Chapter 90: Naraku's Strategic Proposal at the Jōnin Meeting, Danzō's "Gift" of Yakushi Nonou
Next, Katō Dan recounted the specific details to Naraku. After listening, Naraku realized this meeting was actually deciding his future—whether he stayed or left.
But he didn't want to show it, so he pretended to be obedient and said: "I don't know what to do about this either. I'm willing to listen to the village's opinion."
Sarutobi Hiruzen encouraged him kindly: "Little Naraku, don't hold back. Speak boldly—we can use it as reference. Your clan head just praised you for having wisdom far beyond ordinary academy students."
Naraku looked at Uchiha Sengoku's expression—proud yet modest, as if saying: No need to thank me!
Naraku had a sentence—"I have an 8 a.m. class"—stuck in his throat, unsure if he should say it.
After thinking for a moment, Naraku realized what kind of cattle and horses these Konoha advisors were.
In this situation, they only needed to reference how Qin destroyed the six states.
Anyone familiar with history knew Qin's strategy against the united six states mainly included:
Using the "vertical alliance" (lián héng) strategy in reverse to attack and destroy the six states one by one,
Adopting the "distant friendship, nearby attack" (yuǎn jiāo jìn gōng) strategy,
And through bribery, sowing discord, and other means to destroy the six states' talent and unity.
As for the order of destroying each state—it was always weakest first, then strongest.
So applying this to the ninja world: They only needed to befriend the farthest one—Kirigakure. Kirigakure anyway didn't like interacting much with the outside. If Naraku remembered correctly, in the original Second Great Ninja War, Kirigakure didn't participate at all—they were busy with their own Blood Mist policy. Naraku suspected this might have some connection to Uchiha Madara.
Then relentlessly hammer Sunagakure until they were crippled. At that point, even if the territory wasn't highly regarded, who wouldn't want free land? Not to mention Hanzo the Salamander would definitely want it.
This would both deter smaller nations that might act and sow discord in the fragile alliance.
Of course, the specific implementation of the plan still needed proper supplementation and had to be based on reality—seek truth from facts.
Seeing Naraku seemed to have thought of something, Sarutobi Hiruzen encouraged him again.
Naraku chose to hold back part of it. He needed to give Konoha a sense of crisis—so they would invest more resources in him, ideally treating him as their last life-saving straw.
But he couldn't put too much pressure on Konoha either—otherwise if the Guardian Divine Throne was half-finished and he got sold out, that would be awkward.
Still, no need to worry too much—he was confident he could turn things around. It would just be a bit troublesome.
Naraku said to everyone: "I think Konoha only needs to fight Sunagakure—keep hammering them until they're crippled. Then we won't even need to act—other ninja villages will step in. At that point we can use it as a threat: whoever is weakest in the enemy alliance, make them even weaker! Such an alliance is very fragile. And I have a secret weapon!"
Hearing Naraku's words, almost everyone's eyes lit up. They hadn't expected one strategy from Naraku could already break a potential enemy alliance.
Danzō stared at Naraku with murderous eyes, as if threatening him with his gaze not to mention the Guardian Divine Throne.
Green tea Naraku deliberately avoided Danzō's eyes, thinking inwardly: Sorry, Little Dan Dan—though you give a lot, this time Sarutobi Hiruzen seems able to give more. It's your own fault for not fighting harder—who told you you're not Hokage? Even looking at the Scroll of Seals needs Sarutobi Hiruzen's approval. Sarutobi Hiruzen can mobilize the whole village's power, while you can only scrape and squeeze from Root.
Sarutobi Hiruzen focused on Naraku's last sentence and asked: "Little Naraku, what is this secret weapon you mentioned?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's question instantly drew the entire jōnin meeting room's attention. Given the many powerful weapons Naraku had forged before, anything he called a "secret weapon" must be comparable to "Incursio," right?
But Naraku said: "It's a secret—I can't tell everyone!"
This disappointed the curious, slightly relieved Danzō, and filled Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart with joy.
