Within the Shinobi World, Danzō was a man with the temperant of a rat — he would never conduct his intelligence work openly in the main camp.
Instead, he had secretly built an underground chamber beneath his own tent.
Not even his own tent provided direct access. To enter the chamber, one had to go through the tent of a Root operative he had planted nearby, then follow a specific, winding route through seven twists and turns before reaching the hidden room.
At this mont, inside that secluded underground chamber, Danzō was in a towering rage:
"Useless — every last one of those Iwa shinobi is useless!"
Just thinking about how his sche, which even helped Hoshiyomi prevent intelligence leaks, ended up bringing about the "Silver Fang" nickna, made Danzo so angry he wanted to vomit blood.
If he hadn't heard credible reports that over a thousand Iwa-nin truly had died on that front, he would have suspected whether the ones Iwagakure sent were really their Explosion Release Unit and an actual Anbu captain…
Could it be that both the Explosion Unit and the Anbu captain were made of paper, shattering at the first touch?
With that sarcastic thought, Danzō unconsciously reached for the battle report from the Iwa front that had just arrived.
After skimming through it, he actually let out a laugh in disbelief.
What was this supposed to be?
According to the report, Gekkō Hoshiyomi had suddenly appeared in the middle of Iwa's formation, drawn his blade and released an enormous wave of sword energy, cleaving apart a massive iron prison— and in the sa stroke, killing four mbers of the Explosion Unit along with their captain.
Was soone writing a di-store novel here? Who did they think Gekkō Hoshiyomi was?
This kind of feat — not even his teacher, Tobirama Senju, could… well, actually… if it were his teacher, it might just be possible.
With that grudging thought, Danzō tossed the report back onto the desk. What a joke. Hoshiyomi was far too young to be compared to Tobirama-sensei.
Just then, one of his most trusted Root subordinates entered Danzō's tent.
"Danzo-sama, I've just returned from the village."
Seeing this man put Danzō in a far better mood.
This operative was utterly loyal to him — during the First Shinobi World War, Danzō had once saved his life.
A life-saving debt, combined with years of Danzō's indoctrination, had turned him into a true dead man — if Danzō ordered him to run naked through the camp and then commit suicide, he would carry it out without hesitation.
As Danzō's most trusted confidant, he had been given a critical task: infiltrate the Anbu as a double agent and keep constant watch over every move Sarutobi Hiruzen made.
Even now, during the war, he had not accompanied Danzō to the Rain Country front.
Instead, he remained at the Hokage's side in Konoha, only coming to the Rain front every four months under the pretext of a mission to deliver intelligence in person.
Danzō, now in good spirits, asked directly:
"How are things in the village? Has Hiruzen made any moves while I've been away? And… have you uncovered any promising talents recently?"
The subordinate bowed and reported:
"The Hok— no, Lord Hiruzen, has not made any unusual arrangents. After Hoshiyomi and the others returned to the front, he reford the Academy.
One change was the creation of a special dical-nin course, and another was launching a second wave of the 'prodigy team' program.
You've likely already heard of the mbers of the first prodigy team— those have all been assigned to teachers I couldn't approach.
But for this second batch, I had the fortune to co into contact with one child — his na is Yamanaka Fu. I believe he can successfully join our Root after he graduates."."
Seeing Danzō's expression turn pleased, the man added:
"Danzo-sama, I also have one good piece of news… and one bad piece of news."
Danzō, still in high spirits, showed genuine interest:
"Go on."
"In the course of talent scouting, I discovered two unusual individuals. They're older and lack exceptional combat prowess — but in other fields, they have truly remarkable skills."
This piqued Danzō's curiosity.
"Oh? Now this I must hear. Who are they? Did you bring them? If so, send them in — I'll have a look myself."
The subordinate turned his head and called out:
"Co in — Hiruko, Nonō."
At his words, two young shinobi of eighteen or nineteen entered — one male, one female — both looking rather shy.
Sensing their chakra, Danzō raised an eyebrow. Whatever their "special skills" might be, their battle potential wasn't as poor as he'd expected.
The white-haired male was roughly at the level of a special jōnin, while the pale-blonde kunoichi seed to be of chūnin caliber.
The two, unnerved by Danzō's unrestrained, scrutinizing gaze, faltered — but, prompted by a glance from the Root operative who had brought them, they hesitated only briefly before bowing.
"We greet you, Danzo-sama."
Danzō gave a small nod, then looked to his subordinate, signaling for him to explain their abilities.
The operative obliged:
"The kunoichi is Yakushi Nonō — skilled in dical ninjutsu and intelligence gathering. The white-haired male is Hiruko — not particularly outstanding in combat, but he has a notable talent for cultivating summoning beasts."
Danzō's gaze first fell on Nonō.
As soone who had risen through the ranks in intelligence work, he naturally valued skilled intel operatives.
One glance confird his subordinate's words — the woman's face carried a natural air of innocence, the sort of gentle deanor least likely to arouse suspicion. Perfect for an information specialist.
After a brief assessnt, Danzō motioned for Nonō to withdraw.
He would later test her himself; if she proved suitable, she would be absorbed into Root. If she seed difficult to control, he would simply use his current authority to keep her as an external asset.
His attention then shifted to Hiruko.
"Your specialty is raising summoning beasts? Let's see one — summon it."
Hiruko, visibly uneasy, cast a glance at Danzō but obeyed.
With a puff of smoke, a strange creature appeared before them — it had the body of a dog, but sprouting from its back were a pair of chicken-like wings, which it even flapped twice upon appearing.
Danzō blinked at the bizarre sight, then fixed his gaze on Hiruko.
"There's no such creature in the shinobi world. How did you create it?"
Hiruko swallowed nervously but answered honestly:
"I fused and cultivated the cells of two different summoned beasts."
At that, Danzō's eyes lit up.
"If I gave you human cells… could you fuse those as well?"
Author's Notes:
I hope I didn't write this incorrectly. I rember the previous chapters only ntioned that the Third Hokage, Tsunade, and Orochimaru knew that Hoshiyomi had broken through to the Kage level, and this information wasn't publicized. If any readers have a different mory, please remind , and I'll modify it.
Also, since Hiruko is a character from a movie, I wasn't originally going to write about him, but since I've introduced him now, he'll definitely be useful. However, I have made so changes to his character. I've changed it so he has no relation to the Sannin (this was a movie-exclusive detail, and in it, Pakura didn't even have her Scorching Release). I've only used his talent for research.
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