Chapter 606 You have been strengthened, come on

“This is…” Danzo Shimura slowly opened his eyes, his muddled consciousness gradually clearing.

He had been in the room prepared for him by the Rain Ninja, contemplating the matter of “Uchiha Madara,” and then inexplicably lost consciousness.

Whoosh!

Danzo Shimura’s body instantly tensed, and he quickly rolled to his feet, putting distance between himself and the Masked Man standing in the room.

“What did you do to me! Is this how you treat your partners?” Danzo Shimura sternly rebuked him.

Without a doubt, his unconsciousness was definitely the Masked Man’s doing.

At this moment, Danzo Shimura’s vigilance towards the Masked Man had reached its peak; if he could be made unconscious without a sound, then he could be sent to his death without a sound!

“Heh heh, haven’t I been good enough to you? I’ve already given you the promised reward so quickly,” the Masked Man said with a smile, not caring about Danzo Shimura’s attitude.

“Haven’t you felt it? A stronger body, and the Bloodline Limit you desire most.”

After knocking out Danzo Shimura, they performed surgery on him, excising some of Danzo Shimura’s body tissue and replacing it with Hashirama cells and White Zetsu body parts.

Upon hearing the Masked Man’s words, Danzo Shimura immediately sensed the Chakra within his body, then condensed it and transformed it into Wood Release Chakra.

Bang!

Under the influence of Danzo Shimura’s Chakra, a small tree burst through the floor and grew rapidly.

Looking at the single sprout of green in the room, Danzo Shimura could no longer control his facial expression and couldn’t help but burst into maniacal laughter.

For the sake of Wood Release, after Konoha sealed the Hashirama cells experiments, he secretly cooperated with Orochimaru to continue researching Hashirama cells, sparing no expense, even capturing people from Villages around Konoha as test subjects.

Now, he had finally achieved his wish of mastering Wood Release.

However, this was not his territory after all, so Danzo Shimura still restrained himself and did not laugh out loud, only his facial muscles twitched.

“Moreover, my Chakra has also become much stronger,” Danzo Shimura thought to himself.

The changes brought by this unconsciousness were not only Wood Release; the amount of Chakra in his body had also increased.

This made Danzo Shimura even more wary of the Masked Man.

Danzo Shimura had researched Hashirama cells for so long, naturally not for nothing.

Possessing Wood Release, a strengthened body, and increased Chakra, the Masked Man’s method of granting him Wood Release must be related to Hashirama cells.

It was highly likely that the Masked Man had mastered a high-success-rate Hashirama cells transplantation method.

However, this method should have unknown limitations, otherwise the Masked Man wouldn’t need to cooperate with Danzo Shimura; if he brought a team of Wood Release Ninja to the Shinobi Sect himself, would he still worry about not being able to take down Sōsuke? Or not being able to seize the Rinnegan?

Thinking of this, Danzo Shimura felt a little relieved; since the Masked Man was cooperating with him, it must be because he possessed something the Masked Man did not.

“Hmph, this reward is what I deserve, but you should have discussed it with me before acting!” Danzo Shimura snorted coldly.

Although he had obtained Wood Release and more Chakra, Danzo Shimura still felt a lingering fear.

Just thinking about lying on the operating table without any ability to resist filled Danzo Shimura with a furious dread.

If the experiment went wrong, if the Masked Man suddenly decided to kill him, what would happen to Konoha without him?

“Heh heh, that’s not something you can decide,” the Masked Man said impolitely.

Danzo Shimura was just a tool, and a tool shouldn’t know too much.

Danzo Shimura’s face darkened; someday, if he could uncover the Masked Man’s organization, he would definitely return all the humiliation he was suffering now before killing him.

“Then you should at least tell me about your personnel deployment. How much force will you deploy during the assassination of Sōsuke?” Danzo Shimura continued to ask.

The previous sentence was just a prelude to this one; Danzo Shimura could tell that the Masked Man didn’t want him to know the Hashirama cells technique.

“You’ll know then, and haven’t we already strengthened you? Maybe you can kill Sōsuke yourself,” the Masked Man still did not directly answer Danzo Shimura’s question.

Danzo Shimura frowned; this Masked Man was truly treating him like a subordinate, telling him nothing and just ordering him to act, just like how he sometimes commanded the Root Ninja.

However, Danzo Shimura didn’t want to withdraw from the cooperation now.

Although Wood Release was in his hands, the Shinobi Sect Heritage and the Rinnegan were not yet, and these two were also very crucial.

The encirclement plan was set, the Amegakure was successfully persuaded, and the Shinobi Sect Heritage and Rinnegan were now like two ducks about to walk into a trap.

Could Danzo Shimura let go of these ducks that were almost within his grasp?

