Danzō III

The sudden attack caught her off guard, but on instinct, she quickly sidestepped his kick.

"You're crazy!" she shouted after barely managing to defend herself.

Hiruzen stepped into the fray, raising a hand. "Stop this, Danzō!"

But Danzō was unrelenting; he slipped through the doorway behind him, trying to escape the confrontation. Hiruzen shouted at Margaret, "Stay here while I call for backup!"

But Margaret was too heated, and as soon as he left, she found herself in pursuit of Danzō.

"This dude's totally getting the death sentence now," she said, giving chase.

If anything, she was more curious than angry. Something about Danzō's sudden attack had felt off, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

The sun had fully risen now.

The moment Danzō disappeared around a corner, she slipped through a shortcut. She relied on her instincts, following her senses until she finally saw him duck into an alleyway.

But as she turned the final corner, she froze. Standing right before her was a second version of herself!

Margaret's heart pounded as she instinctively took a step back to process the phenomenon before her. The other Margaret was filled with a quiet confidence.

Meanwhile, deep in his laboratory, Arthur sensed the events unfolding in the village. His focus sharpened as he understood what he was witnessing—two Margarets standing in the same moment could only mean one thing.

"Now I get it!" Margaret whispered to herself after barely being able to process the revelation. "This must be me from the future!"

Now she understood why Danzō had said things like "you're back," and "I already told you."

As such, she quickly ducked behind a corner, hidden from their view while she took things in.

Her future self confronted Danzō, who appeared slightly disoriented yet intent on his purpose.

"Cool!" the past Margaret said. "I get to see myself fight."

As Danzō positioned himself, he unleashed his first technique: "Wind style: vacuum bomb!"

He compressed a vast amount of chakra into a sphere of wind before forcefully expelling it from his mouth. The spherical winds tore through the air as it hurtled toward her future self.

In quick response, she clasped her hands together, channeling her chakra.

"Wood style: tree wall barrier!"

Many wooden branches sprouted from the earth in a burst. They twisted and intertwined, forming an impressive net-like barrier in front of her.

Danzō's technique then slammed into the wall, causing the sound of crashing wind and splintering wood.

The barrier trembled, but instead of breaking, it absorbed the attack, translating raw destructive power into a display of resilience. Margaret remained behind the barrier, unscathed.

"Fascinating!" Danzō exclaimed. "You're more remarkable than I thought!"

It became apparent that this kunoichi was not merely talented but had used the wood style skill better than his former student, Yamato.

Undeterred, Danzō bit his thumb and drew blood. Then he smacked his palm against the floor.

"Summoning jutsu!"

A massive, eerie creature emerged from the smoke with an imposing stature—an elephantine chimera, predominantly dark orange, with tusks and bandages wrapped around its head. Its presence alone dwarfed Margaret's size.

"He actually summoned that?!" the past Margaret commented, knowing all of Danzō's moves.

The chimera unleashed a show of power by using its suction ability to destabilize her future self's defenses. The barrier shuddered a little, but the Margaret fighting didn't yield.

"Wood style: great tree spear!"

Thick roots surged from below, shooting upward before impaling the enormous beast. In just one move, it dissolved into smoke.

"Impressive!" Danzō called, but he wasn't finished yet. "Wind style: vacuum blast barrage!"

He took in a deep breath and then released a swarm of razor-sharp wind blades, directing them at her from multiple angles while using the distraction to flank her position.

She didn't even flinch.

"Wood style: wood expulsion jutsu!"

A dome-like structure was created that took the shape of a face. It formed around her, absorbing the incoming attack as the chakra flowed through them and softened the impact.

"Talented, yes, but it's a shame your skills are so poorly guided," Danzō sneered, taking advantage of her defensive gesture.

In the blink of an eye, he moved, darting toward her with lethal intent. Before he could close the gap, however, four giant wooden hands erupted from the ground, trying to ensnare him.

He quickly leaped into the air, evading the grasping roots, but he was met with a swift retaliation. The future Margaret, electric kunai in hand, leaped up to intercept him mid-flight.

With one swipe, she delivered a precise blow, and Danzō's right arm fell away, severed cleanly at the elbow.

The remnants of cloth fluttered to the ground, revealing what lay beneath: several Sharingan implanted into his severed limb.

A shudder ran through both Margarets in unison as they exclaimed together, "Oh gross!"

Danzō landed awkwardly with shock all across his features. He looked at the lost limb with not just anger but fear. How could she have known about one of his secret trump cards, he wondered?

"You think you've won?" he shouted. "You're making a grave mistake!"

Suddenly, the mood shifted; dark intent filled his voice as he prepared to utilize one of his most infamous techniques: Kotoamatsukami!

From what everyone knew about that technique, it was a formidable dōjutsu categorized as a high-level genjutsu. It also allowed the user to subtly infiltrate the minds of any targets within their field of vision and manipulate their thoughts and actions without their awareness.

