Black flames

Pain shot through Sato's throat, and his body tensed up as he was about to face his imminent death.

Danzo could see all the signs on Sato's body—signs that show up when someone is about to die.

Then why..

"Why are you looking at me like that, Sato Nii?"

Danzo frowned, his kunai clenched nervously. Sato's eyes were glued to his own; he had the same look in his eyes which Danzo had a few seconds ago.

The eyes, which seemed to be looking at a dead man.

*Zoom*

Suddenly, a chill shot through Danzo's spine, as the eyes he was looking at started twisting and slowly turning red.

Sato's left eyeball had somehow changed; it was now a red eye with a three-pointed shuriken pattern in the middle.

"It can't be! Impossible! That's the Mangekyo Sharingan!"

Danzo's confidence crumbled; he didn't understand how a brand new Mangekyo pattern could appear on someone like Sato.

Sato wasn't an Uchiha; he shouldn't even have the Sharingan, much less a totally new Mangekyo, in one eye.

'Wait, one eye? I get it; it's not Sato Nii's Mangekyo; this is the transfer seal.'

'Someone must have sealed their Mangekyo justu in his left eye; if that's the case, then he is about to use a Mangekyo jutsu.'

*Whooosh*

Before Danzo could finish his train of thought, intense pain shot through his eyes. The last thing Danzo saw before his vision went dark were black flames.

"Aaaah!!"

Danzo screamed at the top of his lungs. His face felt like it was evaporating; this sheer heat his face was feeling was from those weird black flames.

"Those are the flames of Amaterasu!"

The third Hokage was dumbfounded; he knew about these flames, although he had never seen them personally, but his teacher Tobirama had left notes about such a technique.

'Amaterasu, these flames don't stop burning until they destroy everything the user is looking at, and they can't be extinguished.'

Knowing about Amaterasu, the first thing Hokage did was run away from Danzo instead of going towards him.

Anyone who knows anything about Amaterasu would do the same; not coming into contact with these flames was the only way to avoid them.

*Swish*

Still, just because Hiruzen knew about Amaterasu didn't mean Danzo's root ninja knew anything about it. Multiple root ninja stopped hiding themselves and ran towards Danzo.

They used combined water ninjutsu to help put out Danzo's flames.

"Aaaah!"

And then they began dropping like flies; the second their water style jutsu touched Danzo, the water itself caught fire, and so did their hands.

"Move out of the way, capture Sato Nii first, and force him to stop the justu."

The root captain made an instant decision; he gave up the root ninjas hit by Amaterasu and focused on saving Danzo.

The remaining four root Ninja surrounded Sato and Tsunade, taking an attack stance.

Sato, who was still bleeding out, grabbed his throat to stop the blood. He was constantly trying to get out of Tsunade's grip.

But Tsunade could feel his strength draining after each failed attempt.

'No, no, no.'

Tsunade's body was trembling; she was screaming in her heart. If Sato died like this, it would be entirely because of her.

It was she who trapped Sato so that Danzo could slash his neck. Tsunade's already weak mental state almost collapsed when that happened.

In her mind, she personally killed Sato, so when Sato still managed to counter Danzo after that, her shattered mind grabbed onto that act as a ray of hope.

'I have to move; I can't let him die; if he dies, it would be my fault; I would be his killer.'

Tsunade's trembling body slowly started to move, and she tried her hardest to ignore the blood flowing down her body.

Her trembling eyes were regaining focus, and behind the trembling eyes there was a sense of purpose.

"Don't worry about injuring her; cut off her arm muscles; it will stop her from moving her hands."

The root leader paused only for a few seconds before taking a decision.

*Swish*

*Splatter*

*Stab*

Multiple ninjas from all four sides stabbed Tsunade. Tsunade's years of instinct came into effect at this time.

She hunched over, but what she did was not protect herself but hide Sato.

*Splish*

She could feel four swords stab into her body; she could feel her muscles being shredded to bits, but she had a trembling smile on her face.

She did it; she moved to do the right thing, and even when having a panic attack, she didn't disgrace her Senju heritage.

Children like Sato were the hope of this world, and it was her duty to protect this hope, just like the first Hokage once wanted to do.

"Go ahead, attack."

But now, Tsunade couldn't move any longer; she was surrounded. This was the end; it was a worthless effort from her end.

"Tsunade, I am sorry."

The third Hokage closed his eyes once more.

*Whooosh*

But once again, he had to hastily open his eyes and look around everywhere in panic; something drastic happened yet again.

"The door is on fire. It's the Amaterasu again; Amaterasu is burning the sealing justu."

Third Hokage's eyes popped. One more Amaterasu attack, and this came from the outside, which means whoever sealed Amaterasu on Sato was standing outside this door.

*Crunch*

Hiruzen didn't have to wait long; the very next second, the door shattered and fell to the ground. It was still covered in the flames of Amaterasu, burning away without leaving any ash.

"Itachi and Fugaku.. Both of you have the Mangekyo Sharingan."

The third Hokage clenched his fist nervously; the situation had completely changed. He knew he could not win this; he would lose against a Mangekyo Sharingan, much less two.

Yet he can't give up; he had to fight; everything he did was for Konoha.

"Itachi, deal with the root; I'll help Sato Sama."

The third Hokage froze in his place; neither Fugaku nor Itachi even looked at him; they ignored him completely and started helping Sato instead.

A deep sense of shame flooded Hiruzen's heart. He realized something: he wasn't worthy of being taken seriously by Fugaku and Itachi.

He knew he should say something quickly; he really should move right now, but he didn't have the guts to move.

He had lost. He lost completely the second he failed to kill Sato; now all he could do was minimize the losses.

After their failed attempt to kill Sato, the situation was already beyond his control; the Uchiha and Senju representatives had joined Sato's side.

Konoha was incapable of fighting such a force; they had to bend to Kumo, or Konoha would risk destruction.

Hidden Leaf could no longer be called the first village after this blunder. Danzo, that bastard, ruined everything.

Advanced chapters ahead on patréon

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