Sai and Danzo stood a few meters away from each other; the entire corridor was badly damaged due to their fighting.
Sai was panting heavily, his chakra was depleting very quickly, and Danzo was not showing any signs of defeat yet.
He knew he had to keep Danzo engaged, because if he failed, then Danzo would activate the curse seal; and Naruto would be on the verge of death.
No, he wouldn't let that happen.
Sai calculated all the odds, at the very best, he would be able to hold Danzo for another few minutes, after that he was done for. But still that did not change anything, he was a shinobi, and they were meant to die in battle.
He saw Danzo performing a couple of hand seals, and his danger senses kicked off.
Sai performed his own set of hand seals quickly, in order to defend himself.
"Futon: Shinkuha(Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)"
Danzo released a powerful blast of wind from its mouth, Sai couldn't see the attack but he could feel the force with which the jutsu was approaching his position.
He was just able to complete his last hand seal at the last moment.
"Doton: "Dorou Doumu no Jutsu." (Earth Element: Earth Dome Prison Technique)"
A large earth wall erupted from the ground, and entrapped Sai totally in the prison of dirt; the wind attack collided with Sai's earth dome, and with great speed cut clean through it.
However Sai was fortunate that it missed him just by an inch, or else he was dead.
He looked up and saw the entire top portion of his dome, was nowhere to be seen, if he had been a little more taller; then his head would surely be lying on the ground by now.
"Fuck, that was close," thought Sai worriedly
Danzo jumped high in the air, and threw a couple of shuriken towards Sai; and made a couple of hand seals.
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)"
The few shuriken now multiplied into 50 more shuriken and were heading towards Sai, at high speed.
For an instant Sai and Danzo's eyes met, and Danzo saw the shock evident on the young boy's face. It was all over for him.
The shuriken attack completely nailed each and every part of Sai's body, Danzo closed his eyes, the fight was over.
"Looking for someone," said a voice behind Danzo
Danzo quickly brought his kunai in his hand, and at the last moment turned around and blocked a tanto strike, that would have sliced his head off.
He was shocked to see it was none other than Sai himself.
He looked towards the position where he had previously, seen the boy getting impaled by his shuriken attack; and was shocked to see there was nothing more than a broken earth dome there.
"Too late," said Sai with a smirk
He then gave a hard kick, on Danzo's chest; now the unique thing was, he had put some chakra in it, and as a result Danzo was sent sailing in the air; and he crashed in the wall with a loud bang.
Sai landed roughly on the ground, his breathing was a little rough; he still couldn't believe that he was alive.
But some things were starting to make more sense to him now.
"I have given you some of my power, it will help you in your fight against Danzo, Be careful"
Sai still remembered Naruto's words, so this was what his friend meant. He was grateful to Naruto, if not for him, then Danzo would have surely finished him off.
Meanwhile Danzo slowly got out of the now destroyed wall, he still was unable to understand what what had happened?
Before launching his shuriken attack, he had looked at the boy, he had seen the look in his eyes. Sai knew he was done for, Danzo knew he was done for; he even saw his attack pierce all of Sai's vital organs.
What the hell was going on?
He had to find out what tricks the boy, was trying to play. He had not seen Sai perform any hand seals to do a genjutsu or substitution, there was no time left for him to that.
Danzo had trained the boy, he knew Sai excelled in fire and earth ninjutsu. His Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu were his best weapons, but his genjutsu skills were average to say in the least.
Sai practically had no talent at all for genjutsu, and only knew how to break out of it.
There was something fishy going on here.
Danzo was interrupted from his thoughts, when he felt Sai's KI escalate. He looked at the boy, and saw him perform the hand seal for a fire style attack.
"Katon Hosenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)"
Sai sent several small fireballs towards Danzo at high speed, the ninjutsu attack was looking dangerous; but Danzo was already prepared for it.
Danzo performed his last hand seal just as the fireballs were a few inches away from him.
"Doton Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall Jutsu)"
Danzo stood calmly in his place, as a mud wall suddenly erupted in front of him; and shielded his entire body from the fireballs.
He could hear numerous fireballs colliding with the wall, the attack was strong as a few cracks had already developed in the wall; but then Danzo heard a sound that immediately made him jump away from the wall.
It was the sound of a kunai hitting the earth wall, Danzo had fought in three great wars and as a result he knew what that kunai was.
