Chapter 328: Have I Seen a Ghost?!

Underground Prison of the Former Konoha Military Police Force Headquarters

"Clan Head, Hokage-sama, you'd better prepare yourselves mentally!"

Uchiha Yashiro walked ahead, leading Uchiha Ren and Minato Namikaze deeper into the prison. His expression was complicated, and after hesitating for a long while, he finally turned around and warned the two of them.

Ren raised an eyebrow and looked at Yashiro.

"Uncle Yashiro, what's with that expression? We're only going to see a conscious Shimura Danzō. It's not like we're going to see a ghost."

Indeed, Shimura Danzō had already awakened from Izanami.

Ren and Minato had come to see him, while also planning to make some preparations on Danzō in advance for the public execution three days later.

The reason Danzō's public execution had been delayed until now was precisely because he had remained unconscious.

The Uchiha had no intention of letting Shimura Danzō die "happily" in ignorance.

They wanted Danzō to experience what it felt like to be condemned by thousands and reviled by the entire population!

For someone like Shimura Danzō, who had always disguised his personal desires as actions taken for the sake of the village, this would undoubtedly be unbearable.

The Uchiha didn't merely want to kill him.

They wanted to destroy him psychologically as well.

Of course, such an approach might not have had any effect on the Danzō of the past. Given Danzō's convictions, even if everyone opposed him, he would never believe that he was in the wrong.

As far as he was concerned, the ones who were wrong were merely those ignorant fools.

To put it in Ren's words: You have never seen the scenery I have seen, so naturally you could never understand why I did what I did.

But Ren knew that after experiencing Izanami, Danzō's convictions would inevitably change. He would no longer be as stubborn as he had been before.

That was also why Ren had not personally released Danzō from Izanami, instead allowing him to awaken naturally.

However, Danzō's stubbornness had far exceeded Ren's expectations.

He had actually remained trapped in Izanami for so long before finally changing.

"I feel like there's not much difference from seeing a ghost."

Yashiro muttered under his breath after hearing Ren's remark.

"What did you say?" Ren keenly caught Yashiro's complaint and asked, "Uncle Yashiro, what exactly happened?"

Minato also became interested.

"Could there really be ghosts in this world?"

"No... It's not like that."

Yashiro hurriedly shook his head. After hesitating, he said, "It's just that something happened to Shimura Danzō after he woke up..."

Ren didn't pay much attention to this.

"That's perfectly normal. That's exactly what Izanami is supposed to do."

"No, it's not normal at all!"

Yashiro vigorously shook his head, speaking somewhat urgently.

"Shimura Danzō has changed tremendously! So much that it's almost impossible to describe!"

"To be honest, if I hadn't checked the prison surveillance footage from the past few days and confirmed that nothing unusual had happened, I would have thought someone had secretly replaced Shimura Danzō!"

"Replaced him?"

Ren's eyes flickered. A strange thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"After waking up, Danzō didn't start babbling about strange things, did he? Things like 'System' or 'cheat ability'?"

"No..."

Yashiro shook his head. He seemed to want to say something, but couldn't find the right words to describe it.

"I don't know how to explain it. You'll understand once you see him yourselves."

"Is that so?"

Ren immediately became interested and unconsciously quickened his pace.

Yashiro and Minato were also growing somewhat anxious, and they likewise picked up their pace.

A little over a minute later, the three arrived at the deepest part of the underground prison beneath the former Konoha Military Police Force headquarters.

There was only a single cell here.

Shimura Danzō's upper body had been wrapped tightly in bandages covered with special sealing formulas, making him look like a giant cocoon. Only his head remained exposed as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the cell.

Hearing their footsteps, Danzō raised his head and opened his one eye, looking toward Ren, Minato, and Yashiro outside the cell.

The moment Ren and Minato's eyes met Danzō's, both of them froze.

They finally understood why Yashiro had repeatedly emphasized that Danzō had "changed."

Danzō really had changed.

Although Ren and Minato had only looked at him for a moment, that single glance was enough to confirm it.

A person's eyes did not lie when they weren't deliberately concealing their emotions.

