Ishiki Kujo had already activated Yang Release Chakra Mode, his body cloaked in luminous life energy, but Danzo's fists hadn't stopped flying. Ishiki was little more than a training dummy in Danzo's rampage, sent careening through walls, pipes, and reinforced Root equipment like a human wrecking ball.
Within minutes, an entire level of Root HQ was a battlefield of crumbling stone, twisted steel, and sparking wires. Smoke, dust, chakra static—chaos everywhere.
Even worse, the longer the fight raged, the more Root shinobi fell under Survivor's influence. The Stand's effect was spreading like a fever—igniting bloodlust, shattering discipline. The entire facility was a tinderbox, and the fuse had already burned past halfway.
In less than five minutes, nearly half of Root had descended into all-out combat. Only the Stand's limited range kept the explosion from consuming everything.
But the moment Danzo uttered the words "permission to investigate your memory", Ishiki had snapped. He would never let someone dive into his memories. Too many truths lay buried there—real ones. And even if they didn't, he wouldn't gamble that Danzo was bluffing.
So he gambled on something else: chaos.
He wanted to see how the Third Hokage would handle a Root meltdown—deaths, destruction, insubordination—all triggered by one boy.
But before that played out, there was one more thing Ishiki had to do: show Danzo exactly what he was dealing with.
BOOM!
A chunk of wall exploded, masking Ishiki from Danzo's view. Danzo's bandaged eye darted rapidly beneath its wraps, twitching with tension.
Yet he didn't unseal it—not yet. Some lingering thread of sanity still held him back. Instead, he slammed both hands into a seal and summoned his monstrous trump card.
A massive Baku, the Dream-Eating Beast, tore its way into the chamber with a guttural shriek.
It had bandages like its master, and it wasted no time—locking its giant jaws wide open. A hurricane-force vacuum erupted from its mouth, while chemical fog hissed from its flaring snout.
Debris, rubble, shattered tiles—all of it flew straight into the Baku's maw, swallowed whole like candy. It didn't slow, didn't choke. It fed.
As the wind tunnel cleared the field, Ishiki's figure was revealed through the storm of dust.
Danzo's cheeks puffed. The moment his eyes locked onto Ishiki, he launched a Wind Style: Vacuum Slash—a slicing blast of compressed air roaring across the room.
Ishiki didn't try to block it. He wasn't suicidal.
The President was gone from beneath his feet, so he dove aside, chakra flaring for speed.
But Danzo inhaled again, faster and deeper.
Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves.
The Baku's exhaled fog acted like a turbocharger, accelerating each slash like bullets from a storm god's rifle. Blade after blade ripped through the air, too fast to dodge.
Ishiki was torn to shreds mid-leap… and burst into smoke.
Just another clone.
Danzo snarled.
The Baku turned, mouth gaping, and sucked hard again—expecting another ambush. But what rushed toward it wasn't a ninja.
It was fire.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
Ishiki had read the manga. He knew that on the bridge, Uchiha Sasuke had dealt with this exact wind beast—by burning it out of existence.
But this time, Danzo moved faster. With one hand, he ripped up the stone floor and flipped a massive slab between the Baku and the fireball.
BOOM!
The flames burst against the makeshift shield, heat rolling, but neither Danzo nor the Baku were harmed.
Yet Ishiki was already in motion.
The moment the fireball hit, he followed through, chakra-enhanced fists leading the way. His Yang Release Taijutsu didn't just boost his regeneration—it turned his muscles into iron pistons.
He punched straight through the slab Danzo had raised—cracking it down the middle—and launched himself directly at the old war hawk.
But Danzo was already reacting.
Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets.
His mouth transformed into a machine gun, spitting chakra bullets that punched through air like miniaturized cannonballs.
Ishiki's body was riddled—holes blooming everywhere.
But again—no blood. No organs.
Smoke.
Another clone.
Danzo's Baku wheeled again, sucking like a black hole. But too late.
Ishiki was already beside it.
Wreathed in golden chakra, he drove his palm against the beast's body.
Chakra Scalpel.
The blade of life energy surged from his fingertips, slicing deep—bone-deep. A ragged wound split the Baku's flank.
It howled and burst into smoke—dismissed by pain.
Danzo turned, fury etched into his face. His hands flashed through seals. His breath thickened. No more playing around.
Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere.
If the previous move was a gatling gun, this was a rocket launcher. Compressed air. High pressure. Maximum destruction.
But as he launched the jutsu, Ishiki stomped down with all his strength.
CRACK!
The entire floor collapsed beneath their feet.
Danzo's Wind Sphere flew wide, punching a crater into the far wall. Ishiki fell through the rupture—dodging the shot by inches.
Danzo's fingers twitched. He reached for the bandages over his eye.
Enough.
This brat had wasted too much time. His shadow clones, his tricks—Danzo would end it all with the Sharingan.
The bandage slid down.
Three tomoe gleamed in crimson light.
And then—
WHAM.
A massive tortoise shell erupted from the ground, slamming into Danzo's feet and lifting him into the air. Around it, stone spikes tore through the floor.
Ishiki Kujo stood atop a hulking turtle, hands forming seals. His mouth opened.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!
A hail of fireballs rained toward Danzo as he struggled to regain footing.
The turtle—Leo—was Ishiki's first summoning. Thick-skinned. Patient. Loyal.
And deadly.
Earth-style spikes emerged in rapid bursts—Leo's specialty, along with Water Style. The tortoise clan's two dominant elements.
Leo laughed as he rose through the chaos. "Keh-heh! Fighting Danzo, huh? Kid, you planning to defect from Konoha? That's some balls. If Tairo knew, he'd have a stroke! But me? I'm loving this!"
His voice echoed through the chamber—gravelly, smug, and wild.
The Root was on fire. Danzo was airborne. And Ishiki Kujo, chakra ablaze, grinned like a man with nothing to lose.