"The prices in this place shouldn't be cheap, right?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the luxurious decorations everywhere and couldn't help but speak at this moment.
In his opinion, even the so-called Daimyo can only enjoy this level.
Now it is used to entertain the two of them.
It's really a bit much.
"The cost of one day here can hire several Jonin teams to carry out tasks."
Shimura Danzō said calmly, "If you want to really move in, the cost is unimaginable."
Although it was expected, the price quoted by Danzo still far exceeded Hiruzen Sarutobi's expectations.
He subconsciously took a breath of cold air and couldn't help but ask, "Is it so expensive?"
"This is not the place we should come. It should be used to entertain Daimyo and the nobles."
"Hiruzen You think too much."
Shimura Danzō disagreed. "Daimyo nobles are all in the past tense."
"Now Land of Fire, we Konoha are the only ones."
"As the teacher of the Hokage, you have a respected status. It is their honor to come here to spend money."
He clapped his hands, and a moment later, a well-dressed middle-aged man walked over with a respectful expression.
He carefully visited Shimura Danzō and Hiruzen Sarutobi, his eyes were shining at this moment, and his face was extremely respectful. "It is really an honor for me to have Master Danzo here. I wonder who this is?"
"This is Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage's teacher."
Shimura Danzō said impatiently, "He will live here in the next few days. You should understand how to serve him."
"He is Lord Hokage's teacher!"
The middle-aged man's eyes immediately lit up.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's observation skills are very detailed.
He clearly saw that when Shimura Danzō mentioned his identity, the body of the middle-aged man in front of him began to tremble.
It was not that he was afraid, but that he was so excited, as if being able to contact the Hokage's teacher was a supreme honor for him.
This feeling is something Hiruzen Sarutobi has never experienced before.
"He seems to be afraid of me?"
After a while, when the owner of this place left, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but look sideways at Shimura Danzō.
"He's just a wealthy businessman. It's normal to be afraid of us."
Shimura Danzō didn't take it seriously. "Hiruzen, you have been away for too long, and you are already a little uncomfortable with Konoha's new changes."
"In today's Konoha, we are the masters of everything."
"With your status, let alone just living here, it doesn't matter if you make more demands. There are many people who are willing to come to you and flatter you."
"This is different from how it used to be."
Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but sigh, "The changes have been too great."
Today's Konoha is completely different from the past in every aspect.
The most obvious change is the attitude towards nobles and wealthy businessmen.
In the past, Konoha, even though he became powerful under the leadership of Senju Tobirama, he still had to be respectful when facing the nobles and wealthy businessmen of Land of Fire.
Because after all, Konoha is an employment organization, and it must accept commissions from wealthy businessmen and nobles and obtain these commissions in order to survive.
For Konoha in the past, wealthy businessmen and nobles were the best service targets, so their attitudes naturally needed to be corrected.
Even Senju Tobirama himself has a relatively respectful attitude towards Land of Fire Daimyo who can provide strong sponsorship, at least on the surface.
Wherever it is like now, just a casual move can make these wealthy businessmen tremble and feel like they are meeting a big shot.
This kind of experience Hiruzen Sarutobi has never felt in the past.
"This is how the world should be, and now we are just getting him on the right track."
Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, who is still a little uncomfortable with it, Shimura Danzō seems to enjoy this change very much.
He seems to have become accustomed to this kind of beautiful life. What he enjoys every day is not much worse than Land of Fire Daimyo in the past. It can be said that it is luxurious to the extreme.
This can be felt even if Hiruzen Sarutobi has just met this friend.
Because he is very familiar with everything here, he obviously comes here often to spend and enjoy.
This made him frown secretly.
"The job of a ninja is to fight."
He persuaded, "If you indulge in these enjoyments, I'm afraid your fighting ability will also weaken. Danzo If you continue like this, can you still maintain your past strength?"
"Times have changed."
