Undercurrents Surge

Konoha, Root.

"Lord Danzo, please bear with it for a moment; it will be finished shortly."

A Root ninja was grafting a strange, white arm onto Danzo.

Standing to the side, Obito Uchiha watched this Konoha Root base with complex emotions.

Even though Obito had walked into the darkness, he still harbored a longing for Konoha.

Konoha is truly beyond saving. The roots of this towering tree have completely rotted away; how much longer can this tree possibly survive? Obito thought silently to himself.

This world was truly a hell!

With the agreed-upon deadline fast approaching, Obito decided to bolster Itachi's side, adding a negligible success rate to their plan.

He had brought the White Zetsu arm for Danzo, but as the price, Danzo's Root had to be fully mobilized on the "Night of the Clan Massacre," along with providing a few insignificant Sharingan.

As for Danzo.

This man who called himself Uchiha Madara had brought him the power of Wood Release.

The culprit behind the Night of the Nine-Tails... at the thought of this, Danzo slightly raised his chakra.

Danzo was indeed wicked, but he acted for the sake of Konoha, albeit through extremely radical methods.

If this mysterious enemy was an enemy of Konoha, then he was an enemy of Danzo.

However, unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo did not mind cooperating with the other party first; as long as the goal was achieved, Danzo would use any means necessary.

[Wood Release]

This ability he had dreamed of day and night was finally his.

Danzo flexed his newly attached right arm and spoke to Obito before him.

"Uchiha Madara, let us call you that for now. This old man will keep his promise, but the distribution of the Sharingan will be decided by me."

Obito chuckled: "It doesn't matter, as long as they are Three Tomoe. However..."

Obito walked slowly toward Danzo, and the Root members nearby immediately blocked Danzo's path.

Yet it was of no use; Obito easily phased through everything and arrived right in front of Danzo.

Obito's scarlet Mangekyou Sharingan glared into Danzo's only remaining eye.

"...Danzo, if you dare to break our agreement, bear the consequences yourself."

After saying this, Obito vanished on the spot.

He left Danzo staring gloomily at his pale right arm.

After testing, Danzo discovered the problem.

Although this arm, like the one Orochimaru had previously created, required the power of a Sharingan to balance it, and it did indeed grant him [Wood Release].

But this [Wood Release] was far inferior to that of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

It could not even compare to the only survivor of the previous Wood Release experiments, Jia—or perhaps he should be called Yamato now.

Orochimaru... Danzo's teeth gritted in anger at the thought of him.

Why had that snake completely disappeared four months ago and ceased all contact with him through any channel?

If not for that, he would never have accepted this arm.

During this time, because of Orochimaru's disappearance, Danzo was forced to have his own subordinates begin the research.

The consequence was that he suffered from severe Wood Release erosion.

To balance the power of the Wood Release and the Sharingan within his body, Danzo was forced to begin cruel experiments, even resorting to capturing orphans from Konoha...

Fortunately, Danzo no longer had to worry about this; with [Wood Release], even if his subordinates were incompetent, they could slowly research something.

Now everything was ready; all that remained was the arrival of Itachi Uchiha to end the Uchiha internal strife that had lasted for over 50 years.

Danzo thought once again of his teacher, Senju Tobirama.

This time, he would not hesitate; he would put an end to everything regarding the Uchiha.

Konoha, Hokage Office.

"Third Hokage!"

A ninja from the Barrier Team knelt on one knee, his voice low and firm: "The Konoha alert barrier has been fully adjusted. The soundproofing barrier targeting the Uchiha Compound has also been deployed to ensure that no movement leaks out."

Following closely, a ninja from the Sealing Team stepped forward to report: "All Anbu members have mastered the chakra Sealing Technique and are ready to execute the cleanup mission at any time."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly, his knuckles tapping rhythmically against the desk.

To keep casualties to a minimum, he had to contain this internal strife entirely within the Uchiha Compound.

