Chapter 473: Jiraiya Lacks Wisdom, Tsunade Lacks Strategy, Only Orochimaru…

“As long as I can achieve another great merit on the Kumogakure battlefield, I will have the most military achievements. At that time, I just need to steadily continue with the plan, and the probability of becoming the Fourth Hokage will be very high.”

“Once I become the Fourth Hokage, Root will no longer be a subordinate department of Anbu; it will have equal status with Anbu.”

Inside the Root Base, Orochimaru was painting a beautiful future for them to Danzo Shimura.

The reason Danzo Shimura was so enthusiastically promoting Orochimaru to be Hokage was not because he liked Orochimaru; they had a cooperation.

Danzo Shimura would push Orochimaru to the top, and Orochimaru, after becoming Hokage, would in turn support Danzo Shimura.

“Hmm, Jiraiya has no great ambitions and will certainly not be able to compete with you. As for Tsunade, she has fallen into depravity and needs no attention,” Danzo Shimura said, nodding.

In fact, drawing a picture of a bright future was one of Danzo Shimura’s most skilled abilities; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to trick so many Root members into fighting for him. Danzo Shimura didn’t control his subordinates through Ninjutsu; the Tongue-Cutting Seal was only to prevent subordinates from leaking information.

However, for now, what Orochimaru said was not just an empty promise. In Danzo Shimura’s analysis, Orochimaru’s probability of becoming Hokage far surpassed Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had a tendency to favor Jiraiya, Jiraiya himself had no such ambition. Hiruzen Sarutobi had tried several times to give opportunities for merit to Jiraiya, but Jiraiya simply refused them.

“To achieve great merit faster, I hope Danzo, you can send Lord Mu Yue again to be my assistant. With him, we will surely be able to recreate the great victory on the East Bank Battlefield,” Orochimaru said, seizing the opportunity when Danzo Shimura showed a look of approval.

This was Orochimaru’s true goal: to bring Muzuki to the battlefield with him.

To prevent his intentions from being exposed, Orochimaru basically didn’t investigate much, only asking Danzo Shimura casually with a legitimate reason.

Because Danzo Shimura was very cautious, Orochimaru couldn’t get any useful information, so he couldn’t judge whether Muzuki’s refusal that day was Muzuki’s own will or Danzo Shimura’s order.

So Orochimaru changed his mind, because he felt that no matter what the reason was, as long as he could bring Muzuki to the battlefield, everything would be resolved in the end.

As long as he could replace Danzo Shimura’s position in Muzuki’s heart, all problems would be solved easily.

Danzo Shimura remained outwardly calm, but inwardly, he felt that Orochimaru’s malicious intentions persisted.

“I can send other elites to help you, but Muzuki cannot. As for him, I have other very important arrangements,” Danzo Shimura refused Orochimaru.

He could proactively send Muzuki to help Orochimaru gain merit, but if Orochimaru proactively wanted to take Muzuki away, no.

However, they were close partners after all, so Danzo Shimura didn’t make his words too harsh, using the excuse that Muzuki had other arrangements.

“Is that so? What a pity,” Orochimaru’s expression remained unchanged, seemingly not too bothered by it, but his mind raced, connecting all the pieces of information.

“It must be that Danzo Shimura discovered something, so he doesn’t want Lord Mu Yue to have too much contact with me,” Orochimaru thought to himself.

What kind of important arrangement could be more important than gaining merit on the battlefield? This concerned the position of Hokage.

Moreover, it wasn’t Orochimaru being conceited, he felt that with his performance on the East Bank Battlefield, he was absolutely a very good senior superior in Muzuki’s heart and should not have been directly rejected.

Orochimaru had shown his strategy and strength, spoken well of Muzuki’s disciples in front of the higher-ups, and often had heart-to-heart talks with Muzuki. Muzuki’s perception of him could only be good, not bad.

No matter how Orochimaru thought about it, he felt that Danzo Shimura had done something.

Next, Orochimaru did not bring up Muzuki’s matter again, but continued to discuss their Fourth Hokage plan.

Orochimaru believed in his own abilities; he would eventually be able to influence Muzuki.

Moreover, with Muzuki’s current strength, Danzo Shimura also had no way to keep Muzuki bound indefinitely. There would be many opportunities in the future, so there was no need to dwell on this issue.

But Orochimaru still noted this matter; he would settle accounts with Danzo Shimura after becoming Hokage.

After Orochimaru left the Root Base, Danzo Shimura showed a thoughtful expression.

He was a cautious person. Since he had already said he had arrangements for Muzuki, he had to find something for Muzuki to do, lest Orochimaru inadvertently discover the truth.