Shimura Danzō shook his head. "In the past, ninjas were employed by Daimyo and the nobles. They had to fight hard for them, so they only had to be responsible for fighting."
"Today's ninjas have replaced Daimyo and the nobles, so it's okay even if we don't continue fighting."
"Even so, you shouldn't forget your own duties."
Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his mouth to persuade, not wanting to see his friend sink like this. "I probably don't want to see you like this either."
When Namikawa Yū's name was mentioned, Shimura Danzō suddenly fell silent, and his emotions seemed a bit complicated at the moment.
"Hiruzen It's a pity for you."
After a long time, he spoke, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi with a look of regret on his face. "If you hadn't disappeared these past few years, Third Hokage's position should have been yours."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart skipped a beat, but in the face of these words, he just remained silent and did not express any opinion.
"But if you really came to power, you wouldn't be able to lead Konoha to this point."
Shimura Danzō laughed at himself, "You may be more capable than me, and you will keep Konoha as he was when the teacher was still around, but in the end it will never be like this."
"Yeah."
Hiruzen Sarutobi also lamented. "We are still old after all. This world should be led by young people."
His words also implicitly showed that he did not covet Hokage Position, he just wanted to return to Konoha and be a Konoha Ninja quietly.
"After all, you are Ji's teacher. He should be very happy to come back this time."
Shimura Danzō continued, "It won't be long before you are entrusted with important tasks. By that time, maybe we can cooperate?"
"Cooperation?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart moved. "What do you mean?"
"The Konoha now is different from the past.
Shimura Danzō said, "The situation among various departments and organizations has become extremely complicated. Even if you have superior abilities, you will eventually feel restricted if you don't have allies."
"So, what if we form an alliance?"
"I understand your abilities. As long as the two of us stand together, I believe that within this Konoha, we can reach the end and gain more things."
His purpose is obviously not that simple, he actually wants to win over Hiruzen Sarutobi and let him stand on a united front with him.
Obviously he also understands that Hiruzen Sarutobi at this moment is a stock with great potential.
He is the Third Hokage candidate originally designated by Senju Tobirama, and is also Namikawa Yū's teacher. He has deep qualifications and a far-reaching reputation within Konoha.
Nowadays, many high-level officials within Konoha were either his friends or subordinates.
It would be fine if such a person really died, but since he has returned to Konoha at this moment, no matter from any aspect, he will reach a high position and can reach a position alongside or even higher than Shimura Danzō as quickly as possible.
It just so happens that Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi also had a deep friendship in the past. On this basis, it is most suitable to draw them to their side and become their allies.
"I have just returned to Konoha. I don't know everything about the situation. I will talk about the proposal you mentioned later."
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not agree immediately.
Although they hadn't been in contact for too long, he was keenly aware that his former friend had already deteriorated a bit.
Power corrupted his mind, and wealth made his will even lower.
The Hiruzen Sarutobi at this moment is no longer the person who fought with him and was willing to die for his partners.
Therefore, he did not agree to the other party's invitation and planned to adapt to it for a while.
Shimura Danzō expressed regret for this, but did not force it. He just asked Hiruzen Sarutobi to consider it carefully.
"Where are Yan and Koharu?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi continued to speak, asking about the movements of several other people.
Hearing the names of these people, Shimura Danzō looked a little uncomfortable, but he still said, "Yan is now in charge of diplomatic affairs, and Konoha is responsible for all external affairs."
"As for Koharu, he is now the director of Department of Industry and Trade, and he is considered my superior."
As time passed, the original friends finally had conflicts.
After Namikawa Yū founded Department of Industry and Trade, he deliberately placed Shimura Danzō in the position of deputy minister and made Utatane Koharu his superior, just to deliberately suppress him.
Sure enough, the two had different acting styles, and conflicts soon arose.
As a Konoha hawk, Danzo needs to decide first before doing many things, and most of the time he only considers himself and completely ignores the thoughts of others.
This caused Utatane Koharu great dissatisfaction.
