https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-609-Putting-Ideology-into-Practice/12558892/
Chapter 610: Fury of Danzo Shimura
Chapter 610: Fury of Danzo Shimura
"Wood Style: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
As Danzo Shimura rapidly performed hand seals, a large amount of chakra within him swiftly transformed into Wood Style chakra.
Bang, bang!!
Countless trees burst forth from the ground and grew rapidly, forming a small forest around Danzo.
"Although I'm still not as skilled as the First Hokage, it should be enough to deal with Fuuma Sotoji." Danzo looked at the hundreds of towering trees around him and smiled proudly.
After more than twenty days of cultivation, his Wood Style abilities had improved significantly.
This progress gave Danzo the feeling that he was a peerless genius in Wood Style jutsu.
It wasn't out of narcissism, but rather, reality seemed to reflect this.
If it wasn't because of his own talent, could it be due to "Uchiha Madara's" experiments?
That didn't make sense either. Why would "Uchiha Madara" be so kind as to help him enhance his strength?
Danzo felt a surge of inexplicable confidence. Even without the Will of Fire lineage and the Rinnegan, he believed that with another year of training, he could surpass Hiruzen Sarutobi in strength.
Of course, Danzo wouldn't pass up the opportunity to acquire the Will of Fire lineage and the Rinnegan. After all, one could never have too many good things.
After his training session, Danzo returned to the Root base and assembled all the Root ninjas in Konoha.
There were only six days left until the agreed-upon date for the ambush. Root forces from other places had already been deployed to the Land of Rain, except for the Root ninjas in Konoha, who were still on standby.
"Everyone is present, ready to carry out the mission at your command, Danzo-sama," reported a Root ninja.
Danzo nodded and handed a scroll to the ninja. "Give this to Mu Yue."
The safest choice would be to deliver the mission to Mu Yue just before her departure, but Danzo was concerned that sticking to such a tight schedule might lead to unforeseen problems.
If it were anyone else, he wouldn't be so worried, but this time, his own safety was at stake, so he couldn't afford to be careless.
Danzo then selected a newcomer with the weakest strength to guard the Root base and ordered the rest of the Root ninjas to leave the village in batches and head towards the Land of Rain.
As for Danzo himself, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he made his way to the Hokage Building.
Since he wouldn't be able to appear in Konoha for the next few days, he wanted to pay a visit to Hiruzen before his departure.
This had become his routine over the past few days. Every four to six days, he would show up at Hiruzen's office, reminding the Hokage of his existence.
Danzo walked up to the door of the Hokage's office. As he was about to push it open, his hand froze in mid-air.
Knock, knock. Danzo knocked on the door.
After all these years as old classmates and comrades-in-arms, thinking about what he was about to do, Danzo felt that he should show more respect to Hiruzen.
"Come in," Hiruzen's voice called out from inside the office.
Danzo pushed open the door and entered.
Hiruzen looked at Danzo with a hint of surprise. Hearing the knock, he had expected it to be someone reporting a mission, but he hadn't anticipated it to be Danzo.
"Danzo, what brings you here? If it's about that previous matter, there's no need to bring it up again," Hiruzen asked, setting down the documents in his hands.
Although knocking was a good habit, this was Danzo Shimura, and Hiruzen couldn't shake off the feeling that this unexpected courtesy was a prelude to something insincere or even treacherous.
"Of course not," Danzo replied, feeling a little displeased that his rare show of politeness wasn't met with a warmer response.
"It's the end of the work day, and I just wanted to check if you've finished handling official matters. If you're done, I'd like to invite you for a drink," Danzo said nonchalantly.
Hiruzen's eyes widened in surprise, even more so than when he had first seen Danzo at his door.
"I have indeed mostly wrapped up my work. But are you sure you want to treat me to a drink?"
Although Danzo wasn't born into poverty and his considerable skills provided him with ample earning potential, he was notoriously frugal.
In fact, Hiruzen had never known Danzo to treat anyone to a meal.
This was quite unusual among ninjas, as they often celebrated the completion of a mission by treating their friends to a feast.
Compared to the expenses on ninja tools and cultivation elixirs, a meal with friends was relatively inexpensive.
