Chapter 914 : Struggling between Life & Death!

The Saisho no Hikari Danzo faced was a bit different than what Darui's group faced. Back then, Fujin didn't intend to kill them. Hence, he had teleported the terrifying jutsu some distance away from them. In addition, he hadn't exploded the jutsu right away, giving Yugito precious time to cover her teammates.

Unfortunately, Danzo wasn't given the same considerations. Not only was the jutsu more powerful due to the gains Fujin had, but it teleported inches away from him and exploded right away! Had Danzo been on his toes, ready to flicker at the first sign of danger, perhaps he could have used the jutsu, though escaping the blast radius was a different matter altogether. However, Danzo was more curious about studying his opponent and gathering more intel. He didn't even have the time to try and flicker!

Realizing he couldn't survive, Danzo immediately activated Izanagi. In the last few moments where he could still think, Danzo rapidly analyzed, ‘It vanished and reappeared, just like what happened earlier! There's no doubt! He is using Space Time Ninjutsu! Otherwise my eyes would have seen it no matter how fast Lightning is!’

The light emitted by Saisho no Hikari engulfed Danzo! Needless to say, the light was nothing but intense lightning. At such a close range, it destroyed Danzo's body from the inside out, ruining every organ and destroying his chakra network! Even his right arm, consisting of Hashirama's cell, was utterly devastated!

Akuro landed back on the ground, not bothering to open his eyes to glance at the corpse this time. Unlike Danzo, who was still figuring out Akuro's information, he knew almost everything he needed to know about Danzo. A senbon appeared in his hands as he stood still. Nearly a minute later, lightning flowed through the senbon, as Akuro flicked it in a direction.

As soon as the Izanagi faded away, Danzo's figure reappeared, this time around 24 meters away from dying position and with two Sharingans on his arm blinded. Unlike his previous revival, Danzo was in for a rude surprise. He had revived in the path of the lightning-imbued senbon thrown by Akuro! Worse, the tip of the senbon was less than a millimeter away from the center of his forehead when he reappeared!

Much like the previous two times, Danzo had no chance of dodging. Helplessly, he activated Izanagi again as the senbon pierced through his forehead, leaving a small but lethal hole through his head. Moments later, his body collapsed backwards as he fell dead.

Unlike the range of emotions Danzo experienced in the fraction of a second, Akuro stood still without any reaction. He thought, ‘Izanagi… Turning reality into illusion and illusion into reality… Impressive, but the process of turning reality into illusion and illusion into reality creates a disturbance in the Space Time fabric. A disturbance I can sense all too clearly. You are simply out of luck, Danzo.’

Fujin hadn't thought of this aspect earlier. He was prepared to kill Danzo ten times over. However, when Danzo revived for the first time, he clearly sensed the disturbance, making him experiment with this tactic. It was why Fujin expended so much chakra in using Saisho no Hikari to force Danzo to use Izanagi again. Danzo's corpse was proof it worked!

Fujin analyzed, ‘I wonder if I can use this against Obito as well… Hmm, perhaps not. He can turn intangible instantly. I'll have to have a few clones in his Kamui dimension to kill him when he becomes intangible. However, if I have clones there, Obito isn't that big of a threat anyway.

I suppose the bigger factor is how far away he revives. If it's within a 100 meter radius, I may have a shot of repeating this. Any farther, and he'll have sufficient time to dodge. Whatever, I'll have to wait for Kakashi to learn Kamui. Then I can explore that dimension and mark the hell out of it.’

Another senbon appeared in his hands as he was lost in thoughts. Imbuing it with lightning, he flicked it once again.

Danzo’s eye twitched as he revived again, this time further than before, nearly 40 meters from the last spot. He barely had time to register his surroundings when a sharp sting dug into the side of his neck. His eyes widened as the world tilted once more, ‘Again?’

His legs gave out, and he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. The senbon’s precise hit on his spine ensured immediate death. There was no time to think. No time to strategize. Just a burning, creeping frustration in the milliseconds before darkness swallowed him again.

A minute later, another eye went blind as Danzo reappeared once more while gasping for breath. A flicker of hope appeared in his eyes as he was farther away than before. It evaporated just as fast as he felt a prick at the back of his head.

