Orochimaru's News

"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

"Danzo, I'm the Hokage!"

The more eager Shimura Danzō seemed about Orochimaru and Yamato, the more suspicious Hiruzen Sarutobi became. In the end, the two naturally parted on bad terms.

As Shimura Danzō was leaving, he tried to slam the door, but when he pressed his hand against the wooden door, he realized it was fixed in place. Yamato had Wood Release, and this wooden house was entirely under his control. He could open and close it at will, but nobody else could.

With a crack, Shimura Danzō ripped the door right off its hinges. He might have lost the argument, but he wasn't about to lose face. He tossed the door onto the ground and stormed out, looking for all the world like a defeated dog.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the door, torn off and smashed to pieces on the ground. With a helpless sigh, he took a puff of his pipe and waved his hand. Several Anbu hurried over to clean up the debris.

Meanwhile, after leaving the room, Shimura Danzō grew angrier the more he thought about it. It was true that his Root had done plenty of dirty work, but that didn't mean they could pin every bit of blame on him!

He really hadn't laid a hand on Yamato this time! He'd even deliberately kept Yamato's existence secret and never told Orochimaru about him.

After all, hiding the results of the experiments in the first place had been a dishonorable thing to do. Telling Orochimaru now would only make him resent Root even more, so Shimura Danzō naturally wasn't about to do something so stupid.

But people had already made up their minds. Every Konoha shinobi knew that Shimura Danzō and Root were no good.

More than nine out of ten times, pinning some nameless scandal in Konoha on Root was probably right on target. Under those circumstances, who would believe Shimura Danzō?

In any case, it wasn't just ordinary Konoha shinobi who disbelieved him. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, clearly did too.

Of course, Hiruzen Sarutobi had forbidden Shimura Danzō from contacting Orochimaru, but the Darkness of Konoha wasn't going to obey so easily. In fact, Hiruzen Sarutobi's prohibitions rarely succeeded.

Sometimes Hiruzen Sarutobi only pretended to forbid him for others' benefit. The two understood each other without a word, and once the deed was done, Shimura Danzō would drink three cups of wine by way of apology, and that would be the end of it.

Other times, Hiruzen Sarutobi truly issued a strict ban. Even then, Shimura Danzō could still act in secret; he simply had to be careful to keep it hidden from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Orochimaru... Maybe it's for the best that Yamato fell into his hands. At least he can keep advancing the Hashirama Cells fusion plan. In that fellow Hiruzen's hands, he'd only be wasted as an ordinary shinobi!"

"Hmph, Hiruzen's far too soft. Only under my leadership can Konoha truly flourish."

"As long as I can get the method for creating Wood Release Ninja from Orochimaru, I can use that power to become Hokage and make Konoha Village rule the entire world!"

At the thought, Shimura Danzō's heart burned with excitement, and he firmly resolved to contact Orochimaru.

As a result, not long afterward, Uchiha Shūichi received word from Orochimaru.

"So Shimura Danzō contacted Orochimaru and wants to share the research data on Wood Release Ninja?"

"Just as you'd expect from Shimura Danzō. I suspected this might happen from the start, but I'm still a little surprised he succeeded so easily."

To be honest, when Uchiha Shūichi captured Yamato, he had left behind traces of a Ryūchi Cave serpent precisely to direct Konoha's attention toward Orochimaru.

Yamato had originally been created by Orochimaru as a Wood Release Ninja. Orochimaru had mistakenly thought the experiment was a failure, which was how Shimura Danzō had managed to get his hands on him. If Orochimaru learned the truth, he would definitely want to capture Yamato again.

Moreover, as one of Konoha's legendary Sannin, the former second-in-command of Root, and the most troublesome Kage-level Ninja alive, Orochimaru was certainly capable of snatching Yamato from Konoha Village without anyone noticing.

He had a motive, he had the means, and evidence had been left at the scene. For shinobi, that was enough to settle the case.

That would also conceal Uchiha Shūichi's own existence. As it turned out, his plan had worked perfectly. Neither the Third Hokage nor Shimura Danzō had ever suspected the inconspicuous Uchiha Shūichi.

As for whether Shimura Danzō would contact Orochimaru again, Uchiha Shūichi had considered the possibility, though he hadn't been sure.

"Since Shimura Danzō has contacted you, go ahead and agree. At least if you work with Root, you won't have to worry about funding or materials for your experiments."

"As for the results? Come up with a few that sound impressive but are actually useless and poor value for money. I don't think Shimura Danzō will be able to swagger around for much longer."

"Don't meet with Shimura Danzō in person for now. He has one Mangekyo Sharingan with Kotoamatsukami, so we can't rule out the possibility that he intends to control you completely."

"Understood, Lord Shūichi."

Uchiha Itachi was currently investigating Root's intelligence. Based on his contact with Uchiha Shūichi over this period, he was close to uncovering the truth about Uchiha Shisui's death.

Once he learned that Shimura Danzō had attacked Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi—who hadn't received Uchiha Shisui's instructions—might not show Shimura Danzō any mercy.

Even if Uchiha Itachi considered the greater good and didn't go after Shimura Danzō, Danzō's nature meant that once he sensed something was wrong, he would definitely move against Itachi. In the best-case scenario, that would still force Danzō to use up Kotoamatsukami.

Even without awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, Uchiha Itachi's current strength was already close to Kage Level.

His raw power might only have put him at the very bottom of Kage Level, but his combat experience and tactical intelligence were astonishingly high. He bore more than a passing resemblance to Hatake Kakashi, the "Fifty-Fifty Ninja," from the original story.

Shimura Danzō, on the other hand, didn't have an arm made with Hashirama Cells and Sharingan to grant him endless chances at revival. Even if he'd once possessed Kage-level strength, old age and disability had reduced him to little more than a Quasi-Kage.

In fact, the burden of Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyo had weakened his ordinary abilities even further. Even with Kotoamatsukami as a trump card, if he truly faced Uchiha Itachi, he'd have almost no chance of winning without it.

As for Root's shinobi, they were certainly capable, and many of them had sinister, unusual techniques with devastating surprise attacks. Even an ordinary Kage-level Ninja could easily get caught off guard by them.

But Uchiha Itachi had come from Anbu himself. Even if he didn't know the exact effects of Root's techniques, he at least knew something about them. Combined with his exceptional combat intelligence, the chances of him falling for one were negligible.

Without the element of surprise, Root's shinobi were no stronger than Jonin. They wouldn't make much difference in a battle between Uchiha Itachi and Danzō.