And that was precisely the situation now.

Compared with before, Danzō's eyes had undergone a complete transformation.

His gaze had once always been filled with hostility, cold calculation, greed, indifference, madness, and countless other negative emotions.

But now, none of those emotions could be seen.

All that remained was weariness, tranquility, remorse...

And peace?!

For some inexplicable reason, both Ren and Minato could also tell that Danzō wasn't pretending in order to deceive them.

This was genuinely his current state.

What... exactly happened to him?

"You're here."

Danzō was the first to break the silence.

His voice was incredibly calm, without the slightest trace of resentment, as though he were simply welcoming a few friends who had come to meet him.

"Yes. We're here."

Although Ren had no idea what had happened, he still responded.

"So you've decided how to deal with this old man?"

Although Danzō phrased it as a question, there was no emotion in his voice whatsoever. He seemed completely indifferent to his own fate.

"You will be publicly executed in the plaza in front of the Hokage Tower three days from now, before the entire population of Konoha. That was the decision reached at the jōnin meeting."

Ren took a deep breath and stated Danzō's fate.

"Understood."

Danzō accepted his fate without hesitation.

Then he asked, "Is there anything you need this old man to do to cooperate with you? For example, publicly admitting to the crimes I've committed?"

Ren: "...?"

Minato: "...?"

Yashiro: "(－_－)."

Ren stared at the incredibly cooperative Danzō, momentarily at a loss for words.

That was precisely why Ren had come here.

He intended to do something to Danzō, preferably restricting his movements so that during the public execution three days later, Danzō wouldn't say something he shouldn't or do something he shouldn't.

After all, wasn't that exactly what had happened in the neighboring world of One Piece?

When the Marines publicly executed the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, they had been careless and failed to impose sufficient restrictions on him.

As a result, Roger had shouted those famous words immediately before his death, ushering in the Great Pirate Era.

Although Shimura Danzō wasn't Roger and certainly didn't possess some legendary treasure waiting to be discovered, Danzō's reputation was already infamous enough that there was no possibility of rehabilitating his image.

Still, Danzō had been Konoha's intelligence chief.

What if he shouted out some classified information?

That could still cause considerable trouble for Konoha.

Therefore, Ren had never intended to give Danzō an opportunity to speak three days from now.

But now, Danzō's attitude had left Ren completely bewildered.

Was he deceiving them?

Was he trying to lower their guard before looking for an opportunity to turn the tables?

No.

Ren slowly shook his head.

There was no need for Danzō to resort to such a tactic.

Regardless of what happened, Ren would never let Danzō off.

Danzō should understand that as well, so there was no point in using such an obvious trick.

Then what was going on?

Had Danzō really attained some kind of enlightenment?

Ren scrutinized the calm Danzō, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"There's no need to overthink it. If there's anything you're wondering about, just ask. This old man will answer everything I know."

Danzō had naturally noticed the looks Ren and the others were giving him, so he spoke calmly.

Ren exchanged a glance with Minato and gave him a meaningful look.

Minato understood immediately. He smiled at Danzō and said, "It isn't anything particularly important. It's just that your current state really is somewhat puzzling, Elder Danzō."

"Do you feel that I've changed?"

Danzō's expression remained calm as he gently shook his head.

"I have indeed changed. But more accurately, I've returned to the way I originally was."

"To put it even more precisely, I've found my former self again."

"Your former self?"

Looking at Danzō's peaceful expression, Ren seemed to understand something.

"Your original intention?"

"That would be a fair way of putting it."

A flicker of emotion finally appeared in Danzō's eyes.

"Uchiha Ren, although you were the one who trapped this old man, I still have to thank you."

"Thank me?"

Ren pointed at himself and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Thank you."

Danzō said, "That technique of yours called Izanami is truly remarkable! When I first realized that I was trapped in an endless cycle, I was furious. I was filled with hatred and resentment."

"But after experiencing hundreds of thousands of cycles, when everything had finally become numb, my heart finally became quiet for the first time in a very long while."

Minato: "..."

Yashiro: "..."

