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Chapter 603: Danzo's Plan
Chapter 603: Danzo's Plan
After leaving Danzo's subordinate hanging for over a day, Homura finally granted him an audience in his office, escorted by a Rain Ninja.
"I hope what you have to say is worth my time," Homura said coldly, eyeing the Root Ninja before him as he sat in his office chair.
If the Root Ninja hadn't repeatedly emphasized the importance of the matter and insisted that only Homura, as the leader of the Rain Ninja Village, could make the decision, he wouldn't have bothered with this meeting at all.
There were other ninjas in the Rain Ninja Village; Homura had his own subordinates.
Sensing Homura's icy gaze, the Root Ninja's breath hitched.
"Leader Homura, this matter concerns the life and death of the Rain Ninja Village. It's not a waste of your time," the Root Ninja said, his expression turning serious.
"Life and death of the Rain Ninja Village?" Homura's eyes narrowed, his gaze turning sharp and unfriendly.
His village was doing just fine, having stayed out of the Ninja World War entirely. Where was this crisis coming from?
The Root Ninja felt the weight of Homura's stare, but as a specially trained ninja, he steeled himself and continued, "Yes."
"However, this is also an opportunity for you and the Rain Ninja Village to eliminate a rival."
"A rival?" Homura frowned, his eyes narrowing further.
"Don't you want to destroy the Ninja Sect and kill Sou Yuukei, the man who ruined your reputation?" The Root Ninja spoke in a tempting tone.
Before the failed ambush of Sou Yuukei, Homura was known in the Ninja World as an extraordinary top-tier powerhouse with an impressive demeanor.
But after his defeat at Sou Yuukei's hands, Homura's attempt to lure and kill members of the Ninja Sect in the name of 'cooperation' had nearly destroyed the positive image he had built over the years.
Now, when people spoke of Homura, they no longer thought of the formidable demi-god who had once intimidated the Ninja World. Instead, they thought of Sou Yuukei, the Ninja Master who could suppress fire-style jutsu with his water-style jutsu.
The Root Ninja couldn't fathom why Homura wouldn't hate Sou Yuukei.
However, instead of a denial, the Root Ninja was met with a gaze as cold as death, followed by an overwhelming aura that seemed to crush him.
Whoosh!
Homura's chakra erupted, and a terrifying killing intent enveloped the Root Ninja.
The Root Ninja's body stiffened instantly, his face turning pale. He felt a bone-chilling coldness seep into his bones, rising from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
In that moment, the Root Ninja clearly understood who he was dealing with.
This was the legendary Homura, the demi-god-like ninja from a small country who had made a name for himself in the Ninja World and even caused the five great ninja villages to be somewhat wary of him. He was no ordinary cat or dog.
Homura stared at the Root Ninja with cold eyes. If he couldn't deal with Sou Yuukei, how could he possibly handle a small fry like this Leaf Ninja? Homura was truly getting impatient with Danzo Shimura. First, he wanted to eliminate the Ninja Sect and Sou Yuukei, and now he was treating Homura like a mere pawn in his game.
It was true that the existence of the Rain Ninja Village and the Ninja Sect could lead to some conflicts. But if the Rain Ninja Village were to engage in a battle with the Ninja Sect now, that would truly be a matter of life and death.
Homura didn't know if his water-style jutsu could surpass Sou Yuukei's, but he was certain that Sou Yuukei's overall strength was a notch above his own.
Moreover, the Ninja Sect also had Nagato and Kakuzu, and the Rain Ninja Village had no one to match their strength.
With a disparity in high-end combat power and lacking the abundant mid-tier forces of the five great ninja villages, if the Rain Ninja Village were to engage in a conflict with the Ninja Sect, they would undoubtedly lose.
One could even say that the Rain Country would lose, as the Rain Ninja Village's defeat would leave the Ninja Sect too weakened to maintain peace in the country.
"My grudge with Sou Yuukei and the conflict between the Rain Ninja Village and the Ninja Sect are internal matters of the Rain Country. There's no need to trouble the Leaf Village," Homura said, noticing the Root Ninja's cold sweat and retracting his aura.
The Leaf Village was currently too powerful for the Rain Ninja Village to provoke. Otherwise, Homura would have killed this Root Ninja on the spot.
First, the Root Ninja claimed that the Rain Ninja Village was in mortal danger, and now he was suggesting that they kill Sou Yuukei and destroy the Ninja Sect.
"Huff," the Root Ninja breathed, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he recalled the immense pressure Homura had just exerted on him.
"Leader Homura, it's not as simple as you think," the Root Ninja persisted.
Danzo Shimura had given strict orders to convince Homura to join forces with the Root to assassinate Sou Yuukei, no matter what.
"This time, we will also dispatch forces from the Leaf Village to help you kill—"
Before the Root Ninja could finish his sentence, Homura interrupted, "I've been feeling under the weather lately and need to rest. We can discuss this another day."
The Root Ninja stared at Homura, unconvinced by his robust-sounding voice. This didn't seem like someone who was sick with a cold.
But before the Root Ninja could think of another way to persuade Homura, members of the Rain Ninja's secret intelligence unit suddenly appeared and escorted him out of the office.
Homura played his part to the end, leaving the office and returning home after the meeting.
"Danzo Shimura, what exactly are you up to?" Homura muttered as he entered his study to read. However, his mind kept wandering back to the recent events, making it impossible for him to concentrate on his book.
He couldn't understand why Danzo Shimura was so adamant about dragging him into the plan to assassinate Sou Yuukei and destroy the Ninja Sect.
