Chapter 607: The Promised Future of Konoha

【 Name: Danzo Shimura 】

【 Chakra: 146000 】

【 Skills: Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery: 6100 / 15000), Wind Release: Vacuum Wave (Mastery: 2900 / 15000)…Wood Release (Proficiency: 1200 / 3000) 】

【 Potential: SS- (Basic Talent + Six Paths Bloodline) 】

Muzuki showed a thoughtful expression as he looked at the appraised data.

Danzo Shimura’s stats had almost comprehensively improved.

Chakra, skills, and potential all increased. No need to mention Chakra; an increase of tens of thousands like this was clearly not from normal training.

At the same time, Danzo Shimura was one of the few Ninja whose potential value changed among those Muzuki had appraised.

The sudden surge in Chakra, the appearance of Wood Release among his skills, plus the increased potential, instantly made Muzuki think of Hashirama cells.

Danzo Shimura’s stat increase perfectly matched the effects of Hashirama cells.

The Chakra increase was due to having Sage Body, and Wood Release was an essential ability from Hashirama cells.

“Danzo shouldn’t have the ability to transplant Hashirama cells at this stage, and this level of enhancement doesn’t seem like a normal Hashirama cells transplant.” Muzuki closed the panel and used Flying Thunder God to return to his home in the Main urban area.

He had specifically sent a Shadow Clone to retrieve White Zetsu earlier, fearing that White Zetsu’s body might fall into Danzo Shimura’s hands, allowing Danzo Shimura and Orochimaru to prematurely master the Hashirama cells technique.

He hadn’t expected Danzo Shimura to have somehow undergone a Hashirama cells transplant during his time away from Konoha.

In the current Ninja World, Danzo Shimura had only two ways to transplant Hashirama cells.

One was cooperation with Orochimaru; the two of them had been diligently conducting Hashirama cells experiments.

The second was Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu.

In the original work, Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura’s research into Hashirama cells at this time was not yet deep enough; transplant surgery was almost equivalent to murder, and among all test subjects, only Yamato, the survivor, lived.

Due to Muzuki, the transmigrator, intervening, the plot had undergone significant changes, so Muzuki couldn’t be 100% sure that Danzo Shimura and Orochimaru’s research progress on Hashirama cells was the same as in the original work.

However, after further thought, Muzuki still ruled out the first option, believing that Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu were behind it.

Even if Orochimaru had overcome various difficulties and made a major breakthrough in Hashirama cells research, with Danzo Shimura’s cautious nature, he wouldn’t immediately apply it to himself.

Moreover, Danzo Shimura’s improvement was too significant; achieving this effect shortly after transplantation didn’t seem like a normal Hashirama cells transplant.

With one of the only two options eliminated, the remaining one was undoubtedly the truth.

“Is it you, Uchiha Madara, Black Zetsu?” Muzuki tapped his desk lightly with his finger, thinking to himself.

Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu were the parties with the deepest research into Hashirama cells in the current Ninja World; if it was their doing, then all questions could be explained.

Muzuki could even easily guess Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu’s motives.

If Danzo Shimura killed Sōsuke, then they wouldn’t need to find another way to eliminate Sōsuke later, and deceiving Nagato would be simpler.

If Danzo Shimura failed and was killed by Sōsuke, the result would be a shock to Konoha, and Ninja Villages with designs on Konoha would seize the opportunity.

If Danzo Shimura and Sōsuke perished together, it would be a double blessing for Uchiha Madara and his group.

“Perhaps they also intended to drag me into it.”

Uchiha Madara and his group hadn’t seen through Muzuki’s alias, and Danzo Shimura was Muzuki’s secret superior.

Muzuki thought this way and realized that Danzo Shimura was indeed a useful chess piece for Uchiha Madara and his group; whether he lived or died, he would be useful.

“Let’s see what Danzo is planning.” Muzuki decided to wait and observe the situation.

Muzuki was not afraid of schemes against him because he had many methods now and wasn’t afraid of being targeted.

The more Uchiha Madara acted covertly, the more it proved Uchiha Madara’s weakness.

If Uchiha Madara was still capable of fighting, he should confront him directly, as Uchiha Madara was not suited to being a schemer.

Muzuki was worried about his disciples; Obito and the others were currently in a stage where they were better than some but not as good as others. They couldn’t fight strong opponents but could easily defeat ordinary Jonin.

This level of strength was not enough to overcome the schemes of Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu.

…

“Wood Release: World of Trees Advent!”

In a secluded, uninhabited area outside Konoha, Danzo Shimura quickly formed hand signs, condensing a large amount of Chakra and transforming it into Wood Release Chakra.

