Chapter 95: Danzō's Desperate Stand vs. Third Kazekage, Ōnoki's Dust Release Ambush, and the Enemy Retreat
Danzō watched the aggressively advancing Third Kazekage and knew he had to deal with this enemy first if he wanted any hope of killing Chiyo!
Although he could continue sending puppets to sneak attack Chiyo, after that previous sneak attempt, Chiyo would definitely heighten her vigilance. In such a situation, even Permeation had little chance of succeeding in a surprise attack.
Moreover, as long as Chiyo moved beyond the extreme control range of Danzō's puppets, Danzō would be helpless.
Danzō glanced at the four corpse puppets still freely active in front of him: Fire, Swordsmanship, Permeation, and Genjutsu puppets.
He immediately ordered the Fire Release puppet to rescue the other impaled puppets, while the remaining three puppets joined him to confront the Kazekage.
The first to clash was the Swordsmanship puppet, engaging the Kazekage head-on.
The Third Kazekage condensed Iron Sand into iron spikes that continuously collided with the long sword in the Swordsmanship puppet's hand.
It had to be said—Danzō's Swordsmanship puppet was very strong. This puppet was carefully selected by Danzō using the full resources of Root—a master swordsman from among elite samurai.
It was only because the man himself was old, seriously ill, and in seclusion that his reputation wasn't high.
The Third Kazekage saw Danzō's Fire Release puppet rescuing the other puppets and knew he couldn't keep fighting this samurai puppet. While flexibly dodging the puppet's attacks with agile movement, he continuously condensed Iron Sand for harassment.
Soon the Swordsmanship puppet began to struggle. No matter how superb its swordsmanship, the surrounding Iron Sand restricted its footwork, and the Third Kazekage could fly.
After another sword wave missed, the Swordsmanship puppet was directly pierced through by the Kazekage's piercing Iron Sand.
Danzō no longer searched for the perfect timing and could only order the Genjutsu ninja to cast illusion on the Kazekage.
"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"
Then the already hidden Permeation puppet struck like a venomous snake from behind toward the Third Kazekage.
As the Third Kazekage turned into sand, Danzō inwardly cried "not good."
The Iron Sand already lying in ambush immediately pierced through the Permeation puppet as well.
Then, while forming hand seals with both hands, the Kazekage took a deep breath.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
The Kazekage's mouth transformed into an air cannon—no, an air artillery—continuously firing air blasts toward Danzō's two puppets.
Danzō watched the Third Kazekage play with wind techniques and unleashed Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere at even faster speed, attacking the Kazekage.
After smashing the Swordsmanship puppet into minced meat, the Third Kazekage himself was hit by Danzō's Vacuum Great Sphere and heavily crashed to the ground.
The only fortunate thing was that at the last moment he condensed a thick Iron Sand shield to block part of the damage.
The Third Kazekage looked at Danzō, who kept his distance and mostly used ninjutsu from afar, with several puppets coordinating quite well.
He couldn't help but feel Danzō's fighting style was extremely cheap. If it were a real person, he felt Danzō absolutely couldn't sacrifice subordinates so casually.
Worse still, the four previously impaled puppets had been rescued.
Originally he could have prioritized eliminating those four puppets, but he felt the earlier moment was the perfect chance to kill Danzō's main body, so he didn't prioritize destruction.
At this time in the distance, Ōnoki and Sarutobi Hiruzen were still engaged in a royal-city-level PK, trading blows back and forth.
Sarutobi Hiruzen even held a slight advantage—his staff swung with ferocious power. Whenever Ōnoki ate one hit from Sarutobi Hiruzen's staff, he couldn't take it.
But Ōnoki's Dust Release couldn't be underestimated. Although it had a slow startup, almost nothing in the ninja world could defend against it.
Ōnoki pressed his palms together, forming a cubic transparent barrier between his hands.
"Dust Release: Original World Separation Technique!"
In an instant, he separated Sarutobi Hiruzen into atomic state, causing a massive explosion.
