Chapter 185: Kotoamatsukami didn't work...

The last question struck deep, like a blade aimed at the heart. The two high-ranking advisors, who had been wavering on whether to side with Danzo, suddenly went pale. They quickly moved closer to Jiraiya, distancing themselves from Danzo. Even though nothing had been confirmed yet, just the suspicion was enough to make them want no part in it.

Danzo didn't answer Naruto's question. Instead, he formed a hand seal and slammed his hand onto the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu."

A cloud of white smoke billowed up, and a massive creature emerged. It had the body of a bull, the claws of a tiger, and the head of an elephant covered in brown fur.

"A Baku," Nine-Tails recognized it immediately. "A creature said to feed on nightmares."

"Leave it to me," Nine-Tails said, leaping toward the Baku. With one powerful strike, he took it down. The Baku vanished in a puff of smoke almost as soon as it appeared. Despite being one of the strongest summoning beasts outside the Three Great Sage Regions, it was no match for the power of a tailed beast.

Naruto reached out to grab Danzo, but before he could, the Baku was gone, and Danzo was moving again.

Naruto killed Danzo three more times, each time using a different method—once with a rarely-used ninjutsu, once with kidō that destroyed Danzo's soul, and the last time by physically tearing out Danzo's heart. Yet each time, Danzo stood back up, completely unscathed.

Naruto stared at his empty hand, frowning.

This wasn't a simple "resurrection."

When Naruto had ripped out Danzo's heart and tried to suppress it with spiritual pressure, something strange happened. The heart didn't just disappear—it was erased from existence, as if reality itself had been altered.

"Changing reality?" Naruto thought, glancing at Danzo's arm, which still had six Sharingan open.

Could these ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan really possess such power? He hadn't seen anything like this during Sasuke's fight with Itachi.

"You've figured it out, haven't you?" Danzo said, raising his hand, his voice tinged with pride. "This isn't an ordinary ability."

"This is a forbidden technique, one that not every Mangekyō Sharingan can master."

"Its name... Izanagi."

"Its power is to consume the Sharingan, altering reality as I see fit."

"So, it's not that you killed me and I resurrected. I simply rewrote the past, correcting the 'mistake' of my death."

Naruto frowned.

It was indeed a technique that manipulated reality. But why was Danzo emphasizing this so much? Was it just to explain the technique to him?

Danzo extended his hand, his face emotionless. "This is my first time using this power, so I'm not sure if it'll work on you. But the strength of the Sharingan is something even you can't escape."

"So, I'm going to correct... the 'mistake' of your existence."

Inside Danzo, chakra surged, forcing the Sharingan to turn slightly, while the face on his shoulder twisted in agony.

Is it coming? Naruto thought as he prepared to counter the power to rewrite reality, Izanagi...

But unexpectedly, what activated first was a genjutsu.

A flash of white light exploded, blinding everyone's vision. But Naruto wasn't affected. He saw clearly as Danzo reached up to rip off the bandages on his head, revealing the other half of his face that had been hidden.

In his left eye was another Sharingan.

It spun furiously, transforming into a Mangekyō Sharingan with four sickle-like blades.

The ocular power surged, and a technique silently activated under several layers of concealment.

"Kotoamatsukami!" Danzo's features twisted as he shouted, his voice tinged with madness, "Izanagi is not my ultimate technique. But this one is!"

"The most powerful genjutsu of the Mangekyō Sharingan. Obey my command and become my slave, Naruto Uzumaki!"

His strategy was clear. He used Izanagi to mislead Naruto, even if just for an instant, so he could unleash this technique. Then he would win.

The room fell into a heavy silence.

The most powerful genjutsu? It sounded like a technique that could alter a person's will, turning them into a puppet. Could it really do that?

Jiraiya stared at the blond figure, his heart pounding.

Kakashi was in shock.

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado watched Danzo, their thoughts racing.

Naruto looked down at his hands.

A strange sensation brewed within him.

A voice whispered in his ear.

"From now on, Danzo is your master."

His chakra began to rebel, repeating this phrase over and over.

"Obey my command," Danzo sneered, motioning with his hand, "Come to me, Naruto. You will now..."

Naruto took a step forward.

Danzo's grin grew more sinister.

The others were incredulous—did the technique actually work? Was Naruto really under Danzo's control?

But...

It was only one step.

"This is the most powerful genjutsu?" The blond figure raised his head, looking at Danzo while placing his hand over his stomach.

