This Danzo Is Weird!

"You didn't let me down, Nagato," Danzō remarked with satisfaction, his expression brimming with pride.

The Preta Path, one of the abilities granted by the Rinnegan, offered two notable techniques: Sealing Technique: Absorption Seal and Chakra Absorption.

The Absorption Seal creates a defensive barrier by sealing incoming attacks. When it comes into contact with an enemy's ninjutsu, it instantly nullifies them. It's somewhat akin to the "Imagine Breaker" ability from a certain Railgun series.

Of course, it isn't quite as overpowered, and in the original story, it was shown to work specifically against ninjutsu. Danzō wasn't certain if it could counter senjutsu.

Nonetheless, it's still an incredibly powerful trump card, capable of neutralizing the vast majority of conventional ninjutsu with ease.

The other ability, Chakra Absorption, is equally impressive.

In the original story, Nagato could even use it to drain the chakra of tailed beasts. However, it's worth noting that this same ability was used by the Preta Path to absorb Naruto's senjutsu chakra, resulting in the user being overwhelmed and petrified by the power of nature.

That's an important caveat.

Beyond this newfound ability, Danzō had another major gain—the golden skill point dropped by Nagato.

Unlike regular skill points, golden skill points can bypass level restrictions on attributes, skills, and talents, forcibly upgrading them by one level.

This unique property makes golden skill points most valuable when used on high-level attributes, skills, or talents.

With this in mind, Danzō once again brought up his attribute panel:

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Host: Shimura Danzō

Ninjutsu: A

Taijutsu: B

Genjutsu: A-

Strength: B-

Speed: A-

Chakra Control: B+

Talents:

Wood Release (A)

Sharingan (A-)

Sealing Techniques (A-)

Wind Release (A)

Skills:

Izanagi (S)

Absorption Seal (A)

Chakra Absorption (A)

Wood Release: Violent Spear Tree (A)

Wind Release: Vacuum Wave (B)

Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere (B)

Available Skill Points: 32

Available Golden Skill Points: 1

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Currently, the only S-rank skill Danzō possessed was Izanagi.

Logically, upgrading Izanagi with the golden skill point would provide the greatest value.

The issue, however, was that his Sharingan had already been sacrificed.

Without a Sharingan to fuel the technique, Izanagi was unusable, rendering the upgrade practically worthless in terms of immediate combat effectiveness.

Interestingly, though, while his Sharingan was gone, the Sharingan talent still remained on his attribute panel.

This intrigued Danzō. Did this mean he could potentially awaken another Sharingan on his own?

After careful consideration, Danzō decided to hold onto the golden skill point for now. He resolved to save it for a critical moment when it would provide maximum impact.

In any case, this mission had been incredibly rewarding.

---

As Danzō mulled over his gains, Ryōma Aburame arrived.

As usual, Ryōma dropped to one knee and reported, "Lord Danzō, the village has sent word. They request you head to the battlefield on the border of the Land of Water to take over Orochimaru's defenses."

"The Land of Water?"

Danzō's eyes narrowed slightly.

By this point, the Third Shinobi World War had been raging for years. The relentless grinding of this conflict had pushed the economies and morale of all nations to their limits.

The hardest hit among them was the Land of Fire.

As the largest and strongest ninja village, Konohagakure had faced simultaneous wars against the other four great nations.

Were it not for Konoha's vast reserves of talent—producing shinobi such as the Legendary Sannin, the Yellow Flash, and prodigies like Kakashi—as well as the presence of stalwarts like Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō Shimura, the village would have been destroyed long ago!

　　Danzō picked up a map of the ninja world and studied it carefully.

The current situation on the battlefield looked something like this:

In the Land of Grass, Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash, was holding the line. First, he led Kakashi, Obito, and Rin in destroying Iwagakure's critical supply route—the Kannabi Bridge—successfully cutting off their logistics.

Then, with his blinding speed, he systematically hunted down Iwagakure's high-ranking shinobi, suppressing their morale so thoroughly that they started to fear Minato's name.

As a result, Iwagakure was already considering retreating.

This front was secure and didn't warrant concern.

The Land of Lightning, however, was proving to be a bigger threat.

The new "A-B Combo" of the Fourth Raikage A and his partner, Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, were causing significant trouble.

With their exceptional teamwork and incredible speed, they repeatedly penetrated the Land of Fire's interior, disrupting Konoha's supply lines and putting immense pressure on their forces.

Then there was the Land of Water battlefield.

With Jiraiya missing and Tsunade in retirement due to her hemophobia, Orochimaru had temporarily taken command of this front, supported by the Uchiha Clan as the main combat force.

Meanwhile, Sunagakure was also clashing with Konoha, though on a smaller scale, with the skirmishes limited to the borders of the Land of Rain.

Of course, while Konoha was fighting on multiple fronts, other nations were also struggling.

The Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning were locked in their own conflicts, while the Land of Wind and the Land of Water were engaged in regional disputes.

As for the smaller nations, they were little more than collateral damage in this massive war.

In short, the entire ninja world was in chaos.

---

After reviewing the current situation, Danzō finally spoke.

"They're sending me to the Land of Water. What about Sunagakure?"

His brows furrowed deeply as he noticed a familiar name on the map: Kikyō Pass.

From his memories of the original story, this location had been the site of a famous battle—the Battle of Kikyō Pass.

This was a conflict where the Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning joined forces to invade the Land of Fire.

Konoha had paid a steep price in this war. The entire Kikyō Pass was reduced to ruins. It was only thanks to Minato's timely arrival and his ability to counter the A-B Combo that Konoha narrowly achieved victory.

It was also after this battle that Kabuto, lost his parents and was sent as an orphan to Konoha's orphanage, leading to his fateful connection with the Root member and orphanage head, Nonō Yakushi.

The map showed that Kikyō Pass was located in the western part of the Land of Fire.

But the Land of Lightning was on the eastern side. So how had these two nations ended up collaborating?

Had the A-B Combo led their forces to the Land of Wind and joined Sunagakure to form an allied army?

Or was this battle divided into two separate conflicts?

Faced with these questions, Ryōma relayed the village's stance.

"The leadership claims that the village has secretly reached a cooperation agreement with Sunagakure to jointly attack the Land of Water. Therefore, they don't see the need to station significant forces there."

"Nonsense!"

Danzō slammed his fist down, shattering the table in rage.

"They're gambling the safety of the entire nation on a mere piece of paper?"

"This is war!"

"There is no such thing as trust in war!"

"If Sunagakure can sign a treaty with us today, they can turn around and ally with Kumogakure tomorrow to invade us!"

Danzō's voice thundered.

"Go and tell the Monkey," Danzō growled, referring to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "that Sunagakure cannot be trusted! I'm heading to Kikyō Pass to organize the defenses!"