"Lord Danzo."
As he emerged from the Hokage's office, the Root guard who had long been waiting there immediately approached and addressed him respectfully.
"Have them make their move," Danzo said.
"Yes."
His guard was a youth, but his bearing was remarkably composed.
He also seemed to know whom Danzo meant.
No flicker of emotion could be seen in Danzo's eyes. There was... only resolve.
Any factor that threatened the great tree that was Konoha had to be strangled in its cradle.
Although Sarutobi becoming Hokage was already a fact, and his position could not be shaken, Danzo wanted to prove to the others that, as a member of Konoha, his abilities were no less than Sarutobi's. He, too, was qualified to become Hokage.
Even if... it was too late to say anything now.
Danzo knew the details of the great battle between Amegakure and Sunagakure at the border six months earlier.
Sunagakure was also Konoha's enemy, and he paid attention to every movement the enemy made.
During wartime, intelligence was extremely important.
Hanzo of the Salamander had sent people to deliver news of the war to Konoha precisely because he hoped the fighting between Konoha and Sunagakure would grow fiercer... Danzo knew Hanzō's little scheme perfectly well, and Hanzō also knew very well that, with Root's presence in Konoha, Danzo would certainly receive "word."
Sunagakure's two geniuses.
One was Sasori, Chiyo's grandson.
The other was named Yubi... the child of civilian shinobi from Sunagakure.
Honestly, with Sunagakure's sudden increase in military strength, those "battered troops" who had received medical treatment had briefly lifted the village's morale, but looking at the war as a whole, their effect was actually very limited.
Hanzo of the Salamander was a smart man. He knew that, with the war having reached this point, Konoha would win thanks to its deep reserves.
But those people in Sunagakure could not see that.
They still wanted to fight Konoha to mutual destruction... utterly foolish.
At first... Danzo had not paid much attention to the two geniuses Hanzō mentioned. He had merely made a note of them.
When an opportunity arose in the future, he would eliminate those two youngsters in passing.
Yet he had not expected... these two, especially Yubi, a medical ninja who seemed somewhat inconspicuous in Sasori's shadow, to display considerable talent in medicine.
The "threat" Yubi posed was actually very limited, but even if there was only the slightest possibility, Danzo would no longer "stand idly by."
He would not allow even the beginnings of anything that could endanger Konoha.
Besides, he currently needed to use this war to prove that his decision-making and management of his subordinates were no worse than Sarutobi's.
Konoha could not do without him.
Just a medical ninja... The intelligence Hanzō passed along has clearly been embellished. That fellow... has it all neatly calculated. With Sunagakure's attention occupied as it is, and the way its leadership operates, they would never imagine something like this happening right under their noses...
Sometimes... the blind spot right under the light is the most frightening of all.
Danzo thought to himself.
The chill in his eyes grew increasingly apparent.
A few days later, in Sunagakure, at night.
Yubi returned home and lay on his bed.
Lately, the hospital's temporary changes had gotten on track, and he, who had originally been so busy, could finally catch his breath.
He summoned the system interface.
