Just as Danzo, revived for the second time, used his extensive combat experience and the Sharingan's ability to track motion to narrowly sidestep the viciously angled thrust of the original Naruto's bone-chilling ice blade-
Another sudden change struck!
The skin of Naruto's left palm abruptly turned to wood. A hard, pointed wooden rod as thick as a steel reinforcing bar shot out without warning, like a venomous dragon bursting from its lair.
Shhk-!
The pointed wooden stake pierced precisely beneath Danzo's right ribs, exposed when he dodged the ice blade.
The force of the thrust sent Danzo staggering several steps backward.
But this was only the beginning.
Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs!
Naruto shouted inwardly, and at his command, the stake embedded in Danzo's body erupted a second time!
Shhk!
Countless finer, sharper wooden spikes exploded wildly outward from the main stake, bursting from within like a flower of death blooming in an instant.
They pierced muscle, tore through organs, ruptured blood vessels, and even stabbed out through other parts of Danzo's body, all but turning him into a blood-drenched "wooden hedgehog."
"Gah-!"
Danzo let out an agonized groan. His body convulsed violently from the pain and destruction within, and his life force rapidly drained away once more.
At the same time, Naruto's Shadow Clone, which had been prowling nearby like a ghost in search of an opening, moved.
The instant Cutting Sprigs grievously wounded Danzo, leaving a momentary lapse in his attention and bodily control, the Shadow Clone closed in at astonishing speed. Its right hand, coated in a precise, keen edge like a Chakra Scalpel, darted out like lightning.
Its target: Danzo's intact right eye, freshly "reset" by Izanagi!
Pop!
Another soft sound rang out.
The Shadow Clone's hand plunged into Danzo's eye socket with steady, ruthless precision.
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