Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 235: The Correct Theory (bonus chapter)

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious at what Danzō had said, he still took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Then his gaze went past Danzō to the other two advisors, and he said, "Homura, Koharu, what are your thoughts?"

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado first exchanged a look, then Homura Mitokado looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said, "Let's absorb Orochimaru's old subordinates into the Anbu. Add a curse seal, and they can be Anbu for life."

Although Koharu Utatane didn't speak, she also nodded in agreement.

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi abruptly turned to look at Danzō. Only at this moment did he understand Danzō's purpose. It turned out Danzō had his eyes on Orochimaru's subordinates.

Although Homura Mitokado spoke of absorbing them into the Anbu, Hiruzen knew that these people would eventually end up in Root. Because he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, needed to stand in the sunlight, without any shadows on him. He, Hiruzen Sarutobi, couldn't do something like placing curse seals on his subordinates.

Facing Hiruzen's fierce gaze, Danzō was not afraid at all, looking at Hiruzen with a determined expression.

The two stared at each other for a while. Finally, Hiruzen said, "Give me the list. I need to confirm it."

Hearing this, Danzō relaxed slightly in his heart. It was a good thing Hiruzen was still the same Hiruzen. He then took out a list from his ninja tool pouch.

When Hiruzen saw that Danzō had even prepared the list long ago, his anger flared up again, but he ultimately endured it.

He took Danzō's list, crossed out about half of the personnel, and then returned the list to Danzō.

Danzō glanced through it and, seeing that only half were missing, didn't mind; this was within his expectations. But when he saw that one particular name had also been crossed out, he said, "Hiruzen, Anko..."

"Anko is still a child!" Before Danzō could finish, Hiruzen's voice, almost a roar, cut him off.

Danzō paused and said no more. His goal had been achieved, and missing one Anko was inconsequential. Before getting these people in his hands, Danzō didn't want to provoke Hiruzen any further.

The subsequent matters were easy to handle. Orochimaru's subordinates on the list joined the Anbu, half-forced and half-willingly. Hiruzen selected some from among them; these individuals had had relatively less contact with Orochimaru, and they would live in Konoha as normal Anbu members.

The rest were all pulled into Root by Danzō as he wished. From then on, Root, which had been empty for a long time, became plentiful once again.

And along with Root's strength, Danzō's ambition also recovered.

Konoha moved very quickly this time. By the time the news reached Iwagakure, Konoha had long since returned to calm. Even Ishiro hadn't expected the Konoha higher-ups to act so quickly and decisively this time.

Originally, Ishiro had thought of stirring up some trouble while Orochimaru was defecting, but in the end, he hadn't received any news beforehand.

The matter was too big. Ōnoki immediately convened the four advisors for a high-level meeting.

Entering the meeting room, Ishiro discovered that this time, besides Ōnoki and the four advisors, there were three other people.

Of these three, two were women and one was a man. The man was none other than Ishiro's former captain, Kitsuchi. The two women were about the same age as Kitsuchi, and judging by their strength, both were Jonin.

After everyone arrived, Ishiro was the first to speak, asking Ōnoki, "Lord Tsuchikage? Has the advisory council been expanded?"

Ōnoki shook his head and said, "Aki, Yako, and Kitsuchi are not advisors. They are Tsuchikage's Assistants, responsible for assisting the Tsuchikage with daily affairs. They have the right to participate in high-level meetings, but they do not have the right to vote."

Ishiro and the others nodded, expressing no objection to Ōnoki's arrangement.

After introducing the three Tsuchikage's Assistants, Ōnoki signaled for Aki to give a rundown of the recent events in Konoha.

After hearing that Orochimaru, the Hokage's disciple and one of the most promising candidates to succeed as the Fourth Hokage, a Kage-level powerhouse, had actually defected, Ikura, Mei, and Saka all looked at each other in dismay. Finally, all three turned their gazes to Ishiro.

Because they all thought of what Ishiro had said back then: Konoha's losses on the battlefield were not as great as those from their internal strife.

Indeed, this time it proved Ishiro correct again. Throughout the entire Third Great Ninja War, Konoha did not lose a single Kage-level individual. But how long had it been since the war ended, and a Kage-level from Konoha had already defected.

To be honest, for Iwagakure, a Kage-level from Konoha defecting was even more joyous than one dying in battle.

If Orochimaru had died in battle, Konoha would only be short one Kage-level individual. But now that Orochimaru had defected, many ninjas and even ninja clans within Konoha would be implicated. This intangible impact would inevitably be huge; it would consume Konoha's resources for a long time to come.

Because even if Konoha was calm now, for a long time in the future, they would have to station a large number of Anbu within the village, both to guard against various internal forces and to monitor targets that might be connected to Orochimaru.

Furthermore, the defection of a Kage-level individual would inevitably be a huge blow to the morale of Konoha's ninjas.

Just as Ikura and the other two were about to speak, Aki said again, "Besides Orochimaru, Jiraiya has also gone missing. It is speculated that Jiraiya has gone to search for Orochimaru's whereabouts."

Saka was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "Does this mean all three of the Sannin have left Konoha?"

Saka couldn't help but be happy. When their generation had just come to power, Konoha's strength was at a low point. Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and even Sunagakure all coveted Konoha's position as hegemon.

But all ambitions were shattered after the meteoric rise of the Sannin. Hiruzen Sarutobi's own war record wasn't high, but the achievements of his three disciples earned him the title of "Professor of Ninjutsu."

It could be said that the Sannin had become inner demons for the older generation of ninjas.