"Never mind then, if you don't want to," Danzo said, turning away with a dark expression.
"No, no, of course, I'll come," Hiruzen agreed with a hearty laugh.
If anyone else had extended the invitation, Hiruzen would most likely have declined. But since it was Danzo doing the asking, he felt obligated to accept.
Considering the potential impact, the two men didn't go to a restaurant. Instead, they had someone buy alcohol and side dishes, and they drank at Danzo's place.
"If I want to treat you, I will," Danzo said nonchalantly.
In the past, his reason for not treating others was simple: he didn't want to spend money on others, as Hiruzen and the others didn't need the money anyway.
As for why he was treating Hiruzen today, even Danzo couldn't quite explain it; he just felt like treating his old friend to a meal.
Seeing that Danzo seemed to be genuinely offering a friendly invitation, Hiruzen put down his half-eaten skewer and picked up his cup.
"It's been a long time indeed. Ever since I became the Hokage, I don't think we've had a drink together like this," Hiruzen remarked.
Hiruzen had become the Hokage in a time of crisis, and for a long while after that, he had been so busy that he rarely had time to go home, let alone socialize with friends.
Later on, his workload lessened, but by then, things had changed. Hiruzen was now the Hokage, and Mito Uzumaki, Danzo, and the others were his elders and advisors.
Although they remained friends, their interactions had gradually changed due to various circumstances, and they could no longer joke and drink as freely as they used to.
"Hmph!" Danzo couldn't help but coldly huff.
In his opinion, Hiruzen was just showing off. If he had been given the position of Hokage, Danzo would have happily stayed in the Hokage's office all day.
"If the teacher hadn't sacrificed himself back then, things might have turned out differently."
Danzo felt that the situation had been too urgent, causing Tobirama Senju to lose his judgment and directly appoint Hiruzen as the Third Hokage.
If they had competed fairly, he might not have lost to Hiruzen.
"Indeed, if the teacher hadn't sacrificed himself, Konoha would be even more prosperous now," Hiruzen acknowledged.
Whether as the Hokage or as a master of ninjutsu development, Tobirama's loss was a huge blow to Konoha.
Seeing that Hiruzen had misinterpreted his words, Danzo didn't bother to explain and continued the conversation casually.
"Hiruzen, sometimes you need to be more decisive. We are the strongest ninja village, and we must show our might and establish our dominance."
"Establishing dominance is one thing, but we shouldn't be gathering our forces to invade other countries," Hiruzen countered.
As they drank and chatted, their differing political views led to a heated argument, neither willing to compromise or back down from their stances.
Danzo believed Hiruzen to be indecisive, while Hiruzen thought Danzo was too aggressive.
When the bottle was empty, Danzo began to pack up, silently signaling the end of their gathering.
Hiruzen gave a wry smile, stood up, and bid farewell, leaving soon after.
After Hiruzen was out of sight, Danzo returned to the Root base.
"What a waste of 800 ryo," Danzo grumbled, feeling that he might as well have used that money to buy some food for Yamato instead of treating Hiruzen to a meal.
At least Yamato would be grateful, whereas inviting Hiruzen for a drink only earned him a lecture.
At that moment, there were only four ninjas in the Root base, including one who was left to guard the base, and the other three were waiting for Danzo to depart with them.
Upon returning to the Root base, Danzo made his way to a secret chamber.
"This mission is too dangerous. One insurance policy is not enough," Danzo thought to himself as he retrieved a box filled with an unknown liquid from the hidden mechanism in the chamber.
Danzo quickly opened the box and fished out a blood-colored eye—he was preparing to transplant a second Sharingan.
Since he was not a member of the Uchiha clan, Danzo was unable to deactivate the Sharingan after transplantation, and even with his mastery of the Uchiha forbidden technique, Izanagi, he had only transplanted one Sharingan.
Firstly, the Sharingan would continuously consume chakra if it couldn't be deactivated, and secondly, transplanting both eyes would require him to cover them both, which would look too strange.
Now that he had transplanted Hashirama's cells, chakra was no longer an issue, but the most important thing was the impending battle with "Uchiha Madara" for the Rinnegan, which would be extremely perilous. Danzo wanted an extra layer of insurance.
