radicalducati Chapter 83 Danzo has arrived too.
Chapter 83 Danzo has arrived too.
In the dimly lit corridor, in the pitch-black secret room.
The candlesticks on both sides of the wall flickered with leaping candlelight, faintly illuminating most of the dimly lit secret room.
Located in the shadow of Konoha, this place has its roots deeply embedded in the darkness. This is the department that Hiruzen Sarutobi arranged for Danzo Shimura after the war. It was Konoha's nominal ANBU training department, but in reality, it was a dedicated department for the severely wounded Danzo Shimura. It later became the organization that symbolized Danzo's dark will of ninja, Root.
Shimura Danzo, leaning on his cane, sat on a stone chair in the secret room, his head slightly lowered, as if he were about to blend into the darkness.
Since Shimura Danzo was seriously injured in the battle with the Kirigakure, even though Konoha's medical technology is very good, it has not been able to save his right arm. After being hit by the dense ice senbon of Mizuki Gen, the cold air from the ice senbon invaded the meridians of his arm, causing most of the meridians in his right arm to die. So now he has become a one-armed hero.
He was severely injured at the time, but his mind was still very clear. While Uchiha Kagami was holding off the Mist Ninja forces, he successfully escaped their pursuit. When Uchiha Kagami was on the verge of death, he caught up with the fleeing Shimura Danzo and entrusted his body and his remaining right Mangekyou Sharingan to Danzo, hoping that Danzo could take his right eye back and give it to the Uchiha clan.
But after witnessing Uchiha Kagami using his Mangekyou Sharingan to wreak havoc among the Mist Ninja forces, Shimura Danzo realized for the first time the difference between ordinary ninjas and those with bloodline limits.
When he wasn't using his Sharingan, he and Uchiha Kagami were practically the same. He could even use his Wind Release to counter Fire Release and overpower Uchiha Kagami. But after seeing Uchiha Kagami use his Sharingan to save the Mist Ninja and block so many of them from retreating, Shimura Danzo became completely obsessed with the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan.
That immense power was so great that even a renowned ninja like Mizuki Gen, who was also a bloodline limit ninja, could only barely resist it, in addition to the legend of Uchiha Madara.
Danzo Shimura believed that this power should be completely in the hands of the Konoha leadership, not the unruly Uchiha clan. Coupled with the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju's wariness of the Uchiha clan, Danzo Shimura now believed that this power should be completely in his own hands, and that he was the root that supported the great tree of Konoha.
Out of guilt for failing to protect his comrades and causing Danzo Shimura's serious injury, Hiruzen Sarutobi agreed to allow Danzo to establish his own dedicated force. Previously, most of Konoha's intelligence and espionage organizations were also cultivated by Danzo, so having a dedicated department now wasn't a big deal, as they would all serve Konoha anyway.
And so, in just a few years, Konoha gained a spy organization that gave other countries a major headache, and Konoha also gained an organization exclusively for Danzo that even the Hokage couldn't mobilize: Root.
The room was completely silent. How much time passed was unknown.
"Lord Danzo."
A soft shout broke the silence of the secret room.
Danzo slightly opened his remaining eye, raised his head, and looked at the figure kneeling on the ground in front of him, but his eyes revealed a cold and dark expression.
"Oh, it's Sada. What happened that made you rush here to report?"
Sada paused slightly, then lowered his head even further, appearing somewhat frightened.
"I am so sorry to have disturbed your rest, Lord Danzo."
We discovered that a member of the Hyuga clan who had been living alone has returned to the village. It is highly likely that he is Hyuga Kanan, who left during the war.
Before we even made contact with our target, we discovered that the Third Hokage's ANBU were also preparing to make contact. So we abandoned the plan to capture him directly and quietly monitored the situation. But it seems that the other side also discovered the ANBU team and quickly returned to the Hyuga clan's territory.
According to our informants, the Third Hokage has personally set off for the Hyuga clan, presumably to make contact with them first.
Danzo was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. He hadn't thought of Hyuga Kanan's name for a long time, and when his subordinate suddenly mentioned it, he didn't immediately recognize it. But when he heard that Hiruzen Sarutobi had personally gone to contact the other party, he remembered who the other party was. A mere genin who dared to directly contradict him, who completely disobeyed his orders during the mission, and who later crippled his right arm.
"Hmm, I see." Danzo touched his scarred chin, and he could now faintly feel the pain in his right arm. The crazy killing intent in his eyes suddenly surged. After looking at Sada in front of him with cold eyes, he suddenly came back to his senses, withdrew the killing intent from his body, and looked at Sada with an expressionless face again.
"Thank you for your hard work, Sata. Let's get ready and go meet up with Hyuga Kanan!"
"Yes, Lord Danzo!"
Sada, still kneeling on the ground with cold sweat, bowed slightly and quickly left to prepare for Danzo's trip.
After watching Sada leave, Danzo fell into deep thought.
