Root Organization base.
Shimura Danzō's office.
As Konoha's Hokage Assistant and the highest leader of the Root Organization, Shimura Danzō was extremely busy with official duties. Every day, he received intelligence scrolls delivered through various channels.
Based on the information compiled from those intelligence scrolls, Shimura Danzō had to consider how to benefit himself... no, rather, how to benefit Konoha.
"Land of Rain... still in civil war..."
"Amegakure's leader, Hanzo of the Salamander, remains in seclusion..."
"Hmph. That bastard Hanzo of the Salamander. I helped him wipe out the Akatsuki Organization back then, yet he still refuses to honor our alliance..."
"News from the Land of Wind..."
"The Land of Wind's daimyo has once again cut Sunagakure's funding..."
"Sunagakure's One-Tail Jinchuriki Gaara went berserk after an assassination attempt and was suppressed by Fourth Kazekage Rasa using Magnet Release: Gold Dust. Hmph, Sunagakure still dreams of using Tailed Beasts..."
"News from the Land of Earth..."
"Terrifying explosions frequently occur outside Iwagakure..."
"Suspected to be the work of Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki's student. That woman Yakushi Nonō really can help Konoha uncover quite a bit of intelligence..."
"However..."
"Why does that woman want another photograph of Kabuto Yakushi?"
"News from the Land of Lightning..."
"Someone has once again claimed that the Fourth Raikage stole their hereditary secret technique..."
"Kumogakure has always been ambitious. They once sought to seize Konoha's Byakugan. We must find a way to keep them in check. Perhaps we can provoke a conflict between them and Iwagakure..."
"Land of Water..."
"Still no news at all."
"What exactly has happened within Kirigakure? Every intelligence agent who tried to infiltrate Kirigakure has vanished. Are they brewing some kind of conspiracy?"
Shimura Danzō sat before his desk, his expression shifting unpredictably as he finished reading all the external reports. Only then did he look at another stack of intelligence documents on the desk.
That stack concerned developments within Konoha.
"Let's see what happened in the village..."
"During the two days I was away..."
As an old man with great ambitions, Shimura Danzō naturally did not keep his eyes only on outside affairs. He had also sent people to secretly monitor Konoha from within, eliminate factors that could destabilize Konoha, and do everything possible to preserve the village's outward stability.
"Ninja Academy's new term opening ceremony..."
"Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a speech at the academy..."
When Shimura Danzō read that report, his expression suddenly darkened. Yet all he could do was snort disdainfully. "Hmph. This is not how a Hokage should act. That Monkey... he still likes wasting time on such useless things!"
This report was of no use.
What Shimura Danzō hated most was this sort of thing, constantly reminding him that his old friend Hiruzen Sarutobi was still serving as Hokage in the sunlight...
Yet Shimura Danzō had no choice but to keep a close watch on Hiruzen Sarutobi at all times, hoping to catch him making some mistake—preferably one that could drive him from the position of Hokage...
Or...
Try to kill him.
Shimura Danzō casually turned past the report on the opening ceremony and saw the intelligence on the second page: the enrollment list for the Ninja Academy's new students.
"Hinata Hyuga... eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan's main house..."
"Shino Aburame... Kiba Inuzuka..."
"Shikamaru Nara of the Nara Clan, Choji Akimichi of the Akimichi Clan, Ino Yamanaka of the Yamanaka Clan. This generation of Ino-Shika-Cho is all here..."
"Fugaku Uchiha's younger son, Second Pillar... Hmph. He actually named his younger son after Monkey's father just to curry favor with Monkey..."
Under normal circumstances...
Shimura Danzō would not care about these children.
Unfortunately...
Among this year's new Ninja Academy students was a child worth monitoring.
Even though the child was only six years old, all of Konoha had to remain exceedingly vigilant. At any moment, this child could trigger a crisis that would destroy Konoha!
" Naruto Uzumaki..."
