Is Interesting Not Enough?

The hospital was exceptionally quiet tonight.

The Anbu ninjas guarding the exterior remained diligent in their duties, yet none of them noticed the movement within the ward.

This was, of course, not due to any incompetence on the part of the Anbu, but because Shiraishi had cast a minor illusion akin to a "Ghost Wall," temporarily disrupting their senses and spirits.

Inside the ward, Danzo stood up in agitation. Wearing the aged face of Hiruzen Sarutobi, his expression became hideous and twisted with fury.

"Do you know what you are doing? Why place the soul of Hiruzen into my body? Why reveal your existence?"

Facing the interrogation, Shiraishi appeared remarkably calm. He sat on the edge of the hospital bed, an apple appearing in his hand from nowhere, which he tossed upward repeatedly.

Shiraishi's demeanor only fueled Danzo's rage. He demanded in a heated tone, "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Calm down, our dear Hokage." Shiraishi smiled, gripped the apple with both hands, and with a burst of strength, snapped it in two.

Shiraishi brought one half of the apple to his mouth to take a bite, tossing the other half toward Danzo.

Danzo reached out and caught it, his fingers tightening until he crushed the half-apple into a pulp, the juice dripping between his fingers.

Shiraishi chewed a piece of the fruit and shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a waste! I brought that specifically to celebrate your rebirth."

Danzo walked angrily up to Shiraishi, leaning in to threaten him. "Do not think that because your abilities are strange, you can act without restraint. If you dare to betray our cooperation, I will expose your intelligence to the entire ninja world."

"When that time comes, you will face the pursuit of all of Konoha, and indeed, the entire ninja world."

Shiraishi chuckled and shook his head, then extended the index finger of his free left hand, pointing and waving it gently at Danzo.

"Look, you're getting worked up again."

"Stop acting here. Tell me, what exactly are you trying to do?" Danzo glared at Shiraishi.

Shiraishi finished the last bite of fruit, tossed the core onto the floor, clapped his hands, and looked up at Danzo.

"I told you, I am helping you."

"Is this how you help me? By performing a Reincarnation Technique on Hiruzen's soul into my body? Do you know how many secrets I have hidden within Root?" Danzo was exasperated.

Shiraishi smiled, completely unbothered. "Keeping Hiruzen Sarutobi alive was your request. After the reincarnation, your body lost its soul's control and would have become a living corpse, soon to wither and die."

"So you see, your body lacked a soul, and Hiruzen Sarutobi's soul lacked a body to nourish it. Combining the two, isn't it just perfect?"

Having said this, Shiraishi continued to watch Danzo with a smile.

Danzo's open mouth froze. After several seconds, he realized the implication and said with dissatisfaction, "That is no reason for you to act on your own initiative. Whether it was Hiruzen's soul or my body, arrangements should have been made after I regained consciousness. I do not believe they couldn't have held on for three days."

Shiraishi admitted it without the slightest concealment. "Of course they could have held on."

"Then why did you..." Danzo began, furious.

"But I didn't want to wait!" Shiraishi interrupted him, sounding perfectly justified.

"You!" Danzo was extremely angry, but he had to control his emotions, repeatedly telling himself to stay calm.

"Think about it, Hiruzen Sarutobi waking up in your body—what an interesting scene that would be? And think about how interesting Hiruzen Sarutobi's reaction will be when he discovers he has become you?" At the mention of this, Shiraishi became quite excited.

Danzo looked at Shiraishi in disbelief. "You did it for this? Just for the sake of amusement?"

Shiraishi nodded. "Is 'just for amusement' not enough?"

As he spoke, Shiraishi also stood up, walked to Danzo's side, and leaned in close, whispering into his ear: "Think about it. When the sun rises and he learns the news of your awakening, the look of incredible shock on his face when he comes to see you."

"At that moment, if you say to him, 'Hiruzen, I am the true Hokage!', what an interesting scene that would be, wouldn't it?"