Ōnoki tried to find any possible trace of Sarutobi Hiruzen in the smoke, only for a pitch-black staff to fly out from the smoke—Ōnoki narrowly dodged.
Looking at the unscathed Sarutobi Hiruzen emerging from the smoke.
At this moment Ōnoki felt that if he fought a war of attrition against Sarutobi Hiruzen, he would most likely lose—his taijutsu was far inferior. If using ordinary ninjutsu, he simply couldn't outplay Sarutobi Hiruzen, this ninjutsu professor.
But Dust Release consumed too much chakra. Still, he felt that if he waited a few more years—until Sarutobi Hiruzen's stamina declined—he could definitely suppress him. If he waited another 10 years, he should be able to easily defeat Sarutobi Hiruzen.
So he prepared to retreat. He flew toward the Third Kazekage's battlefield and once again unleashed Dust Release: Original World Separation Technique at Danzō's back.
Danzō dodged at the last possible moment, but the Kurama clan genjutsu puppet and Fire Release puppet were directly reduced to atoms.
He himself was left dust-covered and dirtied by the Dust Release's follow-up explosion, but Shimura Danzō was uninjured—his Inspiring Armor easily blocked the blast.
Shimura Danzō looked at the belated Sarutobi Hiruzen and couldn't help but—
Ōnoki said to the Third Kazekage: "Retreat." With that, he left without looking back.
The Third Kazekage watched Ōnoki fly away and couldn't be bothered to curse anymore.
He immediately withdrew his Iron Sand while performing a tactical retreat, dragging the still-recovering Chiyo and fleeing in panic.
Danzō wanted to pursue but feared a dying counterattack from the Sunagakure duo and Ōnoki's Dust Release.
Danzō watched Sarutobi Hiruzen support Akimichi Torifu as they approached and immediately exploded in anger. He questioned: "Sarutobi Hiruzen, why didn't you come help me sooner?! If we chased together we could definitely have killed those three! And you! Akimichi Torifu—how are you so weak? You couldn't even hold back one Third Kazekage?"
Akimichi Torifu was in extreme pain all over his body and couldn't be bothered to reply to Shimura Danzō's questioning. He only regretted in his heart: his brain must have short-circuited back then—why did he come without the Ino–Shika–Chō formation?
Damn it, facing the strongest Kazekage alone!
He even felt like retiring once he got back. If such battles happened a few more times, he definitely wouldn't die a good death.
Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Danzō snapping like a mad dog and retorted: "Then why didn't you stay behind to finish off those two from Sunagakure? Ōnoki flew away long ago!"
Danzō also realized Sarutobi Hiruzen had noticed he didn't dare pursue the enemy. He could only save face and said: "Hiruzen! You'll regret this!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen instinctively replied: "I'm the Hokage!"
Unlike usual, this time Shimura Danzō didn't go slam a door. Instead he gently stroked Hachifusa with his left hand.
He was contemplating whether he could kill Sarutobi Hiruzen and Akimichi Torifu right now—then frame Ōnoki and Sunagakure for it.
Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the silent, dark-eyed Danzō and secretly grew vigilant.
In the end Danzō gave up. Right now he still had 5 puppets left, but his own chakra was heavily depleted.
Meanwhile Sarutobi Hiruzen had never intended to defeat his opponent from the start—his chakra and stamina were well-preserved. Danzō had no confidence in killing the two in front of him.
Plus, Konoha was currently in an extremely dangerous situation—one misstep and the village could be destroyed. If that happened and he took power facing a pile of mess, he didn't want that either.
So in the end—even with Inspiring Armor as his trump card—Danzō still didn't make a move.
Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Danzō putting his puppets back into the scroll and let out a sigh of relief.
But he made up his mind: in the future he absolutely had to restrict Danzō's combat power!
--------------------------
Support us on Patreon and gain access to 100 chapters in advance!
patreon.com/inkshield
Special Offer: Badass Tier – 20% OFF
Use code: STAR20