Extorting Danzo

After receiving a report from the Anbu, Rasa personally led his men to Rōran.

In addition to his Anbu service, Rasa also brought along a woman in her thirties, who was none other than the current Queen of Roran.

The Queen of Roran had a daughter who was the new queen who was saved by Naruto Uzumaki, who traveled through time in the original story.

The girl is currently only the Princess of Roran. She stayed in Sunagakure as a hostage and did not go to Rōran with Rasa.

Upon arriving in Rōran, Rasa assigned several subordinates to gather intelligence while personally leading the Queen of Roran to the location of the Dragon Vein.

The group arrived at the underground space in a grand procession.

Rasa breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Dragon Vein was still safe and sound underground, neither taken away nor sealed.

Rasa looked around and found no signs of a battle, so he nodded to the Queen of Roran.

The Queen of Roran first glanced cautiously at Rasa, then began chanting incantations to communicate with the Spirit of the Dragon Vein.

The Queen of Roran was a wise woman who knew how to assess the situation and understood that her own life and her daughter's life were in Rasa's hands.

So when they were captured by Rasa, she cooperated very well with the Sunagakure.

Rasa waited quietly for the Queen of Roran. Although he did not speak, the aura he exuded made everyone around him tremble with fear.

The communication with the Dragon Vein must be carried out by the lineage of the Queen of Roran.

Rasa had been replaced by other people, who chanted the same incantation but received no response from the Dragon Vein.

A moment later, the Queen of Roran ended her communication with the Dragon Vein.

She rose and bowed to Rasa, then said, "Lord Kazekage, someone did come. They communicated with the Dragon Vein, but the Spirit of the Dragon Vein is not very intelligent and cannot explain the ins and outs."

"When I asked who the other person was, Dragon Vein only remembered one feeling, which I think Dragon Vein meant was cold and sinister."

This Queen of Roran's communication with the Dragon Vein was far more effective than that of the little girl in the original story.

The little girl in the original story knew almost nothing except that her bloodline resonated with the Dragon Vein.

Over a decade as queen allowed her to gradually grasp some of the terminology related to the Spirit of the Dragon Vein.

Therefore, although the Queen of Roran could not using Mind's Eye to sense the emotions of the Spirit of the Dragon Vein like Yichen, she could still obtain some simple information she wanted.

Upon hearing this, Rasa frowned, pondering, "Cold and sinister? Could it really be Ice Release?"

"But there aren't any powerful Ice Release ninjas in the Mist ninja. Could it be that brat from the intelligence report?"

Actually, this is the fault of the Queen of Roran. She didn't have the Chakra of a ninja, nor did she understand the various attributes of a ninja.

Therefore, her translation used the conventional term "cold and gloomy."

The meaning of "Spirit of the Dragon Vein" is actually similar to Yin Release Chakra.

Both Yin Release Chakra and Yin Cold contain the character "Yin," but Rasa was misled by the character "Cold" in the Queen of Roran's name.

Considering the Ice Release ninjas who had appeared before, Rasa subconsciously shifted his focus to the aspect of coldness.

After thinking for a moment, Rasa asked again, "Your Majesty, is there anything damaged or missing from the Dragon Vein?"

Rasa used respectful words, but his tone had nothing to do with respect; all the Queen of Roran heard was a chilling and sinister feeling.

As the situation in Sunagakure worsened, Rasa's personality gradually changed, becoming increasingly sinister.

Queen of Roran quickly shook her head and said, "No, the Spirit of the Dragon Vein told me that the person who came only communicated with him and did nothing to him."

Looking at the Dragon Vein in front of him, which was only good to look at but not usable, Rasa's already bad expression became even more gloomy.

Now that even the Mist ninja are eyeing the Dragon Vein, Rasa's sense of urgency intensifies.

If the information leaks to the Tsuchikage, who knows what the Tsuchikage might do given his personality.

Rasa turned to one of his subordinates and said, "After returning to the village, immediately send someone to investigate the movements of the Kage Level Kirigakure. Also, find out if Yuki Koru has left the village."

