https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-585-Reactions-in-the-Ninja-World/12558868/
Chapter 586: I am Uchiha Madara
Chapter 586: I am Uchiha Madara
Being promoted from a squad leader in the Anbu to a full-fledged captain, the only tangible difference for Mu Yue, who had no subordinates, was the larger office space he now occupied within the Anbu compound.
Mu Yue now possessed a grand office similar to that of Danzo Shimura.
"Yamanaka Yoki, Aoyama Hiroto..." Mu Yue flipped through the list of sensory ninja profiles given to him by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Due to the Yamanaka clan's long history of practicing unique secret techniques, Mu Yue noticed that many members of the clan possessed innate sensory abilities.
Mu Yue recalled the faces associated with the names, marking the names of those he believed had the potential to become Jounin-level sensory ninja with a tick.
As he perused the profiles, Mu Yue skipped over all the sensory ninja with the surname Hyuga.
Due to the existence of the Byakugan bloodline limit, in a strict sense, all members of the Hyuga clan could be considered sensory ninja.
It made sense for Obito Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake to learn the Seeing-Hearing-Smelling-Tasting-Touching technique, as it not only served as a sensory ninja technique but also allowed them to perceive attacks beyond their visual range.
However, the same could not be said for the Byakugan, which already provided its users with excellent sensory ninja capabilities and a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision.
In most cases, where their abilities overlapped, learning the Seeing-Hearing-Smelling-Tasting-Touching technique was not particularly necessary for ninja with the Byakugan unless they reached a certain level of mastery.
After selecting twenty individuals, Mu Yue instructed the Anbu to send the list to Hiruzen Sarutobi for approval.
Many of those he had chosen already held positions in various departments, such as the Analysis Division and the Sensor Division, and they couldn't just abandon their posts to follow Mu Yue based on his word alone; proper procedures had to be followed.
Moreover, it would be troublesome for Mu Yue to personally notify so many people, especially considering his position as an Anbu captain.
However, Mu Yue estimated that the final number of participants might exceed the twenty names on his list.
Firstly, while there were Anbu members on the list, there were no Root members. Danzo Shimura would undoubtedly want his subordinates to master the Seeing-Hearing-Smelling-Tasting-Touching technique as well, so he would likely add at least a couple of names.
Additionally, other high-ranking officials or prominent clans would likely try to use their connections to secure spots for their members once they got wind of this opportunity.
After all, the ability to sense malicious intent was highly valuable.
Events unfolded just as Mu Yue had anticipated.
That very evening, Mu Yue received a message from Danzo Shimura, requesting his presence at the Root base.
"Mu Yue, why isn't there a single Root ninja on the list for the Seeing-Hearing-Smelling-Tasting-Touching training?" Danzo asked, his face darkening as he glared at Mu Yue.
The last time they had spoken, Danzo had refrained from specifically mentioning this matter because he believed that Mu Yue was aware of its importance and would handle it accordingly.
Now, seeing the final list, Danzo felt a sense of betrayal.
Mu Yue's current situation was unique, as he spent more time in the Hokage's office than at the Root base. Danzo was concerned that Hiruzen Sarutobi's favors would corrupt Mu Yue's loyalty.
However, Danzo was at a loss for what to do. After all, what Hiruzen could offer Mu Yue was far greater than anything he could provide.
Mu Yue feigned confusion, "There weren't any Root ninja on the list that the Third Hokage gave me."
He surmised that either Danzo's covert actions had been discovered, or Danzo had been acting too rashly in front of Hiruzen lately, prompting this deliberate snub.
"What?! Hiruzen actually..."
Realizing that he had wrongfully accused his lieutenant, Danzo's expression softened considerably.
Of course, the anger in Danzo's heart had not truly dissipated; in fact, it had only intensified. However, with the target of his ire absent, he had no outlet for his frustration.
It was only because it was after work hours that Danzo refrained from marching to the Hokage's office to demand an explanation from Hiruzen.
"Mu Yue, here are cultivation resources sufficient for half a year." Danzo abruptly changed the subject, handing Mu Yue a scroll.