“Let him continue training Root for a period of time,” Danzo Shimura thought of a good idea.

Although he valued Muzuki’s strength more, Danzo Shimura also didn’t forget Muzuki’s unique teaching ability.

The more Danzo Shimura thought about it, the better he felt about it. This way, he could both deal with Orochimaru and strengthen the Root Ninja’s abilities.

Then Danzo Shimura went to find Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Orochimaru wanted to take Muzuki to the battlefield, but he had to go through Danzo Shimura because Muzuki had the identity of a Root member.

Danzo Shimura also had to follow procedures to deploy Muzuki; he had to first ask Hiruzen Sarutobi for permission, because Muzuki had long since ceased to be a Root member on the surface.

Danzo Shimura walked towards the Hokage Office in the Hokage Building with a gloomy expression.

Besides the fact that he had to get Hiruzen Sarutobi’s permission to use his own subordinates, which greatly annoyed Danzo Shimura, Danzo Shimura felt that Hiruzen Sarutobi would not easily agree this time and that there would definitely be some haggling, because Danzo Shimura had challenged Hiruzen Sarutobi at the last high-level meeting.

Danzo Shimura understood Hiruzen Sarutobi all too well. Hiruzen Sarutobi was not a magnanimous person and would definitely seek revenge. This was him predicting the outcome and directly expressing his emotions.

Passing Ninja who saw Danzo Shimura looking gloomy did not find anything unusual.

After all, this was Danzo, the aide; gloominess was his normal state. If he suddenly smiled as brightly as Muzuki or Minato one day, they would instead think that Aide Danzo was under too much pressure and had gone mad.

When Danzo Shimura reached the wooden door of the Hokage Office, he was about to push it open as usual, but then he thought of something, suddenly stopped, pulled back the door that was half-open, withdrew his extended foot, and bent his finger to knock on the wooden door.

Whether it was Danzo Shimura’s imagination or not, when the knocking sound echoed, he seemed to hear a slightly regretful sigh from inside.

“Enter,” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice came from inside the Hokage Office.

Danzo Shimura then pushed open the wooden door and entered the Hokage Office.

“Danzo, is there something you need?” Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

“Hiru…” Danzo Shimura was about to call Hiruzen Sarutobi by his name, but after recalling some memories, he quickly stopped and corrected himself, “Sandaime.”

Hiruzen Sarutobi secretly sighed in regret. Today’s Danzo Shimura was too cautious.

Just now, he had deliberately called Danzo Shimura by his name, wanting to lead Danzo Shimura to call him by his name as well. But Danzo Shimura stubbornly showed no weakness, making it impossible for him to release the emotions he had accumulated from the previous high-level meeting.

“I want to transfer Muzuki back to Root. Muzuki’s educational abilities will be best utilized in Root, and then the quality of both Root Ninja and Anbu Ninja will be improved,” Danzo Shimura said after careful consideration and confirmation that there were no issues.

When Root was first established, Danzo Shimura’s excuse was to train Anbu, so what Danzo Shimura said made perfect sense: Muzuki, who was skilled in teaching, would return to Root and further develop his teaching abilities.

Of course, Danzo Shimura knew that this request would not be agreed to by Hiruzen Sarutobi. Danzo Shimura said this to maintain his “persona.”

He usually went to great lengths to strengthen Root’s power, so it was normal for Danzo Shimura to try to reclaim a talent who had been taken from Root. This way, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not suspect his connection with Muzuki.

“How many Ninja are there in Root and Anbu combined? How many Ninja are there in the Ninja Academy? How many Ninja are there in the entire Konoha? Muzuki cannot return to Root,” Hiruzen Sarutobi flatly refused.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not let Muzuki return to Root. The darkness of Root was too deep and unsuitable for a Ninja like Muzuki.

“Danzo, if you put the effort you spend on strengthening Root into other things, perhaps Konoha would be better,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said unceremoniously.

“Why do I strengthen Root? Isn’t it for Konoha?” Danzo Shimura retorted, unconvinced.

“If I didn’t know that, do you think your Root would still exist today?” Hiruzen Sarutobi said lightly, putting down his pipe and exhaling white smoke.

If Danzo Shimura hadn’t actually been working for Konoha, how could Hiruzen Sarutobi have allowed Root to exist all this time? That bit of camaraderie was not worth Hiruzen Sarutobi doing this.

After becoming Hokage, Konoha was Hiruzen Sarutobi’s top priority; everything else had to make way for Konoha.

“Since you know that, then why do you keep obstructing me?” Danzo Shimura asked in a deep voice.

“Some things you do too much, and some things you shouldn’t do,” Hiruzen Sarutobi replied, then picked up his pipe again.

Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn’t say if Danzo Shimura was wholeheartedly for Konoha, but he certainly was genuinely working for Konoha.

But Danzo Shimura didn’t know moderation; his bottom line was almost non-existent.

“Training Root is fine, I will arrange that, but don’t even think about anything else,” Hiruzen Sarutobi directly announced the result.

Hiruzen Sarutobi didn’t want Muzuki to return to Root, but just training Root Ninja was fine. It would be like having Muzuki train Anbu and also Root at the same time.

Danzo Shimura’s expression was somewhat displeased, as if he was extremely dissatisfied with Hiruzen Sarutobi’s arrangement.

Danzo Shimura turned silently with a gloomy expression and walked towards the wooden door of the Hokage Office.

“Hiru… Sandaime, you will regret this!”

Bang!

A dull thud sounded as Danzo Shimura slammed the wooden door shut.

Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn’t help but smile.

He had been holding back his laughter just now. Danzo Shimura’s cautious manner of speaking was truly too amusing; he had never seen Danzo Shimura like that before.

“If only I had reacted a bit faster back then, things definitely wouldn’t be like this now,” Danzo Shimura, who had slammed the door and left, was very unhappy.

Although he had perfectly avoided all mistakes and given Hiruzen Sarutobi no opportunity to make an issue of it, Danzo Shimura was still angry. Why did he have to be so careful?

If he had been the one to step forward and offer to cover their retreat back then, today it would be Hiruzen Sarutobi speaking to him so cautiously.

…

Bang!

Obito constantly imagined an invisible armor on his fist, then unleashed a powerful punch. A crack instantly appeared on the trunk of the large tree in front of Obito, but it didn’t fall down.

“Damn it, Armament Haki Secret Technique is so difficult,” Obito scratched his head a couple of times when he saw the tree hadn’t broken.

In fact, he could have broken the tree by using a Breathing Technique and gathering a bit more Chakra, but Obito was practicing, not trying to chop down a tree. Just now, Obito was only trying to use Armament Haki, and didn’t use any other abilities.

“The internal competition is in another week, what should I do?” Obito looked at the others and felt a bit anxious.

The original internal competition was scheduled once every three months, but due to the war, it had been postponed for a long time.

Obito had thought he could use this opportunity to overtake others, but it turned out that the others had made even greater progress.

Might Guy had mastered the Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, while Shisui had mastered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

Obito didn’t expect to defeat Might Guy; the Rock Breathing Chakra Mode stacked with the Eight Gates’ Fifth and Sixth Gates was too monstrous, making him unbeatable.

Obito’s goal was to consistently win against Kakashi and Shisui, so he would have a high chance of entering the second round and avoiding punishment.

So now the problem was, Obito had the Flame Breathing Mode, and Shisui also had it. Obito had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and Shisui also had it. But Shisui had mastered the Armament Haki Secret Technique, while Obito hadn’t. Calculate Obito’s win rate against Shisui.

In fact, Obito’s Flame Breathing was stronger than Shisui’s, but he felt that that slight difference in strength couldn’t compare to the Armament Haki Secret Technique.

“It seems I only have a better chance of winning against Kakashi,” Obito could only hope that he would draw Kakashi in the internal competition.

Kakashi had the Transparent World, Obito had the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode. Kakashi had the Armament Haki Secret Technique, Obito had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. They were truly almost identical.

Crack!

A flash of lightning passed, and all the trees in front of Kakashi fell down.

“It’s not this feeling, it’s still far off,” Kakashi sheathed his sword and shook his head, recalling Muzuki’s lightning blade that cut through everything.

Muzuki’s Lightning Release sword technique was more difficult than Kakashi had imagined. He estimated that he wouldn’t be able to use it in the next internal competition, and could only hope to master it before the one after that.

“In that case, I only have a greater chance of winning against Obito,” Kakashi briefly analyzed the combat power of Muzuki’s four disciples.

After the East Bank Battlefield, each of them had made different degrees of progress. The one with the greatest progress was Might Guy, followed by Shisui, while Kakashi and Obito were in the same tier.

“Great Flame Ring – Flame Emperor!”

Shisui, who had entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, was unleashing Fire Release fiercely at the river surface.

With the internal competition approaching, Shisui had no choice but to temporarily halt his plan to further expand his prestige and return to high-intensity training. He had to become more proficient in using the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode before the competition began.

Might Guy trained frantically with weights, going all out. Although he was the strongest among them, he wouldn’t slack off, because he still had to keep going until he became the strongest Taijutsu user in Konoha and the strongest Taijutsu user in the Ninja World.

Seeing Might Guy so full of passion, Riolu couldn’t help but join in the training.