To Repay My Debts, I'll Become Hokage!

Uchiha Chonhua raised an eyebrow.

He took a deep look at the man disappearing into the crowd, then lowered his head and opened his right hand.

A slip of paper appeared there.

Uchiha Chonhua glanced at it; it bore the secret code belonging to Konoha ninjas.

His eyes narrowed, lost in thought.

"Mikoto, I have something to attend to."

Uchiha Chonhua showed the note to Mikoto, which stated that no one else should be informed.

He didn't care about that; it was better to make suspicious things public, the more people who knew, the better.

Mikoto Uchiha deciphered the code, a strange expression appearing on her small face.

The Hokage had arranged a mission for Chonhua, but required him to go alone to meet the ninja delivering the assignment.

She knew Chonhua's strength was formidable, and that the Hokage held him in high regard.

It was possible for such a situation to occur.

However, Chonhua had shared a note that was meant to be kept secret with her...

"I will tell Senior Ono and Hizashi."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Chonhua patted Mikoto's small head; she had understood his intentions immediately.

"That's not enough. You must let the people of the Uzumaki Clan know as well."

Mikoto Uchiha nodded: "I understand, I'll head back now."

"Customer, your seafood is packed."

Mikoto Uchiha pulled out some bills, threw them onto the stall without looking, grabbed the bag, and ran back.

The stall owner counted the money, slapped his thigh, and looked anxious.

"Hey, you gave me too much! Little girl!"

The little girl, Mikoto, had already vanished from sight.

Then he would find the little boy; they were companions, right?

The stall owner turned his head and froze. Well, the little boy was gone too.

Looking at the extra money in his hand, he gulped.

"This is... a stroke of luck!"

"You've come."

Uchiha Chonhua arrived at the location mentioned on the note and observed the surroundings.

He was in a dark, dense forest where the trees stood close together, their tall canopies interlocking to fragment the sunlight into mere specks of light.

It was rather dark.

Hearing the words of the man standing with his back to him, Uchiha Chonhua replied in a low, serious voice.

"I have come."

The man turned around, revealing an unremarkable face.

It was the kind of NPC background face that one would ignore if they weren't paying attention in a crowd.

"Follow me."

Uchiha Chonhua raised an eyebrow: "Aren't you here to deliver the mission issued by the Hokage? Go? Where are we going?"

Chapter 41: Anbu and Root are Different

The man turned back, looking at Uchiha Chonhua with an expressionless face.

"That is not a question you need to concern yourself with."

Uchiha Chonhua greeted him with a smile, making no move to follow.

He retorted: "Ninjas must always act with caution. That note indeed used Konoha's secret code, but that doesn't prove you are a Konoha ninja."

"After all, there was that incident with the Cloud Village spy just a while ago, wasn't there?"

"Uchiha Chonhua, that is merely your baseless speculation." The man's voice was flat, devoid of inflection: "This is not the place to hand over the mission. Follow me, and you will know whether I am a Konoha ninja or not."

As he finished speaking, the man kicked off the ground, leaped onto the treetops, and headed forward without looking back.

He wasn't even worried that he might run away.

Uchiha Chonhua followed. He certainly wouldn't run; he had a premonition in his heart, knowing exactly where the other party came from.

With his current strength, he wouldn't dare say he could act with total impunity, but he had no doubt he could retreat safely.

Since that was the case, he naturally wanted to see it through to the end to see what they were planning.

The two moved one after the other through the dense forest. Uchiha Chonhua calculated the distance; with a ninja's speed, they were already getting further and further away from the coastal city.

Swish!

Uchiha Chonhua followed the nondescript man out of the dense forest. The dazzling sunlight was somewhat piercing, and his vision blurred for a moment.

The man stopped, and Uchiha Chonhua halted ten paces behind him.

This was a flat area surrounded by dense forest. Looking down from the sky, it appeared as if a scoop had been taken out of the endless green expanse—abrupt and conspicuous.

Uchiha Chonhua looked up to see someone already waiting there.

The figure was dressed in Anbu attire with a short sword strapped to their back, but the mask's design and patterns were different from any Anbu he had seen before.

It wasn't an animal; the patterns were far more complex.

Uchiha Chonhua kept his expression neutral, but inwardly, he thought, Shimura Danzō can no longer restrain himself.

An average ninja would think all Anbu were the same, but Uchiha Chonhua, who possessed the "plot cheat," knew better.

The style and patterns of the masks were the distinguishing features between the regular Anbu and the Root.

The Root was part of the Anbu organization, but it did not belong to the Hokage; it was an independent ninja force under the private command of Shimura Danzō.

Uchiha Chonhua held his ground, observing them.

The Root ninja nodded to the nondescript man, then turned his gaze toward Uchiha Chonhua.

He spoke in a dry, emotionless voice, as if reciting from a script.

"Uchiha Chonhua, you are being temporarily conscripted into the Anbu. Put on this uniform; we are heading to the Land of Hot Water for a secret mission."

