"Jiraiya? Hey! Jiraiya! Are you okay?!"
Even though Jiraiya had been standing in the blind spot above his head, making it impossible to see what had just happened, Gamabunta still sensed something was terribly wrong. Naruto suddenly vanished from Gamaken's hand, drops of warm liquid splattered on his skin, and Jiraiya's furious, pained cry—paired with his rapidly weakening life force—all painted a horrifying picture. In disbelief, Gamabunta let his beloved short blade fall and bury itself into the ground, crying out again as if doing so might undo what had just occurred.
But Jiraiya clearly no longer had the strength to respond to his partner's call...
"N-Naruto… you… you…!"
No matter how many scenarios Jiraiya had accounted for, he never imagined that the orphaned disciple he had poured his heart into protecting… would, at his most unguarded moment, transform into a deadly dagger that pierced straight through his heart and soul!
The searing pain in both body and mind overwhelmed him in an instant, sending shockwaves through his entire consciousness. His body, slipping from his grasp, trembled violently. Using the last of his strength, Jiraiya yanked himself off Naruto's claws that had run him through, stumbled forward a few steps, and collapsed. Blood began to ooze from the corners of his mouth as he glared toward the smiling culprit not far below—Danzo—shouting through ragged, dying breaths:
"Danzo… you… you're truly… d-despicable…!"
"Oh? Despicable? Hahaha! That was nothing more than a simple little trick," Danzo laughed coldly. "Do you really think a three-year-old brat can resist the power of the Sharingan's control? And you thought only you could pull a diversion move? Idiot."
Though the price had been steep, finally seeing the thorn in his side—Jiraiya's towering figure—fall brought Danzo unspeakable joy. Fighting to contain his grin, he tapped his temple mockingly and quoted Jiraiya's earlier taunt with sarcastic flair: "The brain's a good thing… it's just a shame you didn't have one, Jiraiya."
"You… damn mongrel…!" Danzo's smug ridicule stabbed at Jiraiya's final threads of life. Already on the brink of death, he howled and tried to rise, aiming to tear the despicable man apart… but it was futile. His body gave out completely in that last desperate surge of energy, and with eyes still wide in fury, he collapsed motionless atop Gamabunta's head.
One of the Legendary Three Ninja, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya—slain in cold blood by a sneak attack from the very apprentice he trusted most. He died with his eyes open.
"Huff… huff… this damn bastard… even dying, he still can't go down peacefully… huff… huff…"
Danzo, though seasoned in countless battles, found himself suffocating under the sheer intensity of Jiraiya's final moments—his malicious, ghost-like rage still lingering. Only when he saw Jiraiya fall still and lifeless did Danzo finally breathe deep, gulping down air like a drowning man. Then, as if possessed, he tilted his head back and let out a maniacal laugh.
"Heh… heh heh… hahahahaha! Jiraiya, oh Jiraiya! You actually dared come here alone to challenge Root? Still the same reckless fool you were as a kid! Go rot in the afterlife with your idiocy and regret, wondering why you ever dared oppose me, old man!"
Completely ignoring the bewildered expressions of the remaining Root operatives and unbothered by how unhinged he looked, Danzo screamed himself hoarse. Only after venting the shameful moment of weakness he'd just felt did his pulse finally settle. His twisted face slowly returned to its usual fake, expressionless calm. Then he waved proudly toward the one responsible for Jiraiya's death—the brainwashed human killing machine belonging to Root:
Naruto Uzumaki.
"Come here, little one… come on now…"
"Rrrgh… hisss… grr…"
Maybe it was from using too much of the Nine-Tails' chakra, but Naruto's crimson beast-like eyes were feral and distorted, his face twisted with savage features. Yet his body moved with a sluggish, jerky awkwardness. Tumbling off Gamabunta's back and crashing to the ground, he panted heavily, limbs splayed and pressing tightly to the earth. Like a real beast, he crawled forward on all fours, inching closer to Danzo's voice.