With his experience, Danzo knew it was the same way he had been killed twice. As he saw the senbon exiting through his forehead, a new emotion took birth in Danzo, an emotion he hadn't felt for decades! He felt dread! That wasn't a battle! It was an execution! Danzo was helpless as he fell for the fifth time! He had lost half the Sharingans on his right arm!

He revived again and this time saw a lightning-imbued senbon right in front of his chest! His teeth clenched in raw frustration as he screamed in his mind, ‘How? How is he finding me each time? How do I break out of this cycle?’

A searing pain ripped through his ribs as the senbon impaled him! A hole appeared in his heart as Danzo collapsed again. A sense of powerlessness and helplessness engulfed him as his life faded away. It was something he hadn't felt even against Hiruzen! However, those feelings dissipated as soon as they appeared.

A minute later, Danzo revived again! However, there was one major difference this time. Danzo didn't appear at a far away spot. Instead, he reappeared at the same place he died. This surprised Akuro who wondered, ‘Is his revival spot random and he got unlucky, or is he purposefully reviving at the same spot?’

Danzo, who once again saw death approaching, thought, ‘If he can predict my reappearance, it is useless to switch positions. I'll bet my life on this spot!’

Despite such thoughts, Danzo didn't attempt to dodge the senbon. Instead, his chakra flared before he was impaled again!

His decision surprised Akuro, who muttered, “Is he…?”

A minute later, Danzo reappeared in the same spot and flared his chakra immediately, releasing a large amount of it into the air! A gentle wind appeared in front of him, hitting the senbon. Unfortunately, it was too weak to affect it and his forehead was pierced yet again!

Akuro clicked his tongue in annoyance, ‘This bastard! So openly trying to replicate my technique! Hmph, you may be shameless enough to not pay any royalty or licensing fee, but I'll extract the fee regardless!’

With just two Sharingan remaining, other than Shisui's eye, Danzo reappeared once again at the same spot, his chakra flaring even more intensely! Knowing Akuro's attacking spot, Danzo focused entirely on the spot between his eyes, locating the lightning-imbued senbon immediately.

A thin film of wind barrier appeared instantly between his forehead and the senbon. At the same time, small wind blades appeared around the senbon, attempting to cut through the lightning imbued in it!

Needless to say, the weak attacks weren't enough to stop the senbon. Due to its momentum, the wind blades didn't affect it much while the wind barrier was almost non-existent. The senbon touched his forehead, piercing into it with little resistance. It pierced half a centimeter into his forehead before Danzo grabbed it with his right hand! Though his attempts didn't stop the senbon, they had slowed it just enough!

Standing at a distance, Akuro felt the Wind Domain forming around Danzo and thought, ‘Sigh, what a fierce will to live. As I suspected, our ability to learn and create increases exponentially when stuck between life & death. He has already gained a rudimentary control over Wind Domain. A pity…’

Danzo pulled out the senbon as blood trickled down his face. Yet, there wasn't a hint of discomfort on his face, only caution and aggression! He had finally broken through the cycle! He continued pumping more chakra into the Wind Domain and glanced at Akuro while thinking, ‘Suzuki Fujin… To think your creation would save my life… With Wind Domain, my options… Hmm?’

When Danzo's eyes landed on Akuro, he saw Akuro maintaining the confrontation hand seal. Danzo's eyes widened as he suddenly felt danger despite Akuro not making any direct attacks and being inside his small Wind Domain. His eyes quickly moved to the ground as he finally realized what he was standing on, ‘Explosive seals… Hundreds of explosive seals…’

BOOM!!!

[A/N: Apologies for not updating yesterday. Had a rather frustrating day. Izanagi is a headache to write. I had several ideas regarding how to approach this fight, and the one that felt most fitting was to have Fujin kill Danzo one by one 10 times.
However, to keep Danzo's strength consistent, I couldn't have Fujin kill him with relative ease (like just blitzing and killing him like how Fujin would deal with a normal Jounin or Elite Jounin). As a result, it stretched on for too long. I was done writing yesterday, but had to undo the chapter because I'm afraid the fight may have gone on for 10-15 more chapters, or perhaps even longer 💀
The fight would also have felt repetitive at some point as I would eventually run out of ideas. So, I decided to redo the following fight, causing more delays. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this long awaited confrontation. Hopefully we'll stay on schedule here on :)
PS: I now understand why Izanagi was never spammed again in the series, lol.]