Naruto: Fooling the Ninja World, I'm Hailed as a Savior

Konoha's night in the rain was particularly desolate. The rain, like sticky, silver-gray spider silk, wove a web clinging to the clusters of buildings.

Villagers in raincoats hurried through the streets, an air of unease and foreboding still palpable. Along the roads, cold streetlights, one after another, resembled floating moons, leading a path into boundless darkness.

At the rarely frequented village border, thick, dense shadows concealed the underground.

Inside the Root Anbu base, several small figures fought fiercely in a sealed room, while Danzō Shimura watched it all with an expressionless face.

"Lord Danzō."

A Root ninja appeared behind Danzō, kneeling on one knee and presenting a scroll. "This is the resolution discussed by the Third Hokage and the Hyuga clan."

Danzō Shimura withdrew his cold gaze, turned his head, took the scroll from his hand, and after a quick glance, his brow furrowed tightly.

"Sarutobi, that guy, is he compromising again?" Danzō snorted coldly, his tone sarcastic. "The Hyuga clan is truly ruthless, to actually come up with the idea of having Hyuga Hizashi die in Hyuga Hiashi's place."

The Root ninja, kneeling beside him, slightly lowered his head, and a hint of dissatisfaction appeared on his face, hidden beneath the shadow of his black cloak. 

While Danzō Shimura was seen by many as an unsavory, shadowy character, in reality, he was Konoha's true "hawk" in the eyes of other powers.

Being called a "hawk" implied his faction was substantial. Many ninjas were drawn to his aggressive ideals and weren't all forced into Root.

As glaring as the sun is, so too are the shadows vast and deep. Beneath Konoha's shadow, Root sank its roots deep into the darkness, secretly eliminating obstacles to the village, by any means necessary.

Therefore, in some ways, Danzō possessed his own "charisma." Root ninjas were all aggressive and highly dissatisfied with the Third Hokage's weakness.

In their view, if the Third Hokage were truly ruthless and used forbidden jutsu from the Scroll of Seals, combined with all the ninja clans in the village, they could suppress any village.

Instead of being passively beaten every time, winning wars only to have them be meaningless.

Wars in the ninja world would never stop. The end of each war was merely preparation for the next.

One could say that Hiruzen Sarutobi's indecisiveness and diplomatic weakness were among the main reasons Danzō Shimura was able to develop Root to its current extent.

Many ninjas joined Root because their families died in wars, fostering deep-seated hatred for other villages. This particular ninja, wearing black sunglasses, with a purple mark tattooed on his right cheek, and hailing from the Aburame clan, was also a member of the hawks.

"Ryoma."

Danzō Shimura called his name, a grim glint in his eyes. "I will embed you into this escort team. I have some personnel left at the border. I will temporarily hand over command to you…" He paused here, squinted slightly, and said coldly, "If the Hidden Cloud Village honestly accepts this 'explanation,' then so be it. But if they remain unreasonable, then pour oil on this fire!"

Since the Hidden Cloud Village was repeatedly aggressive, Sarutobi shouldn't blame him for manipulating public opinion in the village. Konoha's strength was indeed weakened now, but that didn't mean the Hidden Cloud had the right to ride over Konoha. Did they really think Lord Tobirama's forbidden jutsu were just for show?

"Yes, Lord Danzō!"

Aburame Ryoma bowed his head, a hint of excitement inevitably on his face.

Boom!

On a cloud-shrouded mountain peak in the Land of Lightning, towering into the sky, the Hidden Cloud Village was awakened by thunder, like a white python streaking across the heavens.

A storm howled, dark clouds rolled in, forming a massive vortex, creating a grand and awe-inspiring natural spectacle above the Hidden Cloud Village.

It looked as if some monster was struggling and tumbling within the vortex, its incandescent lightning illuminating the two figures inside the Raikage's office.

The Fourth Raikage, clad only in a white cloak revealing his muscular physique, sat at his desk. Mabui, with green eyes, silver hair, and brown skin, stood waiting beside him, clutching documents.

"That old geezer Hiruzen Sarutobi actually endured it?"

The Fourth Raikage's gaze swept across the scroll, a sneer appearing on his rugged black face as he grumbled, "He's truly getting more useless with age. If he'd just pushed back directly, I would have respected him more!"

With that, he turned to look at Mabui, but instead of the expression he expected, she was frowning as if in thought. Knowing Mabui wouldn't show such an expression without reason, the Fourth Raikage's expression also turned serious. He said grimly, "Is there another problem?"

Although they hadn't succeeded in starting a war, their objective should have been half-achieved, right? Not only had they obtained a member of the Hyuga clan's Main House, but they had also stirred up conflict between the Hokage and the ninja clans, and probed Konoha's seemingly strong but inwardly weak state.

"Raikage-sama, I just feel… it was too smooth," Mabui said, her brow furrowed. "Earlier, the Daimyō's attitude was somewhat perfunctory. I'm worried if they were caught in some blunder by Konoha, which made Hiruzen Sarutobi make a decision so quickly."

The Land of Lightning's Daimyō's ultimatum was unilaterally given to the Land of Fire's Daimyō, who then conveyed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage.

Therefore, the Fourth Raikage and Mabui didn't know that the Land of Lightning's Daimyō had misunderstood their request. Mabui merely felt that Konoha had compromised too quickly.

Even though the Third Hokage had been consistently firm internally since resuming his position, it was impossible for him to suppress dissenting voices in such a short time.

That was the head of the Hyuga clan's Main House; the Hyuga clan wouldn't compromise easily. In fact, from the very beginning, she felt that the possibility of the two nations declaring war was greater than Konoha handing over Hyuga Hiashi.

"So, you think there's a trick?"

The Fourth Raikage gradually calmed down, also feeling something was amiss.

"Yes," Mabui nodded. "I suggest you send someone to inquire with the Daimyō. If there's a flaw in the plan, it's most likely on their side."

Hearing this, the Fourth Raikage frowned. Even he, who was usually unyielding, could only deal with the Daimyō on equal terms and was truly unwilling to get too entangled.

Moreover, he actually knew very well that the Daimyō deep down didn't want to go to war with the Land of Fire.

After all, it hadn't been long since the Third Great Ninja War ended; they should rest and recuperate for a while before considering war. So, if something truly went wrong, it was hard to say whether the Daimyō's actions were unintentional or deliberate.

But as Konoha's old rival, the Fourth Raikage understood Konoha too well. If they didn't strike while Konoha was weak, with Konoha's abundant talents and deep reserves, who knew when a genius might suddenly emerge, supporting a collapsing edifice or turning the tide.

Furthermore, unlike the Konoha ninjas who achieved victory in the war and the ordinary citizens who were affected by it, the Hidden Cloud Village internally harbored even deeper hatred and animosity towards Konoha and the Hidden Stone Village due to their severe casualties.

"Mabui, you go to the Daimyō's residence yourself."

At this thought, the Fourth Raikage made his decision, calmly stating, "Have Toroi lead a squad of Anbu to rendezvous with Konoha. If Hiruzen Sarutobi truly intends to play tricks, strike directly!"

"Yes, Raikage-sama."

Hearing the name "Toroi," Mabui responded and simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, her inexplicable unease largely dissipating.

As long as Konoha didn't deploy ninjas on par with the Sannin, she believed no one could gain an advantage against Toroi. Because Toroi was a Hidden Cloud jōnin, and possessed the Magnet Release bloodline limit.