Chapter 330 - Friends to Foe: Hiruzen vs Danzo

A Few Minutes Ago.

The Root headquarters which was typically shrouded in silence, echoed with the alarm of an unprecedented attack. On one side an unknown enemy infiltrated the base and escaped with items of immense value. On the other side the Hokage of the village had launched a secret attack and was eliminating an unstable factor.

Danzo escaped from the unknown masked enemy and was making his way through the dark halls while clutching the bleeding stump where his right arm once was. He gritted his teeth in anger and pain as he recalled the losses he suffered.

'Not only was Shisui's Mangekyo stolen but he also managed to take my arm. That bastard.'

Blood seeped through his bandages as he moved, flanked by seven of his most trusted Root operatives. Suddenly the team sensed a Root ninja coming to their location. They were on alert and were on guard against everyone. But when they saw who had arrived they immediately let the ninja near their commander.

It was one of the rare medic ninjas trained by the Foundation. "Do you have it, Kui?" Asked Danzo impatiently.

"Yes lord Danzo. I barely managed to escape before Anbu raided the lab but I have it." The new Root ninja appeared with a scroll in his hand. He opened it and a pale arm appeared from the scroll.

"Quickly. We don't have time to waste." Danzo ordered and removed the bandages to his right shoulder.

The medic ninja quickly began attaching the arm to Danzo's stump.

'So this is what Shigaraki was able to create with the samples from my arm. Too bad he couldn't recreate the Sharingan.' Danzo thought to himself as he looked at the prosthetic created by his scientist from the samples taken from his Sharingan wielding arm.

The medic shinobi did an excellent job at quickly attaching the arm to Danzo and transferring a large amount of his own chakra to the old ninja. By the time Kui completed his work he was unsteady and soon fell to the side unconscious.

Danzo took one look at the root ninja and ordered the others to move. "We don't have time to waste."

With most of his strength and chakra returned, Danzo moved much faster through the halls with his men surrounding him. As he neared a large chamber at the end of the hall a warning suddenly came from one of his men.

"Lord Danzo!" A warning which stopped the old man in his tracks.

Danzo's eyes narrowed as he and the Root ninjas slowly stepped into a vast chamber within the underground base.

Across the room stood Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, accompanied by three Anbu operatives, their animal masks concealing their identities.

Hiruzen was surprised by Danzo's state. 'Based on his appearance, it seems he's already gone through a fight. But with who?'

Just as Hiruzen was scrutinizing Danzo, the old war hawk was doing the same. 'It seems he's come here prepared for battle. After all these years, is this how it ends between us?'

Shing!

The sound of blades being drawn on both sides could be heard.

Danzo looked at Hiruzen and remembered the days when they were young, when they trained together, when they fought together and later in life when he saw the Second Hokage pass the mantle to his friend and rival. Finally his eyes sharpened and he made a resolute decision. "So it's come to this huh Hiruzen."

"Yes."

Even when Danzo heard that determined reply he could still see a spark of hesitation or regret in the Hokage's eyes. 'Hiruzen, if you're going to do something, do it boldly.'

"Danzo-"

Just before the old kage could say anything else Danzo made it easy for him. "There's no need for any more words Hiruzen." The Root commander knew his comrade best and knew things had reached a point of no return. "Let's settle this."

Hiruzen understood the meaning of Danzo's words and internally gathered his chakra. "So be it."

The tension was thick, the air became charged with the promise of violence. All ninjas tensed their muscles and gathered their chakra. The ground under the feet of the Hokage and the Root commander cracked and small rock particles floated in the air.

The Anbu and Root felt the true presence and power of the two veteran ninjas pressing down on them.

'This much chakra. They're not playing around. It looks like this is going to be a life or death battle.' The Root ninjas tensed as they gazed at the power of the Hokage.

'So Danzo still has this much power? I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise. He's the man who competed for the position of Hokage.' The three Anbu were outnumbered but they were unafraid.

Without another word, the two old friends turned foes launched into battle. Hiruzen moved first, forming rapid hand seals.

'Earth style - Raging Mud River.'

The floor beneath Danzo and his men instantly turned into a fast flowing river of mud. The one-eyed ninja and his Root ninjas instantly jumped to safety.

Danzo landed on the ceiling with three others near him while the other four jumped and stuck to the walls.

Immediately the three Anbu standing near Hokage got to work. The one wearing a mask with a Hawk painted on quickly weaved seals for a ninjutsu.

'Earth style - Earth Dragon bomb.'

The target of the jutsu was not Danzo but his men. Specifically the four on the wall. While the Root ninjas were evading or blocking the jutsu, the other two Anbu made their move.

The Anbu shinobi with the mask of snake pattern weaved several seals while the one wearing the tiger mask took out multiple shuriken and threw with speed and precision. He immediately went through a couple of seals and blew out a powerful current of air that increased the speed and lethality of the shurikens by multiple folds.

