Danzo: He Was No Good Person, Just Like Me

Hokage Office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen held a pipe between his teeth, his gaze shifting between Kamizuki and the document in his hands.

After a long silence, he set the document down.

"I've already handled your ninja appointment. If you want to go to the front lines, I can arrange that too... but what is this?"

Hiruzen pulled a page from the document.

It listed everything from senbon to Explosive Tags.

Kamizuki lounged casually on the sofa and said flatly, "You're the Hokage, and you can't even understand this? It's a list."

"I know it's a list. What I'm asking is... why are you giving this list to me?"

"What kind of question is that..."

Kamizuki frowned slightly. "Old man, you're a strange one."

"I'm going to fight a war for you. Hiring child labor is bad enough, but you won't even prepare my equipment?"

A vein bulged on Hiruzen's forehead as he clenched his pipe between his teeth. "The village is indeed obligated to provide an appropriate amount of ninja tools for shinobi on the battlefield, but..."

Bang!!

He slammed the paper onto the desk. "Three hundred refined steel kunai! Eight hundred shuriken... I could let that slide!"

"Ten thousand Explosive Tags!!"

"Can Explosive Tags even be counted by the ten-thousands?!"

Even a small-scale battle would not use that many Explosive Tags!

"Speak properly. You're spraying spit everywhere."

Kamizuki covered his face in distaste and rolled his eyes at Hiruzen. "Look at the rest before you start talking. You're making it sound like I'm trying to take advantage of you."

Suppressing the urge to throw the brat out, Hiruzen continued reading the document.

His expression gradually turned solemn.

After another stretch of silence, Hiruzen looked up at Kamizuki.

"Are you sure... you want to hand that technique over to the village?"

"More accurately, I'm telling you the principles behind creating that technique."

Kamizuki rested both hands on his knees, looking as though he were negotiating a deal rather than reporting to the Hokage. "As Takigakure's highest secret technique, it's worth an S-rank mission. It isn't excessive to exchange it for the supplies I listed, is it?"

Of course Hiruzen knew that Kamizuki had obtained Earth Grudge Fear. Orochimaru had hired Sakumo through official channels at the time.

"Earth Grudge Fear... it's a very ancient technique. During the Warring States Era, they used it to occupy the land behind the waterfall and establish Takigakure."

Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe and said gravely, "Creating Earth Grudge Fear requires a great number of living human experiments. After the Warring States Era, the Five Great Nations expressly forbade Takigakure from possessing Earth Grudge Fear any longer."

"Little Kamizuki, this is a forbidden technique that touches upon ethics and robs others of their lives. It should not be treated as—"

Kamizuki interrupted Hiruzen's carefully prepared lecture. "The Second devoted his life to developing ninjutsu, and most of them ended up in the Scroll of Sealing. Does that mean those techniques shouldn't exist either?"

"Cough, cough..."

Hiruzen coughed twice in quick succession. "Of... of course you can't put it that way! How could the Second's techniques be the same!"

Kamizuki merely smiled without speaking. "Techniques aren't inherently good or evil. It depends on who uses them."

"If we can separate Earth Grudge Fear's ability to stitch limbs together, it would become a top-tier medical ninjutsu."

"Compared to other techniques that require vast amounts of Chakra or delicate manipulation, the Suture Technique is simple and direct, and its results are excellent."

"Using the lives of some enemies in exchange for a higher survival rate among Konoha's shinobi—do you think that's a bad thing?"

Seeing Hiruzen hesitate, Kamizuki added fuel to the fire.

"Back then, the Second used enemies as sacrifices for the Reani—"

"Enough!"

Hiruzen hurriedly raised a hand to stop him, unwilling to let Kamizuki dig up more of his teacher's embarrassing history. "You have a point. Techniques have no inherent good or evil. If used for the right purpose, they are good!"

Letting out a long breath, Hiruzen shook his head helplessly and smiled. "I can tell that you agree strongly with the Second's ideals. Not bad!"

That speech made him feel even more strongly that Kamizuki shared some inexplicable connection with his teacher Tobirama.

There were truly very few Uchiha who would deliberately learn about and approve of the Second like this.

"In that case..."

Hiruzen lightly tapped the desk and frowned. "Actually, you could exchange this technique for credit toward completing an S-rank mission."

"Accumulate three S-rank missions, and you can exchange them for one technique from the Scroll of Sealing. That is far more worthwhile than some ninja tools."

According to Tobirama's original intentions, the techniques in the Scroll of Sealing were to be taught first to civilian shinobi and kept from ninja clans whenever possible, especially the Uchiha.

He only offered that reminder because Kamizuki had a sense of the bigger picture and was Orochimaru's disciple.

Kamizuki shook his head.

"I want the actual goods."

Not to mention that he had no use for other techniques for the time being, something like the Scroll of Sealing could simply be copied once Orochimaru stole it.

If Orochimaru did not defect like he had in the original timeline, getting hold of the Scroll of Sealing would be even easier.

Did he think everyone was as stingy about keeping knowledge secret as the Second and his disciple?

Used to the respectful attitudes of most shinobi, Hiruzen found it somewhat difficult to adapt after being rebutted by Kamizuki several times.

It was not enough to make him dislike Kamizuki. He simply felt that this little fellow had far too much personality.

"May I ask what you need so many Explosive Tags for?"

"I don't want to say."

Just as expected.

"Compared to Earth Grudge Fear, you should be asking what that special secret technique is."

After Kamizuki took the document bearing the Hokage's seal to collect his weapons, Shimura Danzō emerged from the darkness.

He had become increasingly accustomed to hiding this way, concealed in the shadow cast by the sun.

The corners of Hiruzen's mouth lifted slightly. "That... I actually have some idea already."

"You figured it out?!"

Danzo's pupils contracted slightly.

It had always been like this since they were young. Whenever there was a technique he could not understand, Hiruzen could see through it at a glance. His talent had been so great that Tobirama had accepted him as a direct disciple.

Truly...

"Based on what you described..."

Hiruzen pondered for a while before slowly saying, "Kamizuki cannot release Chakra from his own body to use ninjutsu, so he must be using some method to manipulate the Chakra within Earth Grudge Fear."

"Speaking is one of the steps. The more important factor should be the Sharingan."

"Forget it. That isn't something that can be widely adopted."

As he spoke, Hiruzen shot Danzo a glance. "And you, really... why compete with a child? Aren't you afraid people will laugh if word gets out?"

"A child?"

Danzo snorted coldly. "With that brat's strength and scheming, I can't treat him as an ordinary child."

"No, where did you see any scheming from him?"

Hiruzen propped up his head, looking rather speechless. "No matter how you look at it, that child is the type to say whatever is on his mind, isn't he?"

"Hmph! Arrogance and speaking one's mind are two different things!"

"Enough. That child is quite good. The moment he thought of how Earth Grudge Fear could benefit the village, he handed it over."

Hiruzen passed the scroll to Danzo and said solemnly, "I'll leave this matter to you. Don't do anything unnecessary. I hope this technology will only be used for medical purposes."

Danzo accepted the scroll, but still felt uneasy.

His instincts told him that the brat definitely meant no good. This feeling of being plotted against was far too familiar.

Just like what he did to others.