Reborn in the Mist

Danzo landed and perched on a trembling curve of Amegakure's industrial pipelines. He was no Sensor-nin but he could feel the weight of chakra, dense in the atmosphere, fall on his shoulders. It was a blanket of expended Ninjutsu and Taijutsu that outclassed the battlefield he was coming from in terms of destruction, scale and awe.

Below and all across, the land of metal and smoothen concrete was poked full of craters. The massive footprints of the various summon creatures formed puddles of oil and burning water. A trail of flame and rubble led into one of the few enclosed areas in the industrial landscape and there the tremors of battle continued as the Toad Sage clashed against a Rinnegan wielder, the one to kill a man Konoha had failed to in the past and perhaps even the Sandaime Mizukage.

Sannin…Jiraiya. Danzo had to admit— even if only to himself— that Hiruzen had done a wonderful job training those three, Jiraiya most of all as he managed to forge a genius like the Yellow Flash. Orochimaru…Tsunade. Danzo thought of the other two Sannin with a load of envy and a sliver of pride. Pride that they were all once upon a time servile to the Will of Fire, that they could all be again. Envy that— If I could forge such talent of my ROOT…— but that would be moot. The power that forged the Sannin was that of emotions and it was those emotions that let them drift so often away from Konoha, Orochimaru and Tsunade being the worst examples of this.

A hole blew up through the top of the enclosed metal framework, vomiting vibrant red flames that scorched the trembling air. Danzo watched the new opening closely, expecting any one of the two combatants to appear out of the black smog that lingered after the jutsu. Jiraiya leaped out of, his hair made a popsicle out of a woman in an Akatsuki cloak but two more Akatsuki jumped after him, their faces all pierced and eyes filled with the ringed purples of the Rinnegan.

"What's going on here?" Danzo muttered, his brows furrowing at the sight of not one but three wielders of the Rinnegan and all were cloaked in terrorist robes. He covered his sneer with a new ROOT mask and flexed his left arm, he'd applied a medical smear across his burnt and traumatised left side before he left the battlefield and with the help of some soldier pills he was fit as he would be to join the battle at Jiraiya's side.

He hopped off, dashing towards the Jiraiya just as he flung away the woman skewered by his hair at her comrades. They stepped out of the way and let her crash in the distance while they charged Jiraiya, iron poles unveiled from within their sleeves and slashed at the Sannin. 

Danzo intercepted their strike with a shuddering Wind Blade that grinded and sawed through the iron poles but not as quickly as he anticipated. Jiraiya kicked away the other Akatsuki, the strength behind the attack splintered the arm of the bald-headed man that tried to catch it, sending him skidding away.

All three of the Akatsuki examined Danzo eerily just as he examined them. Two were orange haired and had their cloaks relatively intact while the one bald-headed one was tattered, his sleeves torn and half of the cloak dangling off a thin thread. All were pierced in their noses, cheeks, mouths and even head in the case of the bald one. What odd appearances… Danzo thought to himself, though the enemy wasn't the only one sporting a strange look.

Over his shoulder, Danzo found Jiraiya with two wrinkled old toads sat on his shoulders. His nose had never been as large and ugly as it was now and the red birthmark lines that ran down his cheeks had grown to cover nearly all of it. His hair was heftier, eyes slit like a toads and even his feet were webbed and reminiscent of the amphibians he summoned.

"So…you made it, what mess did your ROOT make out there?" He was speaking through pants, not nearly laboured but close enough that Danzo could guess this transformation of his was forced out of him. He hadn't known the Sannin to be capable of such after all.

"What is this enemy?" Danzo asked, not bothering to answer Jiraiya's inane questioning of his ROOT. "How is it possible that three people wield the Rinnegan?"

Before Jiraiya could offer up a word the bald and tattered cloaked Akatsuki moved. Previously bearing a wide and idiotic grin, his face was stony as he lurched for Danzo, his arm splitting open to produce a mechanical saw blade that jutted up and out of his elbow. Danzo dashed under a swipe and saw the other two moving to intercept Jiraiya, the female Akatsuki weaved hand seals and summoned something Danzo couldn't glimpse as the bald machine of a man violently struck at him.

