For Mugetsu, being promoted from an ANBU squad leader to a captain without any subordinates brought only one tangible change: his ANBU office had beco larger.
Now, Mugetsu had a spacious office, much like Sarutobi Masanari's.
"Yamanaka Yoshiteru, Aoyama Hiromi..."
Mugetsu flipped through the sensory ninja profiles Hiruzen had given him.
Perhaps because of the Yamanaka Clan's long term practice of their secret techniques, Mugetsu found that many Yamanaka ninja possessed strong sensory talent.
Recalling each corresponding panel in his mind, Mugetsu ticked off the nas of those he believed had a chance of learning Kenbunshoku Haki.
As he reviewed the files, he skipped every sensory ninja with the surna Hyuga.
Because of the Byakugan, all mbers of the Hyuga Clan could technically be counted as sensory ninja.
It was perfectly fine for Obito and Shisui, who had the Sharingan, to learn Kenbunshoku Haki, because it could not only function as a sensory technique but also detect attacks coming from outside their field of vision.
The Byakugan had no such weakness. It already possessed excellent sensory ability while also granting nearly complete vision.
With so much overlap between the two, there was little point in a Hyuga learning Kenbunshoku Haki unless they could train it to a very high level.
After selecting twenty people, Mugetsu had an ANBU deliver the list to Hiruzen for approval.
Many of the ninja he chose worked in different departnts, such as the sensory analysis team. Mugetsu could not simply pull them out of their posts and order them to train with him. Proper procedures had to be followed.
Besides, with that many people, it would be troubleso for Mugetsu to notify them one by one himself. He was an ANBU captain now, after all.
Still, Mugetsu estimated that the final number would probably exceed twenty.
First, the list included ANBU mbers but not Root mbers, and Danzo would definitely want so of his own people to learn Kenbunshoku Haki. He would likely add two or three.
Second, if other higher ups or major clans heard the news, they would probably try to use their influence to place people into the training as well.
After all, the ability to sense malice was simply too useful.
Events unfolded exactly as Mugetsu expected.
That very evening, Mugetsu received a ssage from Danzo ordering him to report to the Root base.
"Mugetsu, why are there no Root ninja on the Kenbunshoku Haki training list?" Danzo asked darkly, staring at him.
He had not specifically reminded Mugetsu about it before because he believed Mugetsu would understand and handle it properly.
Seeing the final result, Danzo felt a sense of betrayal.
Because Mugetsu's position had beco so special, and because he now spent more ti in the Hokage's office than in the Root base, Danzo had grown increasingly worried that Mugetsu would be swayed by the benefits Hiruzen offered him.
But Danzo had no real solution.
What Hiruzen could offer Mugetsu was both better and greater than what Danzo himself could provide.
Mugetsu put on a bewildered expression.
"The Sandai's list didn't include any of our Root ninja at all."
He guessed that either so of Danzo's covert actions had already drawn Hiruzen's suspicion, or Danzo had been too aggressive in front of Hiruzen lately. Otherwise, Hiruzen would not have needlessly provoked Danzo like this.
"What? Hiruzen actually..."
Realizing he had wronged his top subordinate, Danzo's expression imdiately eased.
Of course, the anger in his heart had not truly diminished. It had only shifted to soone who was not present.
If it were not already after working hours, Danzo would have stord straight into the Hokage's office to demand an explanation from Hiruzen.
"Mugetsu, this is half a year's worth of training resources." Danzo stiffly changed the subject and handed Mugetsu a scroll.
Although he knew he had wronged Mugetsu, Danzo would never apologize to a subordinate.
He believed doing so would damage his authority and weaken his subordinates' obedience.
What if soone started thinking Danzo Shimura was easy to deal with just because of that? Chaos would follow.
Mugetsu replied perfunctorily a few tis, then turned and left.
He thought the current state of things between Danzo and Hiruzen was actually pretty good.
Let Hiruzen wear Danzo down, so Danzo would not be free to suddenly co up with so earthshaking "brilliant plan."
"He's becoming harder and harder to control. I need to find a solution."
After Mugetsu left, Danzo sat alone in his office, brows knitted tightly.
The facts proved that Mugetsu had not betrayed him. Hiruzen was the one interfering.
