Chapter 600: Destroying the Shinobi Sect
"Ninja can actually write books like this."
That was Roshi's first reaction after reading halfway through.
Roshi was a ninja himself, so of course he did not look down on ninja. Rather, it was precisely because he understood ninja that he knew how difficult it was for them to study theories like ordinary scholars did.
When ninja were young, they had to undergo all kinds of training to improve their strength. Once they reached middle age or old age, they had more time than before, but most ninja still chose to study ninja knowledge rather than peace, philosophy, or history.
After all, research into ninja knowledge could truly increase one's strength.
As for philosophy and history, one could hardly expect to talk an enemy to death or convert them in the middle of a fight.
Thinking of Sōsuke's appearance, Roshi became even more curious.
Even if Sōsuke looked younger than he really was, he was at most around thirty years old now. How exactly had he divided his time to become the Sōsuke of today, both profoundly learned and extraordinarily powerful?
"His strength is decent, but I think he and the Sage of Six Paths should have many things in common," the Four Tails said.
Hagoromo had spent his entire life striving for peace. The Four Tails believed that if Hagoromo saw this book, he would have been very happy.
As for strength, the Four Tails had seen people stronger than Roshi, so he did not find Sōsuke's power exaggerated to an unbelievable degree.
Roshi continued reading. When he finished the entire book, he fell into deep thought.
Roshi's knowledge was not especially broad, and there were many things in the book that he only half understood.
Even so, he could still sense the uniqueness of the Shinobi Sect's philosophy. He had never seen or heard of any similar ninja organization.
There were many ninja organizations that publicly claimed to pursue peace, even among the Five Great Shinobi Villages. However, very few truly put that claim into action.
With the Shinobi Sect's current strength, intervening in the Shinobi World War was unrealistic. Even so, Roshi could feel the Shinobi Sect's determination through the book.
Developing an ordinary ninja organization did not require these things. If Sōsuke merely wanted to build a powerful ninja force, he could have used his strength and teaching ability to expand without limit.
Roshi closed the book and walked forward, asking the Shinobi Sect ninja who had given it to him, "Can I buy this book?"
He had many questions about the content.
If he were not going to meet Sōsuke later, he would definitely have asked a Shinobi Sect ninja to explain it to him.
But since he could meet Sōsuke, there was no need to ask anyone else. No one should understand this book better than Sōsuke, its author.
"There's no need to buy it. If you want it, you can take it," the Shinobi Sect ninja said with a smile.
Roshi nodded and returned to the inn with the book.
At that moment, he already wished he could skip straight to the end of the lecture event. Sōsuke's appeal to him had now surpassed even Sōsuke's lessons.
…
Konoha, Root Base.
Bang!
Inside Konoha Village, Danzo looked at the intelligence sent back by Root members from the Land of Rain and could not help slamming his fist onto the desk.
"A bunch of useless fools. They can't even investigate this much!" Danzo cursed under his breath.
Root had indeed collected some intelligence, but there was nothing related to the sage art inheritance. That was far from meeting Danzo's expectations.
The intelligence that "Uchiha Madara" could uncover was beyond Root's reach. How could Danzo possibly feel at ease cooperating with "Uchiha Madara" like this?
"The Shinobi Sect is becoming stronger and stronger. They're repairing their relationship with Amegakure and growing closer to Iwagakure. Their threat to Konoha is far too great." Danzo's brows furrowed deeply.
There was no information about the sage art inheritance, but Root had still collected information about the unrestricted lectures.
That alone made Danzo feel a deep sense of unease.
Amegakure was already one of the strongest smaller ninja villages beneath the Five Great Shinobi Villages. If the Shinobi Sect were added to it, then the Land of Rain would truly become the strongest ninja force below the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Its overall strength would significantly surpass Amegakure at its peak during the Second Shinobi World War.
At this point, even putting aside the Rinnegan and the sage art inheritance, Danzo already wanted to destroy the Shinobi Sect.
Danzo stood up, intending to go to the Hokage Office and find Hiruzen, but he quickly sat back down.
He understood Hiruzen too well.
With Hiruzen's personality, unless the Shinobi Sect and Iwagakure reached an agreement to advance and retreat together, Hiruzen would never act against the current Shinobi Sect.
Danzo could not help sighing.
How pitiful. His heart was so devoted to Konoha, yet he had ended up in a position where he could not protect the village.
Hiruzen was indecisive and would not agree to attack the Shinobi Sect. Root, meanwhile, lacked the strength to deal with the Shinobi Sect alone.
Was he supposed to simply watch as the Shinobi Sect gradually grew into a major threat to Konoha?
"No. Absolutely not!"
Danzo immediately denied that thought in his heart.
Hiruzen, who stood in the light, could choose to do nothing, but Danzo, as Konoha's darkness, could not remain indifferent.
Just as Danzo was worrying over how to deal with the Shinobi Sect, the door to his office suddenly opened.
Danzo was about to scold whoever dared enter his office without knocking.
However, once he clearly saw the person standing there, he shut his mouth.
"Danzo, you truly are disappointing. So much time has passed, yet you've done almost nothing," the black-robed masked man said bluntly.