"An exploding Kunai," thought Danzo tactically
Just as he finished his thought, the entire wall was smashed through pieces by a powerful blast, some debris even hit Danzo; but were not enough to cause any significant damage.
With great speed Sai emerged in front of Danzo, and sliced his tanto at the man's chest; however Danzo flipped in the air, and as result evaded the attack.
Sai was quite shocked, when Danzo gave a harsh kick to his face which sent him crashing towards the ground; but Naruto and Sai had trained for this fight, and as a result Sai gracefully landed on the ground, there was some blood coming out of his mouth though.
Danzo looked at his former student and subordinate with a critical gaze.
"Your skills, seemed to be have greatly improved. It looks like, you must have trained for quite some time, to make yourself strong. But something does not feel right, what are you up to, boy?" asked Danzo neutrally
"Who knows, figure it our yourself, jackass." said Sai mysteriously
"There is something strange about him. I can feel some kind of power in him, I must find out what it is," thought Danzo tactically
He was a veteran of three great ninja wars, and in his long life he knew; even a Kage could be defeated by a weaker foe, if he made a single mistake.
It was better to find out about the enemy's tactics before charging in battle.
Danzo made a hand seal, that surprised Sai as he realized what jutsu that was.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)"
Immediately 5 shadow clones of Danzo appeared in front of him.
Due to his experiment with Orochimaru's help, his power and chakra levels had greatly increased; and now he could use it effectively in this fight.
All the clones performed a set of hand seals, while the original Danzo was clearly observing Sai from his right eye, that was hidden behind a set of bandages
"Doton: "Doryuu Katsu no Jutsu!"(Earth Element: Earth Style Split Technique)"
The clones slammed their hands on the ground in unison, which resulted in the earth to rise up, and slip apart, as a chasm now raced towards Sai's position.
Sai saw the danger he was in, and with great graceful movements started back flipping away from the quickly approaching chasm.
He continued to put distance between himself and the chasm, but it continued chasing him.
He put a hand in his pouch, and took out 3 exploding kunai.
"These are the last ones, I must make it count," thought Sai firmly
He sent the exploding kunai straight towards the chasm, his hits were successful and managed to stuck on the center of the chasm.
Sai made the ram hand seal, and immediately the entire chasm was blown to pieces, leaving a lot of smoke and dust in the entire corridor.
"I will have to deal with the clones myself, I must save my chakra in order to prolong this fight with Danzo. Using ink clones is out of the equation, Shit" thought Sai with a frown
Sai suddenly brought his tanto forward and blocked a kunai strike from one of Danzo's clones, that came out of the smoke.
Sai then used his reflexes and gave a leg sweep to the clones legs, making it lose balance and before it could even hit the ground; Sai clearly cut him in half, which made the clone disappear in a puff of smoke.
Sai was then thrown high in the air, as he received a sharp kick to his chin; however he quickly grabbed his attackers legs and reversed in the air.
With great physical strength, he lifted the clone high in the air, and slammed it on the ground, and destroyed it completely.
Another clone gave a roundhouse kick at Sai's chest; but it was blocked as Sai used both of his hands to shield himself.
However the clone of Danzo gave a leg sweep to Sai, and made him fall to the ground.
Sai watched in shock, as the clone jumped high in the air and was about to give a crushing heel kick that would break his heart in a flash.
At the last moment he was able to shift his position, but the kick still connected; the difference was that instead of his chest being hit, his left hand got hit.
"AAAAAAHHHH" screamed Sai in pain, as he felt his left hand get broken.
But despite the pain, he locked the clone leg's with his own, and with a sickening twist broke both of his legs making the clone disappear.
Sai weakly got up from the ground, his body was in pain. His left hand was twisted, with great courage he set his broken hand back into position with a grunt.
It took a great effort from Sai, not to scream and show any sign of weakness to his enemy.
Suddenly another clone appeared in front of Sai, and attempted to Sai send a right hook at Sai's face.
Sai reacted instantly and got the clone's wrist with his right hand, and tried to give a kick with the help of his right knee; but the clone blocked it with his remaining hand.
The real Danzo watched in amazement as Sai was standing firmly against his clones, and was giving a tough fight.
The boy had gotten stronger, he had a a lot of potential to become an Anbu captain.
A shame, he would have to be killed tonight.
Danzo watched closely as his clone and Sai, sent a volley of kicks and punches at each other.
