Inside Konoha
Hokage's office
"I disagree! We should withdraw our troops!"
Danzo slammed his palm on the table.
"Danzo, you were the one who wanted to fight in the first place. Now that Orochimaru and the others have finally pushed their way in, you want them to pull back?" Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke calmly, as if stating the most ordinary fact.
Danzo snorted.
"We can't keep fighting this war, Monkey! You're the Hokage. Don't you know where our money and provisions come from? The Land of Fire's daimyo has ordered us to stop the war. How long are you going to keep stubbornly refusing to listen?" Danzo raised his voice.
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly rose to his feet.
"You weren't saying that a few days ago, old friend. I said we should fight, and I meant we should fight to the end. I'd planned to deal with Sunagakure first and then send the White Fang to reinforce us. But we've been unable to break through at Amegakure for far too long."
"Now Orochimaru and the others are about to advance to the sea outside Amegakure, and you're using the daimyo to pressure me again... Old friend, don't forget: I'm still the Hokage, and I'm still our teacher's disciple." Hiruzen's voice wasn't loud, but every word struck Danzo to the core.
I'm still the Hokage...
I'm still the Hokage...
The Hokage...
I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, am the Hokage...
Shimura Danzo stood up and spoke with his back to Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Hmph... Monkey, don't forget what you promised our teacher: that you'd protect Konoha. If anything happens to Konoha, just see whether our teacher comes back from the underworld to reprimand you!"
"I've never forgotten."
"Hmph!"
Thud!!!
Shimura Danzo left the Hokage's office.
"Old friend, I've always known you wanted to become Hokage. But don't you dare lay a hand on my students... Someone!" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked out the window, toward the Land of Rain.
Whoosh!
An Anbu suddenly appeared.
"Go to the Land of Rain and secretly tell Orochimaru and the other two to be careful about information from the village. They should only trust what I tell them directly; they can judge the rest for themselves." Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe. Smoke billowed around him, and once he finished speaking, he fell silent.
The Anbu nodded.
"Yes, Third..."
The Anbu Ninja vanished in an instant.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took another puff. A flicker of fire glowed in the bowl of his pipe, and wisps of smoke rose, obscuring his face.
Two hours after the Third sent out the Anbu message.
Root
Underground conference room
"'Hannya' is dead... A Root ninja at Kage Level couldn't even bring back a map. I'm extremely angry." Shimura Danzo's face was dark, his voice icy. It seemed he was genuinely angry for once.
"My lord..."
A Root ninja tried to speak. He had barely opened his mouth and gotten two words out when—
"Wind Style: Vortex Wind Blade!"
A semicircular, emerald-green blade of wind shot from Danzo's hand. In the blink of an eye, the Root ninja's head was severed from his body.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
The eleven Root members seated around the conference table were all splattered with blood to varying degrees.
But not one of them dared to move.
Their master was a cold-blooded machine who could kill them at any moment. Danzo had placed several techniques on every Root ninja.
The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal was a secret technique used by Root. Even the Anbu and Third Hiruzen Sarutobi knew nothing about it. Usually, Danzo marked the underside of a person's tongue with the seal. The technique restricted what its victim could say. If the victim tried to speak about certain matters, their whole body would become paralyzed, leaving them unable to talk or move.
The Mind-Body Existence Technique was used by Danzo to control everyone. He usually inscribed it into the eyes of Root ninjas by special means. If they thought about betraying him or acted against him, a force that withered the heart would gradually kill them. (As for the Root ninja from a few chapters ago, the reason he died without triggering this technique was that he had gouged out the eye bearing the seal. That was why the withering force hadn't killed him.)
Thud!!!!!
Shimura Danzo narrowed his eyes. He showed no sign of losing his composure; he simply looked around at all the Root members. Then—
The eleven remaining Root members dropped to their knees in unison.
"Lord Danzo, we are willing to go straight to the Land of Rain and carry out your orders." The eleven Root members lowered their heads. They had just clearly sensed Danzo silently activating the Mind-Body Existence Technique. Otherwise, their hearts wouldn't have all stopped beating at the same time for a moment.
"All of you are going? Isn't that overkill?" Shimura Danzo said lightly.
"It is our honor to serve you, my lord." The Root ninjas answered in unison.
"I'm giving you three days. I want the map, and I also want you to secretly eliminate some of Konoha's forces. At the very least, make sure this war can't be fought. Konoha no longer has the money or provisions to support two wars... Also, go warn Hanzo the Salamander. I gave him information, and he still refused to work for me." Shimura Danzo spoke coldly. He hadn't transplanted a Sharingan yet, so he was still dressed like a conventional ninja.
"Yes!" everyone answered in unison.
Back inside Amegakure
Front-line command center
"Lord Hanzo, this is the seventh letter we've received from Konoha's Root in the past three months. Please have a look." Hanzo's Right Hand held out an envelope. His injuries had healed two months ago. When he returned to the front, he found that his good brother, Hanzo's Left Hand, had grown thinner from exhaustion. With tears in his eyes, he took over the work.
"Take it away. I don't even need to read it to know what Danzo wants. He wants the map on Chiba, and he wants me to defeat Konoha on the front line and force them to withdraw. Then Danzo can smoothly petition the Land of Fire's daimyo to impeach the current Hokage... It seems the Land of Rain's daimyo exhausted his fortune just to trouble the Land of Fire's economy and food supplies for three short months. That dangerous man Danzo has some free time again..." Hanzo the Salamander flipped through the books on his desk and shook his head calmly.
"Then... Lord Hanzo, what should we do?" Hanzo's Right Hand asked.
"Right Hand, you're clever. Do you really not know what I'm thinking? Don't forget, we're both survivors of the Salamander experiments in Amegakure." Hanzo the Salamander looked at his scarred palm and spoke slowly.
Hanzo's Right Hand replied, enunciating each word. "Do nothing. Let Konoha keep fighting among themselves. They won't have time to send anyone after Lord Chiba."
Hanzo the Salamander narrowed his eyes and rested a finger on the map.
Here.
This was the largest sea in the Land of Rain,
and it was the route Konoha's forces had to take.
"With Danzo's hunger for the position of Hokage, he won't send anyone to Amegakure for a map under these circumstances. Katsuzuki is an elite Jonin, and Chiba is no longer a Chunin. Together, they can handle their enemies. That fellow who came last time might be a bit troublesome, though." Hanzo the Salamander spoke.
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