Although Danzo Shimura managed to once again escape death with the power of Izanagi, which reverses life and death, two of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan on his right arm had now slowly closed shut in succession. As the price for activating Izanagi, they had entered a state of permanent blindness—reduced to worthless scraps.
Having personally experienced the taste of death twice in such a short span had left Danzo so furious he could no longer maintain the false mask on his face. His expression twisted in rage, his entire body trembling uncontrollably—not only because of his fury, but because he had lost two precious Three-Tomoe Sharingan in such a short amount of time.
The Uchiha Clan prided themselves on their Sharingan and guarded them dearly. No matter how many tomoe a Sharingan had—be it strong or weak—once a wielder died, their corpse, especially those crimson eyes, would be retrieved at any cost and laid to rest in a dedicated, heavily guarded cemetery within the clan grounds. Even with Danzo deploying the full range of both open and covert methods through Root, all he had managed to gather was a single arm's worth of eyes. Many of these were lesser ones—Two-Tomoe Sharingan, or even One-Tomoe Sharingan—installed just to slightly bolster his power, barely worth mentioning.
The truly valuable Three-Tomoe Sharingan that could activate Izanagi were extremely rare. Every use meant one less. Even though Jiraiya couldn't understand the exact details, to Danzo, losing two of them at once was a grievous blow—enough to make his heart ache for quite a while. Worse still, his already imperfect control over Kurama became even shakier. Unlike Uchiha Obito, who had once appeared in the village and fully dominated the Nine-Tails, Danzo's control now faltered. Ironically, this caused the old man—shaken and cautious—to completely abandon the plan to force Naruto into fully unleashing the Nine-Tails' power.
"Good, good, good... You've really done a great job..."
Danzo's elaborate scheme had been on the verge of success, only to be ruined at the last moment. Even someone like him, who fancied himself calm and unfazed by the turbulence of the world, couldn't help but growl through clenched teeth, his face darkening. His eyes—usually half-closed in mock grandfatherly gentleness—snapped open wide, brimming with undisguised fury and killing intent. Raising a hand, he mockingly clapped, his voice turning cold as he continued:
"But your habit of making empty boasts hasn't changed one bit... Massacre? Ha! Don't forget—this is the Root headquarters. This is my turf. You're not the one who gets to act all high and mighty here!"
The moment Danzo finished speaking, shadows began to emerge—some from underground, some from the surrounding darkness. Like an illusion turning real, masked figures wearing gear similar to the Anbu, yet slightly different, suddenly materialized one after another, forming a dense circle around the three of them. In an instant, the tide turned. Danzo, who had been caught between the rampaging Naruto and the battle-ready Jiraiya, now had the upper hand—visually, at least.
"Hahaha! So that's your big trump card? What, finally willing to send out your little lapdogs to die?"
Jiraiya laughed coldly.
"You mutt... Don't forget, I'm a Kage-level fighter. No matter how many lackeys you've got, they're just appetizers for me!"
Even while mocking him, Jiraiya's sharp gaze flicked toward Naruto, who stood not far away, growling low and beastlike in every direction like a feral animal on edge. Although Naruto's face had become more savage and beastly, distorted by Nine-Tails influence, Jiraiya oddly felt more at ease.
Something—some intuition—guided him to trust in Naruto.
'Even if he's gone berserk under the influence of the Nine-Tails' power… this kid would never hurt me—not even a scratch.'
"Oh? But I'd rather believe in the old saying—'two fists can't beat four hands.' Even the Second Hokage, hailed as the fastest shinobi in the world, couldn't escape that fate... Let alone you."
Danzo sneered.
"Everyone stationed here has at least Chūnin-level strength—many are even near-Kage class. Compared to the Kinkaku and Ginkaku Force from the First Great Ninja War, these are far superior! So what if you're a Kage-level? You're still just a man. Eventually, you'll fall."
By subtly referencing the Second Hokage's death, Danzo implanted the idea in his subordinates' minds that even a legendary figure like him wasn't invincible—so why not Jiraiya?
He paused, gauging the readiness of his Root operatives, who had long since been trained to become mindless, loyal killing machines. Seeing that they were fully prepared, Danzo's grim expression finally softened. With a wave of his dried-up hand, he barked with a sanctimonious, sickeningly self-righteous tone:
"To offend Root, alone and unafraid—you boast without shame! Kill this traitorous fool who dares to speak such nonsense!"
The moment his order was given, the Root members surrounding them sprang into action—some forming hand signs, others drawing blades and throwing weapons. Like puppets on strings, they launched their fiercest attacks. Their coordinated assault filled the once-silent underground chamber with dazzling flashes and chaos, turning darkness into blinding brilliance.
"Tch! That's what I hate about you old political bastards. Always full of crap!"
Jiraiya clicked his tongue.
"Call it what it is—a gang fight! Why dress it up with so much useless speech?"
Even as attacks came crashing down like a storm, Jiraiya's face didn't flinch.
With a quick glance, he confirmed that every strike had been deliberately aimed away from Naruto—likely by Danzo's orders. That gave him the room to fight without holding back. Calm in the face of danger, Jiraiya brought his left thumb to his mouth, bit down to draw blood, then smeared it across his right palm. Swiftly forming hand seals, he slammed his hand onto the ground.
"This place looks wide enough... Perfect for my old pals to stretch their legs."
He grinned.
"Time for you to open those old eyes wide and witness the true strength of one of the Legendary Sannin, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku—Jiraiya the Great!"
"Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Sheep... Summoning Jutsu!"