Faced with this unprecedented crisis, he even made an exception to have the Anbu and Root work in coordination.

The pipe between his fingers trembled slightly, and the Third Hokage whispered in his heart: "Itachi, while you complete that arduous task, let us share the burden of these... 'necessary sacrifices' for you."

"With over a thousand Uchiha clansmen, who can guarantee that the successor to that forbidden technique isn't hiding among them?"

"Everything is for the sake of Konoha..." He closed his turbid eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

That name suddenly surfaced in his mind—Chuanhe.

Merely thinking of this instigator caused the Hokage's knuckles to turn white.

This operation involved not only the Anbu and Root of Konoha.

Even more troublesome was the fact that the border defense troops had to remain on high alert at this very moment.

Once they initiated action, there was a high probability that Kumogakure would officially declare war on them.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had to coordinate and plan for all these issues. He had lost quite a bit of hair during this period.

Fortunately, all of this would be over soon.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched silently as his subordinates retreated from before him.

A familiar voice suddenly reached his ears: "Old man, good morning!"

Jiraiya leaped directly in through the window, greeting Hiruzen Sarutobi with a smile.

Hiruzen Sarutobi said with some helplessness: "Jiraiya, can't you just use the front door?"

"Forget it, forget it. Do you have any good news?"

Jiraiya had returned to Konoha ever since he received the letter from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Jiraiya had learned of news that shocked him to the core: his teacher was actually plotting the extermination of the Uchiha clan.

After a period of investigation, he had indeed discovered that Chuanhe's family was highly abnormal.

He was a master of Sage Mode; under Jiraiya's perception, Chuanhe and Uchiha Hui sometimes seemed as if they were not of this world.

This instilled a slight sense of fear in him, reminding him of the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage, though he dared not be entirely certain just yet.

The letter Jiraiya had received earlier only asked him to return to the village to protect Konoha, stating that they were facing a major crisis.

At this moment, Jiraiya's expression suddenly turned serious: "Old man, is there really no way to break that technique? Not even you?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag from his pipe, exhaling a thick ring of smoke.

"You have seen that technique as well. I truly have no way; for these past few months, I have not been able to figure out why it can produce such an effect."

"However, I still find it hard to believe that it was developed by Kumogakure."

"Jiraiya, did you discover anything while you were in Kumogakure?"

Jiraiya fell into silence first; for him, killing comrades of a village was something he could absolutely not tolerate.

Therefore, after learning the full scope of the situation, Jiraiya had immediately requested to go to Kumogakure to investigate the truth.

However, Jiraiya had gained nothing regarding Chuanhe this time, as it is impossible to obtain information that does not exist.

Nevertheless, Jiraiya confirmed the known intelligence: he had seen the Chakra Cannon with his own eyes.

The data on that part had left Jiraiya trembling with fear.

After a long silence, Jiraiya finally said: "I can only confirm that the weapon held by Chuanhe is indeed nearly identical to the cannon in Kumogakure."

"The power of that Chakra Cannon is even more exaggerated than I imagined."

Jiraiya described the power of the cannon in detail, causing Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was puffing on his pipe, to pause.

This Chakra Cannon seemed even more abnormal; if war were to break out, they had almost no means to withstand this bombardment head-on.

Only the [Four Red Yang Formation] could block this weapon.

Yet, this technique was something only he could barely perform alone; any other ninja would require at least four people.

With various factors compounding, Hiruzen Sarutobi became even more convinced of the importance of the [Flame Explosion Technique].

Taking another drag from his pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi told Jiraiya another piece of intelligence.

"Some time ago, Uchiha Itachi passed on information that both Chuanhe and Uchiha Hui seem to be capable of space-time ninjutsu."

Jiraiya looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi in shock; at this moment, he was highly certain that this person, Chuanhe, was the one from the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.

"[Heavenly Transfer Technique], is it? It seems he really is..."