The transplantation surgery was quickly completed, and when Danzo opened his eyes, he felt better than ever before.
"Is there some connection between the Senju and Uchiha clans? Why am I feeling this way after transplanting the Sharingan?" Danzo wondered to himself.
When he had transplanted one Sharingan, Danzo felt like he had gained a life-saving trump card, but at the same time, it felt like he had acquired a permanent negative status effect.
Danzo was a man of action when it came to stirring up trouble. Soon, he and his team of Root ninjas arrived at the Rain Village.
"Danzo, what happened to your eye?" Hanzo noticed that Danzo no longer had his head and right eye wrapped in bandages but instead covered them with an opaque cloth.
"It's just a minor issue and won't hinder our plans," Danzo replied calmly.
He intended to keep the Sharingan as his trump card until it was time to assassinate Fuuma Sotoji.
"Has there been any problem with Sotoji?" Danzo inquired.
"He has accepted the invitation to spectate the Chunin Exams," Hanzo replied with a nod.
Hanzo had chosen to host the Chunin Exams as the setting for their plot.
However, to minimize the impact, he decided against a joint exam and opted for a regular one.
"Now, we just need to wait for five more days until Sotoji arrives, and our plan will unfold as intended."
"But are these few ninjas from Konoha all the backup you brought?" Hanzo scanned the group, narrowing his eyes as he addressed Danzo.
"Sometimes, a small group of elites can be more effective," Danzo stated nonchalantly.
This was the maximum force Danzo could muster without arousing Hiruzen Sarutobi's suspicion.
Some of these ninjas weren't even officially registered in Konoha and were operatives he had cultivated outside the village.
"After all, Konoha can't afford to make as much noise as the Rain Village. A large commotion would attract unwanted attention."
Hanzo frowned slightly but didn't press the issue further.
He didn't plan on relying on Konoha's might to eliminate Sotoji, so he wasn't too concerned about their numbers. However, Danzo's comment left a sour taste in his mouth.
In the following days, Danzo maintained a low profile, similar to how he had behaved in Konoha.
He dedicated most of his time to studying Wood Style jutsu and refining their assassination plan for Sotoji.
Just one day before Sotoji's expected arrival, Danzo received two pieces of unwelcome news.
The first setback was the slow progress in enhancing his Wood Style jutsu.
Danzo could accept this, attributing it to the vast amount of knowledge he had recently absorbed, and didn't consider it a significant problem.
However, the second piece of news hit him hard.
"How dare Mu Yue drop the ball at this critical juncture!" Danzo exclaimed, his face flushed with anger as he read the report from a Root ninja.
According to their plan, Mu Yue was supposed to leave for the Rain Village immediately after her class that day.
With her speed, she could have easily arrived before dawn, requiring only two days of "rest" as an excuse for her absence.
This would have allowed her to be his backup during the confrontation with Sotoji and "Uchiha Madara."
However, things took an unexpected turn when Hiruzen Sarutobi invited Mu Yue to dinner and offered to teach her ninjutsu.
Given Mu Yue's established character persona, it would have been challenging for her to refuse the Hokage's invitation without raising suspicions.
As a result, she didn't depart until 8 p.m., much to Danzo's frustration.
He understood that refusing the Hokage's offer could expose their scheme, but he couldn't help but feel annoyed by Mu Yue's failure to execute her task.
As a Root ninja, she should have prioritized the mission above all else and been willing to pay any price for its success.
"I'll deal with her after this is over. With her speed, she should still make it before Sotoji arrives," Danzo sighed in relief.
He had anticipated such unforeseen circumstances and built some leeway into their schedule, ensuring that even if Mu Yue arrived after the battle commenced, she would definitely be there before long.
Gradually, Danzo regained his composure, confident that his plan remained on track.
PS:
Except for the time when the Second Hokage was sealing the Nine-Tails, Danzo usually had his face wrapped in bandages, leading me to believe that he transplanted the Sharingan quite early on as a failsafe.
However, the Sharingan arm he used definitely wasn't from this period. It must have been acquired later, after Orochimaru's research on Hashirama's cells and the Uchiha clan's annihilation.
(End of Chapter)
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