Danzo's eyes widened, his pupils dilating, his voice growing frantic. "Come here, Naruto! I am your master now. You must listen to me."

Naruto frowned.

The whispers in his ear grew louder, his chakra urging him forward, even attempting to forcibly move his body.

He twisted his right hand, grabbing hold of something within his own body.

Danzo was incredulous. "What's going on? Kotoamatsukami has no effect on you?"

Impossible!

When he first obtained this eye, he tested it on someone. It worked perfectly. They became a puppet, completely under his control.

But it had no effect on Naruto?

"Regular genjutsu uses your chakra to influence another's mind," Naruto said, frowning even more as he increased the force, pulling out a mass of blue chakra from within himself. "More advanced genjutsu can even control the chakra in someone's brain."

"So... disrupting your own chakra flow is enough to break free from genjutsu. But Kotoamatsukami is different. It doesn't manipulate the flow of chakra but the consciousness within the chakra itself."

Everyone in the room was stunned.

What does that mean? What does he mean by consciousness within chakra? Isn't chakra just energy?

But from Naruto's words, it sounded like chakra had its own consciousness.

"Like the influence of a Tailed Beast on a Jinchūriki," Naruto continued, "When your body is filled with someone else's will through chakra, the ninja becomes a tool driven by that will."

"That's the effect of Kotoamatsukami. And you call it the most powerful genjutsu? In the realm of ninja, it certainly is."

Naruto continued to pull, extracting two-thirds of the blue energy from his body. "I can't dispel it under these circumstances. But if I don't want to be affected by it... that's simple."

"I just need to stop being a ninja and give up chakra."

He clenched his teeth, pulling out the last bit of blue energy. With his other hand, he gently tapped, summoning a scroll to seal and store his chakra.

Danzo's expression shifted from shock to disbelief, then to terror, finally settling into a state of despair.

"You're insane," he muttered. "Not even Kotoamatsukami can control you."

Naruto looked at him.

At this point, only four of the Sharingan on Danzo's right arm remained.

"Changing the allegiance of a 'tool'..." Naruto spoke calmly, "How could that ever work on a human? The greatest chasm between us isn't power. It's the world our eyes perceive."

"Now, let's have a proper conversation about the past."

Danzo grabbed his clothes, gritting his teeth.

"Naruto Uzumaki... You're an incredibly dangerous individual. You're even more of a threat than I imagined. Obito Uchiha said you want to become a god who rules over life and death..."

Naruto's expression flickered.

Though the description was somewhat exaggerated, from their perspective, it was easy to understand why they saw it that way.

He wasn't surprised by this assessment.

What did surprise him was that he had only recently shared his intention to establish the Seireitei with a few people—Karin, Sasuke, Neji, Orochimaru, and a few others. It wasn't widely known yet.

How did Danzo know?

And how did Obito Uchiha find out?

They certainly didn't have the capability to gather intelligence right under his nose.

"If you just wanted to become a god, that would be one thing," Danzo said gravely, continuing, "But you seek to overthrow the very existence of ninja. That is absolutely unacceptable."

Naruto countered, "Why is it unacceptable?"

Danzo didn't answer.

He didn't know the answer, but... It was the current "ninja system" that allowed him to rise to power as Danzo-sama of Konoha. How could he allow someone to destroy it so easily?

"It seems I'll have to use more forceful methods," Naruto said, raising his hand as Kidō energy blasted forward.

Izanagi allowed Danzo to escape death time and time again.

While reality could be rewritten, the pain he experienced didn't vanish.

After dozens of deaths, Danzo's face was contorted, his mind nearing its breaking point.

On his right arm, the last Sharingan was slowly closing.

"Still not talking?" Naruto asked him.

Danzo gritted his teeth and raised a kunai. "I... I am a ninja of Konoha, I am Konoha's darkness. Neither you, nor Kakashi, nor that old fool Hiruzen... None of you understand my thoughts or my methods. But I was indeed protecting Konoha."

He bit down hard, ripping his clothes open to expose his upper body, revealing a large black seal on his chest.

He lunged forward, grabbing Naruto's ankle.

His left hand moved, not to attack Naruto, but to attack himself.

With a squelching sound, he stabbed his throat.

"If you want to know the truth, you'll have to join me in death." He roared, reaching out his hand.

As he spoke, black blood seeped from his body, gushing out like a fountain, quickly covering both his body and Naruto's legs.

This was his last resort.

"Reverse Four Symbols Seal."

~~~

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