Chapter 48

— Hiruzen —

The knowledge of the plan flowed into his mind. He paused as Jiraiya continued his assault on Danzo, the office blowing up in the process.

*BOOM*

Hiruzen jumped forward, landing on a higher mountain and turning to look upon the battle. His mind had been altered by Danzo. He knew that now, and the fact that he knew that meant that Danzo didn't possess both eyes or at least not the one responsible for full control.

He was fine, and he knew what he had to do.

He bit his finger and weaved through hand seals, slamming his hand on the ground.

'Summoning Jutsu!'

*POP*

— Jiraiya —

He avoided a torrent of wind launched by his opponent. This was a horrible place to fight, due to the harsh landscape, but it worked. The explosion was large, and Konoha shinobi were already showing up, ready to attack Danzo. His ROOT escort had already been dealt with by Sensei's ANBU, and the Shinobi of Darkness was quickly running out of options.

*POP*

A massive puff of smoke appeared on one of the mountains surrounding them, and Jiraiya launched himself from the fight. He focused his chakra into his eyes and saw that it was his Sensei. His hands rose in a seal. Some of Hiruzen's knowledge was still sealed, while he was placing the first, Yamanaka seal, he placed another.

A seal that would put a great deal of strain on his brain should he get fully controlled. It wouldn't kill Hiruzen, but it would incapacitate him and have devastating permanent effects. Jiraiya watched with bated breath as Hiruzen threw off his cloak and hat and then jumped down to their level.

"Lord Jiraiya, we're here." Shikaku Nara jumped out from behind one of the rocks, trailed by Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, and five chunin.

"Hiruzen, help me!" Danzo shouted.

Jiraiya waited, eyes locked on his sensei as he stared back at Danzo for a moment.

"Danzo…how far you've fallen." The moment those words left Hiruzen's mouth, Enma, the Monkey King, fell from the sky and delivered a hard kick, sending Danzo through the air. Enma followed up the attack by slamming him downwards with both fists, cracking them as Danzo landed.

"Gah! What…WHAT?!" Danzo barely had time to speak as Enma landed on him once more, pinning him to the ground.

Jiraiya looked at his sensei, happy to see that he wouldn't have to say goodbye forever, not today at least. Hiruzen formed the clone seal and four clones popped into existence. They all jumped to different sides of the battleground. They weaved through many hand seals with precision and speed and a purple barrier erected itself around the mansion.

Good, now no one else can interfere. Jiraiya looked towards Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza along with the chunin with them.

"Lend support, but don't get close." He ordered.

""Yes, Lord Jiraiya"" They chorused and Jiraiya returned his attention to the fight-

…Only Danzo was gone.

"That slippery little!" Jiraiya shouted, looking around for Danzo. Enma seemed equally confused. The Monkey King jumped up to his contractor, both of their eyes scanning around for Danzo. He couldn't escape as he was.

How did he even manage it? Did Shisui's eye have more abilities than they previously thought?

Then, Jiraiya felt something, a flex of chakra below the earth. A rasengan formed in his hand, and launched himself downwards from the rocky mountain at full speed. The orb of rotating chakra slammed against the stone below and dug deep in an instant, colliding with Danzo who had been attempting to escape.

"GAAAH!" The man spat up blood as the orb continued to press into his back. Only after a few seconds did Jiraiya let the Rasengan dissipate. He looked at the downed form of Danzo. It had been easy.

…Too easy.

"Lord Jiraiya!" Shikaku shouted from behind him, but his focus was on dodging as a sharp object cut his cheek. The sannin jumped backward, narrowly avoiding death.

Shikaku's shadow moved forward, locking Danzo in place and now his body was on display. His black kimono was shredded, leaving behind his bare chest. His body looked normal for the most part-

…If you ignored the pale white right arm with several sharingan looking right at them!

"Danzo…" Hiruzen said, dropping beside Jiraiya followed by Enma.

The depravity of Danzo had no depths, his body enhancements were proof of that. He would do anything for power.

He needed to die here.

"The eyes." Hiruzen pointed out. Jiraiya knew not to look at them and had assumed that's what his sensei was warning him about. "Some of them are closed, I count two. So he's been using Izanagi."

Izanagi…Jiraiya knew a bit about the technique, but not nearly as much as his sensei. The sharingan abilities were mentioned in great detail in the Senju library. Jiraiya hadn't been one to read up on such things, but with how much time he spent around Tsunade during the war, there were times when she would allow him to look around.

