I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 31

"Danzo, you're being too aggressive. What matters now is internal stability. There are places all over the village that need money." Sarutobi Hiruzen nearly blurted out, "I'm the Hokage."

That was close. It had come out far too naturally.

Mostly because it had been so long since he'd argued with Danzo that old habits had taken over.

"Not being aggressive at all. Though the Hannya Group is only an insignificant little organization, this is a very bad sign. It proves that the village's deterrence beyond its borders is declining." Shimura Danzo spoke coldly. "So many people are risking their lives for the village out there, yet the village begrudges them even a bit of funding. That is not what a Hokage should do!"

"Huh?" Namikaze Minato was dumbfounded. "Lord Danzo, are you talking about me?"

"Fourth Hokage, I wasn't talking about you. It just slipped out!"

Namikaze Minato: "..."

"You're being utterly unreasonable!" Sarutobi Hiruzen slapped the table in anger.

"I think you've gone senile!" Shimura Danzo stomped his foot furiously and waved his cane.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura silently moved their seats a little farther away.

Namikaze Minato looked out the window.

He felt that there probably would not be any lunch today.

"Give Root another ten million ryo. Not a single ryo more!"

"Are you joking? The Hannya Group alone cost me two million ryo. Ten million? That's not even enough to cover Root's expenses for one month! I'm telling you, Hiruzen, the Rock Ninja and Cloud Ninja have been watching the village this whole time!"

"How did a small organization like the Hannya Group cost two million ryo? Did you embezzle funds again?"

"What do you mean, 'again'? Hiruzen, which eye saw me embezzle funds?"

"Do I need to see it? Two million! Are the Hannya Group even worth that?"

"Ask the Fourth Hokage. He approved the authorization!"

Namikaze Minato: "..."

What was going on? Why did everything keep getting dragged back to him today?

"Minato, is that true?" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Namikaze Minato suspiciously.

It should not have been. What were the Hannya Group? Were they worth two million ryo?

"It is. Multiple factors were considered." Namikaze Minato gave a bitter laugh. "On one hand, they killed village shinobi and caused a very bad impact. On the other, the intelligence they possessed regarding a secret realm was confirmed to be genuine."

"Even so, two million ryo wasn't necessary. That's too expensive." Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a little pained, but he still acknowledged Namikaze Minato's judgment.

The intelligence about the secret realm was one matter. But since they had killed the village's shinobi, they definitely had to be struck back at hard.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was someone who treated military operations with caution, but that came with a prerequisite: the opponent had to be one of the other four great ninja villages.

Against such opponents, one misstep could cost both sides tens of thousands of lives.

The Hannya Group? Sorry, they were not worthy of his caution.

"By the way, who carried out the mission?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked.

"It was Uchiha Shingen," Namikaze Minato said. "You know what Shingen is like. Actually, this mission was also meant to observe him properly."

"Oh..." Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze changed. "That young man the Mist Ninja are so wary of."

"That's right. During this period, Root found that Uchiha Shingen's reputation in the Mist Hidden Village has surpassed even Uchiha Shisui's." Shimura Danzo spoke coldly, his anger still not spent. "The bloodline ninja clans of the Mist Hidden Village have ordered the ninja of their clans to avoid him."

"So that Ice Release of his truly is a bloodline limit." Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up his pipe. "The Uchiha Clan truly has so many geniuses..."

"This can no longer be evaluated with the word 'genius.'" Shimura Danzo coldly interrupted his old friend. "He changed the ironclad rule that the Sharingan cannot copy bloodline limits. Two million ryo—would that be enough to uncover his secrets?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen ignored him. He knew this old fellow too well; responding now would only make him more worked up.

Hmph, even if I'm no longer the Hokage, don't think you can argue me into defeat! I simply won't argue with you!

"Minato, what did you want to observe about him?"

"Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I've always felt that something was off about the descriptions of his Body Flicker Technique in the intelligence reports."

"Hm? You mean..." Sarutobi Hiruzen was confused at first, then suddenly startled.

Shimura Danzo and the others reacted the same way.

They were all seasoned veterans, tempered through countless trials in the ninja world. In their minds, nothing was impossible.

As long as there was even the slightest possibility, it was possible.