Uchiha Chonhua's pupils shifted suddenly, his peripheral vision catching someone appearing to his rear right.

[Another Root ninja.]

The newcomer held the same uniform and short sword as the others. Uchiha Chonhua glanced at the mask he was expected to wear.

It was a spider lily pattern.

"Is there a mission scroll from Lord Hokage?"

The Root ninja took a scroll from behind his back and tossed it to Uchiha Chonhua.

Uchiha Chonhua caught it and opened it. The mission scroll looked authentic, and he even saw Sarutobi Hiruzen's Hokage seal on it.

The mission scroll looked quite real. Given the relationship between Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen, obtaining a genuine mission scroll wouldn't be difficult.

After all, he was the Hokage's advisor whom Sarutobi Hiruzen trusted—old comrades with a deep bond. What could possibly go wrong?

Uchiha Chonhua closed the mission scroll.

"I need to inform my squad leader."

"That is unnecessary. Anbu missions have the highest priority and the strictest confidentiality; they cannot be disclosed to ninjas outside the Anbu. Put on the uniform; we must depart immediately."

The Root ninja added, "This mission is an assessment from Lord Hokage. If you perform well, we will consider letting you join the Anbu to serve Lord Hokage after it concludes."

"Oh?" Uchiha Chonhua's eyes rolled, and he suddenly asked with a look of confusion, "I have clearly expressed to Lord Hokage before that I do not wish to join the Anbu, and Lord Hokage was understanding and respected my wishes."

"How does this contradict what you are saying?" Uchiha Chonhua looked at the Root ninja and asked, "Should I believe Lord Hokage's words, or yours?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen had never asked him to join the Anbu, nor had he ever brought it up himself.

This was a lie.

Although Sarutobi Hiruzen held him in high regard, his age was a factor, and he was under the watchful eyes of Uchiha Ryutai, Uchiha Shohei, and others.

To brazenly shove Uchiha Chonhua into the Anbu... the current Sarutobi Hiruzen was perhaps a bit more decisive than his elderly self, but only a bit; hesitation and caution were the foundations of his character.

It was possible for Uchiha Chonhua to join the Anbu, but not at the age of ten.

Uchiha Chonhua thought that Sarutobi Hiruzen would actually prefer for him to volunteer for the Anbu himself.

"This is Lord Hokage's decision; I am merely relaying the mission."

The Root ninja holding the Anbu gear stepped closer to Uchiha Chonhua and said, "We are tools. We only need to complete the tasks assigned by Lord Hokage; no reasons are required."

"Lord Hokage must have his own profound reasons for doing this. Uchiha Chonhua, stop stalling. The mission is urgent—every second counts!"

"Are you certain this mission was issued by Lord Hokage?"

Uchiha Chonhua turned around, looking at the Root ninja with a faint, mocking smile.

"This is, of course, a mission issued by Lord Danzō."

The Root ninja, caught off guard, blurted out the name of the true mastermind behind their orders.

!?

The nondescript man and the other Root ninja's expressions changed drastically, staring in shock at their companion who had just revealed Shimura Danzō.

This... this is a genjutsu! When did he—!?

The Root ninja calmed himself. He was a veteran of many battles; having experienced so much, he immediately understood what had happened.

They had been exposed.

But there was still a remedy.

The Root ninja said in a low voice, "This is a mission issued jointly by the Hokage and his advisor. After all, it involves a classified mission regarding the northern battlefield; the Hokage and the others need to discuss it further..."

Before he could finish, the passerby-faced man beside him continued speaking to himself.

"Lord Danzō said we are to observe your background. If possible, recruit you into Root. If not, disguise it as you having gone to the battlefield and been killed by the enemy due to insufficient strength. Remember, do not expose Root..."

"Damn it!"

The Root ninja immediately drew his short sword and charged toward Uchiha Chonhua.

With the plan leaked to this extent, there was no point in trying to patch things up; he would just go up and kill Uchiha Chonhua directly!

Swish, swish, swish!

Three black shadows leaped out from the dense forest on the left. Although their mask designs and patterns differed, they were all Root ninjas.

Root ninjas were the cream of the crop selected by Shimura Danzō from the Anbu training department, and their strength was not to be underestimated.

Their Body Flicker Technique was swift, closing the distance to Uchiha Chonhua in an instant. Short swords, kunai, and Flying Swallow Blades stabbed fiercely into Uchiha Chonhua's body.

Squelch!

"Ugh..."

Uchiha Chonhua's face showed a look of horror, and blood gushed from his mouth.

Chapter 42: It's All Because I Was Too Cunning

Seeing this, the Root ninjas' expressions became even more solemn.

Uchiha Chonhua was a genius, that was beyond doubt. Therefore, no one believed the fairy tale that he could be killed so easily.

Seeing that he couldn't fool these Root ninjas, Uchiha Chonhua stopped pretending and laid his cards on the table.

He looked at the Root ninjas surrounding him with a smile, his expression full of malice.