"Yes," the subordinate replied immediately.

After giving instructions to his subordinates, Rasa looked at the Queen of Roran again and questioned her in an extremely cold voice, "Your Majesty, is there really no way to utilize the Dragon Vein?"

Queen of Roran thought for a moment and said, "I don't know much about you ninjas, but I saw some puppets in Sunagakure this time. Perhaps we can use the power of the Dragon Vein to create puppets."

Rasa frowned, not understanding what connection could possibly exist Dragon Vein and Puppet Master.

Seeing Rasa frown, the Queen of Roran hurriedly said, "In our Rōran, there are some magical legends about Dragon Vein passed down from generation to generation."

Some say that Dragon Vein can predict the future, while others say they can grant Dragon Vein immortality.

"I have analyzed these legends, and I think that while they may be exaggerated, they are not entirely without basis."

"I don't know if Dragon Vein can grant humans immortality, but perhaps Dragon Vein can help puppets recover quickly."

Rasa was not pleased to hear the Queen of Roran's words; on the contrary, his face became even more gloomy.

The words of the Queen of Roran reminded him of Ryosuke, the disciple he had placed high hopes on and was grooming as the next Kazekage.

Ryosuke's final choice was in line with the character of a Kage, but Rasa would have preferred that Ryosuke had chosen to desert in the first place.

Rasa turned around and said as he walked, "Your Majesty, I will arrange for Puppet Master to come immediately. I hope you can cooperate."

The Queen of Roran bowed to Rasa's retreating figure and said, "As you command."

In Konoha, Danzo traded seven Wood Style Scroll with Yichen.

Apart from the first three scrolls, Danzo used Konoha's secret techniques to trade the other four scrolls.

Fourthly, Danzo gave up twenty kinds of insects from the Aburame Clan.

Fifth, Danzo exchanged ten masks from the Uzumaki Clan's Namahado.

When exchanging for the sixth item, Danzo proposed to trade the Flying Thunder God Technique, which had been split up by Minato Namikaze, but Yichen refused.

Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique, which could be broken down into three parts that could be learned by three people, was practical, but since someone in Iwagakure had already mastered the complete Flying Thunder God, it wasn't as valuable.

Yichen proposed exchanging advanced hospital Ninjutsu or the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu.

In the end, Yichen obtained advanced Medical Ninjutsu from Danzo.

In the seventh scroll, Yichen obtained a secret method used by a Yamanaka Clan to cultivate spiritual power.

This is a treasure; Yichen has been coveting it for a long time.

For example, practicing Taijutsu requires both physical training to improve physical fitness and the practice of various Taijutsu to increase attack power.

At present, Katsuya of Iwagakure is researching various Yin Release Ninjutsu. Katsuya's research is particularly focused on Taijutsu.

However, Iwagakure does not have any training methods to increase mental strength. This is equivalent to increasing physical constitution. It is estimated that only the Yamanaka Clan in the entire Ninja World possesses such a method.

Yichen had no idea such a thing existed until he obtained the Mind Secret Technique of the Yamanaka Clan.

When Yichen first learned that this thing existed in the Ninja World, he marveled at the depth of Konoha's resources. Yichen felt that the value of this thing was definitely no less than that of the Flying Thunder God Technique.

At the same time, Yichen also scoffed at the Yamanaka Clan. With such unique treasures, how come the Yamanaka Clan couldn't even find a decent expert all these years?

Without even reaching the Kage Level, the Yamanaka Clan hasn't made a name for themselves.

With such a method to enhance basic spiritual strength, why bother practicing some Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques? Wouldn't it be better to cultivate Genjutsu?

The Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques are flashy and ingenious, and while they are highly effective in interrogation and reconnaissance, they neglect the most important aspect of a ninja's strength.

"I'm destined to be someone else's employee forever," Yichen said, pursing his lips.

"Hmm?" Yichen was taken aback when he thought of this.

"Is it the Konoha High-ranking officials who are suppressing these powerful ninja clans? Forcing them to only practice their own clan's secret techniques, preventing them from developing into powerful combat-type ninjas?"