Over a dozen saplings rapidly burst forth and grew quickly, becoming large, leafy trees capable of providing shade.

“As expected, it’s not that easy.” Danzo Shimura showed a dissatisfied expression.

This was clearly a failure; the Wood Release: World of Trees Advent performed by Senju Hashirama could instantly create a forest with thousands of trees.

He hadn’t even produced twenty trees, let alone thousands.

However, Danzo Shimura did not lose heart; even Senju Hashirama was not born the God of Shinobi; he became strong through training and eventually became the strongest.

He had only recently acquired Wood Release; a small failure like this was nothing.

Danzo Shimura did not continue practicing but instead took out the Wood Release secret Ninjutsu scroll left by Senju Hashirama and began to read it.

This was one of the reasons he returned to Konoha; Konoha had a large amount of Wood Release data, and he could use this data to train and strengthen himself during this month of preparation.

Although it was only one month, Danzo Shimura was not a beginner who had just started learning Ninjutsu; a month was enough for him to master quite a bit of Wood Release.

“Wood Release: Wood Clone!”

“Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!”

“Wood Release: Silent Killing Binding Technique!”

After failing with Wood Release: World of Trees Advent, Danzo Shimura began practicing simpler Wood Release techniques.

After a few hours, looking at the marks of destruction caused by Wood Release on the ground, Danzo Shimura smiled.

It had been a long time since he had felt this sensation of growing stronger through training; on one hand, work kept him from having much time to train, and on the other hand, his strength had reached a bottleneck.

After finishing his training, Danzo Shimura began to clear away the traces of his practice.

Because he was worried about being discovered by Hiruzen Sarutobi, he didn’t even dare to train in Konoha, so he naturally wouldn’t leave any traces of his training behind.

Then, Danzo Shimura quietly returned to the Konoha Root Base, and then went to the Hokage Building.

He hadn’t shown his face much to Hiruzen Sarutobi recently, so he needed to make his presence known.

Creak.

Danzo Shimura pushed open the wooden door of the Hokage Office and walked directly into it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up, and seeing it was Danzo Shimura, he quietly watched him.

What Danzo Shimura was about to say would determine the importance of knocking.

“Hiruzen, I think it’s necessary to strengthen the Root and Anbu forces. The war with Iwagakure fully exposed the deficiencies in our intelligence capabilities,” Danzo Shimura said, placing a document on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s desk.

This was a proposal he had written long ago, but Danzo Shimura felt that Hiruzen Sarutobi would most likely not approve it, so he hadn’t shown it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Now it was also a form of recycling.

After all, Danzo Shimura couldn’t just come to chat with Hiruzen Sarutobi empty-handed, could he?

That would only make Hiruzen Sarutobi think Danzo Shimura was strange, and it would be easier for problems to be discovered.

“How many times have I told you, knock before entering the office. How can you, the Hokage Assistant, not set a good example?” Hiruzen Sarutobi said, tapping the desk in dissatisfaction.

The moment Danzo Shimura spoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew what he was thinking.

Strengthening the Root and Anbu forces—wasn’t it because he was worried that strengthening only Root would be directly rejected by him?

Danzo Shimura’s expression became displeased, but he said nothing.

He had already obtained the key to becoming the strongest and would not bother to argue with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the document on the desk and began to read it.

After reading for a while, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and said:

“It will waste too many resources, and your Root doesn’t need such a large establishment.”

In fact, the most important reason was that Hiruzen Sarutobi simply didn’t want to strengthen the Anbu forces.

Because strengthening the Anbu forces would create a problem: the Hokage’s power and influence would increase.

Anbu was a department that only obeyed the Hokage; if Anbu became stronger, it would reflect on the Hokage.

Although strengthening Anbu was beneficial for Hiruzen Sarutobi as Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi already had enough say in Konoha and didn’t need to strengthen Anbu to increase his power.

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi was worried that a stronger Anbu would lead to an imbalance of power among the higher-ups, making future Hokage Assistants and Advisor Elders mere figureheads.

“Our intelligence war did indeed lose to Iwagakure. This isn’t a matter of personnel numbers, but rather a technical suppression.

If I give you another squad’s worth of personnel, can you guarantee that you’ll research the same results within two years?” Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

If Danzo Shimura could truly research Iwagakure spies’ disguise methods, then Root’s expansion would be acceptable.

After all, Iwagakure spies’ methods were foolproof in the current Ninja World and could play a huge role in war.

