Naruto and the others weren't strangers to Susanoo.
When they first traveled back to Konoha's founding era and encountered the real Madara Uchiha, that legendary ninja had attempted to catch them as they fell from the sky using Susanoo.
Later, when Sasuke and Obito were taken by the Ancestor for special training, although they hadn't seen Susanoo much, everyone witnessed its overwhelming power during his battle with Hashirama-sama.
Compared to Madara Uchiha's colossal, dark blue Susanoo, Itachi Uchiha's was much smaller and only covered his upper body.
The crimson Susanoo, wielding a sharp blade, severed Danzō Shimura's two arms in an instant! Standing still like an ancient god of war, Susanoo enveloped Itachi Uchiha!
But this wasn't the legendary Madara Uchiha—Itachi Uchiha, standing before them, actually possessed Susanoo?!
Though it lasted only a moment!
They had seen it with their own eyes! That crimson Susanoo!!
This was Shisui's first encounter with Susanoo, and he had never imagined witnessing Itachi wield this legendary Uchiha power at such a moment!
Shisui knew one thing about the Uchiha elite: their power always came at the cost of unbearable pain.
Itachi had awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and manifested his own Susanoo.
Sasuke had mentioned that the Uchiha were exterminated in future generations...
Shisui's heart trembled, weighed down by a sense of crushing heaviness.
The arm holding Shisui's eye was severed and thrown into the air. Even after losing both arms, Danzō Shimura still lunged forward, desperate to seize it.
A golden flash disappeared in an instant.
Minato Namikaze returned with the severed arm, standing beside Shisui as he glared at the frantic Danzō Shimura.
"You fear the power of the Sharingan, yet you crave its strength. You've lost your mind, Danzō Shimura."
He handed the eye to Rin, instructing her to prepare for Shisui's eye restoration surgery.
Seeing that the tide had turned, Danzō Shimura cursed the Uchiha clan as a scourge.
"What have I done wrong?! The Uchiha are a cursed clan!! Both the Third and Fourth Hokage! Indecisive fools! One day, the Sharingan will control them! It will lead Konoha to ruin!!"
Hearing this, the few Uchiha present had different thoughts in their hearts.
Sasuke seethed with rage, no longer even bothering to refute Danzō Shimura's words.
Itachi sighed. Power breeds complacency, and authority leads to blindness. Although Danzō Shimura constantly professed his loyalty to Konoha, he had long since lost his way on the path of power. Most crucially, his vision was too short-sighted. What seemed beneficial for Konoha in the short term might, when viewed years later, reveal itself as a dangerous seed of destruction, planted without anyone realizing it.
Shisui, aware that the Uchiha clan was currently plotting a coup, lowered his gaze as he listened to Danzō's words. He didn't know if the Fourth Hokage could, or would, be willing to lend a helping hand. If the Uchiha were truly wiped out in the future, could the outcome of their era still be changed?
Young Obito and Sasuke shared the same fury. Yet the very person who had precipitated the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha and accelerated the Uchiha's exclusion from the village was none other than this era's Obito Uchiha. Thus, Obito remained silent.
Danzō Shimura, having been injured and lost his Sharingan, no longer possessed the strength to resist Hashirama's cells. The Wood Release chakra inside him was devouring his every cell.
He abandoned his attack on Itachi Uchiha and suddenly charged toward Shisui, Sasuke, and Obito! The markings of the Four Symbols Seal appeared on his body. Danzō sought to eliminate the Uchiha's future in one decisive blow!
Minato Namikaze had countless ways to kill him and protect those around him.
But he held back because there was someone here far more suited to strike.
A green Susanoo erupted from the ground, enveloping everyone in its shield. In its right hand, it wielded a spear. From dozens of meters away, the spear pierced Danzō Shimura's body, pinning him to the spot!
At the same time, due to the rampant Wood Release energy within him, the impact caused his body to explode outward. His form transformed into something similar to what Obito had experienced when he first acquired Hashirama's cells, but without the counterbalancing effect of White Zetsu.