"Or are they deliberately hiding their abilities, not wanting to stand out, and content to play a supporting role?"

"That way, no matter who becomes Hokage, they won't be treated as enemies; everyone will have to rely on their abilities."

"Heh, this is probably their true mentality, and it's certainly suitable for surviving in Konoha's political environment."

"The Senju and Uchiha, those two prominent figures who stood out from the crowd, are gone, but the Ino-Shika-Cho remains."

"Even though they had opposed Danzo, given Danzo's character, he didn't kill them after taking power. This shows that their way of survival wasn't wrong."

"However, this kind of mentality is completely unnecessary in our Iwagakure."

Filled with a sense of superiority, Yichen finished reading the Yamanaka Clan's secret cultivation method for enhancing mental strength and then pondered for a while in his office.

This thing is indeed amazing, but it's also very difficult to master. Without someone from the Yamanaka Clan to teach you step by step, it's not easy to master.

Yichen didn't have time to figure out how to cultivate this thing. His time was already fully occupied with various cultivation activities.

So Yichen summoned the Anbu and ordered them to bring some people to his office.

A moment later, Katsuya, Natsuki, Kawazoe Yura, Sokai Atsumi Akino, Chiga, Fujii Kusaka, as well as Neji, Shion, Yakumo Kurama, and Sakura, who were attending classes at the Ninja Academy, all arrived at Yichen's office.

Yichen took out this secret technique for cultivating mental power and said to everyone, "This is a secret technique used by a clan in Konoha Yamanaka Clan to enhance their mental strength."

"You are the younger generation in the village who most need to improve your mental strength."

"Everyone copy this, then go back and practice diligently. Every ten days, we'll hold a meeting in the conference room next to mine to discuss everyone's practice experiences."

"This skill is very difficult to master. It requires everyone to work hard, use their brains together, and come up with a correct and quick method for mastering it."

Upon hearing this, everyone copied the scroll and then began to ponder it.

Yichen waved his hand and said, "Go back and think about it. This isn't something that can be figured out in a short time. I suspect that the reason why the Yamanaka Clan haven't produced any decent experts is partly because this thing is too difficult."

"Your Yin Release talents are all quite strong; I believe you can come up with a better method than the Yamanaka Clan."

"This is a great opportunity to prove that our Iwagakure is completely superior to Konoha. Everyone, do your best! I believe in you!"

Everyone responded in unison. However, the older students secretly despised Yichen, their teacher (or older brother).

It's clearly because they're too lazy to think, yet they still insist on coming up with this excuse.

Only Sokai and a few other students at the Ninja Academy felt valued and were full of enthusiasm.

After everyone agreed, they took their leave and departed.

Before Sokai, Yichen said to Sokai, "Sokai, make a copy for your Sister Izumi as well, and tell her that she is also a member of the village."

"This was a last-minute notification, so we didn't call her. I hope you can bring her to the discussion next time."

"Okay, Teacher Yichen." Sokai was just hesitating about whether to ask Yichen if she could bring Sister Izumi along to do the research, but now she doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

Sokai, he happily left the Tsuchikage's Office Building to find Izumi Uchiha.

In Konoha, while Yichen was digesting the good things Danzo had given Danzo, Shikaku Nara once again convened a meeting with the heads of various ninja clans.

Shikaku Nara told everyone, "In the past few days, Danzo suddenly diverted a huge amount of the village's operating funds. To date, the whereabouts of these funds remain unknown."

As the intellectual backbone of Konoha, the Nara Clan has a large number of trusted former members in various departments of Konoha.

Although Danzo replaced all the heads of departments after Danzo, Shikaku Nara was still able to obtain the information he wanted through information gathered from multiple channels.

Therefore, after Danzo mobilized a large amount of funds, Shikaku Nara quickly realized the problem.

No matter which department Shikaku Nara investigated, he couldn't find the whereabouts of this huge sum of money.

Shikaku Nara said, "Has anyone noticed anything unusual? For example, recently, my family's medicinal herb sales have been much higher than usual."

