Chapter 473: Jiraiya Lacks Ambition, Tsunade is Indolent, Only Orochimaru...
Chapter 473: Jiraiya Lacks Ambition, Tsunade is Indolent, Only Orochimaru...
"As long as I can establish another remarkable achievement on the Cloud-Hidden battlefield, I will have the most impressive military exploits among everyone. At that point, I just need to steadily execute my plans, and the probability of becoming the Fourth Hokage will be very high."
"Once I become the Fourth Hokage, Root will no longer be a covert subordinate department. It will possess an equal status to the Anbu."
In the Root base, Orochimaru was painting a beautiful future for Danzo Shimura.
The reason Danzo was shouting himself hoarse to promote Orochimaru as the Hokage was not because he liked the sound of Orochimaru's name. There was a collaboration between them.
Danzo pushed for Orochimaru's promotion, and in return, once Orochimaru became the Hokage, he would reciprocate by supporting Danzo.
"Hmm, Jiraiya lacks ambition and will certainly not be able to compete with you. As for Tsunade, she has indulged herself in debauchery and is not worth considering." Danzo nodded in agreement.
In fact, painting a rosy picture was one of Danzo's most proficient skills. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to deceive so many Root members into working for him. Danzo's control over his subordinates was not reliant on ninjutsu; the Tongue Curse was merely a means to prevent them from leaking information.
However, at present, what Orochimaru said was not merely wishful thinking. In Danzo's analysis, the probability of Orochimaru becoming the Hokage far exceeded that of Jiraiya or Tsunade.
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi showed a tendency to favor Jiraiya, Jiraiya himself did not have such aspirations. On several occasions when Hiruzen wanted to give Jiraiya the opportunity to establish merit, Jiraiya simply refused.
"In order to establish merit more quickly, I hope that you, Danzo, can send Mugetsu to act as my assistant again. With him by my side, we will surely be able to replicate our great victory on the Eastern battlefield." Orochimaru seized the opportunity to make his request upon seeing Danzo's approving expression.
This was Orochimaru's true purpose—to bring Mugetsu with him onto the battlefield.
To prevent his intentions from being exposed, Orochimaru had barely conducted any investigations. He had simply used a legitimate reason to casually inquire about it with Danzo.
Because Danzo was extremely cautious, Orochimaru had not been able to obtain any useful intelligence, and thus, he couldn't determine if Mugetsu's refusal on that day had been the boy's own decision or Danzo's order.
Hence, Orochimaru changed his thinking. He felt that regardless of the reason, as long as he could bring Mugetsu with him onto the battlefield, everything would eventually be resolved.
As long as he could replace Danzo's position in Mugetsu's heart, all problems would be solved.
On the surface, Danzo remained calm and composed, but in his heart, he felt that Orochimaru was unrelenting in his desires.
"I can dispatch other elites to assist you, but not Mugetsu. I have other very important arrangements for him," Danzo refused Orochimaru's request.
He could proactively send Mugetsu to help Orochimaru establish merit, but he wouldn't allow Orochimaru to take the initiative to bring Mugetsu away.
However, since they were closely related partners, Danzo didn't make his refusal sound too harsh. He used the excuse that Mugetsu had other arrangements.
"I see, then it's truly unfortunate." Orochimaru's expression remained unchanged, as if he didn't care too much about it. However, his thoughts were racing as he connected all the dots.
"Danzo must have discovered something, which is why he doesn't want Mugetsu to have too much contact with me," Orochimaru thought to himself.
It must be some important arrangement for it to be more important than establishing merit on the battlefield, especially when it concerned the position of the Hokage.
And it wasn't out of narcissism that Orochimaru believed that with his performance on the Eastern battlefield, he would have left a very good impression on Mugetsu as a senior officer. He shouldn't have been directly refused like that.
Orochimaru had demonstrated his strategies and strength, spoken highly of Mugetsu to the higher-ups, and often had heart-to-heart talks with the boy. Mugetsu's impression of him should only be favorable, not the opposite.
No matter how Orochimaru thought about it, he felt that Danzo had done something.
Subsequently, Orochimaru did not bring up Mugetsu's matter again. Instead, he continued discussing their plan for the Fourth Hokage position.
Orochimaru believed in his abilities, and he was confident that he would eventually be able to influence Mugetsu.
Moreover, with Mugetsu's current strength, Danzo wouldn't be able to restrain him indefinitely. There would be many more opportunities in the future, so there was no need to keep entangling on this issue.