Their teacher had once liked to use a certain technique in combination with the Body Flicker Technique. Without that intelligence, many enemies had died believing they had been killed by the Body Flicker Technique.

Even now, many people in the ninja world believed that the current Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was simply absurdly fast at the Body Flicker Technique.

"Could that be possible..." Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and looked toward his old friend.

"The Flying Thunder God Technique was a technique our teacher created back in the Warring States era. The Uchiha Clan all knows of it. That man may well have copied it with the Sharingan. Though he might not have obtained the true essence of the Flying Thunder God, we must guard against it!"

"Indeed, that possibility still exists..." Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a headache coming on.

The Hokage's office fell silent.

Meanwhile, in the distant Land of Stone, Uchiha Shingen also fell silent as he looked at the sight before him.

"This is the entrance you mentioned?" He looked coldly at the Hannya Group jonin beside him. "I told you, didn't I? This intelligence wasn't even my main objective. It only added another one million ryo. Are you screwing with me?"

Chapter Four: Finding the Entrance

Mount Myoboku, Dragon Cave, and the Wet Bone Forest were the three most famous secret realms of senjutsu inheritance in the ninja world.

Don't get the wrong idea—they had not become famous because of the Legendary Sannin. These three secret realms had been renowned long before that.

Before Uchiha Shingen lay a deep loess ravine, its two walls covered in countless cave dwellings.

Was this fucking jerking him around? Was he supposed to crawl through every single cave?

If he had not habitually verified it with his Sharingan first, he really would have thought they were playing him.

Unfortunately, the Sharingan could detect lies but could not perform a detailed soul search. Otherwise, there would have been no need to ask.

"It really is here. We followed the natural energy overflowing from the earth to find this place," said the Hannya Group jonin.

He felt just as stifled. If not for the sake of his family, who were still on the run, would he have so readily revealed a place his organization had searched for so long?

"Your organization actually has someone capable of sensing natural energy? Even if it's only overflow, that's still incredible." Uchiha Shingen was unconvinced. "With that ability, why didn't you go in yourselves? Why wait until now?"

"It wasn't just us. There is also a special clan. They are born able to sense and absorb the natural energy circulating through the earth. We found this place through them."

"And where is that 'special clan'? No offense, but at your level, there's no way you could beat ninja capable of using natural energy."

"We were only following them in secret and never clashed with them," the Hannya Group jonin honestly admitted. "There was one time when a fight almost broke out, but after they learned why we were there, they ignored us."

Of course they ignored them. Was natural energy really so easy to control? This was something only talent could grant.

Still, the clan the Hannya Group had mentioned was most likely Jugo's clan. They had lived for generations in a place where natural energy overflowed from the ground, passively gaining a portion of senjutsu's power. Orochimaru had found Dragon Cave through that clan.

Throughout the thousand-year Warring States period, ninja were not merely familiar with natural energy—they knew it inside out. They drooled over that power.

The Ten-Tails revived in the original timeline had possessed immeasurable power precisely because it could freely manipulate the natural energy circulating between heaven and earth.

But familiarity was one thing. Natural energy was like a lady—it would not just casually get a room with anyone.

The three great secret realms were famous because their senjutsu inheritances corresponded to the three mediums through which natural energy circulated.

Earth, water, and air.

Dragon Cave was "earth," the Wet Bone Forest was "water," and Mount Myoboku was "air."

In theory, if someone could obtain the inheritances of all three secret realms, they could draw natural energy from any corner of this world.

Senju Hashirama was such an extraordinary man, though he had not necessarily obtained his secret from the three great secret realms.

After all, this guy had never found ninjutsu difficult from childhood to adulthood. And the things he could do, others could not learn. If you asked him to teach a class, he would probably say, "First do this, then this, then do it like this, and that's it... Huh? Why couldn't you do it?"

It was not only ninja. Even influential ordinary people knew of natural energy's existence.

Of the three great secret realms, Mount Myoboku had the broadest reputation and the most people knew of it. Every year, countless people searched for Maze Mountain, but even if they found it, they could not enter Mount Myoboku without the toads' permission.

Information about the Wet Bone Forest was practically nonexistent in the outside world, but it had once maintained close ties with the Uzumaki Clan and the Hozuki Clan.

