Danzo Would Even Deceive Himself

The air inside the stone chamber had nearly solidified.

The Root ninja who had led the way already had his hand on his sword hilt, his muscles taut as dried meat. Only one thought remained in his mind: This kid probably wouldn't make it out that door alive today—and he might be silenced too, just for hearing something he shouldn't have.

Danzo's single eye was fixed firmly on Naruto, radiating the pressure of someone who wanted to skin him alive.

Yet just as the Root ninja thought Danzo would order Naruto "dealt with" the next second, the old man on the stone seat let out a rasping, bellows-like chuckle from his throat.

"Ha... hahaha!"

The laughter echoed through the empty stone chamber, exceptionally grating.

"An underground kingdom? What an underground kingdom!" Rather than becoming angry, Danzo seemed to have heard an exceedingly amusing joke. "Naruto, your words and thoughts are sharper than anyone I have ever seen. That arrogance, that fearlessness... those are precisely the things I admire most."

He slowly rose to his feet and paced back and forth before the stone seat, wearing the air of someone about to teach a lesson.

"You're right—I am centralizing power. But you don't understand why!" Danzo's voice grew impassioned. "Konoha is a great ship sailing across the sea. A storm is approaching, and danger lurks everywhere! At a time like this, can there be two voices aboard the ship? Can we let those clamoring sailors give orders at random?"

He struck the ground heavily with his cane.

"No! Absolutely not! A ship needs only one voice: an experienced captain who uses an iron hand to cut through the waves and set the course right. Even if a few disobedient sailors must be sacrificed, it is for the preservation of the entire ship!"

He stopped pacing, his lone eye blazing as he stared at Naruto.

"I, Shimura Danzō, am that captain willing to bear every curse and steer the ship alone! The Monkey's mercy will only sink this vessel. My darkness is the only route to dawn!"

His speech was stirring and impassioned, moving none more than himself.

Naruto listened calmly, feeling nothing at all. If anything, he wanted to laugh.

[Target: Shimura Danzō. His thinking has entered a closed logical loop. His self-perception is severely inflated and cannot be externally corrected.]

[Assessment: Possesses no value as a collaborator.]

[Plan revision: The original "cooperative reform" plan is revoked. Activate the contingency plan: "eliminate and take over."]

One final thought crossed Naruto's mind. I thought I might dig up a barely usable part from a garbage heap. Turns out it was just a greedy worm that mistook itself for a dragon.

When dealing with someone so utterly pleased with himself, direct debate was the least efficient course of action. You could never wake someone pretending to sleep, nor could you convince an old man living in his own heroic script.

Having understood that, Naruto decided to change the game.

His target was Root—the apparatus of violence and intelligence network represented by this organization. As for who currently managed that machine, it did not matter.

So, he withdrew the aggressive edge he had shown before and changed tack.

"Your theory may be outdated and riddled with flaws." Naruto gave it a poor review before continuing. "But the tools you have cultivated... are indeed sharp."

He glanced at the Root ninja beside him, who had remained highly tense from beginning to end.

The ninja's body stiffened. He felt as though someone had slapped a label on him reading, "High-quality tool, sharp and durable," leaving his feelings complicated.

"I also acknowledge the necessity of darkness," Naruto continued. "I simply do not agree with your captain-and-sailors method of management."

Danzo's lone eye flickered.

He could hear it: the kid's attitude had softened. He believed his lofty speech had finally moved this rebellious youth.

Excellent. The fish had taken the bait.

"Oh?" Danzo followed the step Naruto had provided, his tone carrying a hint of appraisal. "Then what kind of management do you believe is reasonable?"

"A system," Naruto answered calmly. "An absolutely rational system, unaffected by personal emotions, selfish desires, or the decline of the physical body—a system capable of self-optimization and iteration."

"In this system, there are no so-called captains or sailors. There are only different modules and components. Even the highest decision-maker is merely part of the system. His decisions must be based on optimized rational analysis, not personal heroic complexes."

"I can join Root." Naruto extended an olive branch, but his next words brought Danzo's movements to a halt.

"But I am not here to become the blade in your hand. I am here to become this system's calibrator—responsible for correcting errors, optimizing processes, and ultimately... ensuring the system's absolute stability."

The stone chamber fell silent once more.

Danzo looked at the boy before him. For the first time, he felt that the understanding he had built over decades was being struck by something unprecedented.

This kid had not come to seek refuge under him. He had come to... seize power?

"Your ambition is even greater than I imagined," Danzo said in a low voice.

"This is not ambition, Lord Danzo. It is a blueprint," Naruto corrected. "And to realize that blueprint, the first step requires absolute trust."

At last, he presented his condition.

"I will not accept any form of Curse Mark."

The moment those words left his mouth, the Root ninja beside him nearly crushed his own sword hilt.

Refuse the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal? Such a thing had never happened in Root's history! It was the foundation of what made Root Root! It was the iron law of absolute control!

"My loyalty does not need such low-level methods to guarantee it," Naruto continued. His tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable weight. "It depends only on whether our goals align. If you cannot grant even that much trust, then it proves that your so-called 'for Konoha' is, in essence, still for the sake of your own desire for control."

"Then our cooperation holds no value at all."

He had skillfully elevated his refusal to accept the Curse Mark from "refusing management" to "a test of your magnanimity" and "the ultimate question of your ideals."

Now, the ball had been kicked hard back into Danzo's court.

If he agreed, it meant breaking the iron rule he had established over decades and taking the enormous risk of being unable to control Naruto.

If he refused, it meant personally admitting that his impassioned speech had merely been a lie wrapped around selfish desire. Before this "successor" he thought so highly of, he would completely lose the moral high ground.

Danzo fell into a long silence.

His lone eye flickered uncertainly in the darkness as his mind weighed the options at high speed.

An uncontrollable Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, a monster whose ideas were even more extreme than his own...

But at the same time, a vessel capable of fully turning the Nine-Tails' power to his own use; a sharp weapon capable of flawlessly carrying out dark missions; a... possibility for the future, one that could lead Root to a higher level.

Should he gamble, or not?

In the end, his lust for power and greed for the future overcame his seasoned caution.

He would gamble. He wanted to see what this kid who called himself Konoha's political commissar could bring him.

"Fine."

A single syllable left Danzo's mouth.

"I accept."