Choza Akimichi also said, "I made a similar discovery; when my family went to buy Medicinal Food, many of them were sold out."

"There's something else. The number of wild beasts in the Forest of Death has decreased significantly, which is almost causing my family's barbecue restaurant to go out of business. I wonder if this will be of any use."

At this moment, Shibi Aburame said, "A while ago, some Root ninja left Konoha and headed north."

"I contacted my clansmen on the border to track this person, and eventually this Root ninja entered the Land of Earth."

Hyuga Hiashi Inoichi Yamanaka. He doesn't have a way to communicate directly with everyone, so he has to rely on Inoichi Yamanaka's help.

However, what he was about to say was preempted by Shibi Aburame.

Hyuga Hiashi frowned and didn't say anything more about it, deciding to wait until the others had finished speaking.

Tsume Inuzuka said, "I have a clue about the movements of these beasts. Our clan's Ninja Dog smelled an unusually strong stench of blood near the Root Base."

"The Ninja Dog determined that the smell of blood definitely belonged to a wild animal."

"Besides the smell of blood, there was also the aura of Fire Style Ninjutsu, accompanied by the smell of a large amount of wood being burned."

Shibi Aburame said, "I also have a strange thing going on here. Our insect breeding base was secretly entered, and many insects used to enhance the basic abilities of the Kikaichū are missing."

"The problem is, these few insects aren't mutated, so they're useless to our people."

After hearing what Shibi Aburame said, Hyuga Hiashi, through Inoichi Yamanaka, said, "I've discovered that the masks in the Namahado, which was moved from the Land of Whirlpools to the Land of Fire, are missing."

After listening to the information gathered from various sources, Shikaku Nara and then said, "Based on what everyone has said, I have a guess."

"All these unusual phenomena that everyone has gathered have one thing in common: something is missing from the village. This includes the huge sum of money that has gone missing."

"None of us know where these things went, so there's only one possibility: Danzo is using them for something we don't know about."

"Shibi, you have lost many insects, and as far as I know, the Tsuchikage has a disciple who is a child from the Kamizuru Clan back then."

Upon hearing Shibi Aburame felt a chill run down her spine, and her eyes flashed with cold light.

The abilities of the Kamizuru Clan and their Aburame Clan completely overlap.

Therefore, although the Aburame Clan had defeated the Kamizuru Clan, they still had to be constantly on guard against the Kamizuru Clan.

However, now the people of the Kamizuru Clan have become disciples of the renowned master Yichen.

Shibi Aburame frowned, unsure of what to do. Once that brat from the Kamizuru Clan grew up, the Aburame Clan would face another challenge.

With Yichen's guidance, the rise of the Kamizuru Clan was inevitable.

Shikaku Nara continued his analysis, "Using this information as Wind Release: Breakthrough, I suspect that Danzo is making some kind of secret deal with the Tsuchikage."

"The mask of the Uzumaki Clan's Namahado, the insects of the Aburame Clan, and that sum of money could all be the Danzo in his dealings."

"There might be things we don't know yet, let's put that aside for now."

"Furthermore, the village's lack of medicinal herbs, the reduced number of wild animals in the Forest of Death, and the bloody smell at the Root Base likely indicate that Danzo is conducting some kind of experiment."

"I suspect that one or more items Danzo obtained from the Tsuchikage were related to the experiments he was conducting."

At this point, Inoichi Yamanaka asked, "Is it a transplantation experiment using First Hokage's Cells?"

Even without him saying it, everyone was guessing the same thing; he was just the fastest at relaying the message.

Shikaku Nara confirmed Inoichi Yamanaka's guess and then said, "The First Hokage's Cells have a strong phagocytic ability, and a large number of living organisms are needed for experiments. Similarly, a large number of medicinal materials are needed to culture the First Hokage's Cells."

"So this basically explains why wild beasts disappear, why there's a bloody smell at the Root Base, and why the sales of medicinal herbs increase."

"After the First Hokage's Cells goes out of control, the parasitized organism will turn into a tree and need to be burned, which explains why the Root have a strong smell of burning wood."

