Prologue

Izumi Orange's face was pale. She knew, of course, that Kumogakure had gone to war with Iwagakure.

Root Organization had even helped fan the flames between the two hidden villages.

That was why she was so unwaveringly loyal to Shimura Danzō.

Without tiring of it, she put on the Falcon mask again, returned to Root's underground base, and asked to see Lord Danzō.

She reported every word Byakuya had said, without missing a single one. Then she bowed her head deeply, not daring to look at Danzō's expression.

She was afraid she'd see disappointment on his face. If so, the possibility Byakuya had mentioned—that they could kill the Third Raikage—would be lost.

For some reason,

images of the brutal training she'd endured as a child in Kumogakure flickered before her eyes.

Anyone who hadn't experienced it could never imagine how savage and inhuman it was.

Shimura Danzō said softly, "He wants information on the Three Great Sage Regions."

It wasn't a question. He was simply repeating what she'd just said.

"Heh. Tell him Root has no information on Mount Myoboku or Shikkotsu Forest. We only have information on Ryūchi Cave, collected from Orochimaru. Once he's back from this mission, give it to him along with his reward."

That kid had reported encountering the Azure-Black Serpent in the Land of Rivers. He'd probably mentioned it to pave the way for this, so Byakuya wouldn't become too suspicious.

Danzō reconsidered. Shuten-doji's background was perfectly clean. Given his life in Konoha, he shouldn't have known about the Sage Regions or Senjutsu, those hidden secrets. It was probably connected to that Azure-Black Serpent, but that was only a guess. Better to have him explain it himself.

"Understood."

"Also, have him write down what he's been hiding from me and give it to Hiroya."

"Yes."

Izumi Orange waited a while. When Danzō gave no further orders, she returned to the Ninja Academy.

Danzō also left the underground base and headed to the Hokage Building to see Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Konoha had already been working on the method Byakuya had suggested for killing the Third Raikage.

He'd only wanted to test Falcon and Shuten-doji's abilities to analyze intelligence.

The result was obvious.

Falcon had failed.

Even though she came from Kumogakure, she'd still failed.

Shuten-doji, on the other hand, had identified the key.

Letting someone else do the killing.

Both Kumogakure and Iwagakure were Konoha's enemies. He and Sarutobi Hiruzen would be happy to see them fight to the death. Ideally, the Raikage and Tsuchikage would take each other out.

At the Hokage Building,

the Hokage, who stood at the top of Konoha, didn't even look up. "Danzō, you're here."

"Namikaze Minato has achieved good results on the Kumogakure front. He's held off the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and A. We should move on to the next stage of the plan at Iwagakure, too."

Sarutobi Hiruzen studied the intelligence from the front and nodded. "We have Minato to thank. Jiraiya taught himself a good student. You didn't come all this way just to tell me about something that's already settled, did you?"

"I plan to send someone to approach Pakura of Sunagakure and try to form an alliance with them."

"Hm? Explain."

"This will certainly fail. It'll reveal Konoha's weakness to Sunagakure."

Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly looked up and fixed his gaze on Shimura Danzō, whose expression remained impassive. "What are you really trying to do?"

"If I were a senior official of Sunagakure, I'd pretend to agree to the alliance. Once Konoha stopped watching the Land of Rivers front and shifted its attention to the Land of Hot Water front, I'd tear up the agreement and attack Konoha."

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked shocked. "You want to lure them deep into our territory? No. Konoha doesn't have any forces to spare right now."

"We do."

"Where?"

"Me." Shimura Danzō spoke with conviction.

"You?"

"Yes, me. I'll defeat the elite Sunagakure forces that penetrate deep into Konoha's territory. They'll surely think they've outsmarted us and grow arrogant. Meanwhile, with the village's safety at stake, our people will be ready to die rather than surrender. An arrogant army is bound to lose; a desperate one is bound to win. That's the art of war.

"After this battle, Sunagakure will no longer pose a threat to Konoha, and all the resources in the Land of Rivers will fall into our hands."

"No." Sarutobi Hiruzen slapped the desk hard. "It's too risky. If it fails, the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Unimaginable? Sarutobi Hiruzen, don't forget, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is still in the village."

"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki..."

Shimura Danzō's gaze was cold. "She's a war orphan who survived by sheer luck. Konoha has raised her all these years. We've repaid our debt many times over. If the time comes for her to repay us, she has no reason to refuse."

"What if the Nine-Tails goes berserk?" Sarutobi Hiruzen countered.

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"She taught Namikaze Minato the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu."

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was silent for a long time, then sighed. "How do you know?"

Shimura Danzō smiled. "So you already knew about it. Even if the Nine-Tails goes berserk, we can use the Four Violet Flames Formation together with the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu to seal the monster again."

But Sarutobi Hiruzen still shook his head. "I don't agree."

"I've already sent someone."

"Shimura Danzō, you..."

Danzō turned and headed for the door. "Hiruzen, you're too weak. It's your weakness that's left Konoha beset on all sides."

"Don't forget, I'm the Hokage!"

"Heh."

Walking down the hallway, Shimura Danzō scoffed inwardly. If Senju Tobirama hadn't named you Third, who knows who would've taken the Hokage Position.

Of course, there were things he hadn't made clear.

In truth, whether or not Sunagakure agreed, Konoha's decision to seek an alliance in the first place had already exposed its weakness.

That was why Shimura Danzō didn't care whether the mission succeeded.

Izumi Orange smiled sweetly as she relayed old Danzō's words to Byakuya.

"Congratulations."

Byakuya was clearing puddles in front of the storehouse. "What's there to congratulate me for?"

"It means you're highly valued."

"I'd rather not be."

With her hands behind her back, Izumi Orange bounced around him once, then bent forward slightly to study Byakuya's expression from below. "We're all insignificant little people. We have to give it everything we've got just to fight for the tiniest chance of staying alive."

"That's you."

"Oh? Don't tell me Byakuya, a civilian, has a way to stay out of trouble in an era when human lives are worth less than grass. I don't believe it."

With that, she waved. "See you next time."

"Goodbye, Teacher Izumi Orange."

He shut the storehouse's triple doors.

Burdened with worries, Byakuya returned home.

He got some paper and a pen.

He'd blame the matter of Ryūchi Cave on the two bounty-hunting shinobi from the Bounty Exchange who'd died at his hands.

He'd mentioned it to Orochimaru before, anyway.

Danzō's ignorance of the matter was also proof that Orochimaru hadn't told the old geezer he'd learned the Flying Thunder God Technique.

As for Senju Tobirama's techniques, his late parents had told him about the Second's great deeds, including all kinds of miraculous jutsu. He'd also heard about them from other shinobi. They all said the Second was incredibly powerful and discussed his unique Water Release techniques, along with the Shadow Clone Technique he'd developed and so on.

After all, Konoha wasn't like Kirigakure, with its twisted secrecy policies. Those policies had led to Kirigakure shinobi not even knowing what the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, could do during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

That was the gist of it.

He finished writing.

He ate.

Then he headed for the forest outside the village.

The time-limited quest issued by his Fate Grid had to be completed tonight.

Tomorrow, he'd start developing a new Storm Release technique.

There was no time to waste.