Danzo PUAing Himself

Inside the Hokage's Office, the air was as heavy as lead.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk, smoke curling from his pipe, yet unable to dispel the gloom between his brows. Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, Konoha's two elder advisors, stood on either side, their expressions grave.

Naruto stood before them, the tears in his orange jacket still stained with dust from the arena.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Hiruzen finally spoke, tapping his pipe against the ashtray.

"Your actions during today's preliminary round were an open provocation against the Hokage's authority! What did you take Konoha's rules for?"

"I did not provoke anyone's authority." Naruto replied, his tone as even as if he were proofreading a report. "I merely enforced another set of rules at the end of the existing ones."

"Impudent!" Homura barked. "Naruto, do you not even have the attitude to admit your mistake?"

"I am not arguing." Naruto turned toward him. "I am merely stating facts. Rock Lee is a valuable military asset of Konoha. His fighting spirit and taijutsu potential are irreplaceable among all Genin. Once Gaara had already won, his subsequent attack constituted malicious destruction against a non-combatant. My intervention was loss prevention."

"Loss prevention?" Koharu sneered. "You make it sound simple. You said you intended to purify and judge Gaara. Do you know how Sunagakure will view our actions? This is a diplomatic issue!"

"Diplomacy is a game founded on equal strength." Naruto said. "Demonstrating to our allies that we possess the resolve to protect our own living forces at any cost is far more valuable than hypocritical peace. It will give them one more thing to consider before they betray us."

"Besides, why should Konoha care about Sunagakure's attitude?"

Hiruzen's pupils contracted.

Naruto's logic was cold and cruel, yet internally consistent and impossible to refute.

"What about your relationship with Root?" Hiruzen changed the subject, his tone becoming heavier. This was the true reason he had summoned Naruto; everything before it had merely been preamble. "Do not tell me that strange weapon of yours, along with that taijutsu that does not resemble a ninja's, has nothing to do with Danzo."

"My cooperation with Lord Danzo is based on a shared understanding." Naruto admitted frankly. "The radiance of the Will of Fire requires purer, more efficient shadows to protect it. And I will become that shadow."

He took a step forward.

"Third Hokage, the Will of Fire you believe in is too warm, and too weak. It can unite people's hearts, but it cannot efficiently eliminate threats. It will sacrifice an absolutely loyal soldier for an enemy who might possibly be redeemed. That is the least efficient form of internal attrition."

"Your era needed love and trust. But the era that is coming needs order and steel."

"I am the error-correction mechanism responsible for sweeping away all threats, unbound by emotion, ensuring that Konoha's system can continue operating. A true shadow."

The office fell into deathly silence.

Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu—the three highest authorities in Konoha—had been utterly stunned by a twelve-year-old boy using a theory they had never heard before.

A wave of dizziness rose within them.

The Naruto before them was not Minato's son, nor the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, but an absolutely rational monster wearing human skin.

He did not want to become Hokage. He wanted to become the ruler of Konoha's dark side.

Hiruzen realized that things had completely slipped beyond his control. Danzo could not control Naruto, and neither could he.

He had to... he had to find someone.

Someone who could use another method to pull Naruto back onto the "right path."

"You may leave." Hiruzen waved his hand wearily.

Naruto turned and left without the slightest hesitation.

After he departed, Hiruzen immediately gave an order to the ANBU behind him.

"Contact Jiraiya in secret. Tell him to return to the village at once!"

"Lord Hokage," the ANBU said, dropping to one knee, "according to our intelligence, Lord Jiraiya... returned to the village several days ago."

Naruto walked out of the office, and the door behind him closed soundlessly, shutting out the shock and contemplation of the three elders within.

A young guard stood watch outside, his posture rigid and his aura steady, like a lifeless statue.

Naruto did not slow his pace. As he passed by, he merely gave the guard a light sidelong glance.

In that instant, the guard's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

That was enough.

According to Zero's intelligence, this man was ostensibly ANBU, but in truth one of Danzo's informants planted within the Hokage Building.

Those shocking remarks in the office had appeared to be a showdown with Hiruzen, but were actually a carefully designed performance report.

Hiruzen and the two elder advisors had long since become rigid in thought. Saying anything more to them would be like playing music to a cow. They were relics of the old era, system flaws that needed to be "corrected."

The real audience was the leader of Root, hidden in Konoha's deepest shadows.

Danzo needed to be properly controlled with one stick followed by one carrot after another.

Root's base.

It was cold and damp, and the air carried a strange blend of disinfectant and soil.

Danzo sat upright in the seat of honor, the bandages over the right side of his face making him seem even more sinister under the dim lighting.

A Root ninja knelt on one knee and recounted everything that had just happened in the Hokage's Office word for word, in a completely flat tone.

When he heard, "Your era needed love and trust. But the era that is coming needs order and steel," the muscle beneath Danzo's bandaged eyelid twitched faintly.

And when the line, "I am the error-correction mechanism responsible for sweeping away all threats, unbound by emotion, ensuring that Konoha's system can continue operating," was repeated, the very air in the secret chamber seemed to freeze.

The reporting ninja remained silently kneeling, not daring to make the slightest sound.

After a long while.

