At this time, Danzo was much stronger than when he fought Sasuke in the original story.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had the strength of a Kage-level ninja.
But across from him stood the Six Paths of Pain, who were even stronger.
With just Kage-level strength, facing the Six Paths of Pain with no intel was basically a death sentence.
Besides, Minato Namikaze nearby and the hidden Madara and Hashirama would never let Danzo escape.
It could be said that Danzo was doomed this time.
Danzo thought, No, I believe I can still fight back.
"Wind Release: Wind Shuriken!"
Danzo took out two shuriken, infused them with Wind Release chakra, and threw them at the Naraka Path of Pain.
He wasn't thinking about defeating his opponent but about creating an opening to break through.
The cutting power of Wind Release: Wind Shuriken was very strong; even huge rocks could be easily sliced apart.
Danzo cleverly hid within the path of the Wind Release: Wind Shuriken attack.
He believed the Naraka Path wouldn't want to die, so it would make way, allowing him to rush out of the encirclement.
Konoha seems impossible to return to, but after wandering the ninja world for so many years, he has a few safe houses.
Once I gather my old subordinates, Minato boy, wait for my revenge.
As Danzo expected, the Naraka Path made way.
Seeing this, a slight smile appeared on Danzo's lips.
He had already planned how to take revenge on Minato Namikaze and Konoha after escaping this crisis.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that the Six Paths of Pain were puppets made from corpses.
The reason the Naraka Path made way was simply because Nagato didn't want to lose this puppet.
After all, the power of the Naraka Path could revive the other five Paths' puppets.
Although Minato spoke well, Nagato didn't easily trust him.
Since Yahiko died, except for Konan, he wouldn't easily trust anyone else.
If they were to fight the Fourth Hokage later, the Naraka Path would definitely be indispensable.
"What?"
Just as the Wind Release: Wind Shuriken was about to hit the Naraka Path, the Preta Path suddenly flashed and blocked in front of him, taking the attack instead.
But the Wind Release: Wind Shuriken didn't completely defeat the Preta Path.
The Preta Path's ability was to absorb chakra.
When the Wind Release: Wind Shuriken was about to strike, most of the chakra attached to the shuriken had already been absorbed.
So this time, the Preta Path only had to endure the power of an ordinary shuriken attack.
And with the Preta Path's defense, an ordinary shuriken was like a tickle, nothing to fear.
"Damn it."
Because of the Preta Path's sudden interference, the escape route instantly turned into a trap.
Danzo tried to change his path at the last moment, but it was too late.
At this moment, the Asura Path appeared behind Danzo, blocking his retreat.
The Animal Path summoned a chameleon, ready to strike Danzo with a lethal blow.
The Human Path and Asura Path blocked Danzo's left and right, limiting his escape routes.
In this situation, no matter how you looked at it, Danzo would die at the hands of the Six Paths of Pain in the next move.
Soon enough, facing the tighter encirclement of the Six Paths, Danzo shook his head, raised his right thumb, and quickly formed hand seals with both hands.
"Summoning Jutsu."
A cloud of smoke cleared, and Danzo's summon, the giant chimera Baku, appeared.
Relying on Baku's massive size, Danzo perfectly broke through the Six Paths of Pain's encirclement.
"No wonder Advisor Danzo thought of using summoning jutsu to break the deadlock."
Standing outside the battlefield, Minato chuckled. Though it seemed like high praise for Danzo, in truth he didn't take it seriously at all.
Danzo, who couldn't use the Flying Thunder God Technique, no matter how much he struggled, it was all in vain.
And the facts proved Minato right.
After Baku appeared, the battle didn't get easier; it actually got worse.
Facing the huge summoning beast, Asura Path unleashed full firepower, firing small missiles like they were free, bombarding Baku relentlessly.
The Animal Path also summoned several large creatures to attack Baku.
Under the combined attack of missiles and summoned beasts, Danzo, standing atop Baku, was naturally affected as well.
If he had specialized in Wind-style ninjutsu, maybe he could have used defensive earth techniques to protect himself.
But his specialty was wind release.
Wind release had no real defensive ninjutsu.
So, after Baku cooperated symbolically with Danzo by using two wind release jutsus to destroy some Animal Path summons, Baku was blasted back by Asura Path's missiles.
"Damn it."
Clutching his bleeding left hand, Danzo's teeth ground with anger.
At this moment, he didn't continue resisting; given his state now, resistance was probably useless.
He just looked hatefully at Minato not far away, and fiercely asked, "Why? Why treat me like this? I know myself — everything I've done had no selfish motives, it was all for Konoha. Why did you and Hiruzen betray me? Why?"
The Six Paths of Pain cooperated and did not continue attacking.
Nagato also wanted to know what kind of tricks the Fourth Hokage had up his sleeve.
"No selfish motives?"
Minato shook his head calmly and replied, "I don't think Advisor Danzo, you're without selfish motives. For one, the Third Hokage already ordered to ban research on the First Hokage's cells, so why did you continue? And you surely haven't forgotten deceiving Kakashi into attempting to assassinate the Third Hokage, right?
Also, Root was originally just a training division of the Anbu. Even if dirty work needed doing, the members shouldn't be brainwashed into becoming killing machines who obey only your orders, ignoring the Hokage's commands, right?"
After everything that's happened, you still have the nerve to say you have no selfish motives?
By the way, Nagato, the plan to betray the Akatsuki was not an order from the Hokage. It was a decision made privately by Danzo.
Actually, regarding the betrayal of the Akatsuki, from Danzo and Root's role of doing the dirty work, it can't be said they were completely wrong.
His mistake was not cutting off the root, leaving Nagato who possessed the Rinnegan alive.
If Nagato had been killed in that battle, maybe none of this would have happened today.
Of course, the betrayal of the Akatsuki happened during the Third Hokage's term.
After Minato Namikaze took office, he would never allow the village's ninjas to betray other villages without reason.
"Old man, old man—"
Danzo panicked.
When Minato laid out the facts, Danzo could no longer deceive himself.
To say everything he did was for Konoha?
Well, maybe a little, but definitely not everything.
He cared more about wanting to become Hokage.
The position of Hokage had already become an obsession for Danzo.
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