All he knew about the ability was that it allowed the user to sacrifice an eye for the sake of rewriting reality. When he read about it, he thought it was a foolish myth and put the scroll away.

Which means he didn't know enough about the technique to counter it as well as he should. He would need to follow Hiruzen's lead.

"What do we do, sensei?" Jiraiya asked and Hiruzen remained silent for a moment, looking directly at Danzo. "Sensei, don't-"

"It's fine." Hiruzen waved him off. "There are very few people on this planet who can keep me trapped in a genjutsu."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he saw his sensei constantly fluctuating his chakra to dispel all the genjutsu attempts Danzo was placing on him. Such control could only be attained through decades of intense chakra control training. His sensei was a beast, just like him!

"Danzo, stand down," Hiruzen ordered.

"Bastard! How dare you claim any authority over me!" Danzo spat, his body twitching, fighting against Shikaku's shadow hold on him.

"Then you will die here." Hiruzen declared ferociously, his eyes burning with fire. Enma jumped into the air, turning into a staff that Hiruzen caught, dropping into a stance.

— Hiruzen —

He launched forward, looking to attack the shadow-bound Danzo. They could capture him here and now, but he didn't want to take chances anymore. Having him alive was a liability and if they wanted information, they could always take in Orochimaru.

His staff came to slam against Danzo's head, cracking it open with blood.

Hiruzen didn't pause for a moment, backing off and scanning his surroundings. Danzo still had seven sharingan eyes including Shisui's, there was no way he wouldn't use them.

Confirming his thoughts, the Danzo that Hiruzen had just struck vanished from existence.

"Jiraiya!"

"Already on it!" His student shouted back, readying another Rasengan and jumping to a more elevated mountain.

The four-pillar barrier was powerful, and nigh indestructible but it wasn't inescapable. There were ways out, and Danzo who also knew the jutsu must also know that little weakness.

"Found him!" Jiraiya shouted, launching downwards and slamming the Rasengan against the ground. InoShikaCho and the five chunin followed Hiruzen as they rushed to Danzo and Jiraiya's location. Boar, Dragon, and Fox also followed along with them.

'Seems they've finished with Danzo's ROOT'

"Seal him in place!" Hiruzen ordered, seeing that Jiraiya had landed yet another rasengan on Danzo.

"Right!" Jiraiya shouted back, his left hand coming up to his pouch to take out a restraining seal. He placed it on Danzo's body, but again Danzo vanished from existence.

'That makes five.' Hiruzen thought. Danzo was running out of scapegoats, and this was a game of attrition. All they needed to do was keep the pace and push Danzo into a corner, and they'd have him.

"Find him." The Hokage ordered, and everyone dispersed. Jiraiya formed another rasengan, eyes scanning the area.

Hiruzen jumped onto the highest mountain available in the barrier and scanned around. Danzo was good at stilling his chakra, one of the best in actuality, but he was against a one-of-a-kind sensor in Jiraiya, and Hiruzen's senses, while dulled a bit in his old age, were still sharper than any elite jonin.

So when he felt a slight ping of something, he extended his staff downward, letting it slam into the stone.

"GAAH!" Danzo spat up some blood, and Hiruzen didn't waste a moment, weaving through hand seals and opening his mouth.

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!' The ball of fire was launched towards the downed form of Danzo, the man only being able to look up with burning hatred as the fire consumed him.

Hiruzen watched with a grave face as the body of his friend burned. He knew that Danzo would use Izanagi to avoid such a horrific fate, but it would only delay the inevitable.

In mere minutes, his old friend would be gone…forever.

The thought hurt his chest, but he steeled his resolve once more.

He had a job to do.

His eyes scanned the mountains. This game of cat and mouse was getting tedious.

"Found him!" Jiraiya called, again the blast of a rasengan slamming into the ground sounded. Hiruzen didn't even move from his mountain as Danzo faded from view once again.

Danzo was doing something beside Izanagi to appear somewhere else each time, but Hirzuzen didn't know what.

Not that it mattered. Now wasn't the time for needless questions.

Now, Danzo was down to three eyes.

"Here!" Choza shouted, growing into the form of a giant and moving to stomp the earth where Danzo lie beneath.

"Ready!" Both Shikaku and Inoichi shouted as Choza's foot came down, the giant man paused as his foot was pierced by wood spikes.