“You’ve asked me so many questions, it’s my turn to ask you,” the Masked Man suddenly said.

Danzo Shimura focused his mind, ensuring he was clear-headed and wouldn’t reveal any flaws during the conversation.

“What does it feel like to need to defecate?”

Danzo Shimura was slightly taken aback, not expecting the Masked Man to ask this inexplicable question again.

Realizing what was asked, Danzo Shimura’s face darkened, and he remained silent.

In his opinion, the Masked Man, a cunning old schemer who would hide things even from his collaborators, would certainly not be so low-level.

As for why he would still ask this question, Danzo Shimura felt that the Masked Man might be intentionally leading him into meaningless thought.

“Hiding so deeply, what kind of conspiracy is this?” Danzo Shimura watched the Masked Man leave, his eyes narrowing in thought.

He was certain that the Masked Man’s goal of acquiring the Rinnegan and Shinobi Sect Heritage was not the ultimate objective.

Just like himself, Danzo Shimura didn’t research Hashirama cells simply because he wanted Wood Release; his fundamental idea behind researching Hashirama cells was to make Konoha stronger and to give himself a chance to become Hokage.

The Masked Man’s displayed abilities and methods currently made Danzo Shimura feel a greater threat than even the Shinobi Sect.

Danzo Shimura himself was in the Amegakure, but everything was still within the Masked Man’s control.

The Masked Man knew he had come to the Land of Rain, and quickly learned that he had persuaded Hanzō, as if an invisible Ninja had been constantly monitoring him.

Of course, Danzo Shimura knew this was impossible.

After all, he also possessed many secret techniques; even if someone could become invisible, he should have detected them.

Danzo Shimura believed the most reasonable explanation was that the Amegakure had the Masked Man’s spies, and the Shinobi Sect should have them too.

“I need to make some more arrangements.” Danzo Shimura felt that the previous plan was not secure enough.

The previous plan was sufficient to kill Sōsuke and Nagato, but if the Masked Man betrayed him after the deed was done, then it would be uncertain.

Soon, Danzo Shimura found a casual excuse, saying he needed to return to Konoha.

Holding an event wasn’t just a matter of words; as a plan to kill a top-tier Ninja World powerhouse, Hanzō and Danzo Shimura agreed on a month.

They would spend a month preparing for the encirclement.

Danzo Shimura naturally couldn’t stay in the Land of Rain for the entire month, otherwise Hiruzen Sarutobi would definitely notice something unusual.

It wasn’t that Danzo Shimura couldn’t stay in an outside Village for a long time, but rather that Danzo Shimura needed a suitable reason.

If Danzo Shimura were leading troops in battle, let alone not returning for a month, no one would say anything if he didn’t return for a year.

On the other side, after leaving Danzo Shimura’s sight, the Masked Man directly sank into the ground, reappearing in a hidden forest.

“Did you tell Danzo everything I told you to say?” Black Zetsu asked.

It was he who had attacked Danzo Shimura, but Black Zetsu didn’t want to show his face, so he left directly after the surgery was completed, letting Tobi deal with Danzo Shimura.

“Mission accomplished perfectly! The only regret is that he still didn’t answer what it feels like to need to defecate,” Tobi said with a regretful expression, shaking off his black robe.

As a being who didn’t need to defecate, he was genuinely curious.

“Then ask next time,” Black Zetsu said indifferently.

Although asking such a question in Uchiha Madara’s name was a bit embarrassing, Uchiha Madara was old and close to death, so he probably wouldn’t care about such things.

“With Hashirama cells and Tobi’s body, even if the current Danzo Shimura can’t kill Sōsuke, with the help of others, it shouldn’t be difficult to achieve a mutual kill,” Black Zetsu began to deduce his plan.

On Uchiha Madara’s side, Sōsuke’s priority was very low, far less than Hayate Mugetsu.

But on Black Zetsu’s side, Sōsuke’s priority in the plan was lower than Hayate Mugetsu, but he was still a very necessary Ninja to eliminate.

Because Sōsuke might have some connection to the Six Paths Sage.

Ever since he had that conjecture, Black Zetsu had never personally approached Sōsuke again.

Even if there was only a slight possibility, Black Zetsu didn’t want to take the risk; after all, it wasn’t time to use the Rinnegan yet.

This time, with an opportunity to eliminate Sōsuke, Black Zetsu directly raised the stakes, using Tobi’s body tissue when performing surgery on Danzo Shimura.

Tobi was different from ordinary White Zetsu; Tobi himself possessed extraordinary strength and could possess Ninja, enhancing their physical abilities. He was the most special White Zetsu, Kaguya’s ideal White Zetsu weapon.

