https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-167-First-Make-the-Roots-Suffer-/12832251/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-169-Wraith-Perpetual-Motion-Machine-/12832253/
Chapter 168: Danzo Wears a Mask of Pain!
Chapter 168: Danzo Wears a Mask of Pain!
Danzo soon arrived with his men, his heart filled with anticipation. With the formidable Johei by his side, he had high hopes of capturing the Shell Organization, which had been causing so much trouble.
However, upon arrival, they discovered that the Shell Organization had already made their escape, leaving no trace behind.
Danzo could have accepted this if that was all there was to it. But as he looked at the empty warehouse, so devoid of anything that even a rat would have cried and run away, he instantly wore a mask of pain.
"How is this possible... It can't be!"
Danzo muttered to himself, refusing to believe what he was seeing.
Johei, standing beside him, felt a twitch at the corner of his mouth. Was it really too much to tease a man in his sixties like this?
But his heart told him otherwise.
"Not at all!"
"Not one bit!"
Danzo was no saint. He was known for his ruthless tactics, burning, killing, and plundering without a second thought. His darkness was as deep as it could be.
Robbing such a man didn't make Johei feel guilty in the slightest; instead, it gave him a sense of righteousness, like he was doing a service to the people.
It was a feeling of pure satisfaction!
He decided to ramp up such activities in the future, as they were truly invigorating.
"Chase them! They must still be in the village. No matter the cost, we must find them!"
Danzo gritted his teeth, his anger so intense he wished he could devour his enemies alive.
His assumption wasn't entirely wrong. Under the village's lockdown, it was nearly impossible for anyone, even a Kage-level ninja, to leave without being noticed.
Unfortunately, he had no idea that future White-Eyed Wolves and Zetsu could easily bypass such measures. If he did, he wouldn't have been so confident.
Ninjas had countless tracking methods, and Root was particularly skilled in this area. They immediately began their search.
But whether it was scent or traces, they found nothing.
"How is this possible!"
This was the shared thought of Danzo and his Root ninjas. They couldn't believe that someone could leave without a trace, not even a scent.
In reality, this was all thanks to the "Uniform" and its sealing techniques, which Root's methods couldn't detect.
Johei stood with his arms crossed, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. The sight of Danzo's pained expression was truly delightful. If the situation weren't so serious, he might have laughed out loud.
"Spreading rumors, huh? Enjoy this, you old fool!"
After a moment of savoring Danzo's pain, Johei finally spoke.
"Root Elder Danzo, I'll go report to the Hokage now!"
He usually called Danzo by his name, but the added "Elder" was a nod to Danzo's status as the top donor.
Danzo weakly waved his hand, signaling Johei to leave. He had no patience for trouble at the moment.
His mind was consumed with thoughts of how to capture the Shell Organization and where to find sponsors for Root. Asking the village for funding was out of the question. During the Great Shinobi Wars, the village struggled to secure support and investments from various sources, let alone allocate funds to Root.
"Shell Organization!!"
Danzo repeated the name, as if trying to etch it into his memory.
As Johei turned to leave, a grin spread across his face, one that would be hard to wipe off, even with an AK.
The feeling of toying with the enemy was indeed intoxicating, which was why many villains preferred to play with their prey rather than crush them with overwhelming force, often leading to their downfall.
But Danzo wasn't the protagonist; he was just a minor antagonist.
After all, he didn't have the bloodline of the Otsutsuki clan!
After leaving Root, Johei didn't go to Hyuga Sogetsu but returned to the ruins of the Hokage Tower instead.
When he arrived, he found that the truth behind the explosion had already been uncovered.
Ninjas!
Truly a remarkable profession. Even in death, they could extract the truth from their enemies' minds.
"Turns out, Genbo was actually a remnant of the Yangen Village, and he had been using his work in the village to plant explosive tags everywhere. If we hadn't caught him this time, the damage would have been far greater!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi concluded.
The absence of any evidence of Genbo planting explosive tags in the Four Great Shinobi Clans was not unusual. The secret technique used to search through a corpse's memories only revealed fragments, so missing a few details wasn't strange.
With the truth of the explosion now clear, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
They were all terrified!
If the perpetrator had planted more explosive tags elsewhere, they didn't want to end up being blown to pieces one day.
With a clear 'culprit' identified, the incident was considered resolved.
Compared to the destruction in Konoha, the infiltration of Root by the Shell Organization was a minor issue.
At least it wouldn't require much effort to investigate.
Soon, as dawn approached, the Security Department and the Anbu, with the cooperation of the Hyuga clan, finally finished searching the entire village, confirming that there were no other explosive tags or enemies.
"Stand down!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi issued the Hokage's order.
After such a long period of tension, even he was feeling the strain.
Whoosh!
Upon hearing the stand-down order, Douhei immediately vanished.
He had stayed on high alert all night, which was already more than enough. He couldn't just stay there indefinitely, could he?
Others felt the same way.
Being on high alert all night was exhausting.
If it were just for leisure, staying up for a few nights wouldn't be a problem, but maintaining intense focus in such a tense environment was truly grueling.
As the sky brightened, the village returned to its usual calm.
The residents of the village were either ninja or closely associated with them, and with the casualties being minimal, there was no widespread panic.
At most, there was a sense of anger!
How dare someone come and challenge the great Konoha?
Especially after seeing the notice posted, stating that the incident was the work of remnants from the Suna Village, the anger only intensified.
If the other village were still around, they would have been annihilated.
Meanwhile, no information related to the Shell Organization was made public.
After returning to his clan's territory, Douhei slept for half the day and only got up in the afternoon.
It wasn't that he remembered; someone had come looking for him.
The Anbu!
They were sent by the Third Hokage with a message.
"Damn it..."
Douhei felt like punching someone.
Even if he were a skilled fighter, he couldn't just beat people to death, could he?
He was supposed to be on leave.
He accepted the responsibility of guarding the festival to get back at Danzo, but now, less than a day later, it seemed like another task was being thrown at him. This was really pushing it.
Fortunately, Douhei wasn't a recent arrival, so he understood that it wasn't that the Third Hokage was being unreasonable; it was just how things worked in the ninja world.
With absolute power came absolute control!
You could take a break when they wanted you to, and when they didn't, you just had to keep working. No one would question it.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons Douhei had initially wanted to take it easy.
After becoming a full-fledged ninja, forget about salary and retirement benefits; the working hours were 007, with no breaks.
A job so demanding that even capitalists would shake their heads.
Unfortunately, he hadn't succeeded in his initial plan to take it easy, or he wouldn't be working so hard now.
Carrying this resentment, Douhei quickly got up, washed up, and followed the Anbu to the 'temporary Hokage building.'
There was no time to rebuild the Hokage building, so a temporary one was set up in a nearby house.
When Douhei arrived, he saw a lavish carriage with a family crest parked in front of the temporary building, guarded by several armored samurai with long swords.
'This must be related to the visitor.'
Douhei immediately understood that Hiruzen Sarutobi had called him because of the carriage's owner.
Without hesitation, he followed the Anbu guide into the temporary building.
Inside, he saw a figure with long grayish-white hair, wearing a white and red shrine maiden's outfit and a golden crown. She was looking at him with her ethereal eyes.
"Douhei, you're just in time!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi greeted Douhei as he entered the office.
Once Douhei was in the room, Hiruzen began introducing him to the shrine maiden, mentioning a familiar name.
(End of Chapter)
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