The rest of the meeting ended quickly. Under strong promotion from Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others, most agreed to Naraku's proposal.
After the meeting, Katō Dan even tried to build rapport with Naraku—this left Naraku speechless. You, a potential love rival, dare come try to win me over with empty words?
You think you're Tsunade? You think I'm Tsunade?
After politely saying goodbye, Naraku went to the Hokage's office. This time only Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō were there—originally Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to hear the secret alone.
But Danzō shamelessly forced his way in.
Then Naraku repeated what he had told Danzō earlier. Danzō nearly exploded several times, wanting to spill Naraku's dirt.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at his red-hot good friend beside him, thinking he was just excited by Naraku's idea.
In the end Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't Danzō—he grasped the key question and asked: "How long will it roughly take to forge this new weapon?"
Naraku thought for a moment and answered: "If all conditions are met, I'm confident I can complete it in two and a half years. If things go smoothly, two years is enough!"
Afterward Sarutobi Hiruzen asked a few more things, then let Naraku go.
As soon as Naraku left, Danzō followed closely behind.
Sarutobi Hiruzen reviewed the day's events and realized this kid Naraku wasn't so simple. So he decided to arrange for Tsunade—his teacher—to hurry back to Konoha and properly monitor Uchiha Naraku.
Actually, he had been a little dissatisfied that Tsunade accepted Naraku as a disciple without notifying him—after all, Naraku was an Uchiha. Now it seemed like a divine move.
What Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know was that Naraku welcomed this surveillance. If not for the Great Crab God's restrictions, he could've set up a whole courtyard of kids.
On the other side, Naraku thought: although Danzō gave less, sometimes it was still necessary.
So he went to Root. Some say money is a man's courage—in the transcendent world, strength is a man's courage.
With his current strength, Naraku even had the mood to admire Root's decorations.
Danzō rushed over and scolded Naraku: "Uchiha Naraku, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Naraku put on an innocent expression and said: "Lord Danzō, I was thinking of you! In that situation today, I had no choice but to say it—otherwise Sarutobi Hiruzen would definitely have sold me out."
Danzō calmed slightly but was still very angry: "You don't believe this old man can protect you?"
Naraku said aggrievedly: "I was just a little scared. And Lord Danzō, this new weapon consumes far too many resources. Root can't supply it all. Actually, there's one thing I didn't tell Sarutobi Hiruzen: During the forging process, this new weapon's core can already recognize its master. You only need to drip your blood on the core in advance. Afterward, only you and your descendants can use this weapon! At that time you'll sense you can control it—then Sarutobi Hiruzen will be working for our Root for free!"
Hearing this, Danzō was overjoyed. He hadn't expected such a backdoor. Danzō urgently said to Naraku: "Then bring out the core!"
Naraku pretended to take out the Guardian Divine Throne core from a scroll and said: "This is the core of the new weapon—but it needs to be fused with biological material to be useful."
Danzō still didn't give up—he dripped his blood on the core and found Naraku wasn't lying. He said to Naraku: "Put the core away for now. But when you fuse the biological material—no, when you capture the biological material, I must be present throughout the process!"
But today's events had made Danzō somewhat vigilant toward Naraku. Danzō called a subordinate. After a moment, a timid-looking cute girl appeared in front of Naraku.
Danzō said to Naraku: "Naraku, you did very well. I happen to have a capable subordinate who can be your personal assistant. She'll disguise herself as your maid for now—she's in the same grade as you!"
To win hearts, Danzō also said to the girl: "From now on you must obey Naraku's orders well, understand? No matter what he asks, you must comply!"
The cute girl nodded seriously, then walked to Naraku and said: "Lord Naraku, my name is Yakushi Nonou. From now on I'll be your maid and assistant. Please feel free to command me, Lord Naraku!"
Naraku looked at this scene in total confusion. Good grief—slave trade? Illegal child labor? This was the first time he learned that joining Root came with a slave!
Afterward Naraku verbally complained but physically accepted, saying he liked this assistant very much. Naraku comforted himself: this was to make Danzō feel at ease, and also to save this pitiful girl.
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