Therefore, using Tobi’s body to perform surgery on Danzo Shimura could maximize the surgical effect, though it would cause harm to Tobi.

However, Black Zetsu felt it was worth it; Tobi’s injuries could heal, and using Tobi to strengthen Danzo Shimura was better than having Tobi go himself, as Tobi was an important combat force on their side.

In a direct fight, Black Zetsu couldn’t defeat Tobi either.

“If they kill each other, it just so happens that I can detonate the other arrangements prematurely.” Black Zetsu found that Danzo Shimura and Sōsuke dying together was the best outcome.

Danzo Shimura, as Konoha’s Hokage Assistant, was one of Konoha’s representative Ninja.

If Danzo Shimura died, it would truly shake Konoha.

At that time, if he then used the arrangements in other Ninja Villages, Hayate Mugetsu would soon be too busy to care for his disciples.

…

As soon as Hanzō left, Muzuki created a Shadow Clone, and then his main body used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave Six Paths City, heading straight for Konoha.

Aside from those disciples whose trust levels were maxed out, for anyone else, Muzuki would first think, then investigate, then trust.

This was a Ninja World full of deceit and trickery; after working so hard for so long, Muzuki didn’t want to lose everything due to a moment of carelessness.

Even though Muzuki had already deduced that Danzo Shimura was causing trouble, he still had to investigate it himself first to confirm the truth of the matter.

Although Muzuki had been in the Shinobi Sect for some time, Muzuki’s Yang Seal Shadow Clone had always been active in Konoha, so from the perspective of others, Muzuki had always stayed in Konoha and never left.

Upon reaching a distance close to Konoha, Muzuki directly used Flying Thunder God to enter his bedroom in the Main urban area.

After returning to Konoha, Muzuki immediately activated his Kenbunshoku Haki at full power, enveloping all of Konoha with it.

“As expected, he’s not in Konoha.” Muzuki couldn’t sense Danzo Shimura’s Chakra.

Muzuki then secretly went to the Root Base, activating his Byakugan to observe the situation there.

He found that not only was Danzo Shimura absent, but there were also far fewer Root Ninja than usual.

At this point, it could basically be confirmed that Danzo Shimura was in the Land of Rain, and Hanzō coming to him was also a result of Danzo Shimura’s machinations.

There was no major war in Konoha right now, and no mission important enough for Danzo Shimura, the Hokage Assistant, to personally lead his subordinates into battle.

Moreover, Danzo Shimura was not a Ninja who was keen on going to the front lines.

“Then, Hanzō’s words should be credible.” Muzuki continued to consider how to deal with this sudden situation.

The easiest method was to directly report Danzo Shimura to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

This way, Muzuki wouldn’t need to act, and Danzo Shimura would have to slink back to Konoha.

However, the drawback of this method was that Danzo Shimura wouldn’t die and might continue to cause trouble in the future.

Muzuki thought about it and decided that this time, even if it took more effort, he had to eliminate Danzo Shimura.

Currently, Danzo Shimura’s existence was far more detrimental than beneficial to him; he was an unpredictable bomb and couldn’t provide any help.

Over the next few days, Muzuki remained in Konoha, continuing his investigation, trying to uncover the details of Danzo Shimura’s plan.

Sōsuke, this alias, now had a greater reputation in the Ninja World than Muzuki himself. Killing such a powerhouse was not something one would do on a whim, so Muzuki was not in a hurry to return to the Amegakure.

Since he knew that Danzo Shimura wanted to kill his alias, the initiative was actually in Muzuki’s hands.

Muzuki did find some hidden information, but it was all irrelevant content, basically Root’s submitted mission reports.

But those Root Ninja didn’t uncover anything either.

Muzuki could only determine from the missions Danzo Shimura released that Danzo Shimura was very interested in the Shinobi Sect Heritage.

Just as Muzuki was preparing to return to the Amegakure, Danzo Shimura came back.

Fortunately, Muzuki had the good habit of scanning Konoha with his Kenbunshoku Haki every day after returning, otherwise he might have just missed him.

“His Chakra has become stronger.” Muzuki noticed the change in Danzo Shimura’s Chakra.

Chakra was an essential existence for Ninja; the change in Danzo Shimura’s Chakra was like a person who was 1.7 meters tall suddenly becoming 2 meters tall—it was hard for Muzuki not to notice.

Of course, this was mainly because he was very familiar with Danzo Shimura’s Chakra, which allowed him to detect it.

If he didn’t regularly observe Danzo Shimura’s Chakra, he wouldn’t be able to notice such a change.

Danzo Shimura’s sudden increase in strength gave Muzuki a strange feeling.

So Muzuki concealed himself and, using the super long-range vision of his high-purity Byakugan, at the very limit of its range, he gave Danzo Shimura an appraisal.