Naruto 481

The end of Danzo.

For a guy his size (or any size), Danzo sure spews a lot of blood.

Summary:
Karin can't believe Sasuke shot her through the heart and collapses to the ground. The wounded Danzo attempts to limp away, but Madara swoops in saying that he wants to retreat Shisui's Sharingan. At this moment, Danzo takes a trip down memory lane to years ago when he was a young shinobi under the command of 2nd Hokage. In the middle of the battle and surrounded by the enemy, the 2nd Hokage and his team needs someone to volunteer for the dangerous role as a decoy to draw away enemy attention so the rest of the team can escape. Danzo (full name Shimura Danzo) wants to volunteer, but can't bring himself to say the words. Instead, Danzo's teammate Sarutobi volunteers, but Danzo volunteers as well and starts arguing for the role. However, the 2nd Hokage decides that he will be the decoy, and before starting the operation the 2nd Hokage passes his title to Sarutobi.

Back in the present, Danzo activates a seal on his body in a last effort to take Madara and Sasuke down with him. As the seal engulfs a sphere of space around Danzo, Danzo wonders what Sarutobi really thought of him.

Not far away, Sakura, Lee, Kiba, and Sai have located Sasuke. At this moment, Sakura tries to knock out the others with a bomb, but she is stopped by Sai. Sai reveals that Sakura planned to confront Sasuke by herself, and he also tells the other that he won't let them near Sasuke. Not pleased with the interference, Sakura beings to take off her gloves. Meanwhile, Kakashi and Sai's clone are the trail of Sakura's group, and Sai's clone tells Kakashi that things are starting to get rough.

Back at the site of the battle, Danzo's last ditch attack has taken out a large chunk of the bridge. With Danzo dead, Sasuke and Madara set their bearings towards Konoha.

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Looks like Danzo is really dead, and Karin is probably dead too. It turns out Danzo was just a somewhat crazy patriot rather than someone with a more sinister purpose. The flashback was interesting in relating Danzo to the 3rd Hokage Sarutobi. The two are on the opposite side of the spectrum, but in their own way both had tried to protect and strengthen their village. It's too bad that Kishimoto didn't want to develop Danzo's character any further. I was hoping Danzo would survive so we can learn more about his secret operations, but I suppose the story doesn't need him to be alive to learn his secrets. With Danzo dead, I wonder what's going to happen to Torune and Fu who are still trapped in Madara's eye hole.

Now that the big Sasuke vs. Danzo fight over, we might be getting a minor fight with Sakura going against Sai. Is this the fight for Naruto's affections lol? Well, no, since we all know that Naruto is still obsessed with Sasuke. Speaking of Naruto, what's happening with him? The last time we saw our titular character, he was lying unconscious on the ground after getting lovesick. Seeing that Sai's clone and Kakashi are pursuing Sakura's group, I guess Yamato must be stuck carrying Naruto back to the village.