The battle with Danzo was Lin Nan's first true all-out effort since arriving in this world. Previously, whether it was against Orochimaru or Uchiha Itachi, their encounters were brief, ending within two exchanges. Danzo was the first Kage-level combatant Lin Nan had faced, or at least, close to it. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but Lin Nan hadn't expected it to come so quickly. If the timing hadn't been coincidental, Lin Nan would have preferred to wait for a more opportune moment, believing that revenge could be achieved with patience.
Disguised as a Root ninja, Lin Nan located Danzo without immediate detection, allowing him to launch a surprise attack that quickly proved effective. A swift, fatal blow! Lin Nan directly ripped out Danzo's chest. Only after tearing out the heart did Lin Nan realize it wasn't satisfying enough. The realization that something was wrong came later. Indeed, the person wasn't Danzo, nor even a clone, but merely a decoy. Danzo was truly ruthless to the extreme. Lin Nan found such insidious individuals utterly unnecessary. He gnashed his teeth in hatred. Even thinking about it now made him want to dig up his grave.
Lin Nan's disguise was then exposed, and Danzo still didn't find him. Root ninjas quickly surrounded the area. However, Lin Nan refused to retreat so easily and unleashed a newly learned ninjutsu, gambling on a chance. A blast of Wood Style technique tore through the temple. Using the Wood Style chakra's exploration, Lin Nan truly detected a powerful chakra fluctuation. Furthermore, this chakra fluctuation was incredibly complex, bearing a striking resemblance to his own. Lin Nan knew Danzo had been found; the man was indeed hiding there.
Danzo's strength lay in his near-infinite resurrections via Izanagi. This meant he had an extremely high margin for error; death was just a reset. But Lin Nan couldn't afford that. Although he had copied Izanagi, its cost was the permanent blindness of one Sharingan, a price Lin Nan could not bear. Lin Nan recalled killing Danzo five times, the last instance even severing Danzo's entire arm. Yet, he knew this wouldn't stop Danzo's resurrections. At this point, Lin Nan's chakra was depleted, making further engagement with Danzo impossible. With Kamui protecting him, he could escape at will.
This assassination attempt on Danzo ultimately ended in failure. However, it was not the end of the assassination. Revenge was certain. Lin Nan surmised that after this experience, Danzo, that old fox, would not emerge so easily. Therefore, he later went to Orochimaru's hideout seeking his help. After all, Orochimaru had covert ties with Danzo, and if Orochimaru were willing to assist him, Lin Nan's chances of approaching Danzo would greatly increase. Lin Nan was willing to go to any lengths for revenge. Of course, Orochimaru's help wouldn't come without a price.
However, before Lin Nan could leverage Orochimaru's assistance, a change occurred in Amegakure. Lin Nan found himself imprisoned in Konoha's dungeons for the second time, this time as a traitor to the Akatsuki. But this time, Lin Nan wasn't focused on his revenge; he was concerned about the whereabouts of a certain corpse, even going so far as to initiate a preemptive Konoha cleansing plan. It was important to note that Lin Nan possessed Uchiha Itachi's Susano'o at this point! In Konoha then, with Susano'o activated, Lin Nan was practically invincible. Ultimately, Tsunade stepped in to calm Lin Nan. Upon seeing that the corpse had not been dissected for research, Lin Nan breathed a sigh of relief. Afterward, Lin Nan inquired about Danzo again. According to the Fifth Hokage Tsunade, she disliked the old ways and felt they were obsolete. Thus, as a new Hokage, Tsunade focused her initial efforts on dismantling Danzo and Root. Danzo was effectively a non-entity, possessing little power and no longer residing in the village; Tsunade didn't know his current location. Lin Nan initially suspected Tsunade was making excuses, but after investigating discreetly, he found that all Root ninjas had indeed vanished from Konoha. During the Third Hokage's era, at least five out of ten ninjas were from Root, three from ANBU, one ordinary, and one a spy. Since they had disappeared, Lin Nan could only let it go.
Subsequently, events unfolded according to historical trajectory. Danzo was eventually killed by Sasuke. After a lifetime of hiding, his only appearance in the sunlight was at his own burial ground. This ending was too lenient for him. So, by calculation, this was Lin Nan's fourth visit to Konoha village. Lin Nan let out a barely audible sigh. Looking back, having a system didn't automatically make one superior. Success in life was occasional; failure was the norm. Yet, it was precisely that occasional success that could salvage all the failures. People often ask: what kind of ending befits such a tumultuous journey? Lin Nan felt that being resurrected via Edo Tensei was already a great comfort, let alone taking such a significant step towards his own revival.
"Orochimaru, didn't you bring me here before?" Lin Nan asked, looking at the somewhat familiar surroundings. Orochimaru turned back, puzzled. "This is the shrine area of the Land of Waves. How could you have been here, and how could I have brought you?" "Land of Waves?" Lin Nan frowned. Orochimaru continued, "The Reaper Death Seal originates from the Uzumaki clan of the Land of Waves. Therefore, the one who tied the knot must untie it!" Lin Nan, however, asked, "We went to the former site of the Land of Waves before, and the architecture there was quite similar to this place." "The former site of the Land of Waves? We went there?" Orochimaru's expression became strange. "Little Lin, while we weren't exactly enemies before, we weren't this intimate, were we?" Lin Nan's expression also turned peculiar.
Lin Nan couldn't be mistaken, as this was the condition he had set for helping Orochimaru find Danzo. Yet, Orochimaru at this moment had no reason to lie, and his demeanor didn't suggest he was. This meant he had forgotten. If he could forget something like this, wouldn't he forget many other things? It was no wonder the resurrected Orochimaru seemed odd everywhere; it was all because of this! Fortunately, he still remembered Lin Nan's name... Suddenly, Lin Nan's footsteps halted.
"What's wrong? We're almost there!" Orochimaru asked. Lin Nan looked at the night sky in the distance, where occasional flashes of lightning seemed to occur, his face turning grim. "My main body is in trouble!" Lin Nan declared. Orochimaru's expression grew stranger. "If your main body is in trouble, wouldn't you, as a clone, immediately disappear?" "I'm a Wood Style clone, so no!" Lin Nan shook his head and, in the next moment, created a Shadow Clone. "I'll head back first; you guys continue!" With that, Lin Nan's figure sunk directly into the ground.