Chapter 610: Raging Danzo
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
As Danzo rapidly formed hand seals, the vast amount of Chakra within his body swiftly transformed into Wood Release Chakra.
Bang! Bang!
With Danzo at the center, countless trees burst from the ground one after another. They grew at terrifying speed, their trunks thickening and their branches spreading until they formed a small forest around him.
"Although it is still inferior to the First Hokage's, it should be enough to deal with Sōsuke."
Looking at the hundreds of large trees surrounding him, a smug smile appeared on Danzo's face.
After more than twenty days of training, his Wood Release had improved by a great deal.
This gave Danzo the feeling that he was a once-in-a-million Wood Release genius.
It was not that Danzo was being narcissistic. In his eyes, this was simply reality.
If it was not due to his own talent, could it be because of "Uchiha Madara's" experiment?
That would make no sense. Why would "Uchiha Madara" be so kind as to help him improve his strength?
Danzo now possessed a strange confidence. Even without the sage art inheritance or the Rinnegan, he felt that if he continued training like this for another year, he could surpass Hiruzen in strength.
Of course, Danzo had no intention of giving up the sage art inheritance or the Rinnegan.
The more good things he could obtain, the better.
After finishing his training, Danzo returned to the Root Base and summoned all Root Ninja currently in Konoha.
There were only six days left before the agreed assassination date. Root's forces in other regions had already been deployed to the Land of Rain, leaving only the Root Ninja in Konoha on standby.
"Lord Danzo, everyone is here and ready to execute the mission at any time," a Root Ninja reported.
Danzo nodded, took out a scroll, and handed it over.
"Give this to Mugetsu."
The safest choice would have been to give Mugetsu the mission right before departure, but Danzo was worried that leaving too little time might cause unexpected problems.
If it were anyone else, it would not matter. But this time, his own safety was involved, so he could not afford to be careless.
After that, Danzo selected the weakest newcomer to guard the Root Base, then ordered the remaining Root Ninja to leave the village in batches and head for the Land of Rain.
As for Danzo himself, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he went to the Hokage Building.
He would be unable to appear in Konoha for the next few days, so before leaving, he needed to show his face to Hiruzen.
He had been doing this over the past few days, appearing before Hiruzen every four to six days to maintain his presence.
Danzo walked to the door of the Hokage Office. Just as he was about to push it open, his hand paused in midair.
Knock, knock.
Danzo knocked on the Hokage Office door.
After all, they had been old classmates and comrades for many years. Thinking about what he intended to do in the future, Danzo felt that he should give Hiruzen a little more respect now.
"Come in," Hiruzen's voice came from inside the office.
Danzo pushed open the wooden door and entered.
Hiruzen looked up. When he saw Danzo, surprise flashed across his face.
Hearing the knock, he had assumed someone had come to report a mission. He had not expected it to be Danzo.
"Danzo, what is it? If this is about the matter from before, there is no need to bring it up again," Hiruzen said, putting down the documents in his hand.
Although knocking was a good habit, this was still Danzo. Hiruzen always felt that sudden courtesy from him was a sign of ulterior motives.
"Of course not," Danzo said, displeased that his rare act of politeness had not received a proper response.
"It is after work hours. I only wanted to see whether you had finished your official duties. If you have, I would like to invite you for a drink," Danzo said indifferently.
Hiruzen's expression became even more surprised than when he first heard Danzo knock.
"My official duties are indeed almost finished, but are you sure you want to invite me for a drink?"
Danzo was not born poor, and with his strength, he had never lacked earning potential. Yet for some inexplicable reason, he was extremely frugal.
Hiruzen had never seen Danzo treat anyone to a meal.
This was unusual among Ninja. Ninja earned high incomes, and it was common to invite friends to dinner after completing missions.
Compared to the cost of Ninja tools and training potions, treating someone to a meal truly did not cost much.
"If you do not want to drink, then forget it," Danzo said, his face darkening as he turned to leave.
"Drink, of course I will drink," Hiruzen agreed with a chuckle.
If anyone else had invited him, Hiruzen might have been too lazy to go. But Danzo inviting him for a drink was something he had to accept at least once.
