Chapter 85: Fierce Battle

Sasuke sneered, "Are you afraid of some unspeakable things surfacing?"

He no longer concealed his knowledge of Danzou's human experiments.

Since there was to be a battle, he had to exert his full power.

Combat is not just about chakra and flashy Ninjutsu; it also involves strategy and methods to disrupt the opponent's emotions.

"I said long ago that the Uchiha were beyond saving; there shouldn't have been any survivors at all!"

Hearing Sasuke's subtly threatening words,

Danzou's face was filled with hatred.

He stared at those scarlet Sharingan, the slowly rotating Tomoe, as if they possessed some kind of magic capable of disrupting the mind.

Danzou frowned deeply and whispered, "What evil power, and it's already a Three-Tomoe Sharingan?"

An ordinary ninja would not dare to look a Sharingan in the eye,

but he felt no fear,

because the right eye hidden beneath his bandages was a Mangekyo Sharingan that held absolute dominance, belonging to Shisui Uchiha.

A continuous stream of spiritual energy gathered on the optic nerve of his right eye; any Genjutsu would be instantly seen through.

He felt inexplicably irritable,

especially since Sasuke knew about the human experiments, forcing him to end the battle as quickly as possible.

"For the sake of Itachi Uchiha's obedience, I originally intended to spare your life and let you become a member of Root to protect Konoha; it seems my expectations were too high."

As his voice fell,

Danzou had already made his move, quickly forming hand seals to release his specialty, Wind Style Ninjutsu.

Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!

A sickle-like wind wave erupted from his mouth, accompanied by sharp whistling sounds that tore through the air.

The tree trunks blocking the path were sliced through cleanly without any resistance.

"Come on, let's kill!"

Sasuke suppressed the emotions about to erupt and charged toward the high ground where Danzou stood.

Facing the sweeping Vacuum Wave, he used the defensive power of his Black Flame Armor to leap past the edge of the wind blades; the shattered fragments of the armor dissipated into wisps of Black Flame.

Although a Cursed Swordsman can release Black Flame from a distance, its greatest lethality lies in close-quarters combat.

The fusion of fire elements and Sword Skill can unleash tremendous power.

Danzou wore a look of contempt.

He had experienced countless battles and feared close-quarters combat the least; only when fighting freaks like Hiruzen Sarutobi, who possessed the monstrous summoning beast Enma as a weapon, would he be at a slight disadvantage.

Shaking his head,

the Vacuum Wave suddenly changed direction, and after cutting through two thick tree trunks, it struck toward Sasuke in mid-air with undiminished momentum.

Sasuke, having lost his Black Flame Armor, was grazed by the Vacuum Wave; the sleeve of his right arm exploded, and blood flowed continuously down his arm.

It didn't cut the bone, just caused pain.

But it was by enduring the injury from the Vacuum Wave that he created an opportunity to close the distance, rushing right in front of Danzou.

【Sword Flame Dance (Purple) Lv. 15】: Unleashes a brilliant fire sword technique; attacks have a chance to trigger a fire explosion, dealing 200 points of fire damage.

He brandished the long sword in his hand and slashed at Danzou, who had just finished his move; the blade swept with flames, as if to burn the entire forest to ashes.

"What an arrogant brat!"

Despite saying this, seeing the blade radiating intense Flame Breath, Danzou hurriedly retreated.

A Kunai was gripped in his hand, and he expelled Wind Style chakra to coat the Kunai, turning it into a sharp sword.

Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.

With his mastery of Wind Style, even the hardest weapon would be sliced open by this Kunai.

Clang.

The Black Flame danced, wrapping around the blade as it struck the Kunai.

Following the collision, black butterflies burst out, nimbly flapping their wings and sticking to Danzou's body.

"Not good!"

Danzou's eyes widened sharply, and he hurriedly tried to pull back, but Sasuke stuck to him tightly, giving him no chance to catch his breath.

Those burning Black Flame butterflies gave him a feeling of extreme danger.

Relying on his advantage in Taijutsu,

Danzou endured the injury of the blade piercing his arm and kicked away the Sasuke who was entangled with him.

One, two, three...

After the Black Flame butterflies landed on him, they turned into circles of strange black patterns.

A sense of danger rose in his heart.

Danzou did not hesitate to swing his Kunai, wanting to shave off the contaminated flesh, but it was too late; the black patterns suddenly burst into light, followed by continuous explosions.

Boom—!

The scorching black fire waves surged and swept through the nearby forest; the surrounding trees and rocks were blasted to pieces, all swallowed by the flames.

Even the Root members lying outside the laboratory door were caught in the aftermath.

This range and lethality were enough to rival an S-rank Forbidden Jutsu of Fire Release.

Even the Barrier Squad was alarmed.

At the Hokage Building in the center of the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly raised his head and looked toward the direction of the Death Forest.

He leaped rapidly, arriving at a tall building from which he could gaze into the distance.

In the northeast corner of the Death Forest, a lush forest had already been burned into a sea of black flames, and thick smoke rose toward the sky.

"What is going on?"

The first reaction of Sarutobi Hiruzen was that ninja from enemy nations were causing trouble.

The Chunin Exams were about to begin, and the inns were already full of foreign ninja; if a disturbance occurred at a time like this, they would be the first to be blamed.

But then he thought again,

if he were a ninja from an enemy nation, he would surely choose the bustling main streets to cause trouble; why would he launch an attack toward the Death Forest?

Feeling that something was wrong, Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered his conical hat and rushed rapidly toward the direction of the sea of Black Flame.

Figures appeared one after another; they were all members of the Anbu, responsible for protecting the safety of the Hokage.

At this moment, they also quickly followed closely behind Sarutobi Hiruzen, rushing toward the Death Forest.

"Is he dead?"

Looking at Danzou, who was being swallowed by the Black Flame, Sasuke took a deep breath.

He just felt that something was not right.

As a high-ranking advisor, Shimura Danzo should not be so easily killed.

Suddenly,

Sasuke felt a gust of wind pressure strike from behind and quickly rolled forward; the place where he had been standing was overturned by a narrow Vacuum Wave.

The ground exploded, and thick dust obscured his vision.

Swish! Swish!

Two Shuriken infused with Wind Style chakra flew over.

Sasuke dodged repeatedly, but was still grazed on his right leg by a Shuriken, and blood immediately flowed out; he gripped his long sword and precisely deflected the continuously spinning Shuriken, causing them to veer off and fly away.

"Got you!"

Before he could even react, Danzou's figure broke through the smoke and dust, his arm smashing down fiercely; the heavy Metal Sealing Tool was used like a heavy hammer to strike Sasuke's chest.

Pfft.

Sasuke spat out blood and tried to retreat using the momentum of being struck, but his throat was locked by the five fingers Danzou extended.

"It has been too long since I fought, to think you would make me waste one of my Sharingan."

Danzou's expression was as gloomy as water.

Having already gained an absolute advantage and being able to kill Sasuke at any time, there was no intention of concealment in his words.

His robe was tattered from being burned by the Black Flame, especially the right arm area.

A scarlet Sharingan was constantly rotating.

It was completely exposed to Sasuke's line of sight.

(End of this chapter)