Fire Beginning Emperor
"Those brainless brutes. They actually fell for that."
At an overseas base, Shimura Danzō lay inside an examination machine and looked over the intelligence report that had been delivered. He gave a disdainful, mocking laugh.
He had never gotten along with the Third Raikage. It wasn't just because the man had cut off one of his arms in the Land of Whirlpools; he also looked down on people who had no brains.
If Kumogakure hadn't had Dodai as Raikage's Assistant, the Third Raikage's brains and temperament would have ruined the village long ago. How else could it have continued to prosper?
And now the Daimyo's administration had tricked him in the blink of an eye. Anyone with even a little sense wouldn't have nearly gotten himself killed like that.
Still, Kumogakure had accumulated a truly impressive foundation over the years. It had actually come up with a plan to plant trees like this.
He knew the World Tree's origins very well. It had grown from the remains of the God Tree, much like the lotus they had discovered back then. The only difference was that it was far larger. Then the Chakra Crystal left behind by the First Teacher had stimulated it, allowing it to grow to that size.
But it was still a defective product. It could only grow in size, and was nowhere near as powerful as his own World-Destroying Black Lotus.
"Lord Danzo, this operation exposed a lot of problems. In particular, those people were all far too unreliable. Not one of them could be counted on."
Yakushi Nonō, who was using the machine to examine Shimura Danzō's physical data, couldn't help saying this. She had watched the memory fragments of the earlier battle. Lord Danzo's plan had been sound; the problem was that