Although he had wrongly accused Mu Yue, Danzo had no intention of apologizing to his subordinate.
In his eyes, doing so would undermine his authority and affect his subordinates' obedience.
If anyone were to think that he, Danzo Shimura, was easy to talk to, then chaos would ensue.
Mu Yue made some perfunctory replies before taking his leave.
He felt that the current situation between Danzo and Hiruzen was ideal.
With Hiruzen keeping Danzo occupied, the latter would have less time to concoct his grand schemes.
"It's becoming increasingly difficult to control him. I need to come up with a solution," Danzo muttered to himself, his brows furrowed in concentration, after Mu Yue had left the Root office.
It was clear that Mu Yue had not betrayed him; Hiruzen Sarutobi was the one interfering.
However, without the curse mark and with Mu Yue spending most of his time away from Root, Danzo felt insecure.
Given Mu Yue's current strength, even if he betrayed Danzo and defected to Hiruzen's side, there was little Danzo could do about it. He could only find opportunities to make things difficult for Mu Yue.
"Should I involve him in my collaboration with Orochimaru?" Danzo thought of a rather intriguing idea.
The reason for his close cooperation with Orochimaru was not because they shared a deep bond but because they both knew too many of each other's dark secrets.
If Hiruzen were to uncover all their dealings, the best-case scenario would be life imprisonment.
By involving Mu Yue, he, too, would be tied to their misdeeds, and they would all sink or swim together.
"He wants to develop Wood Release, and Hashirama's cells are our most important experiment," Danzo thought, becoming increasingly convinced that his plan was feasible.
The only downside to this plan was that Mu Yue might gradually break free from his subordinate status and become more of a collaborator on equal footing, like Orochimaru.
This was the aspect that gave Danzo pause.
Even with Mu Yue's current position and strength, and despite the fact that he rarely spent time at Root, Danzo had no opportunity to assign missions to him.
Just as Danzo was deep in thought, a voice that was unfamiliar yet vaguely familiar suddenly rang out in the office.
Danzo's grip tightened on the kunai on his desk as he looked ahead, and a figure wearing a spiral mask and a robe appeared in his office without a sound.
Danzo's expression remained unchanged, but his heart stirred with shock.
"How did he do it? He sneaked into the Root base without a sound, even into my office!"
After all, the alert level in his office was no less than that of the Hokage's office. The fact that this person could infiltrate his office undetected meant that they could breach any part of Konoha.
"Who are you? How dare you intrude on Konoha's confidential site?" Danzo asked, his face darkening as he secretly gathered chakra.
As the masked man did not make any hostile moves, Danzo refrained from using ninjutsu for the time being.
His office contained many confidential documents, and their destruction would be troublesome.
More importantly, Danzo did not want to alert Sarutobi Hiruzen and bring him here. While he did not keep the things he was most ashamed of in this office, there were still some things he did not want the Hokage to discover.
"Hehe, there's nowhere in this world that I, Uchiha Madara, cannot go," the masked man said with a strange laugh.
Hearing the masked man's words, Danzo's pupils contracted sharply, and his surprise turned to shock.
He finally understood why the voice sounded vaguely familiar—it belonged to Uchiha Madara!
Danzo was born before the founding of Konoha, so he had seen Madara and Senju Hashirama.
"Uchiha Madara... he should have been killed by the First Hokage. Why is he..."
"No, it's just the voice. It must be a disguise," Danzo thought.
Having served as the Hokage's assistant for many years, Danzo had experienced many storms and was able to quickly calm himself.
He did not believe that this person was Uchiha Madara and thought that the speaker had an ulterior motive. After all, there were all sorts of strange jutsu in the ninja world, and imitating a voice was not out of the realm of possibility.
If Madara had survived, why hadn't he attacked Konoha after Hashirama's death?
Even if Madara were still alive, it had been so long, and he should be an elderly man by now. He shouldn't be able to easily infiltrate Danzo's Root organization.