Considering their positions, the two did not eat at a restaurant. Instead, they had someone buy sake and snacks, then ate at Danzo's house.
"What made you think of inviting me for a drink today? Let us agree first, no talking about work during dinner," Hiruzen said leisurely, picking up a skewer from the bowl.
Danzo's actions were unusual. Hiruzen suspected that Danzo might be trying a different approach, hoping to get his proposal approved over drinks.
"I simply felt like inviting you," Danzo said indifferently.
In the past, the reason he had never treated anyone was simple. He did not want to spend money on others, and Hiruzen and the others were not short on money anyway.
As for why he was treating Hiruzen today, Danzo himself could not fully explain it. It was simply a sudden impulse.
Seeing that Danzo truly seemed to be treating him to a meal and nothing more, Hiruzen put down the half-eaten skewer and picked up his sake cup.
"This really is rare. Ever since I became Hokage, I do not think I have had a drink with you and Homura."
Hiruzen sighed.
Hiruzen had become Hokage during a time of crisis. For a long period after taking office, he had been so busy that he rarely even went home, let alone had meals with his friends.
Later, when he was no longer as busy, everything had already changed.
Hiruzen was the Hokage, while Homura and Danzo were elders and Hokage Assistants.
Although they were still friends, for many reasons, the way they interacted gradually changed. They could no longer joke and drink as freely as they had before.
"Hmph."
Danzo could not help but let out a cold snort.
In his opinion, Hiruzen was being hypocritical. If the position of Hokage had been given to him, he would have been willing to live in the Hokage Office every day.
"If our teacher had not sacrificed himself back then, things might not have turned out this way."
Danzo felt that the situation at the time had been too critical, causing Tobirama to lose some of his judgment. That was why he directly appointed Hiruzen as the Third Hokage.
If it had been a fair competition, Danzo might not have lost to Hiruzen.
"Indeed. If our teacher had not sacrificed himself, Konoha would be even more prosperous than it is now," Hiruzen nodded and said.
Whether as Hokage or as a master of Ninjutsu development, Tobirama's loss had been a tremendous blow to Konoha.
Seeing that Hiruzen had misunderstood him, Danzo did not bother to explain and continued chatting in a scattered manner.
"Hiruzen, sometimes you need to be more decisive. We are the strongest Ninja Village. We should show our prestige."
"Establishing prestige is necessary, but it should not mean gathering a large army to invade other countries."
As they talked, the two began to argue because of their differing political views. Neither compromised, both firmly holding to their own opinions.
Danzo believed Hiruzen was indecisive, while Hiruzen believed Danzo was too aggressive.
When the sake bottle was empty, Danzo immediately began clearing things away, silently declaring the end of their small gathering.
Hiruzen gave a wry laugh, stood up, and said his farewell.
After Hiruzen disappeared from view, Danzo returned to the Root Base.
"I wasted eight hundred ryo," Danzo thought.
He felt that inviting Hiruzen for a drink had been worse than using those eight hundred ryo to buy Yamato something to eat.
If he bought food for Yamato, Yamato would at least be grateful to him. Inviting Hiruzen for a drink had only brought him irritation.
At this time, only four Ninja remained in the Root Base.
Other than the one Ninja left behind to guard the base, the remaining three were waiting to depart with Danzo.
After returning to the Root Base, Danzo entered a secret room.
"This time is too dangerous. One safeguard is not enough," Danzo thought, taking out a box filled with an unknown liquid from a hidden mechanism in the room.
Danzo quickly opened the box and pulled a blood-red eye from it.
He was preparing to transplant a second Sharingan.
Because he was not from the Uchiha Clan, he could not deactivate the Sharingan after transplantation. Even though Danzo had mastered the Uchiha forbidden Ninjutsu, Izanagi, he had only transplanted one Sharingan until now.
First, an active Sharingan would continuously consume Chakra.
Second, if he transplanted both eyes, he would have to cover both of them, which would look far too strange.
Now that he had transplanted Hashirama cells, Chakra was no longer an issue.
Most importantly, the struggle with "Uchiha Madara" over the Rinnegan would be extremely dangerous. Danzo wanted an additional layer of protection.
The transplant surgery was completed quickly. When Danzo opened his eyes, he felt better than ever before.
