At the end of Konoha's fifty-seventh year, an encirclement and slaughter took place in the Land of Rain. The newly emerged northern Yahiko faction clashed fiercely with the long-established "Yuhiko" faction, and the two sides nearly wiped each other out, leaving behind a vast power vacuum.
Danzo was in Konoha when he received the news. His trip to the Land of Rain had only involved a brief meeting with "Yuhiko." After leaving several Root members behind, he returned to Konoha. To him, something as trivial as eliminating a fledgling force did not require his personal involvement.
He was mildly surprised upon receiving the news, but he did not take it to heart. The Land of Rain was a small country in his eyes; no matter how major an incident occurred there, it was still a minor matter. All he needed to do was keep an eye on it when he had time and support another puppet faction.
The pressing matter now was naturally Konoha's own problems. The election for the Fourth Hokage was imminent. After discussion among the higher-ups, they had decided to choose the Fourth Hokage before New Year's Eve of the fifty-seventh year. There were only a few days left.
For that reason, he put the affairs of the Land of Rain out of his mind. However, the series of events that followed caught him completely off guard. When he looked back two years later and wanted to support another force in the Land of Rain, he was stunned to find that it had already been fortified like an iron barrel. No outside force could gain a foothold there again.
Those were matters for later. Right now, the most important thing was the candidate for Fourth Hokage.
If possible, Danzo hoped to become the new Hokage himself. He