Danzo had reached his limit—and even he was beginning to realize he might have overplayed his hand.
The elite members of Root he'd spent decades cultivating were nearly wiped out.
His ultimate trump card, the Kotoamatsukami , had also been taken.
Everything had unraveled too quickly. He still hadn't figured it out.
Why did it feel like Naruto had seen through all his strategies—every move he made struck directly at his weak points?
He was only twelve, and yet possessed such terrifying strength and intuition.
Now, all Danzo had left was an arm implanted with Sharingan and infused with Hashirama's cells.
Although the Sharingan embedded in it could still cast Izanagi more than a dozen times…
…being killed was only a matter of time.
What truly drove him to despair was the fact that Naruto had the Flying Thunder God.
He couldn't even run.
'Hiruzen! Why the hell did the Flying Thunder God end up in the hands of a Jinchuriki! What were you thinking?!' Danzo screamed inwardly.
As the Ninth Form tornado dissipated, another part of the Leaf Village was reduced to rubble.
Danzo wiped the blood trickling from his eye socket. His remaining ordinary eye flickered uncertainly.
But Naruto wasn't going to give him another chance.
In a flash of light, his First Form Shunshin brought him right in front of Danzo.
A blue figure streaked past—and Danzo's head slowly toppled to the ground.
Izanagi activated.
Danzo reappeared a short distance away, one of the Sharingan in his arm slowly closing.
'This won't do. Sitting here and waiting for death won't change anything.'
Danzo turned toward the one person who always showed him mercy—his old comrade.
"Hiruzen! Are you really going to entrust the fate of the Hidden Leaf to a cold-blooded Jinchuriki like him?!"
"Do you honestly believe he won't eventually turn on the village?!"
"If we join forces and rally the major clans now, we still have a chance to restrain him! After such a long fight, he must be running low on chakra!"
Danzo's words seemed to stir something.
The Third Hokage looked toward Naruto. His cloudy eyes flickered faintly—once again weighing the pros and cons.
But he quickly found his answer in Naruto's calm, depthless gaze.
That look of unshakable confidence… it didn't reflect someone on the verge of collapse.
If the entire village poured its strength into fighting Naruto now, the outcome would be nothing short of catastrophic.
Though he couldn't be sure Naruto would honor any promises, at this point…
…he could only hope that Naruto still possessed a shred of Minato's character.
"Danzo… the Hidden Leaf can't afford that gamble anymore…" the Third said mournfully.
Once, the village had been so bold, so full of life.
Now, every decision was made with trembling caution.
A bitter thought welled up in Hiruzen's heart.
'Sensei… you chose me to be Hokage. But was that truly the right decision? If you had escaped that day instead… maybe Konoha would be a different place now…'
Hearing Hiruzen's reply, Danzo didn't seem surprised.
He looked at Naruto, seemingly steeling himself for something.
His voice rang out with grim finality.
"Hiruzen, when the village was in its darkest hour, I was the one who protected it. I am the true victor today—hahahaha!"
As he shouted, Danzo rapidly formed a string of hand signs.
The ground began to quake.
Naruto frowned and looked down.
Through his Transparent World vision, he saw it—an enormous surge of chakra erupting from underground.
Something massive, long as a dozen meters, slithering up from below—half serpent, half root.
Its entire body was as pale as Danzo's arm, and embedded along its length were dozens… no, hundreds of Sharingan!
If any member of the Uchiha clan had seen this…
With a deafening crash, the giant "serpent" burst from the earth—
—and swallowed Danzo whole.
"What in the…" The Third Hokage flinched at the sudden turn of events.
But Naruto's eyes showed neither fear nor confusion.
They gleamed with excitement—like he had just laid eyes on a rare treasure.
"So rich with Hashirama cells… what a find."
In the original timeline, Naruto had never seen such a monstrous thing hidden beneath the Root's base—this fusion of Hashirama cells and Sharingan.
'Could it be that my presence made Danzo more desperate—enough to unleash this thing?'
'Or was it always here, and he simply never had the chance to use it?'
Naruto wondered silently.
But before he could get too lost in thought, the giant serpent began to change.
After devouring Danzo, its body convulsed and twisted.
First, a pair of human arms and legs sprouted from its smooth, pale underside.
The scene was grotesque.
Naruto raised his blade.
With a light swing, he unleashed Second Form Claw Strike, slashing into the writhing beast.
Whatever it was trying to do, interrupting the transformation was the right move.
The strike tore the white serpent into several chunks.
But within seconds, it began to stitch itself back together—its squirming flesh reuniting even faster than before.
Its posture shifted from prone to upright.
Its head convulsed, reshaped, and reformed—
—until it took on Danzo's appearance.
Only now, Danzo's skin was the same sickly white as the serpent.
His head was several times larger, and his eye sockets bloomed with over a dozen blood-red Sharingan, clustered like compound eyes.
The entire serpent's body had reshaped into a humanoid form.
Nearly ten meters tall, it now resembled a massive white giant.
Scattered across its surface were still more Sharingan, embedded like twisted ornaments.
Naruto stared at the grotesque behemoth before him.
It looks like the War Hammer Titan…
Tall, pale… monstrous.
Only instead of a cool maid girl piloting it…
…this was Danzo. And Danzo was ugly as hell.
The Third Hokage looked on in shock at this unholy fusion of Sharingan and Hashirama cells.
"Danzo… this is why you pushed so hard to exterminate the Uchiha clan?!"
"What kind of obsession could drive someone to this?!"
Giant Danzo glanced at Hiruzen, his massive pale mouth producing a warped voice.
"Hiruzen… everything I've done… I did for the Leaf. I've simply chosen a path others refuse to acknowledge—to protect the village in my way!"
"And that includes now!"
With those words, he turned toward Naruto and raised one massive hand.
A thick wooden branch—like a massive tendril—lashed toward him.
Naruto swung his sword, slicing the branch cleanly in two.
But a second later, it regrew and came twisting back again.
Its regeneration was… genuinely terrifying.
Naruto didn't bother getting caught up. He activated Flying Thunder God and teleported away for now.
Through his Transparent World, he observed Danzo's current state.
Inside that pale body, the power of the Hashirama cells clashed constantly with the ocular might of the Sharingan.
It granted terrifying Wood Release powers and regenerative ability…
…but at this rate, the whole thing was going to collapse.
Naruto realized he could just run and let Danzo self-destruct.
But doing that meant he wouldn't get to absorb the Hashirama cells from that body.
After a brief moment of thought, Naruto made his decision—
He would stay.
His mission's progression had been stuck for far too long.
It was finally time to complete it.