Bam...
GOOGLE SEARCH TWKAN
Danzo slammed the door on his way out, casting Kakashi a cold glance as he passed.
Once, Kakashi and Tenzo had both been trusted subordinates of his. Now, one after another, they had turned their backs on their old master and thrown in their lot with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
As he grew older, and with Hiruzen Sarutobi's return to the Hokage Position spurring him on, he became ever more desperate to claim the Hokage Position for himself.
If I'd been the first to step forward and volunteer to stay behind, how would the Hokage Position ever have gone to Hiruzen?
Danzo brooded bitterly over the past, his thoughts carrying him back to his youth.
Back then, he and Hiruzen Sarutobi were both members of Tobirama's escort team. When the Second Shinobi World War broke out, Tobirama was pursued by Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
The best course of action was for one of them to stay behind and buy the others time to escape.
But when Tobirama made the request, Danzo faltered.
He hesitated for only a moment, but Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward first.
A few seconds. He'd been beaten by a mere few seconds.
From that moment on, he, Shimura Danzo, had been fated never to claim the Hokage Position.
"Damn it! Damn him!"
Danzo gritted his teeth, hating himself for his cowardice and Hiruzen for his resolve.
If I were Hokage... Hmph. Hidden Cloud would never have been allowed to cause trouble in the village.
Darkness glimmered in Danzo's eyes as he murmured to Aburame Ryoma, "Carry out the plan."
"Yes."
After Aburame Ryoma left with the Body Flicker Technique, Danzo turned to look at the tightly shut door of the Hokage's office and snorted. "Hiruzen, you're growing weaker by the day. Once the Cloud ninja make their move, you'll regret this."
Inside the Hokage's office, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu looked worried. "Hiruzen, Danzo has a point. It's hard to say whether the Cloud ninja really came here to negotiate for peace."
Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe and let out a heavy sigh. "Whatever their intentions, I have to make peace happen."
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window and watched the crowds flowing along the streets. His voice was firm. "Konoha has endured too many wars. We need time to recover."
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu thought of the casualties in the Second Shinobi World War, the Third Shinobi World War, and the Nine-Tails' Rampage. Their expressions complicated, they nodded.
"We really can't afford another war."
"Then increase surveillance on the Cloud ninja. Kakashi is an outstanding shinobi. I trust him to handle it."
Meanwhile, Kazama Kaguya and Kimimaro were busy scouting the area around the Hyuga Clan.
Konoha was laid out with its northern end facing south. The Kage Rock stood at the northernmost point, towering over the village gates to the south.
The western part of Konoha was a residential district, home to most of the civilian population.
To the east lay the grounds of the great clans, stretching toward the Forest of Death and the mountains beyond.
The Forest of Death was vast, with many special areas scattered throughout.
There were the Aburame clan's insect nests, the Nara clan's deer park, the Inuzuka clan's dog kennels, and the Uchiha Clan's enormous training grounds.
The Hyuga Clan was one of Konoha's great clans, but perhaps because their Byakugan could intrude so deeply on people's privacy, their compound wasn't in the center of the village. It was on the outskirts, to the northeast.
It was far from the busy streets, with the Forest of Death just beyond it. Even when the clan members trained with their Byakugan activated, they wouldn't see much of anyone else's private life.
Kazama Kaguya mapped out a route, avoiding the territories of the great clans as he made his way into the Forest of Death.
When he reached the spot he'd calculated, Kazama Kaguya took out the glass fish tank Kisame Hoshigaki had given him. A finger-length baby shark swam inside.
Squelch...
Kazama Kaguya clenched his fist. Shikotsumyaku surged, crushing the baby shark into bloody pulp.
At the same time, Kazama Kaguya took out a watch and started timing.
Tick, tick... one second, two seconds, three seconds...
A moment later, a figure shot in like a gust of wind. Kisame Hoshigaki appeared with the Body Flicker Technique, chakra surging through his body as he warily scanned the surroundings.