He had regained his composure. It was just a lowly genin brat. The only thing that had angered him was the other man's question, "Are you the Hokage?" But now he was pondering why Hiruzen Sarutobi, the busy Hokage, would go to the Hyuga clan to see that damned brat. What was his purpose?
After a long pause, Danzo tilted his body slightly, stroked his chin with his intact left hand, and spoke expressionlessly to a dark spot:
“A, B”.
"Yes, my lord."
Two figures appeared instantly in front of Danzo, kneeling on the ground and waiting for orders without saying a word.
"You two go into hiding. After the Third Generation and I have both met each other, find an opportunity to eliminate the other party directly."
"Yes!"
Without asking the reason, whether they could achieve the goal, or whether it would provoke a reaction from the Hyuga clan, they simply said yes in unison.
Danzo casually waved his hand, and the two disappeared right before his eyes.
This is the foundation that Danzo has cultivated over the years: members have no self, no identity, no emotions, no past, and certainly no future. Their hearts are solely focused on Danzo's orders and missions.
He perfectly embodies Danzo's ideal type of ninja.
He believed that if all the ninjas in Konoha were like this, then the day when Konoha would dominate the entire ninja world would not be far off. This was the direction that ninjas should be cultivated in, rather than the boring methods like those used by Hiruzen Sarutobi to cultivate bonds and feelings among comrades.
"As expected, I am the most suitable candidate to become Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi was too merciful."
Danzo Shimura genuinely believed that Hiruzen Sarutobi was being too merciful. What angered him even more was that on the battlefield in the Mist Village, Hiruzen had the opportunity to kill the Third Mizukage directly, but because he was afraid of the Mist Village's fierce counterattack and the resulting heavy casualties among the Konoha ninja, he simply let go of the chance to cripple the Mist Village.
If I hadn't been injured and sent back to Konoha to recuperate, I would have definitely dissuaded Hiruzen Sarutobi from his mercy. Aren't Konoha ninjas supposed to sacrifice their lives for the village? Given the chance, I would have directly caused Kirigakure to lose a Kage. What's the big deal about sacrificing too many lives?
In Danzo's mind, weren't the lives of Konoha ninjas meant to be used to wear down their opponents? The Hokage should only issue orders to exchange the lives of ordinary Konoha ninjas for the life of the Mizukage of Kirigakure, not to simply let the enemy go to reduce Konoha casualties.
Now, Danzo, the assistant to the Hokage of Konoha, is even more dissatisfied because Danzo personally went to the Hyuga clan's territory for Hyuga Kanan, who is not even a ninja yet.
"Has it been too long in the sunlight? To maintain that false benevolence, you've even abandoned the most basic authority of the Hokage? Have you completely given up on the darkness of the ninja world? So, Hiruzen Sarutobi, you're no longer suitable to continue as Hokage. I should take over. I am the most important root of Konoha, the most important root supporting Konoha."
Thinking of this, Danzo completely forgot Hyuga Kanan's indifferent attitude towards him before, and his fearful attitude after no other Konoha ninja knew that he was the Hokage's assistant.
It seems he doesn't take his position as a high-ranking member of Konoha and the assistant to the Hokage seriously.
Of course, none of that matters now. What he needs to know now is what Hiruzen Sarutobi's purpose was in personally visiting the Hyuga clan to meet with Hyuga Kanan. This is something he has never been able to figure out.
After sitting for a while, Danzo decided to stop thinking about it. He figured he would be able to see Hiruzen Sarutobi's intentions once they met.
He stood up from the stone bench, leaning on his cane with his left hand, and walked out step by step.
The crisp tapping sound echoed in the corridor, and with Danzo's footsteps, the candles on both walls went out one by one.
Slowly, Danzo walked out of the corridor and came to a set of stone steps. The stone steps stretched to the ground and seemed to go on forever.
Danzo, leaning on his cane, climbed the stone steps one by one until he reached the exit of the secret chamber. After gently breathing in the fresh air of the wilderness, he looked up at the bustling Konoha Village.
Danzo straightened up, and two figures immediately appeared behind him, keeping a slight distance between them.
He then headed straight for the Hyuga clan, wanting to see what Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage, was up to.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, let this old man see your so-called Hokage-level abilities!
With Shimura Danzo's departure, the Hyuga clan is about to welcome two high-ranking members of Konoha, both for Hyuga Kanan, who has been wandering for many years.
Meanwhile, Hyuga Kanan was heading towards the clan leader's residence, constantly pondering how to persuade his father to help him collect materials so he could return to his training sooner.
After all, collecting those precious materials isn't something that can be done in a short time. If one were to do it themselves, it would likely take even longer, considering the considerable time required just to travel to the material production sites, not to mention gathering information from various sources. But if the Hyuga clan were to take the lead in collecting them, surely a clan with a thousand-year-old tradition would have some secret channels hidden from the public?