Host: Yubi. Identity: Sunagakure Genin (medical ninja). Age: 9. Currently saved Positive Experience Points (saving lives): 13. Saved Negative Experience Points (killing): 469. Currently redeemed shop items and abilities: Kuroo Hazama's medical notes and insights, custom scalpel (from Black Jack); Yin Healing Wound Destruction (A-rank Medical Ninjutsu. Before being struck by an opponent's attack, the user must correctly determine where the blow will land and quickly concentrate a certain amount of chakra there. After the blow lands, the wound will heal automatically.); Mystical Palm Technique (A-rank Medical Ninjutsu. Activates all the cells in a wound. Under normal circumstances, it takes only a few minutes to heal the wound.); Delicate Illness Extraction Technique (B-rank Medical Ninjutsu. A highly advanced technique capable of extracting or transplanting poisons and organs.); Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique (A-rank Medical Ninjutsu. A technique performed jointly by several medical ninja, using cells within the injured person's body to restore wounds. However, this technique requires an extremely long time and sustained concentration, so the users must periodically take turns resting to replenish their stamina.); Chakra Scalpel (A-rank Ninjutsu. Concentrates chakra in the hands to serve as a blade, allowing cuts inside a target's body without external injury. Its length can be extended at will. It can be used as a weapon, but requires a certain amount of medical knowledge.); Body Pathway Derangement (Converts chakra into electrons, interfering with the electrical signals the brain sends to the body and preventing the target from controlling their body normally.); Possession Thread (Allows threads to be attached to a fixed target and throwing knives to be controlled for effective shots.); Death Waltz (The user can manipulate threads with their fingers to perform difficult-to-detect assassination techniques. Threads can also be tied to throwing knives to control them remotely.); (This ability originates from the character Belphegor in Reborn!.)
"I've more or less redeemed all the ordinary Medical Ninjutsu... From here on, what I redeem with Positive Experience Points will be S-rank Ninjutsu or forbidden techniques," Yubi murmured.
The abilities he could obtain from the system with his experience points were not limited to this world.
But these were Ninjutsu, after all... the foundational power of this world, and they would be useful in the future.
So Yubi had spent all the Positive Experience Points he had previously earned on missions at the border, including everything he had earned saving people at the hospital over the past few months.
When he obtained the self-created Ninjutsu Blade Intent Manipulation, he had not spent a single Positive Experience Point.
Now, instead, his Negative Experience Points... were far ahead.
The newly acquired Medical Ninjutsu mainly consisted of four techniques: Yin Healing Wound Destruction, Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique, and Body Pathway Derangement.
Once he had more funds, he could redeem some of Tsunade's signature techniques, mainly Creation Rebirth and the Strength of a Hundred Technique, as well as the Yin Seal.
As for the Kekkei Genkai Dragon Life Reincarnation and Chiyo's One's Own Life Reincarnation, in Yubi's view, although these two techniques had powerful healing effects and could bring the dead back to life, their users would also die after performing them. That made them rather impractical, and there was no need to obtain them at all.
Moreover, some of Tsunade's other Ninjutsu required the summoned beast Katsuyu to use. If he redeemed them, he would still need to fulfill certain conditions, and even the summoned beast would have to be purchased with experience points. The cost was too high, and they were not particularly cost-effective... Therefore, Yubi did not intend to purchase them later, either.
Once he learned Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Technique and the like, his acquisition of power from the Naruto world would more or less be complete.
By then, his lineup of Medical Ninjutsu could already be considered among the best in the Shinobi World.
Combined with his own abilities... Yubi felt it was perfect.
By comparison, spending the same number of experience points to acquire abilities from other worlds would not only produce better results but also offer better value.
"But... the experience points I get at the hospital are pitifully few, no matter how many times I save people or how busy I am..."
"For me, being on the battlefield really is the best option."
Yubi murmured in a voice as faint as a mosquito's hum.
The second move he was making now was more or less complete.
His importance to the village went without saying.
He had also earned the villagers' affection and won their hearts.
Especially through the contributions he had made to the village.
But... these things were still not enough.
This was the Shinobi World, after all... Sometimes, certain contributions had a greater impact than military achievements.
But to silence others, fundamentally... he still needed powerful strength.
Kage was not merely a title.
It was also a symbol of one's own strength.
"When Sasori comes back... I'll leave the village with him to carry out missions."
Yubi smiled as he spoke.
That fellow Sasori thought he was slacking off in the village, enjoying a comfortable life.
Little did he know... Yubi was secretly growing stronger, too.
During this period, Yubi's spending in the system had been lavish indeed.
Naturally, the more he earned, the more he spent.
This way of arming himself by "spending money," of tangibly experiencing himself growing stronger, felt quite good.
Of course... he had risked his life to earn that "money," too.