The boy's left hand was completely broken, and was now useless; but that was not stopping him from putting up a valiant fight.
Danzo watched in shock as his clone tried to give a punch to Sai's face, but Sai ducked in an instant; in a flash Sai attached something to the clone's chest and jumped away quickly.
The clone suddenly shook violently as something glowed on his chest, and after a second it was blown to smoke.
"A exploding tag? No, it requires a hand seal to set off, I see. He created a seal, that disturbed the clone's chakra network from the inside and made him unstable; which ultimately dispeled it. A great Fuinjutsu technique," thought Danzo curiously
"(pant) (pant) (pant) Where is the last one?" thought Sai tiredly, he was losing strength with each passing moment, his left hand was gone for good, he was low on weapons and chakra, and his enemy was not showing any signs of defeat or retreat.
Things were not looking good for him.
However he knew there was also the real Danzo, forgetting about him would be a big mistake.
As a result he had set up a trap just in case he got cornered.
Sai was utterly shocked when someone busted from beneath the ground of his feet, there was no time to react, he could see Danzo's clone ready to plunge his kunai straight inside his skull.
Both of their eyes locked for a moment, and Sai again felt a little strain in his eyes.
The clone was shocked when the Sai in front of him suddenly vanished he was still in mid air; when he heard a voice behind him.
"This is the end," came Sai's voice from behind.
In swift motion; Sai beheaded the clone with the kunai in his right hand, making it disappear in a puff of smoke.
Sai collapsed on the ground, he was really tired now.
The real Danzo understood the entire trick as he watched his clone getting destroyed. He had received the memory of each and every clone, and had analyized his opponent's battle tactics, and the trump card he was using.
The memory of the last clone, and the thing which he saw with his right eye, made him understand the entire mystery of Sai's power.
He had to hand it to Naruto, even though the man was a traitor; Danzo had never seen such a powerful and tactical Anbu captain in ages.
It seemed Naruto had thought about everything that could happen in the battle, and had taken countermeasures to save his friend and give him more time to fight or escape from the battle.
"Naruto Uchiha, you really are genius. You transferred chakra from your sharingan eyes, and sealed it into Sai's eyes. Sharingan sends waves of chakra in order to hypnotize the opponent and catch him; and control him with Genjutsu. You used your Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu abilities to set up a mechanism that would instantly place me in a Genjutsu when I'm about to kill your friend. The effect is just for a moment, but it gives Sai enough time to escape from my lethal attack; or counterattack and kill me. I really wished you were not my enemy," thought Danzo with a frown
Danzo was quite shocked that Naruto's Jutsu practically saved sai everytime he was about to die. What amazed Danzo, was that in a way it was similar to his trump card; but the difference was Naruto's Jutsu didn't cost Sai any damage, while his trump card was costly.
But there was one big defect in Naruto's Jutsu, it needed to have eye contact with the enemy in order to place his Genjutsu for a few moments, allowing Sai time to escape or attack.
And Danzo had found this weakness, and the way to overcome it.
Danzo stepped forward, his enemy's tactics were now known to him. It was time to end this fight.
"You have fought valiantly, but this is the end for you," said Danzo stoically
But he was intrigued when he saw a smirk form on Sai's face.
"Is it my end or yours?" asked Sai deviously
Danzo was shocked when he heard a voice mutter something from the shadows.
"Doton: Yomi Numa(Swamp of the Underworld.)"
Danzo was shocked beyond words as the ground beneath him, transformed into a sticky mud river; he slipped in it and was now covered in mud up to his neck.
He saw an Ink clone of Sai at a distance, hidden in the shadows; it had his hands pressed on the ground indicating it had performed the jutsu.
"I underestimated him, he hid a ink clone in order to catch me off guard," thought Danzo bitterly
He was disappointed as he got caught by a young Anbu.
Danzo's eyes widened in shock as he saw Sai jump in the air; and heading towards him with his tanto in his right hand. He was coming at great speed, and his attack was going to slice Danzo's head off.
"This is the end for you!" yelled Sai angrily
In one swift motion he sliced Danzo's head off, and crashed into the mud river.
"Its over Naruto, we won,"
These were Sai's final thoughts, before his eyes widened in shock when he felt something cold pierce his chest...
(With Naruto)
Naruto felt a chill run down his spine, he didn't know why; but he had a feeling that something bad must have happened.