They targeted one of the Root ninjas who escaped from the earth dragon and was away from his teammates.

In seconds the targeted Root ninja was riddled with shuriken and fell to the floor dead.

Danzo, who was standing upside down on the ceiling, watched the whole scene and narrowed his eyes.

"Genjutsu." Suddenly one of the Root ninjas near him spoke. "Hawk distracted and separated him with his Earth style jutsu while Snake put him in a reality distortion Genjutsu, while Tiger attacked. To him the shurikens might not have existed or he might not have been aware that he was under attack." The root ninja gave a quick explanation and Danzo sneered.

'Teamwork huh. It seems they were handpicked by Hiruzen and had special training. They're looking to end this quickly. This is going to be tricky.'

"Pair up and keep those Anbu busy." Danzo gave the order and went through several hand seals. Immediately the root ninjas went for the three masked Anbu.

Hiruzen, seeing the enemy coming, spoke quickly. "Remember. It's not two against one. It's six against three."

The Anbu ninjas nodded and moved like the wind. They confronted their enemies in the middle of the room while Danzo attacked Hiruzen with multiple vacuum bullets.

Hiruzen swiftly dodged to the side while Danzo kept spitting out several fast air bullets. The Hokage immediately went through a seal and a stone pillar appeared in front of him deflecting multiple attacks from Danzo.

The very next second when Danzo stopped to take his breath Hiruzen rushed from behind the pillar. He took out a shuriken and flung it at his enemy and quickly made a couple of seals.

'Ninja art - Shuriken Shadow clone jutsu.'

One shuriken became several and was quickly heading for Danzo. The one-eyed old ninja took out a kunai and infused it with wind chakra extending its cutting power and range.

Even with his vision halved, Danzo expertly cut through all the deadly flying weapons coming at him. But just as he destroyed the last flying star the Hokage was on him and the kage had a small current of electricity circulating around his right hand.

'Lightning style - Paralysis point.'

Hiruzen's jutsu made contact. His right arm touched Danzo's shoulder and a powerful electric current spread to the old ninja's entire body, paralyzing him.

"Grr…!" Danzo grunted for a moment and focused on his chakra nature. He immediately charged the wind nature chakra throughout his body. He swiftly countered the lightning jutsu and went on the attack.

Hiruzen dodged the deadly attacks from the kunai while parrying and deflecting several strong punches aimed for his neck and heart.

Suddenly Danzo saw another Hiruzen coming from behind the stone pillar. His eyes moved to the one near him. 'Just as I suspected. He had a shadow clone attack me while waiting to move in on an opening.'

The Hokage figure fighting Danzo suddenly grabbed onto his arms holding the Root Commander in place while the second Hiruzen immediately went through several seals for another jutsu.

'Is he going to use his fire style jutsu?' Danzo gathered his wind chakra and began preparing defensive measures.

But unexpectedly the second Hiruzen suddenly jumped away from the two while the man holding firm to Danzo turned to mud.

Danzo was taken aback by that move. 'Why is he-'

Before he could complete his thought he saw several paper bombs appearing in the chest of the mud clone and his eyes widened.

"HO-" BOOM!

An explosion rocked the chamber making the other ninjas retreat to the side.

Hiruzen, who was safe from the explosion, watched the dust and smoke with caution. A few seconds later he sensed movement and was on guard. Suddenly from the smoke came three shuriken enhanced with wind chakra flying straight at him.

Hiruzen kneeled and immediately went through a few seals and placed his hands on the ground. 'Earth style - Mud wall jutsu.'

Just as the defense wall sprang up, Danzo's spiraling wind shurikens came and it cut through the wall like a hot knife through butter. But the defense jutsu did its job and kept the user safe from harm.

Hiruzen stood and looked ahead. The smoke had cleared and he saw Danzo with small burns on his skin and charred clothes but he didn't suffer a mortal injury.

Danzo stood and took several deep breaths as he looked at his rival. 'His battle senses are as sharp as ever.'

The one-eyed man took a step forward as he felt the powerful healing chakra of the first Hokage's cells working on him. He needed a few moments and Danzo decided to stall for time no matter how short it might be.

"It wasn't a shadow clone that hit me with that Lightning jutsu. It was you. Your clone appeared just when I seemed to be at a disadvantage to fool me and take me off guard and then you used substitution with that mud clone that had paper bombs." Danzo's tone revealed nothing as he looked at the old kage.

Hiruzen nodded as he took a step forward as well. "Yes, and you created a Wind style defense barrier at the last second and saved yourself. But I have to say, you've disappointed me Danzo."

The leader of the Root frowned when he heard that.

"You would never have fallen for such a simple tactic in the olden days. Your skills and intuition have dulled."

Hiruzen's words struck a nerve in Danzo. His eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists. "We'll see about that."

Danzo bit his thumb and drew a seal on his palm.

'The Baku.' Hiruzen's eyes widened as he realized what his rival was about to do and immediately he went through several seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Fire Style - Dragon Flame Bomb!"

