Chapter 59: The Endless Pursuit of Knowledge

Danzo could be considered Aoba's top target. The only problem was that this guy was incredibly hard to kill.

Aoba's current combat ability was more than enough to defeat Danzo in a direct confrontation.

But Danzo was not a lone wolf like Hidan; he was the leader of Konoha's Root. With a large number of subordinates, it was difficult for him to track Danzo's movements under normal circumstances.

Even if he managed to locate Danzo, a direct attack would require a significant amount of time. Konoha wouldn't simply stand by and watch Danzo get killed. It would essentially turn into a conflict with the entire village.

Even if these issues were resolved and he found a one-on-one opportunity with Danzo, the task wouldn't be straightforward.

Few people knew, but he was aware that Danzo had ten Sharingan implanted in his right arm, wrapped in bandages.

Danzo knew about Izanagi. With ten Sharingan, he had ten chances to revive himself. Moreover, Izanagi could last for a period of time. Strictly speaking, it would give Danzo about thirty minutes of invulnerability.

Furthermore, Danzo also had a Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye. The "Kotoamatsukami" within Shisui's Mangekyō was a method that he could not counter at the moment.

So, conventional methods would not suffice to deal with Danzo.

Fortunately, he had been preparing for this for a long time. When he first traded with Orochimaru, he acquired Danzo's blood, specifically for this situation.

Now that he had Hidan in hand, he could begin to consider taking down Danzo.

With Hidan available, killing Danzo was no longer an issue. However, he wanted more. Firstly, he needed to obtain Danzo's Mangekyō Sharingan. "Kotoamatsukami" was extremely useful.

Additionally, he wanted the ten three-tomoe Sharingan from Danzo's arm. To achieve this, some minor issues needed to be resolved before taking action.

Originally, he planned to proceed slowly. However, since Danzo had already set his sights on Karin, he could no longer afford to wait.

Having reconstructed half of his underground laboratory, he placed Hidan's head on the table.

Then he removed the kunai from the head, allowing Hidan to speak.

"You bastard, hurry up and release me, Lord Jashin…"

As soon as Hidan's mouth was free, he began to rant wildly.

"..." Aoba remained silent, quietly watching Hidan until he became uncomfortable.

"Are you done? If so, I have a few questions for you."

"Bastard, who do you think you are? I..."

Hidan continued his ranting, while he remained silently watching his performance. After Hidan had dried up and was panting for breath, Aoba spoke again.

"Are you finished?"

"...What do you want from me?"

"Looks like you're about done. In that case, let's get started. Hidan, I want to make a deal with you. Use your power to help me kill someone. Afterward, you'll be free. What do you think?"

"Killing is no problem. Just tell me who to kill, and I'll do it right away."

"Hehe. I said, Hidan, I need your ability, the "Death Rebirth" technique."

Hidan fell silent for a moment. Although he was mad, he wasn't stupid. Aoba had clearly figured out his biggest trump card. Moreover, he was currently at Aoba's mercy, which meant it was difficult for him to turn the situation around.

"Who do you want me to kill?"

"You don't need to know who it is. Just know that I already have his blood. But there are a few more minor issues we need to resolve."

About half an hour later, Aoba left the laboratory.

To kill Danzo and preserve his Sharingan, he first needed to determine whether Danzo's Izanagi was activated voluntarily or automatically after receiving a fatal attack.

The original story did not clearly describe this. But he had to be fully prepared.

In the original story, Danzo wasted all ten Sharingan, which was quite a waste.

Since the situation was uncertain, he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario. He considered both possibilities: Danzo could either activate Izanagi voluntarily or have it activate passively after receiving a fatal attack. This would align with Danzo's cautious and self-preserving nature.

If this was the case, Hidan's "Death Rebirth" technique could not be used carelessly.

He needed to find a way to restrict the use of Izanagi beforehand.

If it were a true Uchiha, this would be very difficult. But since Danzo's Sharingan were forcibly implanted and used to suppress Hashirama's cells in his right arm, the ten eyes were merely used as "revival tokens." So, achieving this was not entirely impossible.

At this point, Orochimaru provided a critical advance. Aoba obtained a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.

He initially wanted these Sharingan to prepare for transplanting Shisui's Mangekyō into himself. However, the timing was fortuitous. These Sharingan could now be used for targeted research.

He wondered what kind of deal Orochimaru had struck to obtain these three-tomoe Sharingan from Danzo.

In his estimation, Danzo likely had very few extra Sharingan left.

The main reason was that during that night, Danzo's Sharingan had likely been targeted by Root, Obito, and Itachi.

Obito probably obtained the most, Root came second, and it was uncertain if Itachi was involved. However, Aoba estimated that several key Uchiha Sharingan might be in Obito's possession.

Danzo's experiments had likely consumed a significant amount. Having one pair left was already quite fortunate.

Although the Sharingan pair was not damaged, their condition was visibly poor, likely due to experimental use. Their ocular power was significantly depleted.

Fortunately, he was not looking to transplant eyes, just using them for experimentation.

If Danzo's revival tokens were activated passively upon receiving fatal damage, he needed to seal these revival tokens before delivering the final blow.

He had discussed with Hidan, who indicated that once the "Death Rebirth" ritual was completed, all negative effects would be transferred to the target.

Therefore, he needed to seal Danzo's right arm and right eye completely after the "Death Rebirth" was finished and then immediately deliver the killing blow without giving him any chance to react.

There were many sealing techniques available, but achieving the high-efficiency results he needed required some modifications.

For the time being, he had to practice techniques like Flying Thunder God, Wind Release: Rasengan, and sealing jutsu. Aoba was once again busy.

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