“But we have too many opponents. Even from this perspective, we should strengthen our intelligence capabilities,” Danzo Shimura did not give up.

If he were to be convinced by Hiruzen Sarutobi so easily, he wouldn’t be himself.

“Intelligence Ninja are not equivalent to Root and Anbu Ninja.” Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and continued.

The two argued for a while, eventually ending with Danzo Shimura leaving the Hokage Office with a dark expression and without speaking.

“This Danzo, next time I’ll make him pay for the office door repairs.” Looking at Danzo Shimura’s figure as he slammed the door shut, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.

Recently, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been in a good mood, so he didn’t dwell too much on Danzo Shimura.

Konoha truly had a bright future now.

Among the younger generation, there were young powerhouses like Muzuki and Minato, who were young but could bear great responsibilities, even more outstanding than the Sannin of their age.

Looking further down, there were genius youths like Kakashi, Obito, and Might Guy, who clearly were super geniuses capable of succeeding Muzuki and Minato Squad.

Looking higher up, the Sannin were all in their prime, all capable of directly becoming Hokage, and except for the unexpected Tsunade, they were all very strong.

Looking a bit higher up, Konoha still had people.

Hiruzen Sarutobi’s hair was completely black, without a single strand of silver, and he was at the peak of his strength.

His classmate and good friend, Homura Mitokado, was not in as good a state as him, but not too far off either.

As for Danzo Shimura, as a former good friend and rival, his strength was naturally not bad; he was a master of Wind Release.

Lowering the strength threshold a bit, Konoha also had Teacher Chen, the former Ino–Shika–Chō, and other strong elite Ninja.

If they won the war and developed for ten years, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that Konoha could return to its peak.

Although there might not be an absolute powerhouse like Senju Hashirama, the overall strength of Konoha would significantly surpass other great Ninja Villages.

…

After leaving the Hokage Office, Danzo Shimura’s originally grim expression instantly became calm, even showing a hint of disdain.

“Hiruzen, what does it matter if you are Hokage now? I have already mastered the Wood Release that you desperately desired but could not obtain,” Danzo Shimura thought to himself.

His performance in the Hokage Office just now was merely a disguise, intended to mislead Hiruzen Sarutobi’s perception.

Making Hiruzen Sarutobi mistakenly believe that he was still racking his brains to develop Root’s power.

After obtaining Wood Release, Danzo Shimura felt a sense of transcendence.

He had mastered the Bloodline Limit of the God of Shinobi, and was no longer on the same level as a Ninja like Hiruzen Sarutobi.

“Once I completely master Wood Release, the Fourth Hokage can only be me!” Infinite confidence surged within Danzo Shimura.

He no longer thought about supporting Orochimaru to become Hokage.

Compared to him, Orochimaru was not worthy of being Hokage.

When Danzo Shimura was sacrificing himself for Konoha, Orochimaru was nowhere to be found.

Thinking of his contributions to Konoha over the years, Danzo Shimura felt that Konoha owed him a Hokage!

It was just that Senju Tobirama had to stay behind to cover their retreat back then and didn’t have time to think too much. Under normal circumstances, he should have been the Third Hokage.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Danzo Shimura did not return to the Root Base but went out to continue training.

Although he felt in his heart that he was practically universally acclaimed, Danzo Shimura knew how much pressure he would face if he wanted to become Hokage.

If he wanted to become Hokage, he could only use Wood Release to make his case, and then suppress all opposition with overwhelming strength.

Although he was strong now, he was not yet strong enough to suppress all opposition.

At night, Danzo Shimura returned to the Root Base and said to a Root Ninja:

“Call Muzuki over, I want to see him.”

Danzo Shimura had only three goals in returning to Konoha.

One was to master Konoha’s Wood Release secret Ninjutsu to strengthen his power, the second was to fool Hiruzen Sarutobi to prevent his actions from being exposed.

The final third reason was Muzuki.

“Uchiha Madara” kept everything hidden, which made Danzo Shimura feel very insecure, always feeling that “Uchiha Madara” would discard him once his purpose was served, not only refusing to give him the sage art inheritance but also trying to kill him.

Therefore, Danzo Shimura wanted Muzuki, who had come into the open, to become his trump card.

This would not only ensure his safety but also, if “Uchiha Madara’s” power was not as strong as imagined, he could also contend for ownership of the Rinnegan.

That was the legendary Six Paths Sage’s eye; how could Danzo Shimura willingly give it to someone else?

Moreover, for Danzo Shimura, that was not only the Six Paths Sage’s eye, but also a piece of his puzzle to become Hokage!