Smoke covered the area near Danzo and a giant creature appeared within it. It destroyed the ceiling due to its sheer size.

Just then the temperature of the room suddenly soared and an orange light could be seen coming from Hiruzen's position. A massive torrent of flames roared towards Danzo and his summoning creature. The heat was intense, threatening to incinerate everything in its path.

Danzo, who was atop the creature, went through seals and placed a hand atop its head. A collaboration ninjutsu with his summoning creature.

"Wind style - Roaring Hurricane."

Two ninjutsu of opposite natures clashed into each other with ferocious force.

Hiruzen grimaced as he already knew the outcome of the confrontation. 'I was too late. I can't waste chakra confronting his wind style jutsu head on.'

The Hokage cut off chakra to his jutsu and immediately moved away from his position.

The flames of the fire style jutsu now increased in size and power due to the wind style jutsu returned to Hiruzen's position and it blew through several walls demonstrating its fearsome power.

Danzo was keeping an eye on his foe and he immediately made a seal. The Baku located Hiruzen and began sucking in a large amount of air. The loose debris in the room immediately flew into its mouth and got crushed.

Hiruzen gritted his teeth and held on to the floor with his chakra to avoid getting sucked in.

Danzo swiftly made a hand seal and created a shadow clone. The clone jumped off and rushed towards Hiruzen's back while avoiding the attack of his own summon.

Both the clone and the real Danzo were weaving hand seals.

Hiruzen, who was keeping a close eye on his enemy, saw through the plan. 'A pincer maneuver. He's pinned me down and will now attack from both sides.'

"Wind Style - Vacuum Wave." The clone sent a large powerful slash through the air and it was swiftly making its way towards the Hokage.

"Wind style - Vacuum bullet rain." From atop the summoning creature Baku, Danzo sent dozens of bullets towards Hiruzen.

Adrenaline rushed through the old Kage's body and his mind worked faster than it had been in a long time. In a second he went through the best option and even thought about the next several moves.

The Hokage stopped the chakra flow to his feet and hands and let go. His body immediately flew from that spot and headed towards the summoning creature Baku's mouth.

Just as his body flew away, the spot where he stood was riddled and destroyed with multiple attacks from both Danzos. Hiruzen, who was mid air, immediately went through seals that were familiar to Danzo.

The Root commander sneered and immediately made a seal to counter the coming fire jutsu. 'The Fire Dragon jutsu. You plan to take out my Baku using my attack against me huh. You think it'll be that easy?'

The Baku quickly stopped inhaling and suddenly began exhaling with all its might. But the couple seconds interval delay between the creature's inhalation and exhalation was the opportunity Hiruzen was truly looking for.

A shadow clone immediately appeared near the Hokage, grabbed and tossed his body towards the direction of Danzo's shadow clone. A second later the shadow clone was destroyed by the powerful wind created by Danzo's summon.

"Fire style - Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

The real Hiruzen spit out a massive fire dragon and it was headed straight for Danzo's shadow clone. Before it could put up a good defense, it was engulfed by the flames and turned to smoke.

Danzo, atop the massive creature, was irritated. 'He was never aiming for my summon. My clone was his target the whole time.'

"ROARR!"

Danzo made a seal and his summoning creature rushed forward and slammed its trunk atop Hiruzen. But when it lifted the massive appendage, only a few broken rock pieces could be seen.

"Substitution." Danzo muttered as he looked below.

"Poof!"

Danzo turned his head and saw a human shaped figure in the smoke that appeared near Hiruzen. 'So he's finally summoned him huh.'

The summoning creature Monkey King Enma stood beside Hiruzen and he gazed at Danzo. "So you're finally doing it huh?" Enma asked.

"Yes."

"Hmph! You better not make the same mistake as before."

Hiruzen knew what his summon was referring to. A moment of weakness when he confronted his now wayward student.

Hiruzen's eyes focused as he looked up at Danzo. "Don't worry. My resolve won't weaken this time."

"Then let's do this." Enma looked at his partner and nodded.

Both Hiruzen and Danzo were ready for round two.

—-----------

Author's note;

Originally before the beginning of the root invasion arc, i wanted danzo to fight Hiruzen with his sharingan arm.

The plan was that daichi would attack danzo and make him use three sharingan and then danzo would escape while the root held daichi back. Then Danzo would meet hiruzen and he'd have 7 sharingan remaining on his arm and they would fight.

But with daichi now taking that arm I had to come up with another way to boost danzo's

Power. I have wanted to write about this confrontation since the beginning of this story. Its why.

The root arc will be completed in a few chapters and the tsunade arc will be completed soon after.

For anyone wondering why daichi didn't get special skill for wisdom 400 points, its because those skills appear at 100 points, 300 and 500.

If you like my story and want to read ahead, then check out my P.a.T.R.E.0.N page. I've uploaded up to 30 additional chapters there.

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