Chapter 120 I Shadow You Regret (35)

Danzo walked directly into the Hokage Office without knocking.

When Danzo entered, Hiruzen Sarutobi was standing in front of the Hokage Office’s huge floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at Konoha.

The Hokage Building was so tall that one could stand on it and take in the entire Main urban area of Konoha.

“Hiruzen, is there something we need to discuss?” Danzo asked.

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around, nodded, and said, “Take a look at the documents on my desk.”

Danzo walked to the desk, picked up the documents, and began to flip through them. The name Hayate Mugetsu immediately caught his eye.

Seeing Muzuki’s name, Danzo’s eyes narrowed slightly, and a guess immediately flashed through his mind.

“I just reminded him not to expose his identity, and he’s already been discovered. Truly incompetent,” Danzo thought to himself.

However, as an experienced actor, Danzo’s expression remained unchanged. He quickly finished reading the documents, which contained nothing else but some information about Muzuki.

“Isn’t it just about promoting a Special Jonin with outstanding teaching abilities? Does it require both of us to confirm it?” Danzo said nonchalantly.

Since Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn’t being direct, he also pretended to know nothing.

Hearing Danzo’s words, Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed.

“Haha, Danzo, are you sure this is just an ordinary Special Jonin?” Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at Danzo with a chuckle.

“Does he have other special qualities besides the strong teaching ability mentioned in the documents?” Danzo continued to feign ignorance.

He would never admit to sending someone to the Ninja Academy.

Hiruzen Sarutobi put his pipe into his mouth, puffed out a cloud of smoke, and said, “Danzo, you don’t need to play dumb with me. I know he’s a Root member you illegally trained.”

Then, Hiruzen Sarutobi threw some more documents to Danzo.

After reading them, Danzo’s face instantly changed drastically. Not only did they contain information about his secret training of Muzuki, but also cultivation information about some other hidden agents.

“How did he know?” Danzo was somewhat bewildered, not expecting his so-called hidden agents to be transparent in front of the Third Hokage.

Although Danzo established another Anbu, which was Root, under the guise of Anbu training, Hiruzen Sarutobi was not foolish and would not allow Danzo’s power to expand indefinitely. He limited the number of Root members.

This was why Danzo cultivated hidden agents like Muzuki. Since he wasn’t allowed to openly recruit, he could only secretly train additional members.

“I do all of this to protect Konoha. The number of Root members you’ve stipulated is not enough to ensure Konoha’s safety,” Danzo not only did not admit his mistake but instead tried to get Hiruzen Sarutobi to relax the restrictions on Root.

“Now that a great war is about to begin, Konoha needs more Root personnel to protect it. Hiruzen, don’t tell me you think Konoha can remain uninvolved.”

Danzo wanted to change the subject, shifting from illegal training to whether Konoha would be drawn into the war and how to protect Konoha.

But Danzo was cunning, and Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been Hokage for decades, was even more cunning than Danzo. He understood Danzo’s thoughts and was not misled by Danzo’s words. He tapped on the table and said:

“Let’s put other matters aside for now and discuss your illegal training of additional members.”

“There are five people in total here, and three of them are descendants of war heroes. How dare you lay hands on them, Danzo? Are you trying to destroy The Will of Fire of Konoha?!”

Hiruzen Sarutobi’s gaze sharpened, staring at Danzo with an extremely oppressive look.

So-called war heroes were Ninja who sacrificed themselves in war, for example, Muzuki’s parents who died in battle were considered war heroes.

Danzo did not speak. How could normal children be so easily fooled and taken advantage of? Ninja descendants like Muzuki generally wouldn’t have bad talent.

“I am also cultivating talent for Konoha,” Danzo thought for a moment and still argued.

“Isn’t that Hayate Mugetsu already promoted to Special Jonin by you? Isn’t he considered talent?”

“Perhaps he would be even more outstanding if you hadn’t interfered,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said unceremoniously.

In his opinion, Muzuki was indeed a capable talent, with outstanding teaching ability, and excellent Sealing Technique talent. His Water Release and Fire Release were also decent, and he handled himself very well.

“Muzuki is not suitable to stay in Root. Tomorrow, you come to the Hokage Building and remove the cursed seal on him,” Hiruzen Sarutobi stated his ultimate goal.

Getting Muzuki was his main objective today; reprimanding Danzo was secondary.

“Hiruzen, what do you mean? He was cultivated by me with great effort, and I am the leader of Root,” Danzo said, clenching his fists.

Although Muzuki was not a Root member he highly valued, having him taken away like this felt like someone else picking the fruit of a tree he had worked hard to cultivate. It was frustrating!

“If you refuse me, you will regret it,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said calmly.

Danzo’s face was clouded with uncertainty, and he did not immediately answer Hiruzen Sarutobi.

“Then what about the resources I spent on him?” Danzo finally spoke.

Hiruzen puffed out a cloud of smoke and pointed to the documents on the table.

Danzo immediately understood Hiruzen Sarutobi’s meaning: there would be no compensation for illegal cultivation.

Danzo took a deep breath and said coldly, “I will come tomorrow.”

With that, Danzo turned and left. As he reached the door, he spoke again, “Hiruzen, you will regret this.”

“I am the Hokage,” Hiruzen Sarutobi reminded him from his chair.

Bang!

The wooden door of the office was slammed shut.

As soon as he stepped out of the office, Danzo’s expression instantly returned to normal.

It was only about a Special Jonin being taken away. He might be displeased, but he would definitely not be particularly angry. The reason he showed such extreme anger in the office was just to express his indignation and to make Hiruzen Sarutobi offer compensation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not want to compensate, but in return, besides Muzuki, Hiruzen Sarutobi could pretend not to have seen the other four illegally trained individuals.

This was the subtext of Hiruzen Sarutobi pointing to the documents on the table, which is why after discussing Muzuki, the two did not talk about anyone else.

The four individuals besides Muzuki would basically be tacitly considered Root members from now on, though they wouldn’t be on the official Root roster.

“Thankfully, ‘A’ wasn’t discovered,” Danzo thought.

When he saw the list of hidden agents, Danzo’s heart skipped a beat, thinking his hidden Wood Release Ninja had been discovered.

As long as his Wood Release Ninja wasn’t discovered, even if all his other hidden agents were exposed, Danzo didn’t feel the loss was significant. He believed in the power of Wood Release.

As long as he could cultivate the Wood Release Ninja, it was uncertain who would truly be in charge of Konoha in the future.

However, on his way back to the Root Base, Danzo still felt a bit annoyed. Just yesterday, he was thinking that once Muzuki became a high-ranking official at the Ninja Academy, he would have another place in Konoha where he could exert influence, but today Muzuki was directly taken away.

“Go notify Night to come here,” Danzo instructed his subordinate upon returning to the Root Base.