Nevertheless, Orochimaru made a mental note of this matter. Once he became the Hokage, he would settle the score with Danzo.
After Orochimaru left the Root base, Danzo wore a thoughtful expression.
He was a cautious person. Since he had said that he had arrangements for Mugetsu, he needed to find something for the boy to do, lest Orochimaru accidentally discovered that he had been lying.
"Let him provide training to Root members for a period of time," Danzo came up with a good idea.
Although he valued Mugetsu's strength, Danzo had not forgotten about the boy's unique teaching ability.
The more Danzo thought about it, the more pleased he became. This way, he could both placate Orochimaru and strengthen the Root ninjas.
Subsequently, Danzo went to find Hiruzen.
Orochimaru wanted to bring Mugetsu to the battlefield, but he had to go through Danzo because Mugetsu was a Root member.
If Danzo wanted to deploy Mugetsu, he would also have to go through a process and seek Hiruzen's permission first, as Mugetsu was no longer officially a Root member.
With a gloomy face, Danzo walked towards the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.
What annoyed Danzo was not only the fact that he had to obtain Hiruzen's consent to use his own subordinate, but also that he felt that Hiruzen would not easily agree this time. There would surely be some back and forth, as Danzo had lost his temper with Hiruzen during the last high-level meeting.
Danzo knew Hiruzen too well. Hiruzen was not a magnanimous person, and he would definitely seek retaliation. Danzo's current gloomy demeanor was his way of preemptively judging the situation and directly expressing his emotions.
When passing ninjas saw Danzo's gloomy expression, they didn't think there was anything unusual.
After all, this was Danzo, the Hokage's assistant. Being gloomy was the norm for him. If there ever came a day when he suddenly smiled as brightly as Mugetsu or Minato, they would think that Danzo was under too much pressure and had gone crazy.
As Danzo reached the wooden door of the Hokage's office, he was about to push it open and enter as he usually did, but he suddenly paused as if he had remembered something. He pulled the half-opened door back, retracted his outstretched foot, and instead, curled his fingers and knocked on the door.
He didn't know if it was his imagination, but when the knocking sound echoed, he seemed to hear a slight sigh of disappointment coming from inside.
"Come in." Hiruzen's voice sounded from within the Hokage's office.
Only then did Danzo push open the door and enter.
"Is there something you need, Danzo?" Hiruzen asked.
"Hi…," Danzo was just about to call Hiruzen by his name when he suddenly recalled something and quickly braked, changing his words, "Third."
Hiruzen sighed inwardly. It was a pity that Danzo was being overly cautious today.
Just now, he had deliberately called Danzo by his name, intending to guide Danzo to call him by his name as well. However, Danzo was being tight-lipped, not giving him any opportunity to release the emotions he had built up during the previous high-level meeting.
Of course, Danzo knew that his request would not be approved by Hiruzen Sarutobi. He made this request to maintain his "character setting" and his image as someone who was dedicated to strengthening Root.
He usually went to great lengths to bolster Root's power, and it was only natural for him to want to reclaim a talented individual who had been transferred out. This was the typical behavior expected of Danzo, and by doing so, he could prevent Hiruzen from suspecting the connection between him and Mu Yue.
"With both Root and Anbu combined, how many ninjas are there? And how many ninjas are there in the Ninja Academy and in Konoha as a whole? There's no way Mu Yue will be returned to Root." Hiruzen flatly refused.
There was no way Hiruzen would allow Mu Yue to return to Root. The darkness within Root was too profound and not suitable for someone like Mu Yue.
"Danzo, if you put as much effort into other matters as you do into strengthening Root, perhaps Konoha would be better off," Hiruzen said bluntly.
"I'm doing this for the sake of Konoha," Danzo replied indignantly.
"If I didn't know that, do you think your Root would still exist today?" Hiruzen set down his pipe and exhaled a puff of white smoke as he spoke.
If it weren't for the fact that Danzo was indeed working for the benefit of Konoha, Hiruzen wouldn't have allowed Root to continue existing. Their old schoolmate bond wasn't enough for Hiruzen to turn a blind eye to Root's activities.
Now that he was the Hokage, Hiruzen's top priority was Konoha, and everything else had to take a back seat.
"Since you understand this, why do you keep hindering me?" Danzo asked in a low voice.
