Murky Waters

Hiruzen Sarutobi rummaged through the entire desk for a long time before confirming that Sakura's copy of "Haruno Sakura's Will of Fire" had been taken away by that guy Danzo.

But even if he went looking for Danzo now, it would be no use.

Since Danzo had taken it away, that meant he had already read it.

Whether Sakura handed it over or not no longer mattered.

Damn it...

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply. He knew Shimura Danzō's temperament all too well.

Letting him see such a strategic deployment and claiming he had not been tempted by it was like saying pigs would line up to jump into a river.

Shimura Danzō's actions had truly caught him off guard.

He had not expected that man to be idle enough to look through a Genin's freshly completed exam paper.

But what was he supposed to do now?

Stop Shimura Danzō?

Prevent him from putting the plan into action?

There were only thieves who stole for a thousand days; who could guard against thieves for a thousand days?

Or fabricate some baseless charge and confine him to his home?

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.

Individually, neither of them could contend with him or Danzo, but together, they were a different matter.

The two of them would never stand by and watch Shimura Danzō be inexplicably imprisoned by him.

What should he do?

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the Hokage's seat, his dry, aged fingers tapping against the desk.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not want to do anything else now. He only wanted to raise Sakura properly. As for what came afterward, he could not be bothered to care anymore.

He had devoted his entire life to Konoha. He was truly tired and wanted to rest properly.

Yet such a troubling matter had appeared at this very juncture.

"Someone."

At Hiruzen Sarutobi's call, an Anbu member appeared before him and dropped to one knee.

"Bring Sakura here."

Even if he had no intention of carrying out Sakura's version of the Will of Fire, he could not deny that Sakura was extraordinarily intelligent.

He had once said that Uchiha Itachi possessed a Hokage's way of thinking at the age of seven.

Now, it seemed he had been deceived by Itachi's calm exterior.

After all, no normal person could do such a thing. He had been unable to see through the essence of the matter at all.

Wiping out an entire clan in one stroke had directly caused Konoha's strength to plummet.

But Sakura was different. Merely from the records of Konoha's war history at the academy, she had been able to keenly identify the weaknesses of each nation and use their own advantages to plan for the entire shinobi world.

Such breadth of mind, such vision—even if Hiruzen Sarutobi was unwilling to admit it, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, could not compare to Sakura in this regard.

Not long afterward, Sakura, who had been preparing to pick Ino up from school, arrived at the Hokage's Office once again.

"Master?"

Sakura looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi in confusion.

Was there something else?

"Sakura, that exam paper of yours..."

With things having reached this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not hide anything and directly explained everything.

He even told Sakura all about Shimura Danzō's existence and his conflict with him.

"..."

Sakura's emerald-green eyes widened slightly.

Wait...

That bastard Shimura Danzō took my exam paper?

Sakura was on the verge of breaking down inside.

There was no other reason. That paper had a problem!

From beginning to end, Sakura had deliberately overlooked one existence.

The Akatsuki Organization.

An underground organization composed of rogue ninja, dedicated to achieving "peace."

It was impossible to say that the Akatsuki Organization was weak. Sakura believed that if all of Akatsuki mobilized, conquering any one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages would not be a problem.

They could even conquer two of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

If Shimura Danzō truly acted according to what was written on the paper, the first step of raising grain prices might pass smoothly, but the problem would arise with the second step.

At that time, the Land of Wind, Land of Earth, and Land of Lightning would turn their spearheads toward Konoha, and Konoha would need to join forces with the Land of Earth to form a pincer position.

Between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire lay not only the Land of Grass, but also the Land of Rain!

There was no way such a huge movement could escape White Zetsu of the Akatsuki Organization.

What Uchiha Obito or Nagato Uzumaki might do then was unknown.

They would very likely muddy the waters in order to fish in them.

Although Uchiha Obito was also an ungrateful bastard, his fists were simply too big.

If White Zetsu acted as a liaison between the Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning, the entire Land of Fire would be dragged straight into the mire of war.

The threat posed by just one White Zetsu was already this great, let alone the entire Akatsuki Organization.

One had to know that Rasa of the Land of Wind was still alive at this time. There was also Gaara's Shukaku, Granny Chiyo, the Raikage of the Land of Lightning, and two Perfect Jinchuriki. Together, that made six Kage-level fighters.

And the Eight-Tails was the strongest tailed beast besides the Nine-Tails. Without two Kage-level fighters holding Killer B back, there was no chance of winning!

Even if Iwagakure of the Land of Earth joined forces with Konoha, what then?

They would still be dragged into the mire of war.

The addition of just one White Zetsu could place Konoha in a completely passive position.

The reason Sakura had come up with this "Haruno Sakura's Will of Fire" in the first place was because she knew Hiruzen Sarutobi's temperament meant he would never carry out this plan.

She had never expected it to fall into Shimura Danzō's hands.

With his personality, anyone could tell just by thinking with their ass that he would definitely do it!

"Master, are you saying that my plan has fallen into the hands of a powerful elder in the village with a hardline stance and considerable authority?"

Calm down, calm down.

Panicking would not help. Sakura only felt that she was being far too fucking calm right now!

"Yes, Sakura. Do you have any good ideas?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the little girl before him expectantly.

From the moment he had seen that plan, he had acknowledged Sakura's intelligence. That was why he had specifically summoned her to ask if she had any good suggestions.

Sakura sat on the sofa beside him, constantly pondering a way to break the deadlock.

The simplest option was actually to take down Shimura Danzō.

But that was clearly impossible.

For Shimura Danzō to have danced around safely for so many years, he naturally had his own methods.

Besides, trying to take him down without any charges now would be disastrous. If he truly did that, a little manipulation would be enough to ruin Hiruzen Sarutobi's reputation.

And the early phase of the plan only involved manipulating grain prices. Even if it were discovered, it would not prove anything.

Moreover, the preliminary plan spanned five whole years, making it even harder to establish anything.

If only there were one of our own within the Akatsuki Organization...

Sakura thought of that instinctively.

If there were one of their own in Akatsuki, they could immediately make targeted arrangements...

One of our own...

Eh?

Sakura's eyes lit up slightly.

Uchiha Itachi!

In a sense, he was one of their own!

A person's position determined their thinking. Since that weasel had boarded Konoha's ship, there was no reason not to use him!

With that thought, Sakura felt slightly relieved.

Then she looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said:

"Since this cannot be stopped."

"Then don't stop it."

???

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his forehead with a headache. The instigator of this plan was sitting right in front of him, and he had actually sought her out to discuss it.

Maybe I really am old...