"Uchiha Madara, you are no longer a ninja of Konoha. What is your purpose here?" Danzo did not expose the other party's identity but played along.
It was just a name, and Danzo did not want to argue. He wanted to draw the masked man out.
"You desire the Ninjutsu Tradition and the Rinnegan, don't you?" The masked man smiled at Danzo.
Danzo's heart skipped a beat. He had not expected this "Uchiha Madara" to know about Root's actions in the Rain Country.
"Does Root have his spies, or does he have stronger intelligence capabilities in the Rain Country than Root?" Danzo wondered.
It was a serious matter for a spy to exist within the secretive Root organization.
"That's also what I want. Work with me. The Rinnegan will be mine, and we will share the Ninjutsu Tradition," the masked man continued.
Danzo was about to refuse outright. He was not the type to work for others; others worked for him.
But he held back. The masked man's words had piqued his interest.
"What is the Ninjutsu Tradition? How will we share it?" Danzo asked, suppressing his emotions.
He had been trying to investigate the Ninjutsu Tradition, but so far, he had not discovered much.
"The Ninjutsu Tradition is now with Sou Yuuke, or rather, in his brain.
He suddenly appeared, and despite his young age, he has mastered the nature transformation of the seven chakra attributes and can perform various ninjutsu with ease. Do you think he achieved all this through normal training?" The masked man smiled at Danzo.
Danzo shook his head. Of course, he did not think that Sou Yuuke had achieved all this through his own training.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen was not as talented as Sou Yuuke at his age. But setting aside Mu Yue, who had recently risen to prominence, Sarutobi was already the second genius of Konoha, a super genius who had made his teacher, Senju Tobirama, feel inferior.
Moreover, before Sou Yuuke appeared in the Rain Country, there was no record of him belonging to any major ninja force.
Advanced ninja knowledge was a monopolized resource. Was it possible that Sou Yuuke had figured out all that ninja knowledge on his own? If so, Danzo would suspect that he was the reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Paths.
"The secret to Sou Yuuke's power lies in his memory. As long as we kill him, I have a way to extract all his memories intact, regardless of any protective measures," the masked man said mysteriously.
"No, your methods might have some sort of backdoor. What if, in the end, I don't get anything?
I agree to a collaboration, but change the condition to giving me the Rinnegan. Once I confirm that the Ninjutsu Tradition you shared is genuine, I will give you one of the Rinnegan," Danzo thought for a moment and said.
Even if the other party was a fake Uchiha Madara, as long as he could obtain the Rinnegan and the Ninjutsu Tradition, Danzo would be willing to collaborate.
The Ninjutsu Tradition was a secret that could create top-tier powerhouses, and the Rinnegan was said to be the eyes of the mythical creator. Either one would greatly enhance Danzo's strength.
Danzo saw a glimmer of hope to surpass Sarutobi.
As he spoke, the masked figure gathered chakra, causing a small tree to grow rapidly in Danzo Shimura's office.
"Wood Release!" Danzo could no longer feign composure, his face reflecting his shock as he stared at the masked man.
The Ninjutsu Tradition and the Rinnegan were enticing, but for now, they were like pie in the sky to him, visible but out of reach.
However, the masked man had just demonstrated Wood Release right before his eyes.
"Who is he?! Why does he have Wood Release? Could he also be a success from the experiments with Hashirama's cells?" Danzo's mind raced with questions.
Although Danzo had a Wood Release ninja under his command, it was a different matter for him to possess that ability himself.
Moreover, if the masked man had truly unlocked the secrets of Hashirama's cells, it meant he had the capability to mass-produce Wood Release ninjas. Danzo shuddered at the thought of rows upon rows of gigantic wooden soldiers on the battlefield.
At that moment, Danzo suddenly suspected that the masked man could be Uchiha Madara, the one who had found a way to extend his lifespan.
If the masked man was indeed Uchiha Madara, then everything he had shown so far made sense.
His ability to ignore Konoha's grand barrier, his powerful strength that allowed him to infiltrate the Root base with ease, and the possibility of a hidden superpower backing him.
