One day after Sasuke's storyline was released, Danzo became public enemy number one in Konoha, sparking widespread outrage!
As a result, he didn't dare to leave the sewers where Root operated.
He had truly become a rat in the gutter.
Though, to be fair, he didn't go out much even before this.
When he did go out, it was usually to visit Yuto's Three Kingdoms shop.
However, because of Danzo's actions, the entire Shimura Clan and several other clans allied with him suffered severe damage to their reputation and business.
In the past, this would have been something Hiruzen would have loved to see.
But not anymore...
Now that he was no longer Hokage, he and Danzo weren't exactly enemies.
In fact, during the recent incident with Naruto, the two had briefly collaborated.
But would Hiruzen step in to save Danzo? Absolutely not.
After all, the things Danzo had done... while the other clans might not know the full extent, the Uchiha Massacre alone was enough to drown him in public scorn.
So Hiruzen simply watched quietly, with no intention of intervening.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was practicing with his new series of Ninjas in the arena.
Unlike others, Sasuke immediately chose his most powerful form- Uchiha Sasuke [Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan].
"A form beyond the Mangekyo... I've already awakened the Mangekyo. Will I have a chance to unlock this form in the future?"
Sasuke murmured to himself. He knew that to unlock the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he would need to sacrifice the eyes of a close relative, and those eyes had to be Mangekyo Sharingan...
Two Mangekyo users in one family was extremely rare in Uchiha history. The last pair of brothers to achieve this were Madara and his younger brother, Izuna.
But Sasuke knew that his brother's Mangekyo had been prepared for him.
Yet, the more he understood Itachi's sacrifices, the less willing Sasuke was to accept Itachi's eyes.
'If I didn't have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan... can I still surpass Naruto in strength?'
Sasuke was filled with worry. After learning about Naruto's strength and now the truth about Itachi, his goals had shifted.
He no longer sought revenge against Itachi, nor did he plan to destroy Konoha… except for Danzo, who deserved to die. In the future, Sasuke had killed him as easily as squashing a bug.
So, should he make Danzo his goal for getting stronger?
Sasuke felt that would be an insult to himself.
'I, Uchiha Sasuke, have been weak, have nearly died, but my vision has never been narrow!'
'I, Uchiha Sasuke, only raise my sword against the strongest!'
So, in Sasuke's eyes, Danzo wasn't even worthy of being his opponent.
Right now, he only acknowledged two people as his rivals.
One was Naruto. In Sasuke's view, being the hero of the Ninja World, Naruto, was the only one worthy of being his rival.
The other person...is Uchiha Madara.
In terms of Dojutsu, Sasuke had never seen a Ninja as exceptional as Madara.
'I, Uchiha Sasuke, acknowledge Madara as the strongest!'
---
In order to become stronger, Sasuke knew he had to quickly master the Ninjas in his series.
Next door, Naruto had already mastered his series of Ninjas and had even blasted a sea into existence.
'If I could achieve that level of strength...'
Sasuke couldn't help but feel a sense of longing.
Moreover, Naruto had two special abilities, which Sasuke had long envied.
So, after learning the truth, Sasuke didn't abandon his desire to grow stronger. Instead... he now knew exactly how to do it!
---
As soon as Sasuke started using the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan Sasuke, he was immediately drawn to the character's cool (flashy) stance.
'So cool!'
First, Sasuke tried out the basic attacks. The combo was pretty ordinary, nowhere near as versatile as Naruto's... Naruto's attacks had strong displacement, grabs, and even distractions with substitution tricks.
After experiencing the Eternal Mangekyo Sasuke's basic attacks, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. He felt that aside from stability, there wasn't much to praise about this combo.
But when it came to stability, who could compare to Kurama Naruto?
That guy could just hold down the attack button and chain combos until the opponent was dead!
'Am I really inferior to Naruto?'
A sense of disappointment crept into Sasuke's heart.
But giving up wasn't his style.
Sasuke pressed on, testing out the first skill.
After activating the skill, Eternal Mangekyo Sasuke dashed forward and slashed, sending a bolt of lightning ahead.
The dash wasn't particularly long, but the lightning's attack range... seemed decent?
In Sasuke's mind, this skill was barely passable, but only barely. Compared to Kurama Naruto's first skill, this one was too plain.
Then Sasuke checked the cooldown.
'Such a simple skill should have a cooldown of around 10 seconds, right?'
Having played the game enough, Sasuke had a rough idea.
Then he saw...16 seconds.
"16 seconds!"
Sasuke stared in disbelief at the cooldown timer, making sure he wasn't seeing things...
"16 seconds?!"
'Are you kidding me? A 16-second cooldown for this? What am I supposed to do with this?'
'A 16-second skill, how many times can I even use it in a match?'
Sasuke seriously suspected that the cooldown had been mistyped.
After all, it's 16-second cooldown for one skill. That's longer than the substitution cooldown.
'Isn't this Ninja useless? A cripple?'
After taking a deep breath, Sasuke still couldn't believe that the Eternal Mangekyo Sasuke, who was supposed to rival the powerful Kurama Naruto, could be this weak.
'No! This can't be right! If the basic attacks are unremarkable and the first skill has a longer cooldown than substitution, then the second skill and ultimate must be amazing! After all, no S-Rank Ninja could be this weak!'
Sasuke quickly clicked to check the second skill.
In the screen, Eternal Mangekyo Sasuke dashed forward again, leaving a trail of lightning bolts behind him.
Sasuke's eyes lit up, 'This skill! Now this is something that can rival Kurama Naruto's second skill!'
'And when combined with the first skill, the two dashes and lightning attacks could make for a strong opening move!'
'With such speed, few ninja would be able to counter it...'
'So, is this Ninja meant to be an aggressive attacker?'
Sasuke was puzzled, 'This didn't seem to match my performance in the storyline at all.'
Then he checked the cooldown and nearly fainted from anger...
16 seconds.
"Huh? Both skills have a 16-second cooldown? How am I supposed to play like this?"
Sasuke was extremely dissatisfied. While the skills weren't completely useless, as they were decent for aggressive play, the cooldowns... how many times could he even use them in a match?
'This Eternal Mangekyo Sasuke was trash! I'd probably spend the whole match just spamming basic attacks!'