Kakashi nodded slowly, no longer hesitating—he immediately put the green pill into Guy's mouth. As soon as the pill entered, it directly melted into a pure energy stream that permeated into his body.
Everyone could clearly see, from Guy's throat appeared green lines flowing rapidly following meridian paths throughout his body parts, making his entire body begin emitting soft luminescent light.
*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!*
The sound of bone growth clearly echoed in everyone's ears, and wounds all over Guy's body closed very quickly. After several minutes, his comatose eyelids trembled violently, then he suddenly opened his eyes wide.
"I... didn't die?"
Guy sat upright from the ground with a shocked expression, looking around confused and finding everyone staring at him with amazed faces.
"Hokage!"
Seeing three Hokage surrounding him, Guy felt somewhat awkward. He jumped up standing and felt his entire body; bloodstains that hadn't dried were still there, feeling sticky and uncomfortable.
"Impossible, after opening the Eighth Gate, I shouldn't be able to survive!"
When opening the Gate of Death, he had already had firm resolve to die.
"The Third Hokage used his Gold List reward to save you..." Kakashi immediately explained the earlier events.
Guy felt shocked yet happy—he immediately expressed the greatest thanks to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen smiled thinly: "This is nothing—consider this as our compensation to you. If only we could have come earlier, things like this wouldn't have happened..."
"Speaking of that..."
Jiraiya voiced everyone's doubts: "The battle here had been going on so long—why did the Hokage come so late?"
Hearing this, all three Hokages' faces immediately turned gloomy.
"We were intercepted by a black-robed figure at the village outskirts—he was suspected to be First Place of the Gold List..." Hashirama didn't hide anything and recounted the events they experienced.
Jiraiya frowned: "Intercepting you just to ask for help training his subordinates, and doing it at a time like this? That's too strange—as if his purpose was purely only to prevent you all from coming to provide assistance. This doesn't make sense!"
"We also think so!"
Tobirama nodded in agreement: "This First Place is problematic. Back at the Sacred Ruins Trial Tower in the One Punch Man world, I already felt strange. Although Saitama is very strong, he's only Third Place, while this figure is First Place—the creator of that Trial Tower itself. Yet he instead avoided battle and gave no response whatsoever; that doesn't look like First Place's style."
Hashirama added: "Right, not similar at all. Remember when Admiral Kizaru met First Place? In just one encounter, even without that figure taking action—only his black cat acted—Kizaru's arm was directly severed and he fled in fear. Yet at that time the other party had no intention to kill."
"Exactly."
Hiruzen nodded: "In the great war between the Marines and World Government before, the Gorosei who were in the top 20 of the Strongest List were just swallowed by the figure suspected to be Second Place. This proves that First and Second Place aren't figures to be casually disturbed. They're mysterious, difficult to track, and never appear voluntarily. But now, he suddenly interfered in our affairs without clear reason and asked us to train his subordinates. Really strange."
Everyone sank into their thoughts. Indeed true, all signs showed that the black-robed figure most likely had problems. Both in terms of true strength and style of action, he was very different from the real First Place who was difficult to meet. Until now, not a single person in the Three Realms knew what the real First Place looked like.
"We should have tried testing him earlier!" Hashirama felt somewhat regretful.
However, they also knew that in that situation, not one of them dared confirm the opponent's identity.
That was First Place of the Gold List!
The three of them were Konoha's pillars currently; if all three died there, Konoha would immediately become an easy target and collapse completely.
Without the First and Second Hokage's protection, this village that had several newcomers on the Hidden Expert List would surely be targeted by many parties. They couldn't afford to be harmed.
"Now the Kyuubi has been extracted. The opponent's tactics are very strange, and that mysterious black-robed figure most likely is their person. Since the Kyuubi has been obtained, other Bijuu for them are just a matter of time. We must prepare early!" Hiruzen said with worried tone while staring toward the direction Nagato and the others disappeared.
Fortunately, this time they only lost the Kyuubi. For current Konoha, the Kyuubi was no longer everything. The village was guarded by the First and Second Hokage, plus many excellent seeds on the Hidden Expert List. The future was still bright.
Naruto though losing the Kyuubi remained alive, and Guy successfully revived; their losses weren't too great.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
On the other side, in the dense forest outside the village.
Danzo was covered in blood, panting while leaning on a tree trunk, his appearance very miserable. His right arm was already empty and drenched in blood; that arm full of Sharingan had now disappeared. The Sharingan in his right eye had also been gouged out, leaving only an empty black hole streaming bloody tears.
"Danzo, stop struggling..." Orochimaru chuckled cynically: "Your Izanagi is exhausted—accept your fate!"
Danzo's face showed despair. Staring at the people before him, he knew he truly couldn't run anymore. He laughed bitterly: "I never expected I would die at all your hands!"
Sasuke said coldly: "No, you will die by my hand!"
Upon finishing speaking, his figure vanished from his place.
Itachi and Shisui also disappeared simultaneously, and reappeared flanking Danzo on left and right, directly restraining him very tightly.
*PUCHI!* *PUCHI!* *PUCHI!*
A long sword pierced Danzo's chest, penetrating through to the back. Blood flowed heavily dripping from the blade.
Danzo's body trembled violently, the light in his only eye slowly faded. His lips mumbled twice before his head drooped and his body fell with a thud to the ground.
"He's dead..."
The three Uchiha members appeared dazed, staring at Danzo's corpse on the ground in silence for several moments.
Orochimaru stared at the corpse, then warily observed the surroundings. After some time, he exhaled long: "This old bastard finally died too!"
Danzo who possessed the Izanagi technique was indeed very difficult to kill. During this battle, who knows how many times they had killed him, until finally all the Sharingan in his body were exhausted before he truly died.
"Let's go. Danzo is already dead—this place isn't safe to linger. Village people might soon find him," Orochimaru invited. He also felt somewhat strange; the commotion they made was quite large, yet strangely until now not a single person had approached this place.