In fact, it was far worse than Obito's condition back then. A tree had taken root within his body, using him as nourishment to grow, its roots burrowing deep into the earth!
"!!!!"
Susanoo again?!!
In less than twenty minutes, they had witnessed Susanoo twice?!!
Itachi Uchiha's crimson half-body Susanoo, and Shisui Uchiha's emerald half-body Susanoo!
Sasuke's throat went dry. So Shisui-san also possessed Mangekyō Sharingan... and Susanoo too!!
If only Danzō Shimura hadn't interfered back then. If only Konoha and the Uchiha had coexisted peacefully in those days. Wouldn't the era of the strongest Uchiha and the zenith of Konoha have been forged in their time?
Young Obito's thoughts mirrored Sasuke's exactly. If the other parallel-world versions of himself had all held firm to their ninja way back then, not believing in that ridiculous Eye of the Moon Plan, but instead returned to Konoha, back to Kakashi and Minato-sensei, continued with Rin's promise, and become Hokage to bring peace to this world...
Then, if he, Itachi, and Shisui—three possessors of Mangekyō Sharingan, none bound by clan interests—had worked together, the fear the people of Konoha felt when Madara brought the Nine-Tails to attack the village would have gradually faded.
The Uchiha of Konoha would forever remain Konoha's Uchiha! The strongest clan in Konoha! The sword and shield of Konoha.
Shisui's Susanoo disappeared, and Danzō Shimura collapsed to the ground.
It was revealed that Shisui's eye surgery had not been completed. After the strike, the eye he had preserved began to bleed.
Itachi, approaching them, was in the same condition.
Having lived for years in conflict and self-reproach, Itachi's physical condition had deteriorated. Thus, Susanoo served both as his trump card and a necessity—his body simply couldn't sustain the kind of Susanoo combat that Madara Uchiha could wield so effortlessly.
After using Susanoo once, blood streamed from both his eyes, and his gait was unsteady, less firm than usual. This appearance perfectly matched that of Shisui, who was now wounded and bleeding from his eyes.
Passing by the fallen Danzō Shimura, Itachi's heart was a tangle of conflicting emotions.
He had once traveled back to Konoha's founding era, and later heard about Sasuke and Naruto traveling to parallel worlds across different eras to alter the regrettable outcomes.
This time, Itachi Uchiha personally experienced the opportunity to alter his past regrets.
His uncertainty about what was right or wrong left him somewhat confused, and he failed to notice that Danzō Shimura, lying on the ground, was attempting to continue drawing the sealing symbol with the blood from his mouth, using the friction from his chin.
Pfft—
Pfft pfft pfft—
At that very moment, the former members of ANBU made the same move.
Drawing identical ANBU swords, they leapt forward and plunged them into Danzō Shimura's head!!
– – A betrayal of their master.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Obito, and Kakashi were all startled by this unprecedented sight. They had never witnessed subordinates collectively rebel and kill their leader in an instant, but such acts were sadly not uncommon in the ninja world.
The reason for this was simple: Danzō Shimura had never earned the loyalty of his subordinates through strength or charisma. He had never truly gained their respect, and his cruel methods of training had long stripped them of morality and humanity. Betraying him in a time of crisis was, in their eyes, entirely natural.
With Danzō Shimura now dead, these Root members would need a long and difficult process to readjust to being regular ninjas.
It was already deep into the night. The young Itachi Uchiha, who had been waiting endlessly for Shisui, sensed the commotion from afar and rushed over!
When he saw Danzō Shimura's corpse and a figure almost identical to himself, who was methodically extracting Sharingan eyes from a disgusting arm, the young Itachi Uchiha froze.
"Shisui! And…"
He looked at the boy standing next to Shisui, who appeared to be about his own age. The boy wore a Konoha forehead protector, a blue short-sleeved clan uniform, arm guards, and white shorts with ninja tools strapped to them.
"Is that Sasuke?"
Even before Sasuke was born, he had already suspected that this would be his younger brother.