Thanks to Danzo, My Bro, for the Reward

In the dimly lit Root base, Root's elites lay sprawled across the ground, with devastating casualties. Only a handful remained standing. Richard still followed his usual rule: he only made one move. If they survived, they survived; if not, they died.

In any case, these Root people lived like wooden dolls. Death might even have been a release for them.

"Are you trying to make an enemy of Konoha?" Danzo blustered, though he was weak inside. He knew he had gone too far. Root was finished. It would take years for Root to recover from this.

Still, if he could control the guy before him, it would not be a loss. Danzo cautiously glanced at a trusted subordinate beside him, a man from the Nara clan. He silently hardened his resolve, vowing to torture this brat viciously when the time came.

"What? Are you planning to control me with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Jutsu too, just like you control these subordinates of yours?" Richard asked mockingly.

Danzo's pupils shrank slightly. How did he know such a secret?

"Or are you counting on Izanagi to save your life?" Richard continued to frighten him.

Danzo...

The other side knew all his trump cards. What the hell was there left to fight?

With a casual wave of Richard's hand, the remaining few instantly collapsed. They probably would not die. How much less fun would the Ninja World be without Danzo, the king of scapegoats? Better leave him alive.

Afterward, Richard leisurely looted the entire Root base. He acquired plenty of useful information, as well as experimental materials such as Hashirama Cells. Sure enough, there were still plenty of good people in the world. They knew he wanted these things, so they invited him over as a guest. Konoha people really were hospitable.

When Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived with his men, all he saw was a thoroughly ransacked base, corpses everywhere, and wounded men strewn across the ground.

Richard had long since left.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice but to order the wounded treated first. Fortunately, his old friend Danzo had not died.

"Hiruzen, this man is dangerous. He bears ill will toward Konoha. He must be taken down," Danzo said weakly. Richard had severely injured him, and the Hashirama Cells and Sharingan within his body had become somewhat unbalanced. If Richard had not casually suppressed them when he struck, Danzo might already have died from the backlash.

Sarutobi Hiruzen held a pipe between his lips, took a deep drag, and exhaled thick smoke. His expression flickered uncertainly.

Of course he knew that this man showed no mercy and was far from friendly toward Konoha. Yet he was simply too powerful; one man had flattened the Root base.

If someone with that kind of strength turned hostile, what price would Konoha have to pay to subdue him? Not to mention Tsunade's stance.

Danzo was still thinking too simply.

"I understand. Focus on recovering. I'll handle it," Sarutobi Hiruzen said, waving a hand.

"Hiruzen, you'll regret this." Danzo immediately knew that he was preparing to compromise. Then had he suffered all this for nothing? Ever since becoming Root's leader, this was the first time he had suffered such a huge loss. He absolutely could not swallow this anger.

"I'm the Hokage," Sarutobi Hiruzen said instinctively.

The two fell silent, facing each other. In the end, Danzo was the first to break the standoff and leave.

Fortunately, Root's medical ninja had not joined the battle. Otherwise, Danzo would not even have had anyone to treat his wounds.

In any case, he did not dare go to Konoha Hospital. He could not afford to let the secrets on his body be exposed.

After leaving the Root base, Richard slowly made his way back to the Senju Estate.

By then, Tsunade had already returned from the Hokage Building.

When she saw him, she asked, "You're back. Did you kill Danzo?"

"No. What, did you want me to kill Danzo?" Richard asked.

Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. As long as Danzo was not dead, it was fine. As long as he was alive, there was still room to salvage things.

"How's Root now?" she asked, sounding somewhat pleased at their misfortune.

"Root? It's fine, I guess. I didn't kill them all. There are definitely still people alive," Richard said.

"Jeez, that ruthless? Are you done with what you came to do? How about we leave Konoha?" Tsunade asked. Leave quickly. Stop wreaking havoc in Konoha and go wreak havoc somewhere else.

"What? Are you afraid I'll clash with Konoha?" Richard said with a smile.

"What else?" Tsunade snapped. Did this guy have no idea how strong he was? If a conflict really broke out, he would be fine, but Konoha would probably be flattened by him.

Richard nodded. "Fine. There's nothing else to do. I'll stay another two days, then leave."

"Why do you need to stay another two days?" Tsunade asked. She only wanted this guy gone immediately. The sooner, the better.

"Well, I've been in Konoha for several days now, but I haven't gone out to look around. I want to see what Konoha looks like. I've come all the way here; it would be strange to leave without taking a look around, wouldn't it?"

"Fine. Then go look around," Tsunade said through gritted teeth. For these next two days, I'll stick to you every step of the way and see what other trouble you can cause.

Unfortunately, Tsunade put all her effort into guarding against Richard but failed to guard against Sarutobi Hiruzen. Such a powerful person had come to the village, yet they had no information about him at all. He had appeared as if from nowhere. Unless Sarutobi Hiruzen got to the bottom of it, he would not be able to sleep.

So the next day, not long after Richard went out for a stroll, he ran into the Third Hokage.

Richard turned to glance at Tsunade. His meaning was obvious. This could not be blamed on him.

Tsunade rubbed her forehead. She could not persuade Sarutobi Hiruzen, and a conflict seemed unavoidable. Everything now depended on Sarutobi Hiruzen's choice.

"Hehe, young man, welcome to Konoha. Tsunade, aren't you going to introduce us?" Sarutobi Hiruzen pretended not to know about the Root base.

"This is Richard, and this is..." Tsunade had just begun to introduce Sarutobi Hiruzen when Richard interrupted her.

"I know. The Third Hokage, right? I've heard of your reputation as the strongest Hokage in history. I've long admired you," Richard said with a chuckle.

The strongest Hokage in history? This guy really dared to boast. Did he think all the old monsters from the previous era were dead? To say nothing else, the old Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, had seen the grandeur of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, and Uchiha Madara had even scared him into psychological trauma.

If he heard the rumor that Konoha's Third Hokage was the strongest Hokage in history, he would probably die laughing.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's smile stiffened slightly. Saying that in front of Tsunade, this guy had to be doing it on purpose. Just how had he offended him? Why was this man's hostility toward him so great?

"It's only a little reputation, not worth mentioning," Sarutobi Hiruzen could only say dryly.

What followed was a series of pleasantries and probing questions: where Richard came from, how he had met Tsunade, why he had come to Konoha, what plans he had for the future, and so on. Then Sarutobi Hiruzen began talking about Konoha, ideals, the inheritance of faith, and the like. With thirty years of salesmanship under my belt, I refuse to believe I can't talk you into this.

Unfortunately, Richard had no intention of playing along. Those little talking points were only enough to fool the Ninja World's ninjas, who were generally poorly educated.

"Where the leaves dance, fire burns on. The fire's light will continue to illuminate the village and cause new leaves to sprout." It sounded rather impressive.

But such vague metaphors could be interpreted completely differently by different people, and those in power could easily use them as tools of rule. Why make a guiding document so ambiguous? Couldn't it be more straightforward?

Richard did not argue either. He simply wore an expression that said, You're right about everything. I don't argue with idiots.

In the end, seeing that he could not talk Richard around, Sarutobi Hiruzen left.