Naruto: The Flame That Reshapes Fate

The patterns of the Mangekyō Sharingan were never the same between any two users.

Rēn was no exception.

Using Danzō's pupils as a mirror, Rēn saw the shape of his own eyes—six-bladed pinwheels, similar in structure to Shisui's four-bladed pattern, but with two additional blades. The edges were longer and more curved.

"Beautiful eyes, aren't they?"

A pleased smile appeared on Rēn's face.

But in Danzō's eyes, that smile was more repulsive than a demon's sneer. Those crimson irises shaped like six-bladed windmill blades awakened deeply buried memories. Uchiha... has that cursed power appeared again?

He opened his mouth to shout,

But the moment he saw the shift in Rēn's transformed gaze, it was already too late.

"Welcome to my world."

The voice cut sharply into Danzō's ears, interrupting his thoughts. His gaze shifted slightly—he was no longer in the ruined hallway of the Hokage building. Instead, he stood in a picturesque garden with stone lanterns, a pond, small hills, and a bamboo grove.

Looking up, there was a clear blue sky stretching endlessly, vast enough to swallow everything.

It was fake.

With his mind still clear, Danzō looked down at his uninjured body. A deep sense of insult rose within him. So the Uchiha's genjutsu was powerful—was that reason enough to humiliate him like this? Did they really think he couldn't break such a harmless illusion?

Fine then.

After several attempts, he was forced to admit it—he couldn't dispel this seemingly harmless genjutsu.

Danzō examined the garden that had no exit or path. This wasn't a genjutsu meant to cause direct harm. It was a trap to restrain.

"Something like the Fox's Heart Maze"?

No, that technique created the illusion of being lost in a labyrinth to exhaust the enemy. This was different. He felt completely disconnected from his physical body. Could it be something like the Mind Body Switch Technique? Or perhaps a space-time jutsu like Flying Raijin? Neither felt quite right.

"Danzō, Hokage's advisor... don't you think something is missing from this garden?"

The voice from earlier returned to his ears.

In a blink, Rēn was there—sitting a few steps away on a stone slab on the grass, smirking with the same mocking expression that made Danzō grit his teeth.

Rēn sat there leisurely, entirely at ease.

He pointed downward at the garden. "There's a mountain. There's water. There's bamboo, grass, stone lanterns, and even a small shrine. But what it lacks... is the beauty of flowering trees. So—won't you help me? Let's add a lovely cherry blossom tree."

"Uchiha Rēn, what are you scheming?"

Danzō watched warily as Rēn slowly stood and approached. Strangely, Rēn's figure seemed to grow taller and taller, while he himself felt like he was kneeling at Rēn's feet, forced to look upward at his chin.

"Still haven't realized it? You're far too slow. As someone skilled in sealing techniques, surely you've noticed something wrong with your condition."

Rēn looked down at Danzō, now half-buried in the ground. His grin widened.

He wasn't someone who gained pleasure from other's pain out of some twisted sense of joy... But he'd had to admit under the Mangekyō's influence, he had become one of those people. Watching Danzō suffer gave him a high he hadn't felt since his last life. Maybe that was just a side effect of awakening his Mangekyō through joy.... or it could be just his inherent nature coming out...

At his core, Rēn considered himself a good person—he even made sure no one on the battlefield suffered unnecessarily. If someone was half-dead, he'd generously offer a cremation and scattering service to help them pass on peacefully.

Rēn shook his head. These self-reflective questions could be left for later.

Like awakening from a dream, Danzō finally realized he was partially buried in the earth.

But truthfully, the old man wasn't flustered at all. Not even slightly. There was nothing to panic over. This was Uchiha Rēn's illusion. Strange things were to be expected. If Rēn hadn't acted yet, that would have been even stranger.

"This all you've got, Uchiha Rēn?"

Danzō looked up at him with disdain.

"It's only just beginning, Danzō."

Rēn pointed.

"Look—it's already sprouting."

A tender green bud broke through the skin of Danzō's left shoulder, growing rapidly before his eyes!

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Danzō, who hadn't made a sound even when his leg had been smashed to a pulp earlier, now screamed in agony. The roots of the tree wormed their way into his body, snaking around like serpents. Massive, python-like roots coiled around his form, layer by layer, lifting soil and wrapping him tightly.

In a short time, a towering cherry blossom tree stood proud in the center of the garden. Thousands of pale pink flower buds covered its branches.

"Uchiha Rēn... what... what have you done?!"

It was a good question.

What had Rēn done?

Looking down at Danzō, now drained and shriveled like a mummified corpse bound by dense roots, Rēn smiled with clear satisfaction.

"I'll tell you. When the cherry blossoms on this tree fully bloom, it will mark your death. All of your spiritual energy will be drained and turned into nourishment for my power."

Danzō began to thrash violently.

But if he couldn't break free before, he certainly wouldn't now. He was firmly bound by the roots of a tree born from Rēn's Mangekyō Sharingan dojutsu. Unless his dojutsu or mental power equaled or exceeded Rēn's, escape from this illusion was impossible.

This illusion was called Konohana-Sakuya.

It was one of the two dojutsu Rēn awakened upon obtaining the Mangekyō Sharingan. Rather than a typical genjutsu, it was more akin to a Yin Release technique. As Rēn had said, it caused a giant cherry blossom tree to grow from the victim's body and, as it bloomed, continuously drained their spirit. This was not ordinary genjutsu. It was a form of awakened genjutsu—what could be called genjutsu given physical form.

Yin-based dojutsu.

Rēn bent down and leaned close to Danzō's face, smiling.

"But don't worry. I won't kill you yet. After all, you're the Hokage's advisor. I can fight you and make excuses, but without enough evidence to ruin your name, killing you would cause too much trouble for me. That said—I won't let you live long enough to keep being a problem."

"These cherry blossoms... I'll leave a few unopened."

"You'll linger for another month or two, wasting away slowly until you die of old age. And when that happens, your death will have nothing to do with me~ "

Snap.

Rēn snapped his fingers.

The buds on the tree bloomed all at once—except for a small cluster in the corner that remained tightly closed.

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