Ren: "Hundreds of thousands of cycles..."

The corner of Ren's mouth twitched.

Shimura Danzō really was something else.

He had experienced hundreds of thousands of cycles without mentally collapsing. Whether that should be called determination or sheer stubbornness was difficult to say.

Wait...

After hundreds of thousands of cycles, he might have already broken down countless times.

There simply wasn't any way to escape even after breaking down.

Thinking of this, Ren's gaze toward Danzō became somewhat strange.

Danzō didn't pay any attention to Ren's odd expression and continued.

"After my heart finally became calm, I began looking for things to do to pass the time during those 'boring' cycles."

"It's quite strange when I think about it. In the real world, this old man was constantly busy and never had the opportunity—or the time—to do anything pointless."

"But inside Izanami, I suddenly had all the time in the world."

"I don't even know when it started, but I gradually began looking back on everything I had experienced throughout my entire life..."

At this point, Danzō suddenly gave a bitter smile.

His voice became somewhat subdued.

"That was when I finally realized just how many mistakes I had made throughout my life."

Ren and Minato exchanged glances.

Both could see the disbelief in the other's eyes.

Shimura Danzō had actually admitted that he was wrong?

In Ren's opinion, someone like Danzō should never acknowledge his own mistakes, even after looking back upon his past.

Even if he really had done something wrong, surely someone else would be the one at fault.

Danzō noticed the looks Ren and Minato were giving him.

"There's nothing strange about it. When I first began looking back on the past, I truly believed that I had done nothing wrong."

"But as time passed, I became bored. Whenever I revisited certain events, I began trying to solve the problems in different ways and simulate the possible outcomes."

"Perhaps it was because I was inside a genjutsu world. Those simulations proceeded incredibly smoothly and felt incredibly real. I could even draw further conclusions from them."

"Draw further conclusions?"

Ren frowned.

"What kind of strange way of describing it is that?"

Danzō explained, "It means that once a particular thought occurred to me, one—or even several—possible developments that could follow would naturally emerge in my mind."

"I don't know what the exact principle behind it was. It should have been a special effect of Izanami."

Ren nodded, accepting Danzō's explanation.

Although he had never personally experienced Izanami, Ren understood that a technique capable of changing a person's way of thinking could not possibly be nothing more than a simple endless cycle.

After all, an ordinary endless loop would only drive the victim insane.

Danzō continued, "Although it sounds unbelievable, under those circumstances, I truly discovered many better ways to solve the problems I had faced."

"Moreover, I discovered that in many situations, there had clearly been better choices available, yet I had deliberately chosen the worst possible option."

"For example, not long ago, within the Land of Rain, I happened to discover that a pair of legendary eyes had appeared within a newly emerging organization there."

"The Rinnegan—the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths!"

"According to my investigation, the owner of those Rinnegan was a citizen of the Land of Rain. He had grown up there from childhood, but had received instruction from Jiraiya and become a shinobi."

"Their organization, Akatsuki, had also inherited Jiraiya's ideals and had consistently advocated peace."

"Under normal circumstances, when faced with a child possessing such extraordinary potential and a special connection to Konoha, our attitude should have been to win him over, support him, and nurture him properly."

"But in reality, this old man regarded the existence of the Rinnegan as a threat."

"If he were allowed to grow up safely, he might eventually pose a tremendous threat to the village..."

"You're making an assumption without evidence!"

Minato exploded in anger upon hearing Danzō's words.

"No one knows how the future will develop! How can you determine that someone is in the wrong simply because they represent a potential threat?!"

"If we're talking about potential threats, I have them. He has them. You have them too!"

"How can you condemn someone simply because they possess great power?"

"And that's without even mentioning the fact that Nagato has done absolutely nothing wrong in terms of character!"

The more Minato spoke, the angrier he became.

In his eyes, Danzō's way of thinking was simply absurd.

It was as though he regarded everyone as a potential threat and everyone as an enemy.

How could such thinking possibly be allowed?!

◇ BONUS & SUPPORT

◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!

◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.

◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → /Sagamaster789