"Sai, hang in there," prayed Naruto worriedly
He didn't want anything to happen to his friend, Naruto didn't know whether he would be able to go on further without Sai's support.
Sai was his closest friend, and was the only reason he was able to stay sane in Root.
He didn't care about anything else, he just wanted to get Rei out of here and head off towards Sai's position.
Naruto saw a couple of wooden tendrils and branches emerge from the ground, and rush towards him.
He saw Rei was trying her best to perform the Jutsu, and he was shocked beyond words that she possessed Mokuton Kekkai Genkai of the Shodai Hokage.
But still, her technique was not at all perfect; but if it hit him it could cause some serious damage.
He couldn't use Kurama's chakra to heal his wounds, and that put him at a great disadvantage.
"Kurama, I am going to unleash my full power," said Naruto seriously
"Are you serious?" asked Kurama in shock
If Naruto unleashed his true power, even Kurama doubted that he could defeat him. The boy was a monster, the only person who was more powerful than Naruto, was Madara Uchiha, and a few of the Kage level shinobi.
But even that would change in a few years.
"Kurama, you have fought the Shodai Hokage right? How strong is her jutsu?" asked Naruto quickly
He had slowly started gathering his chakra, he would have to do it on his own power, as using Kurama's power in this situation may harm Rei or his own body due to the curse seal of Danzo.
"It is nowhere near Hashirama's level; she has barely scratched the surface of wood style but before things can get more dangerous; you need to end this fight," advised Kurama sagely
"Got it," said Naruto sternly
The wooden branches were getting closer and only one thought was running through Naruto's mind.
"To think, you would go this far for Danzo..." thought Naruto sadly
Naruto clasped both of his hands together, and gathered a large amount of his own chakra.
"You shouldn't have made me do this, Rei" said Naruto angrily
A violent wave was sent throughout the entire base, even the Root Anbu outside the barrier were blown of their feet due to the power of the wave.
They looked inside the barrier and were shocked to see, Naruto's entire body covered in a bluish-white chakra, he looked like a fallen angel from heaven.
His blonde hair was flowing wildly in the air, and his three tomoe sharingan changed into a Shuriken.
Rei couldn't believe the power of her opponent, even Kurama was amazed.
Out of all his containers, Naruto was the strongest and the most dangerous; the fact that he had two more trump card up his sleeve was astonishing.
Naruto's chakra was so powerful that it destroyed the entire roof of the base, the chakra chains of Rei melted like they were nothing; and freed Naruto.
Rei couldn't believe her chakra chains got destroyed so easily and quickly.
Her mokuton attack collided with Naruto violently, causing a big explosion and a lot of smoke spread inside the barrier, as the debris flew in every direction.
"(Pant) Its over," thought Rei tiredly
But her eyes widened in shock, as the smoke started to clear; and what she saw would forever be arched in her memory forever.
Naruto's entire body was surrounded by a giant humanoid monster skeleton. It was covered in armor, and on top of that its entire body was covered in ice; that looked hard as steel.
It was fucking huge too, and the power it was radiating was immense.
"What is this?" asked Rei fearfully
"This is my final Susannoo, it is as powerful as a Biju," said Naruto seriously
But the most shocking thing about the Susanno was that it had two large wings made of ice on its shoulders; and a sword in its right hand that was glowing magnificently
"It is so beautiful.." thought Rei in awe and amazement.
Naruto opened his eyes, and Rei's shock further increased as they were now cerulean blue with shuriken in it.
"What are you?" asked Rei in awe
Naruto looked at his daughter kindly, his crystal blue eyes eased her tension, and all her stress.
"I'm an angel of the lord," said Naruto calmly
Everyone's eyes further widened in shock, as the entire Susanoo lifted in the air; and was now standing in the sky.
There was a surge of enormous power, Naruto's sword sparkled brightly and suddenly dark clouds formed in the sky.
The clouds were so dark, that the entire moon got blocked out of view.
The only light in the corridor was that of Naruto's Susanno, and its magnificent wings and its heavenly looking sword.
Rei totally believed she was seeing an angel of Kami-sama; Naruto was looking truly handsome and beautiful in this form.
Naruto looked at Rei calmly, but his eyes hardened when he saw the Root Anbu. It was time to end this.
Waves of Ice started forming around the sword of Naruto's Susanno; and the words which Naruto said shocked everyone.
"Attack, Hyourinmaru!"