"Heh."

An unreadable chuckle escaped Danzo's throat, dry as two sheets of sandpaper scraping together.

"Sarutobi... that old fool is probably wishing he could chew his pipe to pieces by now."

He could imagine the expression on his "dear friend's" face right now. It must have been spectacular.

Danzo became increasingly convinced that he had made the right bet.

"Sarutobi will seek out Jiraiya. He wants to use that hypocritical master-disciple affection and those bonds beneath the sunlight to pull this 'monster' back onto the right path."

"Utterly ridiculous."

Danzo stopped pacing, excitement and greed gleaming in his one eye.

"How could a beast that has already tasted blood and power possibly return to chewing on that dull grass?"

What he had always wanted was never a hero bathed in sunlight.

What he wanted was a shadow who could understand him, carry out his will, and be even more extreme and efficient than he was!

Uzumaki Naruto perfectly fulfilled all of those requirements.

As for control...

"Continue monitoring him," Danzo ordered. "Keep a close watch on the official matches of the Chunin Ninja Exams."

"I want to see with my own eyes what other surprises this brat can bring."

Naruto's apartment was as neat and clean as ever, like a barracks dormitory.

He took off his damaged jacket and threw it into the trash. Then he sat at the table and began reviewing everything.

The Forest of Death, the battle against Orochimaru.

The preliminary round, his intervention on Rock Lee's behalf.

In his mind, he broke down and analyzed every detail of both battles.

The conclusion came quickly.

His tactical system had an obvious weakness.

Shadow Clones were perfect "soldiers"—absolutely obedient and fearless of death. But those soldiers were bare-handed. Against an enemy on Orochimaru's level, ordinary taijutsu attacks were far too inefficient.

The Chainsword was perfect "standard equipment," but with his current energy, mass-producing them alone was too difficult. He could not equip every unit with one.

He needed a... mass-producible ranged attack method that could equip every Shadow Clone.

A cost-effective solution for maximizing combat power.

His fingers lightly tapped the tabletop. Soon, a ninjutsu he had overlooked surfaced in his mind.

The A-rank ninjutsu developed by the Third Hokage—the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.

A thought suddenly opened up his mind.

If one shuriken could be cloned into hundreds...

Then what about a Chainsword?

Naruto walked to the corner and picked up an encrypted communicator. This was the White Crow channel.

He entered an instruction.

["White Crow" requests access to the A-rank ninjutsu scroll: "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique."]

[Reason: Development of a new group combat model.]

Elsewhere, at Root's base.

Zero presented Naruto's request to Danzo exactly as received.

"Oh?" Danzo sat in his chair, a flicker of interest appearing in his eye. "He wants that technique?"

"Yes, Lord Danzo." Zero lowered his head. "Lord White Crow believes Root's combat methods can be further optimized to improve the lethality of group operations."

"Very good." A satisfied curve formed at the corner of Danzo's mouth.

Actively seeking power and pursuing efficiency—this too was the will of Root.

This Uzumaki Naruto was even more perfect than Danzo had imagined.

"Approved." Danzo did not hesitate. "Give him the scroll. Tell him that Root needs to see results."

"Yes."

Zero raised his head, and the smoothness of the process made him feel somewhat uneasy.

Not a single bit of the flattery he had prepared at length had been needed.

As expected of the political commissar. Had he already earned Danzo's trust to such a degree?

There was much to learn.

Several days later.

Konoha's public bathhouse.

Rising steam blurred the view, while the sound of rushing water drowned out the clamor outside.

Naked, Naruto leaned against the edge of the bath, his eyes closed.

The regular training, battles, and intense mental strain all required regular "maintenance" to keep the body-machine operating at peak condition. Bathing was the simplest and most effective method of relaxation.

He was sorting through his plans for the Chunin Ninja Exams Finals, as well as how to use this time to completely master the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique and apply it to the Chainsword.

Then—

A strange cackling laugh shattered the bathhouse's tranquility.

A tall figure appeared atop the partition wall separating the men's bath from the women's bath.

The man had white hair like a lion's mane, a forehead protector bearing the character for "oil," and wooden sandals on his feet. He was furtively craning his head toward the women's bath.

"Ohohoho... Inspiration, inspiration has struck! This is youth!"

While letting out a lecherous laugh, the man pulled out paper and a pen, seemingly recording something.

"For the readers' enjoyment, research is essential! It absolutely isn't because I'm lustful."

Naruto opened his eyes.

His ice-blue pupils calmly watched the man on the wall whose behavior was clearly abnormal.

According to a database comparison, this man's features had a 99.9 percent match with Jiraiya—the fellow disciple of Orochimaru, Konoha's Sannin and an S-rank rogue ninja.

A top-level combatant who should have been outside the village on a long-term mission was now peeping into the women's bath like a pervert.

Naruto did not make a sound.

He merely rose silently from the water, picked up a towel beside him, and dried himself.

Then he walked behind the white-haired man, who was still by the wall.

He stretched out his hand and picked up a bar of soap.

The next second, his arm muscles tensed instantly. With a standard throwing motion, he viciously hurled the soap in his hand at the back of Jiraiya's head.

The throw was precise and powerful.