But Mugetsu no longer had a cursed seal on him, and he no longer stayed in Root on a regular basis. That left Danzo feeling deeply insecure.
Given Mugetsu's current strength, if he truly defected to Hiruzen's side, Danzo would have no real way to deal with him. At most, he would only be able to wait for chances to irritate him.
"Should I draw him into my cooperation with Orochimaru?"
A thought suddenly surfaced in Danzo's mind.
His close cooperation with Orochimaru was not because they liked each other. It was because both of them knew too many of the other's dirty secrets.
If Hiruzen ever discovered all of it, the lightest punishnt would probably be lifelong imprisonnt.
If Mugetsu were brought in as well, then Mugetsu would be tied to the sa ship as they were, living and dying with them.
"He wants to develop Wood Release, and Hashirama cells are our most important experintal asset."
The more Danzo thought about it, the more feasible the idea seed.
The only drawback was that Mugetsu might gradually cease to be a subordinate and instead beco an equal collaborator, just like Orochimaru.
That was where Danzo hesitated.
Even though Mugetsu was no longer stationed in Root and now had imnse status and strength, Danzo still regarded him as a subordinate resource.
If he could ignore the consequences, there were many things Danzo could accomplish by using Mugetsu.
"You seem troubled. Do you need so relief?"
Just as Danzo was thinking deeply, a strange yet vaguely familiar voice echoed through the office.
Danzo's hand instantly gripped the kunai on his desk as he looked ahead.
At so point, a figure clad in a long robe and wearing a spiral mask had appeared in the room.
Danzo's expression did not change, but a huge wave of shock rose in his heart.
"How did he get in here? He infiltrated the Root base so silently and even reached my office?"
The security level of his office was no lower than the Hokage's office. For soone to infiltrate it without detection ant there was virtually nowhere in Konoha they could not enter.
"Who are you? How dare you invade a confidential area of Konoha?" Danzo asked coldly while secretly gathering chakra.
Since the masked man had not attacked, Danzo held back from using ninjutsu for the mont.
There were too many confidential docunts in his office. Destroying them would be troubleso.
More importantly, he did not want to create a disturbance and draw Hiruzen's attention. His worst secrets were not here, but there were still plenty of things Hiruzen must not discover.
"Heh heh. There is no place in this world I, Uchiha Madara, cannot go." The masked man let out a strange chuckle.
Danzo's pupils constricted violently, and his shock deepened.
He finally understood why the voice had sounded familiar.
It was Uchiha Madara's voice.
Danzo had been born before Konoha was founded. He had t both Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama with his own eyes.
"Madara should have been killed by the First Hokage. Why is he..."
"No. It's just the voice. It must be a disguise."
Danzo had served as Hokage advisor for many years and had seen enough storms to calm himself quickly.
He refused to believe this person was truly Uchiha Madara. In his mind, this was simply an impostor using so special thod to imitate him.
If Madara had truly survived, why had he never returned to attack Konoha after Hashirama died?
And even if Madara were alive, so many years had passed that he should be a frail old man by now, not soone capable of infiltrating Root so easily.
"Uchiha Madara, you are no longer a shinobi of Konoha. Why have you co here?" Danzo asked, deliberately playing along instead of exposing his doubts.
To him, the na did not matter. He had no interest in arguing about identity. What he wanted was information.
"You desire the sage inheritance and the Rinnegan very much, do you not?" The masked man smiled beneath the mask.
Danzo's heart tensed.
He had not expected this so called Uchiha Madara to even know about Root's operations in the Land of Rain.
"Does Root have a mole? Or does he have intelligence in the Land of Rain that surpasses even Root's?" Danzo's mind raced.
For a spy to exist within a secretive organization like Root would be an extrely serious matter.
"That is also what I want. Cooperate with . The Rinnegan will be mine, and the sage inheritance will be shared between us," the masked man continued.
Danzo almost refused on the spot.
He only wanted others to work for him. He had no intention of working for anyone else.
But he restrained himself, because the masked man's words had caught his interest.
"What exactly is this sage inheritance? And how would we share it?" Danzo asked, suppressing his thoughts.
He had spent a long ti trying to investigate the so called sage inheritance, but had yet to find anything concrete.