"Is there some connection between the Senju and Uchiha? Why does transplanting the Sharingan feel like this now?" Danzo wondered.
When he had transplanted one Sharingan before, Danzo felt as if he had gained a life-saving trump card while also adding a permanent burden.
In terms of combat ability alone, having one Sharingan had made him weaker than before the transplant.
But now, after obtaining Hashirama cells, he had transplanted another Sharingan and actually felt stronger. This surprised Danzo.
He had merely wanted to increase his margin for error. He had not expected to receive another boost in power.
"Lord Danzo."
A Root member handed him a specially made strip of cloth.
Danzo did not think too much about it. He picked up the cloth and covered his eyes.
These matters could be studied later. The most urgent task now was to obtain the sage art inheritance and the Rinnegan.
When it came to causing trouble, Danzo was very decisive. He quickly led the Root Ninja to Amegakure.
"Danzo, your eyes?" Hanzo noticed that Danzo was no longer wrapping his head and right eye with bandages, but instead covering both eyes with an opaque cloth.
"Only a minor matter. It will not hinder our plan," Danzo said calmly.
These Sharingan were his trump card. He would not reveal them until it was time to assassinate Sōsuke.
"Has there been any problem with Sōsuke?" Danzo asked.
"He has agreed to the invitation to observe the Chunin Exams," Hanzo replied with a nod.
The event Hanzo chose to hold was the Chunin Exams.
However, to minimize the impact, Hanzo did not hold a joint Chunin Exam. It was only an ordinary Chunin Exam.
"Now we only need to wait for Sōsuke to arrive in five days, and the plan can proceed as scheduled."
"However, you Konoha have only sent this few people?" Hanzo looked around, observing the thirty Konoha Ninja around Danzo, and narrowed his eyes.
"Sometimes, a small number of elites is more effective," Danzo said calmly.
This was all the Ninja Danzo could mobilize without alarming Hiruzen.
Some of these Ninja were not even registered Konoha Ninja. They were Ninja Danzo had secretly trained outside Konoha.
"After all, Konoha is not like Amegakure. Too much movement at once would attract a great deal of attention."
Hanzo frowned slightly but did not say much.
He had no intention of using Konoha's power to get rid of Sōsuke, so he did not particularly care about the strength of Konoha's forces. It was only Danzo's words that made him somewhat unhappy.
Over the next few days, Danzo was not much different from when he had been in Konoha.
Most of his time was spent researching Wood Release, and the rest was spent checking the plan to encircle and kill Sōsuke for any oversights.
When only one day remained before Sōsuke's arrival at Amegakure, Danzo received two pieces of bad news.
The first was that his Wood Release improvement had slowed down.
Danzo could accept this. It might be because he had absorbed too much knowledge recently, so it was not a major problem.
The second piece of bad news, however, greatly irritated him.
"Hayate Mugetsu actually made a mistake at a time like this!"
Danzo looked at the intelligence sent by the Konoha Root Ninja and could not help but shout.
According to the plan, Mugetsu was supposed to leave immediately after finishing his class today and rush to Amegakure.
With Mugetsu's strength, arriving at Amegakure before midnight while traveling at full speed should not have been a problem.
This way, Mugetsu would only need to take two days off for "rest" while serving as Danzo's trump card in the Land of Rain, helping him deal with both Sōsuke and "Uchiha Madara."
However, for some unknown reason, Mugetsu had been invited by Hiruzen to his home for dinner today, and Hiruzen even intended to explain Ninjutsu to him.
Given the persona Mugetsu had shown Hiruzen, refusing the invitation required a suitable reason.
As a result, Mugetsu did not leave Konoha until eight o'clock that night.
Danzo was furious.
He could understand that a poor refusal might expose flaws.
But no matter what, Mugetsu had failed to complete his mission.
As a Root Ninja, everything should revolve around him. No price should be spared.
"I will reprimand him once this matter is over. At his speed, he should still be able to arrive before Sōsuke does," Danzo exhaled.
To prevent such accidents, he had deliberately reserved some time for Mugetsu.
Even if Mugetsu could not arrive before the battle began, he would definitely arrive shortly after it started.
Danzo gradually calmed down.
His plan was still under control.
.....
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