Shimura Danzō slowly came upon the name he cared about most, a gloomy look in his eyes. "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... He never should have been sent to the academy!"
Tailed Beasts.
The most terrifying creatures in the ninja world.
There were nine Tailed Beasts in the ninja world.
Sunagakure possessed the One-Tail.
Kumogakure possessed the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails.
Kirigakure possessed the Three-Tails and Six-Tails.
Iwagakure possessed the Four-Tails and Five-Tails.
Konoha possessed the Nine-Tails.
A small village called Takigakure possessed the Seven-Tails.
Based on the number of their tails, the more tails a Tailed Beast had, the greater its chakra reserves. People often liked to use this to judge a Tailed Beast's strength.
Tailed Beasts were born with terrifying reserves of chakra and immense power. Once a ninja village deployed a Tailed Beast in war, it could immediately change the course of a battle.
However, Tailed Beasts were naturally violent and irritable, and they had never been easily controlled by humans.
In order to use Tailed Beasts to strengthen their national power, the great nations of the ninja world creatively sealed Tailed Beasts inside human bodies, creating Tailed Beast Jinchuriki capable of borrowing their chakra.
During the Ninja Wars, Tailed Beast Jinchuriki mostly became human weapons. Ninja villages in other countries often used Tailed Beasts to determine victory or defeat on the battlefield.
Konoha alone had never used the Nine-Tails, because it was the most powerful Tailed Beast in the ninja world. Konoha did not dare use its power and even protected the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Until... six years ago.
Konoha was struck by the Nine-Tails' Rampage.
The Nine-Tails suddenly broke free from the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's seal and went berserk, leading to the deaths of Konoha's Fourth Hokage and a great number of elite ninja. Konoha suffered devastating losses in the chaos.
From then on, Konoha fell into a state of troubles both within and without.
Fortunately, to protect Konoha, the Fourth Hokage resealed the Nine-Tails inside a child named Naruto Uzumaki before his death, ensuring that Konoha would not lose the Nine-Tails.
However, this also left Konoha in a thoroughly awkward position. It held the strongest Tailed Beast in its hands but could not use it, and even had to find ways to prevent anything from going wrong with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
To prevent another Nine-Tails' Rampage, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō had nearly racked their brains dry.
With no results despite every effort, Shimura Danzō proposed no longer protecting the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's identity, so the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki would not develop an overly fragile personality. Instead, they would draw on other ninja villages' experience raising Jinchuriki. Perhaps Konoha could obtain a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki it could actually use.
Naruto Uzumaki would begin suffering a miserable childhood from a young age, just like the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki of other villages, and the child would understand that others saw him as a monster!
As long as the child was forced to grow accustomed to a miserable life from an early age, he would remain calm no matter what happened in the future, and the Tailed Beast within him could be kept from losing control.
However.
This was also dangerous.
To prevent Naruto Uzumaki from suffering an emotional breakdown as he grew up, which could cause problems with the Nine-Tails inside him, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi would often appear at critical moments to comfort the child and encourage him to bravely face his miserable life.
If warmth was given to someone in their darkest hour, that warmth would become like a flame, encouraging them to hold a torch and face the darkness.
On the other hand...
And more importantly.
The Third Hokage also needed to reinforce Naruto Uzumaki's Jinchuriki seal at the first sign that the Nine-Tails might lose control, preventing it from going berserk.
Theoretically speaking...
This was not very fair to a child.
However...
Having witnessed the cruelty of war firsthand, the Third Hokage did not believe it was unfair. He even believed Naruto Uzumaki was already a very fortunate child.
Timeline.
I compiled this chronology of major events myself based on the anime and manga, just like the timeline in Behind the Scenes Master.
If I remember correctly, the story began in Konoha Year 60.
In this book, Akihara Kagura was the same age as Uchiha Itachi, four years older than Naruto Uzumaki and Second Pillar.
Before you continue