"Danzo Shimura, I know it is you behind that mask. Hiding will not spare you the pain you are due." 

What? A Sensor-nin? Danzo shook his head at his thought and ducked under a slash his Sharingan telegraphed. This is the Rinnegan, whoever these people are, their abilities are beyond even the Sharingan, even beyond Kagami's.

Danzo weaved through the barrage of attacks, each strike from the Akatsuki's metallic fists slicing the air with a bone-rattling hiss. His muscles coiled, every dodge a calculated blur of motion as he narrowly avoided the crushing weight of each blow. Sparks flew as his blade clashed with metal, the grating sound tearing through the otherwise eerily silent battlefield. He didn't need the Sharingan in his eye to see that any stray blow would cripple him. 

The bald man stopped his onslaught of strikes all of a sudden, his face twisted up in a sick grin as two more faces grew out the sides of his skull. His torso bulged as an equal pair of arms snapped out of his body, each wielding a long black rod.

Danzo tightened his grip on his blade before deciding against attempting to deflect or parry attacks from such an abomination. Instead he leaped away just as a giant crustacean snapped away their footing trying to snap off Jiraiya's head and quickly fished out a handful of shuriken from his pouch. His opponent wasn't going to let him go so easily though— the bald man was propelled by his feet, a trail of combustion fire exploding him towards Danzo mid air.

Fortunately, Danzo was ready. He infused his shuriken with Wind Nature Chakra, the familiar hum of energy coursing through the blades as he flung four of them at the three-faced abomination. Thin, spiralling winds sliced through the air with lethal precision, severing the man's saw blade-tail. But the momentary victory was short-lived—two of the shuriken were blasted out of the sky by rockets screaming from the man's arm.

Danzo landed hard on the oil-slick ground, his feet slipping briefly before he regained his footing. He shot down an alley of twisted metal and crumbling concrete, the bald fiend relentless in his pursuit. Each step echoed in the narrow space, his breath ragged as he sprinted, adrenaline hammering in his veins.

They separated us, he realised, his gaze flicking upward. Jiraiya was locked in combat against a monstrous crab, its summoner lurking just behind it, controlling the beast with fluid, deadly movements. Danzo's eyes narrowed as he turned a tight corner, wall-walking up the side of a building with chakra-infused speed. Four missiles roared past, missing by inches before detonating ahead, shaking the earth with a thunderous explosion. Dust and debris clouded the air, but his mind was sharp. There's one more… the third hasn't done anything to Jiraiya…what is he waiting for?

Intent regrouping, Danzo sprinted towards the third Akatsuki, his fingers flipping through hand seals as he closed the distance. He ignored the explosive landing of the bald one chasing him and breathed his attack at his immobile, unconcerned target, "Wind Release: Great Vacuum Sphere!"

The torrent of compressed air shot toward the still Akatsuki member. For a moment, victory seemed certain. But just as the wind was about to obliterate everything in its path, the man casually lifted his arm. Danzo's eyes widened in disbelief, his Sharingan spinning frantically to capture the impossible sight. The destructive winds tore through the battlefield, shredding everything around the Akatsuki—but not him. His body remained untouched, protected by a warping field that rippled at his fingertips, absorbing the chakra as if it were nothing more than a breeze.

"What-?!" Before he could fully comprehend the sight of his jutsu being disregarded, the Akatsuki member leaped after him, a jagged black pole unveiled from his sleeves. Behind Danzo came the gruesome mechanical abomination, it sent another round of missiles at him that he swiftly had to deflect away with a— "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

He scarcely had a chance to breathe relief as the jutsu-absorbing Akatsuki was already upon him, his strikes fast and merciless. A quickly drawn kunai spared Danzo's gut from being skewered, but the onslaught was relentless. Black rods jabbed at him with surgical precision, aiming for his neck, arms, and head. Danzo deflected and parried each thrust with the aid of his Sharingan, but his attention was divided. His back was turned to the real threat—the bald one. 