Danzo felt a jolt run through his entire body. Just imagining the scene Shiraishi described made his heart race with excitement.

Danzo turned his head to look at Shiraishi, his eyes filled with complex emotions. This mysterious existence was like a demon capable of bewitching the heart; a casual word or two was enough to strike directly at his inner desires.

Shiraishi saw the hesitation in Danzo's expression. He reached out, patted Danzo on the shoulder, and smiled without saying a word.

Danzo abruptly took a step back, putting distance between himself and Shiraishi, forcing himself to calm down before asking again: "Then why did you reveal the matter of the Soul Banners and the forbidden grounds to Hiruzen and Minato Namikaze? Are you not worried about exposing yourself?"

"I told you, I need a massive amount of souls to recover from my injuries. Once war breaks out again, the front lines will inevitably be stretched very thin."

"When that time comes, I can't exactly run to the battlefield myself, running from place to place to absorb souls, can I?"

The best lies are those where every word spoken is the truth, yet they mislead others into making the wrong judgments and conjectures. That was exactly what Shiraishi was doing now.

Given the way ninjas fought, there were rarely large-scale legion-style battles; instead, they were mostly divided into small, separate squads, slaughtering each other along long, drawn-out front lines.

Under such circumstances, the efficiency of Shiraishi's soul collection would be greatly diminished.

To this end, Shiraishi had specifically prepared a countermeasure, which was one of the reasons he revealed the existence of the Soul Banners.

"So, over these past two days, I have specifically refined five Soul Banners, projecting a portion of my power into them." As Shiraishi spoke, he extended his right hand, and a smaller, more crudely crafted banner appeared in his palm.

"You intend to use this opportunity to expose the existence of the Soul Banners while hiding your true situation." Danzo, being a clever man, instantly understood Shiraishi's intent.

Shiraishi nodded with a smile and tossed the banner to Danzo. "These banners contain only a very faint trace of my power. Their only function is to instinctively absorb the souls of the dead in the vicinity, within a radius of about three thousand meters."

Hearing this, a flash of disappointment crossed Danzo's eyes. He had personally felt the might of Shiraishi's true form and had hoped these replicated banners might inherit some of Shiraishi's power to bolster the strength of Konoha's ninjas.

"Aside from absorbing souls, do they have no other function?" Danzo asked, still unwilling to give up.

"None," Shiraishi denied, then paused before adding with a smirk, "However, as long as these souls absorbed by the banners are returned to my hands within a week, they can be used to perform the Reincarnation Technique."

Danzo's body shuddered, and he was instantly filled with pleasant surprise.

"Really?"

"It is true!"

Receiving the affirmative reply once more, a look of excitement bloomed across Danzo's face.

With these Soul Banners combined with the Reincarnation Technique, couldn't the village's most important ninjas be granted a second, or even a third life?

Thinking of this, Danzo grew increasingly exhilarated; he felt far more confident in his goal of winning the war and establishing Konoha's hegemony.

After all, war was a contest of attrition regarding resources and manpower. If his side's elite ninjas could be resurrected after dying in battle—even if their strength declined slightly due to changing bodies—their combat experience would remain, and they would still be able to contribute significant fighting power.

If they continued to fight like this, the other villages would only grow weaker with every engagement, while his side would grow stronger, eventually cultivating a vast army of elite ninjas.

"Don't get too excited, Danzo." Shiraishi knew what Danzo was thinking and deliberately poured a bucket of cold water on him. "The Reincarnation Technique is not so easy to perform; every time I cast it, it consumes a great deal of my power."

"What do you want?" Danzo asked decisively.

Shiraishi smiled meaningfully. "No rush. We have plenty of time. You should focus on securing your seat as Hokage first!"

Having said that, Shiraishi walked toward the window. A surge of black mist emerged, wrapping around him as he transformed into a streak of light and flew out into the night.