Meanwhile, trapped inside the Tower, Kabuto looked at the bloodied old man before him and the unconscious man in his grasp, then gave a bitter smile. "So my movements were under the Third Hokage's surveillance all along? Then releasing you, Lord Danzo, was also something he anticipated..."
"Hmph. Just settling things once and for all."
Half of Danzo's body had been blasted away, and his blood pooled across the floor. Only the hashirama cells Orochimaru had implanted in him were keeping him alive, and even those would only buy him another day or two.
But Danzo seemed to have lost the will to live. He simply sat there in silence.
"Still so indecisive, even at the very end, Sarutobi..."
Looking at Kabuto, who lay on the floor under a seal, Danzo tossed Mizuki toward him. "I merely chose another place to wait for death."
With that, Danzo slumped to the floor. His modified body could still prolong his life, but his vitality was undeniably slipping away.
"Was my will truly altered...?" Ignoring the others sprawled across the floor, Danzo gazed up at the ceiling and murmured, "Why... Konoha..."
Seeing Danzo like this, Kabuto understood. His mission had failed again.
Somewhere in Konoha.
Kakuzu's eye twitched as he watched the giant toad, giant turtle, and emerald-green giant battling in the distance.
Without further hesitation, he touched his ring and fed chakra into it.
"What is it?"
The scene before him changed, and Pain appeared through the Magic Lantern Body Technique, looking at Kakuzu, who had initiated the signal.
"I believe our operation in Konoha has failed."
"...Your reasons."
"Our plans have all been disrupted. Deidara and Sasori aren't responding. I'm badly injured. The Three-Tails and Shika acted ahead of schedule, and they seem to have been held up as well. I