Previously, Danzo's reason for involving him had been to act as a mediator between the Rock Ninja Village and the Leaf Village, and then they had just happened to catch the Ninja Sect in the act of a crime, so they decided to lend a hand.
Moreover, Homura now knew that the Ninja Sect genuinely sought peace, rather than being a disruptive force under the guise of peace.
Thus, he couldn't fathom what Danzo hoped to gain from this scheme. What benefit could there possibly be for him?
"Sou Yuukei, the Ninja Sect..." Homura sighed softly as he put down his book, unable to focus on reading.
While he couldn't decipher Danzo's motives, Homura acknowledged that the Rain Ninja Village did have a reason to move against the Ninja Sect.
The existence of the Rain Ninja Village and the Ninja Sect within the same country was unsustainable. Currently, there wasn't a single country in the ninja world with two ninja villages.
Even though the Ninja Sect didn't proclaim itself as a ninja village, in Homura's eyes, it was as good as one.
The Rain Ninja Village's current cooperation with the Ninja Sect was solely due to the chaotic state of the ninja world, and their shared interest in protecting the Rain Country.
With this common goal, many underlying issues between them were temporarily obscured.
However, once the ninja world war concluded, those hidden problems would inevitably surface, leading to inevitable opposition.
"Even if only one of them can remain in the end, that's an internal matter of the Rain Country." Homura murmured, almost as if he were conversing with himself.
Perhaps the Ninja Sect and the Rain Ninja Village were destined for a battle, but not in the present.
...
After waking up, Laozi didn't immediately go looking for Sou Yuukei. Instead, he waited until after 2 p.m. to head towards the Ninja Sect.
He figured that while Sou Yuukei might be free, he probably wasn't available around the clock, and there must be times when he wasn't busy.
Laozi didn't want to disturb Sou Yuukei's work, which was why he chose to visit in the afternoon.
As it turned out, his assumption was correct. As the leader of an emerging ninja force, Sou Yuukei rarely had a completely free day.
When Laozi arrived at the Ninja Sect, Sou Yuukei was still in a meeting with Kakuzu, discussing the ninja school.
"I think we can hold off on the ninja school for now. Our numbers are still too few, even with the recently absorbed ninjas; we barely have two hundred and eight.
Establishing a ninja school would require us to assign several dozen ninjas as teachers, which would slow down our progress in other areas. Moreover, running a ninja school is time-consuming and not conducive to our early development," Kakuzu shook his head.
While the ninja school was necessary, Kakuzu believed the current timing wasn't ideal.
The Ninja Sect was still in a critical phase of development, and assigning several dozen ninjas as teachers instead of having them perform other tasks would undoubtedly hinder their growth in the next three years.
"We can hire regular people to fill in some of the teaching positions and handle miscellaneous tasks. We can also limit the student intake and raise the standards for admission," Sou Yuukei offered his solution.
Although he hadn't been a teacher in his previous life, in the world of ninjas, Sou Yuukei had taught for a significant period and thus, had a deep understanding of ninja schools.
In his opinion, some of the classes in the ninja school could be taught by regular people instead of ninjas.
For instance, subjects like language, mathematics, and history didn't require any knowledge of ninjutsu, and regular people could handle them just as well.
Additionally, there were clerical positions that didn't necessitate the employment of ninjas.
"Now that you mention it, that might work," Kakuzu realized that following Sou Yuukei's suggestion, they wouldn't need to assign as many ninjas.
Kakuzu had never been a teacher, and his understanding of schools stemmed from his recent investigation, prompted by Sou Yuukei's initial proposal to establish one.
Like most ninjas from the established villages, he had subconsciously assumed that all teachers in a ninja school had to be ninjas.
However, upon further reflection, he realized that it was indeed a waste of their limited ninja resources.
Of course, the established ninja villages typically had more than enough ninjas to spare for such tasks.
"Not only do we need a ninja school, but we should also start planning for a regular school," Sou Yuukei continued.
Sou Yuukei was keenly aware of the importance of education. Even in poverty, one must not neglect education, as it was the key to truly changing the world, and one person alone wasn't enough.
Just as their discussion was coming to a close, there was a knock on the office door.
"Come in," Sou Yuukei said after a brief pause.
"Teacher Sou, Mr. Shirakawa is here to see you," the ninja from the Ninja Sect who had answered the door said.
"Please ask him to come in," Sou Yuukei nodded in response.
Shirakawa was, in fact, Laozi. While in the Rain Country, Laozi couldn't use his real name, so he had adopted this alias.
To facilitate Laozi's movement within the Ninja Sect, Sou Yuukei had informed the other ninjas that Laozi was free to roam unrestricted in non-critical areas.
Upon entering the office, Laozi saw Kakuzu, who was still there, drinking tea, and had yet to leave.
"If you have other matters to attend to, feel free to do so. I'm in no hurry," Laozi quickly said.
"We've just finished our discussion. Allow me to introduce him to you. This is Kakuzu, our head of the military and financial departments," Sou Yuukei replied.
Kakuzu went on to explain how he had been imprisoned and severely punished by his village for failing the mission. This treatment had driven him to become a missing-nin, and he assured Old Purple that he had made those who wronged him pay and was now living a better life.
Old Purple couldn't help but admire Kakuzu's resilience and his ability to forge a better path for himself. He encouraged Old Purple to focus on his own well-being, recognizing his importance to Iwagakure, the Rock Village.
Kakuzu's story left Old Purple curious about how he had come to join the Ninja Sect. Having endured similar betrayal, Old Purple wondered if he could ever bring himself to trust others or join another ninja organization.
(End of Chapter)
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