Now, suddenly hearing that all three Sannin had left Konoha for various reasons, Saka and Mei could no longer remain calm.

Similar to Saka's feelings were those of Kitsuchi and the other two Tsuchikage's Assistants. They were slightly younger than the Sannin and had practically grown up hearing stories of the Sannin. In their childhood, the expectation their elders had for them was to surpass the Sannin.

In their youth, Kitsuchi and the others had indeed thought about surpassing the Sannin, but as they grew older, no one held such fantasies anymore. Now, knowing that the Sannin had all left Konoha, their feelings were also very complex.

On the other hand, Ikura and Ishiro, who had grown up during the war era when the village controlled public opinion, had fewer feelings about the Sannin.

After a while, once everyone had calmed down, Ōnoki said, "Ishiro, back then I followed your advice and changed my strategy towards Konoha, and it was indeed correct. First White Fang, then Orochimaru. Konoha's losses from internal strife are indeed greater than from external wars."

After a pause, Ōnoki said, "Ishiro, Ikura, do you think it's possible to deal with Jiraiya and Tsunade, who are outside Konoha?"

Ōnoki's words were somewhat plausible. Previously, the ninja world was not confident about besieging and killing a Kage, but after the precedent of the Third Raikage, things were different.

The Third Raikage was practically the public ceiling of the ninja world. Most importantly, the Third Raikage had integrated offense and defense, making him the most difficult type of ninja to kill. Since even the Third Raikage was killed, it was understandable for Ōnoki to set his sights on Jiraiya and Tsunade.

However, after thinking for a moment, Ishiro said, "The Sannin have all signed contracts with the three great Sage Regions. When they are in danger, they can escape a siege through the Reverse Summoning Technique. So I don't think besieging the Sannin is reliable."

Ikura also nodded and said, "The Sannin's giant summoning animals are also not easy to deal with. This time, Konoha and the Mist besieged the Third Raikage. The number of ninjas killed by the Third Raikage was actually not large, but a great many died at the hands of the Eight-Tails. It's clear that the tactic of besieging is not suitable for ninjas who can summon giant animals."

Ōnoki thought for a moment and then gave up the idea. Ōnoki was not clear about the Reverse Summoning Technique Ishiro mentioned, but what Ikura said was a fact. Although Iwagakure had a large number of ninjas, they were not willing to lose too many people for a plan that might not even be realized.

After a moment, Ishiro added, "However, if we get information on Jiraiya or Tsunade, we can give the intelligence to other hidden villages, like the Cloud."

"I imagine the Fourth Raikage would be interested in this kind of intelligence. He should be very keen on launching a siege against Jiraiya as well."

Ōnoki and the others thought it made sense, and the matter was settled.

It was just that Aki and Yako looked at Ishiro with somewhat strange expressions.

Ōnoki, Ikura, and the other advisors were already used to Ishiro's way of thinking. But Kitsuchi and the other two hadn't expected Ishiro to be this kind of person.

Especially Aki and Yako; they had had very little contact with Ishiro. Before, they only knew that Ishiro was a genius similar to Ikura. They hadn't expected Ishiro's heart to be so black.

No wonder some in the ninja world called Ishiro the "Fox of Iwa." Now it seemed this title was quite fitting.

The group discussed for a while longer and, finding no more opportunities to take advantage of, ended the meeting.

Finally, Ōnoki said, "Let's pay attention to the movements of the other hidden villages for now. Ikura, secretly gather an elite unit to be ready for any possible changes."

Everyone nodded and then dispersed.

Among the other hidden villages, apart from the Sand, which chose to be an onlooker like Iwagakure, the Mist and the Cloud were indeed somewhat restless.

In the Cloud, the war faction, represented by the newly appointed Fourth Raikage, A, was in the majority. If Konoha hadn't dealt with the Orochimaru defection incident so decisively this time, the Cloud might have already sent out troops.

The movements from the Mist village were small. It seemed that after Yagura took power, he was busy rebuilding Kirigakure. After all, the invasion by Orochimaru and Ishiro had had a significant impact on Kirigakure, and the Mizukage was needed to appease the emotions of the populace.

But Yagura not making a move didn't mean the Mist wasn't making a move. The middle and lower ranks of the Mist were very resentful of Konoha's betrayal.

This emotion became even stronger, especially after some front-line ninjas returned to the village and learned that their relatives and friends had been injured or even killed.

Many Mist ninjas specifically chose missions where they might encounter Konoha ninjas and then secretly stirred up trouble.

However, major matters of war and peace between two countries were not something a few disgruntled middle and lower-ranked ninjas could influence.

Yagura was very clear about the gap between the Mist and Konoha. For the Mist to go head-to-head with Konoha alone would only be a path to self-destruction. So, in the end, the Mist did not make any major moves.

Finally, although all countries were prepared to intervene at any time, no one was willing to be the one to stick their neck out.

The result was that after a period of silent confrontation, all parties dispersed. If Ishiro hadn't been a high-level official of Iwagakure, he probably wouldn't even have noticed these small movements among the five great hidden villages.

"Alas, the ninja world is really not peaceful. It's really not right to always look at the ninja world through the lens of the Third and Fourth Wars from the original story. Looking at this situation, if any hidden village's higher-ups got hot-headed, the Fourth War would have erupted," Ishiro mused to himself, simultaneously admonishing himself not to rely too much on the original plot.

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We've hit 200 Power Stones goal As promised This week, here's the bonus chapter. Thank you for your support—please keep it coming!