Danzo Seems to Have Grown Younger...

The Deva Path, controlled by Nagato, stood in silent stillness.

The chakra around his body was quietly boiling, the light in his Rinnegan growing increasingly frigid, as if he might swallow the entire world at any moment.

At this time, the Preta Path appeared beside Konan to provide support, blocking a Fire Style technique from Jiraiya...

It was clear that as the battle between the two sides escalated, Jiraiya was finding it increasingly difficult to control the situation.

Looking at Danzo before him, Nagato's reason was almost entirely destroyed; had he not been in Amegakure, where it was unwise to use large-scale destructive techniques, he would never have tolerated Danzo acting so unscrupulously...

Indeed...

These great nations were the root of this world's tragedy.

The oppressive air seemed to congeal, and in the silence where everything was on the verge of breaking out...

The Animal Path raised his hands without warning, and amidst the swirling thick fog, several massive summoning formations suddenly emerged.

Bang!

Several enormous figures leaped out from the formations!

Two Hell Crabs the size of houses charged out, their giant pincers sweeping across the earth...

A Chameleon turned invisible in an instant, sliding across the ground...

In the air, a Yata Crow spread its giant wings and dove down, letting out a piercing cry.

Four summoning beasts descended in an instant.

Kakashi acted with crisp efficiency, forming hand seals at the first opportunity to release a Water Style technique.

Water Style: Azure Rain!

Dense chakra transformed into a sky full of water mist, and amidst the sudden downpour, Lightning Style chakra condensed in his palm...

Chidori!

The lightning glowed like a blade, arcs of electricity crisscrossing as he leaped into the air; the Chidori tore through the curtain of rain and shredded the thick shell of a Hell Crab.

A blue-white arc of light instantly severed the pincer, erupting with a violent blast.

The crab-type summoning beast roared as it retreated, the ground cracking under the weight of its massive body.

At the same time, the Asura Path approached Danzo silently, the apparatus on his back suddenly activating as a series of missiles shot from his mouth, aimed directly at Danzo.

Danzo spat out a Wind Style technique, and amidst the intersecting wind blades, he intercepted the missiles with precision; several explosions detonated around him, yet failed to force him back even an inch.

Just then, the invisible Chameleon suddenly materialized, opening its blood-red maw; its massive tongue struck out with a speed that was impossible to react to, whipping up a violent gust of air.

But as if he had already foreseen it, Danzo's figure swayed slightly, stepping forward with an evasion angle that was precise to the extreme.

He nimbly dodged the attack and countered, slamming a palm onto the ground.

Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!

High-speed wind bullets shot from beneath his palm, striking the weak points in the Chameleon's scales with precision and forcing it to retreat.

This series of movements was so fast it was dizzying.

Danzo, who should have been an elder of Konoha and a decrepit old man, was performing with the agility and ruthlessness of an elite ninja in his prime.

His reactions, judgment, output, and even his taijutsu movements were so clean and efficient that they were without a single flaw.

Not far away, Jiraiya took all of this in.

While manipulating his toad summoning technique to deal with the Yata Crow's aerial dive, he glanced sideways at Danzo.

"This old guy..."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, an strange thought rising in his heart.

That reaction just now, those movements... they didn't look like the performance of a ninja over fifty years old, riddled with hidden wounds.

"He really is nimble."

He muttered to himself in a low voice.

It wasn't just nimble; it was enough to make one feel a chill.

At this moment, Danzo seemed like a different person.

His aura was colder and more composed than ever before; there wasn't a single wasted movement in his combat, yet his eyes were abnormally calm—a coldness that was extremely repressed, a cruelty bordering on numbness.

And... he wasn't using his Sharingan.

Relying only on Wind Style and taijutsu, he was already holding his own against Pain's summoning beasts without falling behind.

This, in itself, was highly unusual.

Danzo... something was wrong.

But with the situation so urgent, he had no time to ponder, and could only deal with the immediate threats first.