He stole a glimpse over his shoulder to see what he was up to and his blood ran cold. His head had split open, revealing a massive cannon of condensed chakra, glowing with destructive potential. Sparks danced along the edges, the air around it buzzing with crackling energy. Danzo cursed under his breath as he deflected another strike from the absorbing Akatsuki, his mind reeling as he soon realised— He's not going to move out of the way, they're going to take out their own comrades!

If it felt ironic Danzo didn't have the time to think so. The bald Akatsuki released the blast, a searing wave of chakra rocketing toward them. Danzo's Sharingan frantically plotted a path of escape, but it was too late. The light was blinding, scorching the air with a heat so intense it felt like the very skin on his bones might melt. The light flooded Danzo's sight even more than the impassive, determined stare of the orange-haired Akatsuki still stabbing at him. 

Danzo cursed through gritted teeth. He lunged forward with a roar, plunging his Wind-Bladed kunai upward into the orange-haired man's chest. The blade carved through flesh and muscle with sickening ease, tearing out through the Akatsuki's back. But it was a bitter trade—Danzo gasped as a rod pierced his own abdomen in return, a sharp, biting pain that radiated through his core. He could feel his chakra being syphoned away, the drain weakening him. Yet none of it seemed to matter in the face of obliteration.

The landscape around them—metal, concrete, everything—began to peel away, disintegrating beneath the raw force of the bald one's attack. For an agonising moment, Danzo was certain he was staring death in the face. But then , just as the world seemed poised to dissolve

"Sage Art: Giant Rasengan!" Jiraiya's boisterous voice boomed, brimming with a confidence that filled Danzo with relief he'd never thought he'd attribute to it. The white mane of Jiraiya whipped into view, his Rasengan—a colossal, swirling sphere of chakra—slammed into the oncoming destruction. The Sannin's mastery of the Fourth Hokage's justu combined with the power of his odd transformation allowed him to overwhelm and outmatch the annihilating blast hurtling towards them. With a surge of raw energy, Jiraiya's Rasengan deflected the chakra cannon, pushing it back until the threat was completely neutralised.

Danzo clenched his teeth, a low grunt escaping him as he gripped the cold, foreign object buried deep in his abdomen. Every movement sent white-hot pain shooting through his body, but he couldn't afford to stop. With a guttural growl, he ripped the chakra-draining rod from his flesh, blood spilling over his hands in a sickening rush. His vision blurred for a moment, the edges of his world darkening, but he forced the pain down, focusing instead on the grim reality before him. The enemy would not wait for him to recover

"Getting too old for this?" the Toad Sannin yelled over he yelled over the dying thunder of his jutsu. He crouched beside Danzo, offering a hand with a playful smirk. "I'd offer you a shoulder, but—"

"Occupied," a small, green toad piped up from Jiraiya's side.

Danzo took the help and stood, "We should retreat, the Rinnegan, it's too powerful to face off alone and I know you're getting tired, Sannin." The red trail that had enveloped his cheek before had lessened significantly though it was still prominent in comparison to the thin lines he usually sported. "I've just about run out of chakra, and you're running out of time. Whatever this transformation is, it's not going to last forever. We both know it."

Jiraiya scowled, his ears not liking the sound of retreat, "You're faring worse than I am," he said, though the bite in his words was softened by concern, "You should go, I'll cover you."

"No, we will return together. You have fought them longer and have a greater understanding of their…what in…" Danzo trailed off in awe and fright at the sight behind Jiraiya.

In the rubble where the bald one had let off its cannon blast only to be outmatched by Jiraiya's Rasengan was a fourth Rinnegan wielder and this one had summoned a grotesque, otherworldly head, massive and adorned with twisted horns, that rose from the shadows. Its gaping maw stretched unnaturally wide as the fourth Akatsuki stepped forward, dragging the shattered remains of the bald Akatsuki's body. Danzo's pulse quickened, a gnawing dread clawing at his chest as the demon's jaws closed around the twisted corpse. There was a sickening crunch. The ground trembled as the creature chewed. Danzo's stomach lurched as he realised—this was no ordinary summoning..

After a few seconds the demon unhinged its jaw and out came the bald head Akatsuki, grinning widely and looking good as new. His eyes fixed upon them and he pulled out his forearm, unsheathing a full set of missiles he promptly sent after them.