From the moment Naruto suddenly launched his surprise attack to when Danzo activated Izanagi to reconstruct his body, less than two seconds had passed...
Everything happened so suddenly. In the blink of an eye, Naruto shed the fake appearance of having gone berserk in a Tailed Beast transformation under Danzo's Sharingan control, vanished before everyone's eyes, and then reappeared behind Danzo—blasting his head open with a Rasengan! Brain matter and blood splattered everywhere as he cleanly and decisively accomplished the legendary feat of decapitating the enemy commander amid an army! And all of that took less than two seconds!
It was as if the legendary Yellow Flash had returned. With such terrifying speed, not only did the surrounding Root members fail to react in time to protect Danzo or block Naruto's assault—even Danzo himself remained in a dazed state, barely able to grasp what had happened, even after surviving thanks to Izanagi. His consciousness was still muddled in disbelief. For a moment, his ability to respond to the situation lagged two or three beats behind.
Of course, Naruto—who had already accounted for this outcome—wasn't foolish enough to just stand there and give Danzo or Root a chance to counterattack. The reason he had endured for so long wasn't merely to kill Danzo again… From this moment on, he had officially initiated the countdown to Danzo and Root's annihilation!
"Heh... hehe, this kid really sold it. Even I almost believed he'd actually punched a hole through my heart just now."
While Naruto maintained his rampaging Tailed Beast state and jumped from Gamabunta's head to draw all attention toward himself, the previously 'dead' Jiraiya—who had been publicly ambushed and seemingly betrayed by Naruto—suddenly flipped upright atop Bunta's head with a Carp Jump, full of energy. The bitterness and fury that had filled his expression before had vanished completely.
As he gently patted the blood-soaked tear in Naruto's crimson vest—less than an inch from his body, yet not even scratching his undershirt—he couldn't help but smile with deep pride. He recalled the moment earlier when Naruto, pretending to be unconscious in Gamaken's palm, had silently mouthed the words:
'Don't move. Trust me.'
That conviction… that adaptability… Truly the child of Minato and Kushina.
"Oi, Jiraiya? You damn geezer... You're actually fine?!"
Even though the unique sensory connection of Mount Myoboku and their summoning contract had vaguely suggested to Gamabunta that Jiraiya might still be alive—and he'd oddly done nothing to stop Naruto from leaping off his head—only now, feeling his partner's familiar aura fully return, did Bunta's heart settle. Still, to cover up his earlier panic, he chose to tease:
"Tsk tsk, what a letdown. You were squealing like a pig just now. I thought you were a goner for sure!"
"Hmph! As if! I'm the great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, one of the Legendary Sannin—Jiraiya-sama! I'm not dying until Tsunade agrees to marry me!"
Jiraiya's eyes never left Naruto the entire time. In that seemingly small, fragile back, he could faintly see the shadow of Minato. And thanks to how well he knew his student, he immediately sensed the familiar spatial ripples during Naruto's blitz.
His jaw dropped. His hands grabbed his silver hair as he cursed aloud:
"Wait... the hell?! Flying Thunder God Technique?! That brat—Minato—didn't even teach it to his own teacher, and this kid just pulled it off like it's nothing?!"
"Fully mastered Tailed Beast Mode… calm and mature reactions… Rasengan and now even Flying Thunder God?! Damn it! This kid really is his son! What other secrets is he hiding?! At this point, it's not about whether he can surpass Minato—Minato and Kushina birthed a full-blown monster prodigy!"
"...Wait. Don't tell me… he's really only three years old?!"
"Hahaha! Guess that's why people say 'comparison kills.' And you still love to flaunt that 'Legendary Sannin' title? If that kid was born in our generation, you'd have to hand over the title!"
As Minato's former summoning partner, Gamabunta wasn't as sharp-eyed as Jiraiya, but even he recognized that Naruto's movements mirrored Minato's perfectly. That calm, efficient combat style… It impressed him enough that while joking and teasing Jiraiya, his respect for Naruto steadily rose.
"Oi oi, can't you see I'm emotionally wounded here?!"
Jiraiya clutched his chest theatrically and complained as he grinned even wider.
Just as he was about to argue further, he noticed Danzo regenerating again. His face darkened. He crouched and patted Bunta's head.
"No time for bickering. That old bastard revived again… Bunta, Ken, Hiro—let's go. As elders, we can't leave all the mess to Naruto!"
Just as Naruto had predicted, even though Jiraiya and the three Great Toads didn't fully understand Danzo's use of Sharingan to activate Izanagi, they weren't about to stand by and let Naruto face an entire battalion alone.
Almost as soon as Danzo used a huge amount of chakra to regenerate again, Naruto sensed a powerful shift behind him. The three massive toads—towering like mountains—leapt into the air, launching the second wave of deadly attacks during the brief stiff moment Naruto had after using Flying Thunder God Technique, giving Danzo no time to react.
"If I were you, I'd use the last few seconds before you're turned into toad paste to think back on the best moments of your life."
And Naruto wasn't idle either.
While he didn't coordinate a combo with the three Toads directly, he still played his part. As the massive bodies of the toads crashed down to block all escape routes above Danzo's head, Naruto shouted a reminder—forcing Danzo, still dazed from his resurrection, to look up at the worst possible moment.
BOOM!
With a deafening crash, the Three Great Toads slammed into the earth—