Seeing no enemies, Kisame Hoshigaki scowled. "Kazama Kaguya, what are you doing?"
He had no idea how alarmed he'd been when he received the message.
He'd thought the fight with Konoha was about to start.
Kazama Kaguya checked the time on his watch and shrugged. "Forty-five seconds, Teacher Kisame. From the moment I crushed the shark to the moment you got here, it took you forty-five seconds."
"If an elite Jonin were chasing me, forty-five seconds would be more than enough time to kill me several times over."
Clearly, Kazama Kaguya was unhappy about Kisame Hoshigaki's tardy arrival.
Forty-five seconds might not seem like much—not even a whole minute—but for a shinobi, that was plenty of time to decide the outcome of a battle.
In the Ninja World, shinobi could move at unbelievable speeds thanks to their physiques and chakra.
Genin could move at 10–15 meters per second. Chunin averaged around 20–25 meters per second, while Jonin reached about 50–80 meters per second. Elite Jonin could manage 150–200 meters per second, and the Body Flicker Technique could push that beyond 250 meters per second.
Kazama Kaguya estimated Kage Level speed at around 250–300 meters per second.
Shinobi like the Raikage, who constantly used Lightning Release chakra to temper their bodies, could even break the sound barrier at full speed. Against an enemy of a lower rank, they could kill them before the enemy even saw them coming.
Minato Namikaze, once known as the Yellow Flash, could use the Flying Thunder God Technique, a Space-Time Ninjutsu. As long as he'd planted a mark ahead of time, he could even pop over to Kirigakure to pick up groceries while his oil was heating.
But that involved traveling through space. In terms of pure speed, Emperor Kai was still the greatest.
With all Eight Gates open, Might Guy could move so fast that he ran through the air. Every punch and kick he threw became an air cannon. His attacks came so quickly that he could pin Six Paths Madara to the ground and beat him senseless. That kind of speed had to be at least five times the speed of sound. It was absurd.
That was why Kazama Kaguya was unhappy with how long Kisame Hoshigaki had taken to arrive.
At an elite Jonin's speed of 150–200 meters per second, forty-five seconds was indeed far too long.
Kisame Hoshigaki glanced at the time Kazama Kaguya had recorded. The corner of his mouth twitched as he scowled. "I was hiding ten kilometers away. Getting here in forty-five seconds took constant Body Flickers. What more do you want?"
"Ten kilometers away?" Kazama Kaguya's eyes widened. "You were hiding ten kilometers away? Was that really necessary?"
At that moment, Kazama Kaguya thought of a man who had once thrown a Shuriken at Hashirama Senju from ten kilometers away.
Kisame Hoshigaki sneered. "Kazama Kaguya, this is Konoha, and we're near the Hyuga Clan's compound. A stranger with chakra reserves like mine would be detected the moment I got close. Don't underestimate Konoha."
"..."
After a moment's thought, Kazama Kaguya said, "Teacher Kisame, I'll make my move within the next couple of days. Once I succeed, I'll need your support. Forty-five seconds is still too long."
Kisame Hoshigaki clicked his tongue. "You're making your move? To obtain Hyuga Bloodline Material? You're serious?"
He stared at Kazama Kaguya in disbelief, his face full of questions. "No, really—what makes you think you can?"
As far as Kisame Hoshigaki was concerned, a little sickly Genin trying to obtain the Hyuga's bloodline was sheer fantasy. There wasn't a chance in hell.
Because I'm dying.
Kazama Kaguya complained silently to himself. He fixed Kisame Hoshigaki with a hollow stare. "I already have a plan to obtain the material. Teacher Kisame, you don't need to worry about that. What concerns me is being hunted by elite Jonin afterward, so I want you to back me up within twenty seconds."
"After all, I've already paid the price. You wouldn't want Konoha to get its hands on the intel in my head and my Shikotsumyaku bloodline, would you?"
Hitting him right where it hurt really worked!
Before you continue