"There are some things you've taken too far, and there are some things you shouldn't do at all," Hiruzen replied, picking up his pipe again.
It was hard to say if Danzo was wholeheartedly devoted to Konoha, but he was indeed contributing to the village in his own way.
However, Danzo lacked restraint and often went too far.
"The training for Root ninjas is acceptable, and I will make the necessary arrangements. But forget about the rest," Hiruzen directly declared his decision.
Hiruzen didn't want Mu Yue to return to Root, but it was fine for him to train the Root ninjas and, by extension, the Anbu as well. It was like killing two birds with one stone.
Danzo's face turned sour, clearly unhappy with Hiruzen's arrangement.
With a gloomy expression, Danzo turned and began walking toward the wooden door of the Hokage's office.
"Sarutobi… Hiruzen, you will regret this!"
Bang!
The sound of the door being slammed shut echoed through the room as Danzo forcefully closed it behind him.
A smile tugged at the corners of Hiruzen's mouth.
He had been holding back his laughter, finding Danzo's cautious behavior extremely amusing. He had never seen Danzo act like this before.
"If I hadn't been a bit slow back then, things would be different now," grumbled Danzo as he stormed out.
Although he had perfectly avoided any mistakes that could give Hiruzen leverage, Danzo was still upset. Why should he have to be so careful?
If he had been the first to step forward and offer to stay back during the Kanabi Bridge mission, it would be Hiruzen who would be walking on eggshells around him now.
…
Bang!
Obito imagined an invisible armor around his fist as he punched forward, and a crack appeared on the trunk of the tree in front of him, but it didn't fall.
"Damn, this Armor of Sand is so difficult," Obito muttered, scratching his head.
In truth, if he had focused his chakra using the Breath of Earth, he could have easily broken the tree. But Obito was practicing, not trying to chop down the tree. He had been attempting to use only the Armor of Sand without employing any other abilities.
"There's only one more week until the civil exam. What am I going to do?" Obito looked at the others with a hint of panic.
The civil exam usually took place once every three months, but due to the war, it had been postponed for a long time.
Obito had hoped to use this opportunity to surpass the others, but they had all improved even more during this period.
Might Guy had mastered the Rock Chakra Mode, and Shisui Uchiha had awakened the Flame Chakra Mode.
Obito didn't expect to defeat Might Guy. The combination of the Rock Chakra Mode and the Eight Inner Gates was too overpowering.
Obito's goal was to ensure that he could reliably defeat Kakashi and Shisui, increasing his chances of making it to the second round without having to face punishment.
Now, the problem was that both he and Shisui had the Flame Chakra Mode, and they both had the Three Tomoe Sharingan. But Shisui had also mastered the Armor of Sand, which gave him an edge. Obito wondered what his odds of winning against Shisui were.
In reality, Obito's Flame Chakra Mode was stronger than Shisui's, but he felt that the advantage didn't make up for Shisui's mastery of the Armor of Sand.
"It seems like Kakashi has the highest chance of winning," Obito said, hoping that he would be paired with Kakashi during the exam.
Kakashi had the Transparent World, Obito had the Flame Chakra Mode, and while Kakashi possessed the Armor of Sand, Obito had the Three Tomoe Sharingan. Their strengths were quite evenly matched.
Crackle!
A bolt of lightning flashed, and the trees in front of Kakashi fell to the ground.
"It's still not right. It's far from perfect," Kakashi said, sheathing his sword and shaking his head as he recalled Mu Yue's lightning blade that could cut through anything.
The lightning blade technique was more challenging than Kakashi had imagined, and he estimated that he wouldn't be able to use it in the upcoming civil exam. He could only hope to master it before the next one.
"In that case, I suppose my odds of winning are highest against Obito," Kakashi analyzed the strengths of Mu Yue's four disciples.
After the Eastern Front battle, each of them had improved to varying degrees. Might Guy showed the most significant progress, followed by Shisui, while Kakashi and Obito were on par with each other.
"Great Fire Annihilation: Fire Emperor!"
Shisui, who had entered the Flame Chakra Mode, unleashed a barrage of fire techniques toward the river.
With the civil exam approaching, Shisui had to temporarily put his plan to expand his influence on hold and focus on intense training. He needed to become more proficient in the Flame Chakra Mode before the exam began.
Might Guy was going all out, training with heavy weights, and his passion inspired Rock Lee to join him in the rigorous exercises.
(End of Chapter)
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