After going back and forth, the two people who were originally considered partners finally parted ways and are now almost political enemies.
As for Mitokado Homura, although the conflict with Shimura Danzō is not so sharp, many of his practices are equally unacceptable.
On the contrary, Kagami Uchiha, who was born in the Uchiha Clan, now has a decent relationship with Danzo, and he actually has the best relationship with Danzo among everyone.
I have to say that this is actually somewhat ironic.
Hiruzen Sarutobi After listening for a while, I finally understood.
Feelings, my old friend, have now become enemies everywhere.
He was speechless and didn't know what to say at the moment.
After a moment, he sighed and let Shimura Danzō leave.
Although he had a strong desire to go home, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought for a moment and finally rested in this luxury hotel for two days.
During these two days, he experienced enjoyment that he had never experienced before.
All kinds of imaginable and unimaginable things kept coming to him, as if they were free of money.
Not only the owner of this hotel, but also other wealthy businessmen and nobles in Konoha, all rushed over after hearing the news of Hiruzen Sarutobi's return.
They use different methods to please Hiruzen Sarutobi, and it seems that they want to use this method to build a good relationship with Hiruzen Sarutobi and have good dealings with him.
Finally, on the third day, Hiruzen Sarutobi left the hotel.
It's not that he has enjoyed enough, but that he is afraid that if he continues like this, he will almost be unable to bear it.
The methods used by those people to corrupt people are something Hiruzen Sarutobi has never seen before.
To put it bluntly, as long as he nodded a little in the past few days, what he wanted would be available immediately.
Whether it is the luxurious property, the charming beauties, or the endless wealth, all these things will be automatically delivered to his mouth as long as Hiruzen Sarutobi nods.
And the reason for all this is just because he is the teacher of Hokage and has a deep connection with the current Hokage.
This situation made Hiruzen Sarutobi unable to help but remain silent, not knowing what to say.
With his wisdom, he naturally understands what these people are for.
Now Konoha has taken control of the entire Land of Fire with the reform of Namikawa Yū.
As the Hokage, Namikawa Yū can decide the life or death of countless people with just one command.
With such huge power in his hands, the number of people who covet it is naturally equally large.
These people could not directly influence Namikawa Yū, so they targeted Hiruzen Sarutobi.
This made Hiruzen Sarutobi feel even deeper.
It is indeed different.
In the era of Senju Tobirama, how could Konoha be so famous? Even the teacher of Hokage could enjoy this kind of treatment.
In today's era, the treatment enjoyed by Konoha Ninja is almost unprecedented.
Even if just a random Konoha Ninja walks out, he will probably attract the envious eyes of many people.
This also strengthened Hiruzen Sarutobi's determination to make a comeback.
"No matter what, I will protect the village."
Various thoughts flashed through his mind. "Even if I am not the shadow of Konoha, but just an ordinary Konoha Ninja, I still have the consciousness to give everything for Konoha."
Now Konoha is at its peak, and everything around it looks so beautiful.
And this beauty also encouraged Hiruzen Sarutobi, making him determined to protect it all.
At least, let this beauty continue.
Of course, beneath the brilliance, there are also quite a few problems.
Judging from what Hiruzen Sarutobi has seen recently, I am afraid that many ninjas in Konoha have now been corrupted.
Just like his old friend Shimura Danzō.
These people have lost their will to be ninjas and are gradually sinking under the erosion of power and huge resources.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was wary of this situation and felt the need to remind Namikawa Yū.
Otherwise, I am afraid it will bring huge hidden dangers to Konoha in the future.
Of course, this is something that happens later.
At the moment, the most important thing for him is to meet his family.
So one night, he returned home.
Regarding the return of Hiruzen Sarutobi, all Sarutobi Clan are overjoyed.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who has been missing for several years, has long been judged to be dead by many people, even the people of the Sarutobi Clan think so. Now that Hiruzen Sarutobi has returned, this is undoubtedly a huge surprise for many of them.