Danzo's face darkened at once.
He had not even brought up the problems with "Uchiha Madara," yet the other party had already started criticizing him first.
"How could you know what I've done?" Danzo suppressed his displeasure and snorted coldly.
"Didn't you just send some people to gather intelligence? You could have simply told me. I can give you any intelligence you want about the Shinobi Sect," the masked man said with an indifferent smile.
Danzo's frown deepened.
He had deliberately tried to draw out information, and he had already guessed the result.
Even so, hearing that Root's actions were completely within "Uchiha Madara's" sight still left Danzo unable to suppress a faint sense of disappointment.
Root, which he had spent so much effort building, had been completely defeated in intelligence gathering by someone who would not even reveal his true identity.
"If Hiruzen had not always restricted Root, this definitely would not have happened," Danzo thought, placing the blame on Hiruzen.
If Hiruzen had not imposed so many limitations on Root, then Root would have been three or four times stronger than it was now. It would not have been completely suppressed by "Uchiha Madara" in intelligence work.
"I didn't merely send people to Six Paths City to gather a little intelligence," Danzo said calmly.
Even if he had truly lost badly in intelligence work, he could not allow "Uchiha Madara" to see it.
"I don't care what you intend to do. But if you want to continue our cooperation and obtain Wood Release, then you must act according to my plan from now on," the masked man said forcefully.
Immediately after, he threw a scroll to Danzo.
Just as Danzo was about to speak, the masked man cut him off directly. "Act according to the plan written inside. I will assist you."
"If you want to refuse, that is also fine. Then our cooperation ends here."
After saying that, he gave Danzo no chance to reply and left the office directly.
Danzo watched "Uchiha Madara" leave, his face livid.
Even Hiruzen would not dare treat him with such an attitude.
"Do not let me find out your true identity," Danzo thought coldly, then shifted his gaze to the scroll.
Since the scroll had been given to him by "Uchiha Madara," the cautious Danzo created a Shadow Clone and had the clone open it.
After confirming there was no problem, Danzo began reading the contents carefully.
"Jointly surround and kill Sōsuke with Amegakure…"
After reading the plan, Danzo was somewhat speechless.
He had thought "Uchiha Madara" had some brilliant strategy, but in the end, it was not much different from his previous plan.
The only difference was that "Uchiha Madara's" plan required Root's full participation, while Danzo's own plan had been to use Amegakure as the vanguard.
"And threatening Hanzō with the village… If this leaks, Hiruzen will probably disband Root, and my position as Hokage Assistant will also be revoked."
Danzo interlaced his fingers, his expression thoughtful.
"Uchiha Madara's" method of breaking the alliance between Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect was to have Danzo pressure Amegakure on behalf of Konoha and threaten Hanzō with war.
This was no small matter. Politically, it was even worse than human experimentation.
For the Hokage to declare war on a country, a meeting had to be held first.
For Danzo to threaten Amegakure with war on his own authority, without a single word from the Hokage, was an extraordinary overstep.
Danzo understood the seriousness of the matter. Even so, when he saw one particular line on the scroll, he could not help feeling tempted.
Complete the alliance with Amegakure, and before the encirclement and killing of Sōsuke, Wood Release will be given in advance.
Without a doubt, this was the assistance "Uchiha Madara" had mentioned.
As long as Danzo completed the plan up to the alliance with Amegakure, "Uchiha Madara" would provide the promised benefit in advance.
Given Danzo's suspicious nature, he naturally would not believe it immediately.
He was the sort of person who would suspect even a powerful ninja who voluntarily joined Root of intending to assassinate him.
However, after carefully thinking it through, Danzo found that "Uchiha Madara" actually appeared rather sincere.
That was because this Wood Release would be given before the encirclement and killing of Sōsuke.
If it were only given after Sōsuke was successfully killed, Danzo would certainly not agree to this plan. That would mean taking an enormous risk without receiving any benefit beforehand.
Offering Wood Release before the encirclement proved that "Uchiha Madara" truly wanted to kill Sōsuke, enough that he was willing to give Danzo Wood Release in advance to increase the chance of success.
"We cannot allow the Land of Rain to continue growing stronger."
Danzo looked at the intelligence report from Root on his desk and finally made up his mind.
For Konoha's safety, he was duty-bound.
If the plan succeeded, the ninja forces of the Land of Rain would fall into an unprecedented decline. At the same time, he would obtain the sage art inheritance and Wood Release, gaining even greater strength to protect his Konoha.
It would be a win-win situation for Konoha.
As for failure, Danzo believed the possibility was low.
This plan would either stop at the alliance with Hanzō, or it would succeed.
With Root and Amegakure working together, and with "Uchiha Madara" exerting power from the shadows, how could they possibly fail to destroy the Shinobi Sect?
If Sōsuke, Kakuzu, and Nagato were disregarded, the Shinobi Sect was merely an ordinary ninja organization.
It was simply unfortunate that Danzo was no longer the Hokage.
If he were Hokage, there would be no need to go through so much trouble. He could simply send Jiraiya and Orochimaru with a thousand-man unit and sweep the Shinobi Sect away.
.....
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