Dragon Cave had a rather unusual reputation. It was relatively easy to enter, but much harder to leave.

The toads of Mount Myoboku were all very well-connected. They liked pulling strings through personal connections. Getting in depended on who you knew, but once you got in, you could get back out. Its safety rating was maxed out—otherwise, so many people would not want to take its test.

The slugs of the Wet Bone Forest were more like shut-ins. They found even moving troublesome. Even if you found the place, they would probably ignore you and make you think you had found the wrong entrance. Its safety rating was off the charts, since you could not even get into the testing grounds.

In short, for those two secret realms, there was absolutely no danger unless the visitor deliberately sought death.

Only the snakes of Dragon Cave were extremely hospitable, yet they paid no attention at all to their guests' experience. If Dragon Cave relied on tourism for a living, it would have gone bankrupt long ago.

No, wait—it did rely on tourism for a living. It was just a one-time business.

In the current ninja world, only Orochimaru had made a round trip through it and come back out.

Even so, Dragon Cave was still praised alongside Mount Myoboku and the Wet Bone Forest as one of the three sacred lands of senjutsu.

No wonder the Hannya Group had gotten so carried away after finding traces of Dragon Cave.

Either way, if Leaf Village did not kill them, the snakes probably would.

"With this many caves, have you pinpointed it?" Uchiha Shingen asked.

"There is no need to pinpoint it. This is the place. This is the entrance—anywhere here could lead into Dragon Cave," said the Hannya Group jonin. "This was a message left behind by another jonin in our organization. He could sense the natural energy overflowing from the earth."

"Where is he?"

"He never came back..."

Very good. That was very Dragon Cave.

"Then take me to where he left the message. I want to see it."

The Hannya Group jonin nodded and jumped down.

Uchiha Shingen followed behind him, descending all the way to the bottom of the ravine before stopping in front of one cave dwelling.

It had not been noticeable from above, but this cave dwelling was indeed somewhat unusual.

Its entrance was a remarkably regular doorway shape. Centered around one large cave opening, six smaller openings formed a semicircle from left to right.

And on the loess wall beside the large opening, there was a mark carved into it.

The entrances to secret realms might be mysterious, but it was not the kind of thing where you took one wrong step and suddenly slipped inside with an "Oops."

It was a little mystical—the visitor would know when they could enter, and could choose for themselves whether to do so.

The master of the secret realm probably wouldn't care. Essentially, it was a method similar to space-time ninjutsu; the entrance wasn't fixed.

But the great snakes of Dragon Cave would probably make the entrance permanent.

It was a one-time deal, after all. Those who knew, knew.

"What conditions are needed to enter?" Uchiha Shingen looked at the mark. Judging by the traces, it had been made only a few days ago.

Moreover, the mark had been carved very neatly. It was clear that whoever had made it had been in a stable environment at the time, without the slightest urgency.

They had probably even worked up the right mood before going in.

Such excellent hospitality. As expected of Dragon Cave.

"Nothing else. You just need sensory abilities. As long as you can sense things, you can enter."

"Fine. You're coming in with me." Uchiha Shingen cast a Sharingan genjutsu on him and took control.

Then, he spread out his senses.

Since the great snakes had established this place as an entrance, it meant this was a special location where natural energy overflowed in large amounts. As long as his sensory abilities were sufficient, the snake guarding the gate would open it.

With his current sensory abilities, sensing actively overflowing natural energy wouldn't be much of a problem. It would just take time.

Entering

When it came to sensing natural energy, Uchiha Shingen felt that he was probably among the better ones of his generation.

In the world of Naruto, natural energy was not a power humans could wield directly. This external energy had to be sensed, and sensory ability came from mental or life energy beyond that of ordinary people.

As for chakra, senjutsu chakra, and even so-called Yin-Yang Release, yin and yang power, the power of the Six Paths, and so on, Uchiha Shingen had formed his own understanding based on the information he had acquired over three cycles.

Chakra was composed of mental energy and physical energy. Everyone in this world naturally possessed chakra.

For a ninja to use chakra, they first had to draw upon their own mental energy and life energy, then form chakra. This process was called concentration.