a low voice came from behind.
"Hiruzen, I told you before — you would regret it."
Naruto turned around. Danzo, his body wrapped in bandages, walked slowly toward them.
Behind him followed nearly a hundred Root ninjas.
Compared to the animal masks of the regular Anbu, the Root masks were more varied and eerie.
Among the Shadow Clones, Naruto's main body focused his attention on Danzo's right eye, hidden beneath the bandages.
He remembered — that eye was Uchiha Shisui's Sharingan.
The Mangekyo Sharingan — Kotoamatsukami!
This was the only thing Naruto was wary of.
Kotoamatsukami could rewrite a person's will. It was known as the strongest genjutsu dojutsu.
Before coming, Naruto had already thought about how to deal with this dojutsu.
The best solution was to kill Danzo before he could remove the bandages!
But if something unexpected happened, the main body would use Flying Thunder God to create distance while the Shadow Clones dealt with Danzo.
Given Danzo's combat intelligence — using a kunai barrel Susanoo, Izanagi to dodge normal attacks, and even sealing an entire bridge — Naruto wasn't too worried about being hit by Kotoamatsukami.
Danzo also stared at the dozens of Narutos with a gloomy gaze.
His plan was indeed to use Kotoamatsukami to turn Naruto into his weapon.
But seeing so many identical Narutos now, he felt things had become troublesome.
Kotoamatsukami had a long cooldown. He only had one chance! He didn't want to waste it on a Shadow Clone.
Danzo's first step — making Naruto break with Konoha — had already succeeded.
The next step was to bring the jinchuriki under his control.
Thinking of this, Danzo could already see the future of controlling Konoha — even unifying the ninja world — waving at him. His heart surged with excitement.
The Third ignored Danzo's mockery.
Anyone had the right to criticize him, but not Danzo.
Moreover, the Third had a fire burning in his heart. If he hadn't listened to Danzo's suggestion, how could Naruto have developed such deep hostility toward Konoha?
A top genius of Konoha had been turned into Konoha's greatest threat.
All of this was thanks to you, Danzo!
"Danzo, I've turned a blind eye to what you've done all these years, but today, Root will be disbanded!" the Third said in an unquestionable tone.
Danzo couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.
"Hahaha! Hiruzen, you've really gone senile! Being led by the nose by a jinchuriki, doing whatever he tells you to do — do you still look like a Hokage at all?!"
"If you can't do this job properly, then let me take over as Hokage!"
The Third's expression turned extremely ugly.
Normally, no matter how far Danzo went, he would never speak so bluntly.
But today, he showed no respect for him as Hokage at all.
"Attack!" Immediately after, Danzo didn't care that the Third was still beside Naruto and directly ordered the Root ninjas behind him to attack.
Dozens of Root ninjas flickered forward without hesitation.
They formed a circle, completely surrounding the dozens of Narutos and the Third.
Among them, the leading Root ninja raised his hands. Countless Parasitic Destruction Insects poured out from his sleeves.
The highly poisonous insects swarmed toward Naruto like a black cloud.
The other Root ninjas also formed seals, preparing to unleash their powerful ninjutsu!
Meanwhile, Danzo stared fixedly in Naruto's direction like a venomous snake, ready to strike at any moment.
He only needed one strike — just one successful hit with Kotoamatsukami.
Then the position of Hokage would belong to Danzo!
But Naruto didn't give these Root ninjas any chance to complete their seals.
All the Shadow Clone Narutos were in Sage Mode. They swung their light swords at the same time.
Second Form: Claw Strike — Kotō Wind!
In an instant, hundreds of massive blades dozens of meters long, carrying the power to annihilate everything, shot toward the Root ninjas at extreme speed.
Danzo received the most generous treatment — more than ten wind blades flew straight at him.
The Parasitic Destruction Insects in the front were instantly reduced to dust just by the air pressure stirred by the wind blades.
This disaster-like assault instantly made the Root ninjas lose color.
They no longer had time to form seals and release ninjutsu. They all scrambled in panic to dodge.
But the wind blades were too fast, too wide, and too ferocious!
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