After a pause, Shikaku Nara said, "In conclusion, we can basically draw one conclusion."

"Danzo mobilized a large amount of funds and supplies needed by the Iwa ninja, and made a deal with them."

"Then, the items obtained through the trade were used to conduct experiments on the First Hokage's Cells."

"He wants to have First Hokage's Cells transplanted!"

Everyone frowned. Hadn't Danzo already had First Hokage's Cells transplanted?

Because Danzo had publicly demonstrated his ability to use Wood Release, the clan leaders of these ninja clans generally believed that Danzo had performed surgery related to the First Hokage's Cells.

The only question is how far Danzo actually went.

Shikaku Nara calmly explained, "Do you remember when Danzo demonstrated Wood Release? It was right around the time Iwagakure developed the arm transplant surgery."

"It was later proven that the Iwa ninja used the body of that White Zetsu clone to transplant the severed arm."

"Therefore, I suspect that the current Danzo did not successfully transplant the First Hokage's Cells; he only transplanted the body of White Zetsu clone."

"Danzo is only now attempting to transplant the First Hokage's Cells!"

A thought struck everyone, Kurenai Yūhi quickly said, "Shikaku, do you think this is an opportunity?"

After hearing what Kurenai Yūhi, everyone held their breath and listened attentively to Shikaku Nara's analysis.

Shikaku Nara nodded and said, "There are two options to overthrow Danzo: one is to openly confront him, but that's too risky."

"Danzo has a righteous cause; even if we have concrete evidence that he Betrayal of the Village, it won't be of any use."

"If we openly admit that someone Betrayal of the Village, no one will be on our side."

"Moreover, Danzo's 'Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal' has controlled a large number of our clansmen. If he decides to fight to the death, our losses will be enormous."

"Therefore, we had no choice but to stage a coup, and the time when Danzo received the First Hokage's Cells was the best opportunity."

On behalf of everyone, Shibi Aburame asked, "Do you have any action plans?"

Shikaku Nara said, "There are two approaches. One is to launch a direct attack when Danzo transplants the First Hokage's Cells. He must be conducting this experiment in the Root, so we should attack the Root."

"Whether Danzo's transplant surgery was successful or not, the moment of surgery was when he was most vulnerable."

"The second method is to send someone to participate in Danzo's experiments and tamper with them."

"Let Danzo die from the backlash of the First Hokage's Cells."

After hearing Shikaku Nara's specific plan, everyone's excitement turned into unease.

At this moment, Kurenai Yūhi asked again, "Shikaku, can you accurately determine the timing of Danzo's transplantation of the First Hokage's Cells?"

Shikaku Nara said, "Danzo decided on this time himself, and we can't interfere, but we can speculate."

"For example, Danzo would arrange some important government affairs that required the Hokage's personal attention in advance."

"For example, he summoned a large number of his Root members back to guard the area."

"In addition, we can monitor experimental subjects such as medicinal herbs and wild animals."

"As the experiment approaches, Danzo will definitely stockpile medicinal herbs in case of emergency."

"And the fact that the experiment was approaching meant that Danzo no longer needed to conduct live experiments on wild animals, and the number of wild animals in the Forest of Death could also provide a reference."

"Finally, Danzo was used to letting loose in front of Root member, and he wasn't good at controlling his expressions, which was also a Wind Release: Breakthrough."

As Shikaku Nara analyzed the situation point by point, everyone's anxiety finally subsided somewhat.

At this moment, Hyuga Hiashi transmitted his voice again through Inoichi Yamanaka: "How will this be handled afterwards?"

Shikaku Nara said, " With Danzo dead, the Root member's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal is meaningless. Kakashi is the Seventh Hokage."

"Kakashi may have his own ideas, but for the sake of the village, he will definitely agree."

"His previous estrangement from the Third Hokage and others stemmed from the Uchiha Clan. Now that the Uchiha Clan is gone, Kakashi is still the Fourth Hokage's disciple, the genius Copy Ninja."

"If no one else is a better candidate, I will persuade Kakashi to take on the responsibility of leading the village."