Rather than being a mere illusion, it makes the victims think they're acting of their volition, effectively controlling their actions through experiences.

Margaret instinctively sensed the shift in the battle and knew she had to respond.

"Wood style: silent strangle jutsu!"

Her arms transformed into multiple branches that erupted rapidly, snaking through the air to immobilize him. The branches coiled around her target, who struggled against their tight grip, unable to access the bandage covering his cursed eye that housed the technique he so desperately sought to use.

His struggles grew wilder as Margaret wasn't finished.

"Wood style: wood dragon jutsu!"

A massive wooden dragon sprang from the ground, roaring as it twisted before wrapping itself around Danzō and devouring him whole.

The beast's toothy maw closed around him, and it became apparent that she had won.

Both of the Margarets took a relaxed breath, aware of the irreversible scars Danzō had left behind not only on the village but on their very being.

To think that she had killed off a prominent antagonist, one that Sasuke Uchiha with his Susanoon and Mangekyō Sharingan found difficult to deal with.

Now that Danzō was dead, more of the shinobi world would change. His manipulations had been the cause of many tragic events, from controversial decisions regarding Sasuke to the handling of the Akatsuki's threat.

More importantly, the remnants of Root would find themselves grappling with the loss of their leader and the potential disbandment of their organization.

Loyal followers like Tanuki Shigaraki might resent Margaret, feeling anger at Danzō's death. Who knows if he'll decide to take revenge?

But how exactly did she manage to take down such a well-known figure?

Margaret secured her victory over Danzō through her strategic thinking and proactive defensive maneuvers. At the start of the battle, when Danzō unleashed his wind technique, she knew exactly what could absorb his attacks while maintaining composure.

Even with one of the world's most powerful genjutsu, the latter simply couldn't execute it fast enough before being immobilized. And to be fair, he had severely underestimated her.

From the moment she showed she was capable of using wood style, he should have instantly prepared his Izanagi techniques. That would have at least given him a slight edge.

But he was a greedy shinobi, clearly wanting to take all of Margaret's cells for dastardly purposes.

Margaret's own adeptness in transitioning from defense to offense further contributed to her victory. After defeating the chimera he summoned, that should have already hinted at her control of her Kekkei Genkai.

And the moment Danzō lost his arm, his composure crumbled under pressure—exactly like when he had fought Sasuke three years from now.

Ultimately, while he entered the fight with confidence, his miscalculations and Margaret's insight shaped the outcome, allowing her to triumph over a formidable foe and solidify her position as a powerful kunoichi within the Leaf Village.

Silence lingered in the aftermath with the only sound of the creaking of branches settling back into the earth.

The future Margaret double-checked to ensure that the elder was dead. She furrowed her brows, and after a minute, she knew that he wouldn't be coming back.

The past Margaret was quite impressed by the battle. They both clearly didn't like him enough to have preferred to end his time in this world rather than converting him.

This was the same elder who secretly tried to get Hiruzen assassinated, influenced the Uchiha Massacre, was extremely prejudiced toward members of that clan, took Shisui Uchiha's eye, and even sought to control the Nine-Tails for his own greedy ambitions.

He was considered the most hated character in this world.

Killing him now was doing everyone a favour, so she believed.

Margaret's future self then did something interesting: while she was assessing the dead body, she kept the number one behind her back.

"What does that mean?" the past Margaret asked herself. She could hardly catch her breath as she considered the implications of this battle. Since she was here and would be here again, that meant that she had to return to the past. "I should really stop time traveling!"

From the safety of his laboratory, Arthur rested his elbow on his chin. He was severely disappointed by the elder's death.

While the recruitment of Danzō had ended in a tragic failure, he reminded himself that the real victory lay in the insights he gained into Margaret's fighting style and how Jasper's Time Travel technique functioned.

Arthur could certainly devise a counterplan to their time traveling and ensure he would never again be caught off guard like before.

Back on the battlefield, the past Margaret began to sprint toward where she knew Jasper was.

When she found him, her eyes were filled with urgency as she begged him to send her back in time again.

"Jasper, you have to let me go! I need to go back now!"

Jasper looked bewildered, trying to blink away his confusion. "No, why would you want to do that? Seriously, what happened with that whole—"

Margaret cut him off, insisting, "Does it really matter? Just send me back!"

"Okay, okay! But just so you know, I lost the last loop, so it might appear anywhere again…"

"Whatever!" she snapped back. "I'll take full responsibility."

"Have it your way then," Jasper smirked.

It soon became clear that he honestly wasn't concerned about sending anyone back in time. They already discussed how dangerous it was, but Margaret agreed to take accountability.

So long as it didn't get him into any trouble, he was more than willing to oblige.

"How far back would you like to go?" he asked.

"I dunno!" she said, frantically shaking her hands. Then she understood why her future self kept the number one up as if trying to tell her something. "Oh! One hour should be fine."

He placed a hand on her forehead, causing a faint glow to envelop her. Then, in an instant, she was whisked back to this morning.