"Agreed, but I have one request. Before you help me master Wood Release, if we obtain the Rinnegan, I must possess one of them. Once I have mastered Wood Release, I will return the Rinnegan to you," Danzo replied after some thought.
Danzo was reluctant to give up on the Rinnegan, but compared to the uncertain benefits of the Rinnegan, the powerful Wood Release was undoubtedly more practical.
Of course, the main reason was that Danzo found himself in a passive position in this transaction.
He did not know the masked man's true identity or the power behind him, yet the masked man could sneak into his office unnoticed.
If given the chance, Danzo would still try to find a way to achieve the outcome where he got everything.
After all, the Rinnegan was the legendary Sage's eyes, and just from the masked man's obsession with them, Danzo could tell that the Rinnegan was no ordinary power.
If the Rinnegan wasn't exceptionally strong, why would the masked man offer Wood Release as compensation?
"How do we collaborate?" Danzo asked, suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his mind.
The most important thing now was to work together to get their hands on Sou Yuuke and Nagato; otherwise, everything was just talk.
"For now, you need to strengthen your forces in the Rain Country as much as possible. If necessary, borrow the power of Konoha to strike at the Ninjutsu Tradition. When it's time for you to act, you will receive a message," the masked man replied.
Danzo frowned. This arrangement would make him the masked man's subordinate.
As he thought about the rewards he could gain, his rising emotions subsided. As long as he could obtain Wood Release, the Rinnegan, and the Ninjutsu Tradition, everything would be worth it.
"One last question before I leave," the masked man said, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"I may not answer," Danzo said indifferently, not truly considering himself the masked man's subordinate.
"Then, what is it like to have a will?"
Danzo's eyelids twitched violently, and he felt that the masked man was deliberately saying such things to insult him. He remained silent, his face darkening.
He had been prepared for the masked man to inquire about Konoha's secrets, but this was what he got instead?
Seeing that Danzo wasn't going to answer, the masked man revealed a disappointed expression, opened the door, and silently disappeared into the ground.
"Is this a deliberate attempt to mess with my judgment? Who are you...?" Danzo's expression turned gloomy as he sensed the other's aura suddenly vanish.
Even though they were supposed to be collaborators, the fact that the masked man could come and go in the Root base without his permission made Danzo wary.
If he could appear in the Root base so easily, he could also appear in Danzo's home.
What if he infiltrated Danzo's home while he was asleep? That thought sent a shiver down Danzo's spine.
Danzo furrowed his brows, completely clueless about the masked man's identity.
"However, even if you are Uchiha Madara, you are but a weak and elderly Madara, not the one who could injure the First Hokage," Danzo thought, his brows relaxing as he realized this point.
If it were Uchiha Madara in his prime, there would be no need for collaboration. Madara could have just attacked the Ninjutsu Tradition and killed Nagato and Sou Yuuke by himself.
Since the masked man wanted to collaborate with him, it proved that he couldn't handle the Ninjutsu Tradition alone and needed Danzo's strength. Otherwise, the masked man could have kept the Rinnegan and the Ninjutsu Tradition to himself.
"Should I get Orochimaru involved?" Danzo thought of his partner in crime.
Then he shook his head. The more people involved, the more benefits would need to be divided, and he didn't want another competitor for the Rinnegan.
What if Orochimaru was also promised Wood Release? That would only make things more difficult for Danzo.
Currently, he and Orochimaru were partners because he wasn't strong enough, and his influence wasn't large enough.
If he were strong enough, Orochimaru could be discarded.
The next day, in the morning.
After handling Root affairs, Danzo Shimura headed straight for the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.
The Ninjutsu Tradition, the Rinnegan, and Wood Release were all alluring, but Danzo couldn't pass up the opportunity to gain a subordinate with the Perception ability, which was within reach.
The wooden door was pushed open forcefully, and soon after, the Anbu outside the door vaguely heard a heated discussion coming from within.
After the discussion ended, it was followed by a loud slam of the door, signaling Danzo's exit from the Hokage's office.
(End of Chapter)
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