The rhythm of Kakashi's Lightning and Water Style techniques had already taken shape; one Hell Crab had been defeated, and the Yata Crow in the air had been pierced through the chest by the Toad Swordsman.

The battle on the field was intense, and the killing intent had yet to subside.

Kakashi landed heavily, his body crouching slightly as he stood firm, his long blade slowly drawing from its sheath.

The blade had yet to move, but the killing intent was already manifest.

Water vapor coiled around it like a blade within the mist, shimmering with a sharp edge.

At this moment, bolstered by the Sharingan, that sharpness was fully revealed.

Kakashi's gaze turned abruptly cold, his Sharingan spinning at high speed to lock onto Deva Path Pain.

The next second...

He moved!

His figure transformed into a blur within the rain and mist, charging forward like a thunderbolt, traversing space and distance as his long blade whistled through the air, aiming straight for Deva Path's chest.

This speed...

Shinra Tensei!

Deva Path Pain reacted with lightning speed, his Rinnegan spinning violently as a powerful repulsive force erupted, a gale of wind raging outward to instantly scatter the surrounding rain and rubble.

But this move missed its mark.

Kakashi's figure vanished a second before the repulsive force could cover him, as if he had predicted it all along...

He had bypassed it!

The cooldown for the repulsive force: five seconds!

In an instant, for reasons unknown, Kakashi had arrived at this intelligence assessment...

It was impossible to defend within these five seconds.

His figure appeared behind Deva Path Pain, shrouded in water mist.

The blade was already poised in mid-air, locked on and guided by ocular power; everything was as precise as a pre-programmed finishing blow.

The mist rose, the blade fell, and the edge arrived...

Why did Kakashi have intelligence on Shinra Tensei?

At the same time, Danzo also leaped fiercely to a high vantage point, his wooden blade raised...

"Stop, Kakashi! And you too, Danzo!"

A familiar voice rang out abruptly, forcibly tearing through the atmosphere.

It was Jiraiya.

His brows furrowed slightly, the blade halted, and the water mist trembled, yet Pain continued to watch Kakashi's close-quarters approach with an expressionless face.

Simultaneously, Black Zetsu's voice drifted from the shadows: "Leader, wait."

Black Zetsu slowly emerged, his gaze sweeping across the gap between Kakashi and Deva Path before landing in the direction of the main body where Nagato's consciousness resided.

"We cannot continue to entangle ourselves with Konoha like this."

Black Zetsu suppressed the unwillingness and resentment in his heart; even he had not expected the situation to spiral into such chaos.

The influence of Uchiha Yuan had far exceeded his initial calculations.

"According to our deductions, Uchiha Yuan's Mangekyo Sharingan... is suspected of possessing some form of mental influence over the Uchiha clan."

"That one of ours... is currently highly likely to have fallen into a state of mental instability. As for Danzo..."

"That one" referred to the Uchiha Madara impersonated by Obito...

He paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping calmly over Danzo, who stood to the side.

"With so many Sharingan from the Uchiha clan in Danzo's hands, perhaps... he has also developed issues."

As these words were spoken, the scene fell into a brief silence.

Even if Black Zetsu was merely grasping at straws and speculating wildly, the unease in his words could not help but stir ripples in the hearts of those present.

Jiraiya tilted his head slightly, his gaze landing on Danzo.

He stared at the old man...

Looking closely...

Old man Danzo...

His gloomy and twisted aura was as it had always been, dark and unpleasant.

But looking closer, it didn't seem particularly different...

He shook his head.

"It shouldn't... be the case."

Upon hearing this...

Black Zetsu cursed Jiraiya as a fool in his heart.

He had never intended to expose too much in front of everyone, but now, forced into this corner, he could only vaguely throw out the theory of Uchiha Yuan's side effects to find a way out of the current situation.

He hadn't expected Jiraiya to dismantle his argument directly.