"That's it… good boy… come to Grandpa Danzo… yes, just like that… good…"
Seeing Naruto like this—weakened and docile—Danzo was extremely pleased. Despite having lost three of his precious three-tomoe Sharingan to cast Izanagi, Naruto still looked like an obedient and valuable asset. To prevent another rebellion like earlier, when Naruto briefly broke control and almost killed him, Danzo reactivated the kind, grandfatherly persona he'd spent so long instilling in the boy.
"You did so well, my child… come here, and Grandpa Danzo will give you lots and lots of rewards…"
Rewards.
Two simple, unassuming words… but this was a mental trigger Danzo had planted through long-term conditioning. It was one of his most effective brainwashing methods, especially for children.
"R-Rewards…" Naruto's beast-like crawl came to a sudden halt. His limbs wobbled, and he collapsed in a pitiful roll, mumbling the word again and again. Just as Danzo had expected, Naruto forced himself back up, trembling, and slowly lifted his gaze toward him.
"My… reward…?"
"Yes, yes, that's right…"
As Naruto's behavior increasingly matched that of a perfectly brainwashed subject, Danzo grew more smug and excited. "It's a reward just for good boys like you… come, come to Grandpa Danzo and—"
But the moment his gaze met Naruto's…
All the joy in Danzo's heart evaporated.
Terror, cold and primal, flooded him to the core.
Naruto's eyes—those beast-like red irises filled with hatred and negativity—were suddenly gone.
In their place were crystal-clear blue eyes, brimming with cold amusement.
"You're right, old man—you should give me a reward. And I've known what I wanted from the start."
Naruto's innocent voice, paired with a sweet smile, mirrored the obedient persona Danzo had worked so hard to mold. But in Danzo's eyes, it was like a grinning reaper holding a scythe, step by step closing in to claim his soul. That suffocating dread… Danzo had only felt it once before: when he followed the Second Hokage and nearly died in a deadly ambush.
No—this was even worse.
"Uzumaki… Naruto… What… are you…?"
Danzo's limbs grew numb and heavy, his body refusing to respond no matter how desperately his brain screamed at it. As he struggled to speak, the small boy before him suddenly vanished in a flash of gold.
"W-Where—?! Where is he?!"
"Well then, as you wished… let me take my reward now."
Danzo's panicked eyes darted around, searching for the tiny figure. But then—right beside his ear—came a whisper like a demon's chuckle, and in the next instant…
His world flipped.
Everything spun, blurring into a whirl of chaos.
What's happening…?! That can't be…!
And just before his consciousness faded, Danzo saw it—Naruto's little figure, standing beside…
His own headless corpse.
Impossible…!
And yet, a moment later, Izanagi activated again, pulling Danzo back from the darkness of death. He gasped violently, his body collapsing forward and twitching uncontrollably. That brat is barely over three years old…! I even brainwashed him with the Sharingan… there's no way he should be this powerful!
"Oh my, just as I thought. Five Sharingan… looks like I really did have to kill you five times."
Naruto's voice rang out again, cruel and playful. "Didn't it strike you as odd? When a summoner dies, the summoned beasts return to their home world immediately. In other words, the three Toads should've disappeared the moment Jiraiya 'died'—yet they didn't. They just stood there… watching me, their master's 'killer,' walk away."
Before Danzo could process the implications, Naruto's icy voice whispered in his ear once more.
Danzo looked up slowly… and saw Naruto sitting casually, legs crossed, atop a throne of dismembered Root corpses. He smiled and pointed lazily to the sky.
"If I were you, I'd start thinking about the happiest memory of my life—before those three crush you into paste."
With Naruto's words echoing in his ears, Danzo suddenly realized—
The giant Toads that had once stood nearby…
Were gone.
In their place, beneath him… three growing shadows.
"You're right—normal three-year-olds can't break free of the Sharingan's control. But me? I'm not your average brat."
"And you… you had five Sharingan, but couldn't even use thirty percent of what a single one could do."
"What a waste."
"This whole time, I was just playing along. You thought you were the only one who could use misdirection?"
"Idiot."
Naruto's voice shifted from sweet to scornful. He tapped his temple with a bloodstained finger, perfectly mimicking Danzo's earlier taunt, and looked down at him with pity.
"My, my. The brain is a good thing…"
"But sadly…"
"You never had one."