"ARRRGGHHH!"

"Choza!" Inoichi shouted, jumping away as the giant fell to the ground with a massive thud.

"Got him!" Shikaku shouted, his body crouched with his hands clasped together. He had caught Danzo in the shadow hold once more, and now it was time to attack once more!

"Extend!" Hiruzen shouted, and again his staff extended down towards Danzo's frozen form. The man could do nothing as the staff came down and pierced his body, tearing a hole in him.

Two more.

Choza grunted in pain, and Shikaku and Inoichi stood guard. Danzo could be anywhere and he was getting desperate. Doing something like taking Choza hostage or killing him outright was a real possibility, and not one Hiruzen wanted to risk.

Hiruzen dropped down to their position. Jiraiya joined them a second later. Their eyes scanned around. Hiruzen knew his friend enough to know that he wouldn't let an opportunity like this go unused.

He would try and take any leverage he could.

The earth beneath them shook and they could sense Danzo once again, and Jiraiya with a rasengan in his hands, jumped towards the energy signature, clashing his rasengan into it, only for Danzo to turn into a puff of smoke.

'A shadow clone!'

The next moment, Danzo shot out of the ground, a wooden katana in his hands aimed at the Hokage's throat.

'Extend!'

"..."

All motion on the battlefield paused, Shikaku's shadow had caught Danzo, and Hiruzen's staff had extended.

Right through Danzo's gut.

As Hiruzen stared into the eyes of Danzo, all he saw was fury, pure, unadulterated anger.

"...It's a shame it had to come to this, Danzo." Hiruzen's eyes softened, his chakra constantly flowing to end any genjutsu attempts Danzo tried to place on him.

"...Gah, y-you were always…soft."

*BOOM*

The ground erupted from both sides of Hiruzen, his eyes widened as he watched the two ROOT anbu that should have been dealt with rushing him.

"Damn!"

"Lord Hokage!" One of the chunin shouted.

Hiruzen let go of his staff, grabbing the hand of the first ROOT shinobi before he could pierce him with his tanto. The other ROOT shinobi's blade grew closer to Hiruzen before stopping as Jiraiya returned, running a kunai through his chest.

Hiruzen put up a hand sign with his free hand, sending a wind bullet through the ROOT shinobi's head, exploding it and leaving him blinded by blood and brain matter.

He flexed his chakra, launching the majority off of him so he could see. The old Hokage's eyes looked to Danzo who was still glaring at him. Shikaku still had him trapped.

"It's over," Jiraiya said, moving towards Danzo with hopes of delivering the killing blow.

"Correct," Danzo said, and both Hiruzen and Jiraiya felt sharp pain. "It is over."

"Lord Hokage!" One of the chunin shouted and they all rushed into action.

Hiruzen kicked the ROOT shinobi who had just attacked him, his eyes widening in fear before narrowing in pain.

He had killed him, blown his brain to bits, and he had gotten up.

'Damnit Danzo, dealing out sharingan to his subordinates!'

It makes sense how they survived the first time now, they had used Izanagi to avoid death and then used it once again.

Hiruzen watched as the chunin cut down both ROOT shinobi for the final time.

His eyes shot back over to Danzo to see him gone. His staff left in the dirt.

'DAMNIT'

"Search for him!"

""Yes, Lord Hokage!"" His shinobi shouted, blasting off around to different areas of the barrier.

Hiruzen looked to Jiraiya, seeing he also got cut, but it was just a deep slash on his arm.

Unlike him…

Hiruzen looked down at his severed right arm, lying in a pool of his blood along with the blood of his enemy. His eyes focused on the blackness that was starting to spread through his discarded arm, as well as his stump

Poison!

"He got us bad, this stuff is real toxic," Jiraiya informed, inspecting his cut where his wound was turning black. "We need treatment, now." His student's voice was calm, but it was stern.

Hiruzen frowned deeply, Danzo likely hid as deep as he could underground, this was his plan, to even the odds.

This battle of attrition was now one they'd lose.

Killing Danzo was important, but it wasn't as important as both his and Jiraiya's lives.

'Drop the barrier.' He ordered his clones, and they did just that. Hiruzen could feel his consciousness slipping, and he dropped to his knees.

Enma returned to his original form and threw the old Hokage over his shoulder.

"Let's move, Jiraiya!"