"The sage inheritance is none other than Sōsuke himself. More precisely, it is the knowledge of Ninshū within his mind."
"He appeared out of nowhere. At a young age, he already mastered chakra nature transformation of seven different attributes and could use all kinds of ninjutsu with ease. Do you really believe that ca from ordinary training?" The masked man looked at Danzo with a smile.
Danzo shook his head.
Of course he did not believe Sōsuke had reached that level through ordinary training.
When Hiruzen was Sōsuke's age, he had not been anywhere near that monstrous. Yet even setting Mugetsu aside, Hiruzen had still been Konoha's second great genius, a prodigy so gifted that even Tobirama had admitted inferiority.
Moreover, Sōsuke's past before appearing in the Land of Rain was utterly blank, and he belonged to no major power.
Advanced shinobi knowledge was monopolized.
Could Sōsuke really have comprehended all of that entirely on his own?
If that were true, Danzo would genuinely have to suspect he was the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths.
"Sōsuke's secret lies in his mories. As long as he can be killed, I have a thod to extract all of his mories completely, no matter what kind of protections have been placed on them," the masked man said aningfully.
"No. If I rely on your thod, what if you prepared a trick of your own? Wouldn't that leave with nothing?"
"Cooperation is possible, but the terms change. I want the Rinnegan. Once I confirm that the sage inheritance you share is genuine, I will return one of the Rinnegan to you," Danzo said after thinking for a mont.
Even if this man was only pretending to be Madara, Danzo was willing to cooperate as long as he could obtain both the Rinnegan and the sage inheritance.
The sage inheritance was a secret capable of creating top tier experts.
The Rinnegan was the eye of the legendary Sage.
Either one would greatly strengthen Danzo.
For the first ti, he saw hope of surpassing Hiruzen.
From childhood until now, whether in strength or status, he had always lost to Hiruzen.
He would never discard even the slightest chance to finally stand above him.
"I want both Rinnegan. In exchange, I can grant you Wood Release."
As he spoke, the masked man gathered chakra, and a small tree rapidly grew inside Danzo's office.
"Wood Release!"
Danzo could no longer remain calm.
His eyes widened in genuine shock.
The sage inheritance and the Rinnegan were both enticing, yes, but at present they were still only promises. They were things he could see, but not yet touch.
This, however, was Wood Release displayed right in front of him.
"Who exactly is he? Why does he have Wood Release? Was he also a Hashirama cell experint, and a successful one?" Danzo's thoughts churned violently.
Although he already had a Wood Release user under his command, another person's Wood Release and his own were two entirely different things.
And if the masked man had truly deciphered Hashirama cells, then he would possess the ans to mass produce Wood Release users.
The re thought of rows upon rows of giant Wood Golems appearing on a battlefield sent a chill through Danzo.
At that mont, Danzo suddenly found the possibility harder to dismiss.
Perhaps this truly was Uchiha Madara.
An Uchiha Madara who had found a way to prolong his life.
Because if it really were Madara, then everything suddenly made sense.
The overwhelming stealth that let him pass through Konoha's barrier and infiltrate Root.
And the frightening power that might lie behind him.
"Fine. But I have one condition. Before you help obtain Wood Release, if we acquire the Rinnegan, one of them must be in my hands. Once I gain Wood Release, I will return it to you," Danzo said after weighing it carefully.
He did not want to give up the Rinnegan.
But compared to the Rinnegan, whose actual enhancent remained unknown, Wood Release was far more practical.
More importantly, he was in a passive position in this transaction.
He did not know the masked man's true identity or how deep his power ran. Yet the man could enter and leave his office as he pleased.
If the chance ca, Danzo still intended to find a way to take everything for himself.
After all, this was the Sage's eye.
Just from the masked man's obsession with it, Danzo could tell how extraordinary it was.
If the Rinnegan were not exceptional, would this man really be offering Wood Release as compensation so casually?
"How do we cooperate?" Danzo asked, suppressing the many thoughts in his mind.
Right now, the most important thing was killing both Sōsuke and Nagato. Otherwise, everything else was just empty talk.
"What you need to do for now is strengthen your forces in the Land of Rain as much as possible. If necessary, even use Konoha's power to attack the Shinobi Sect. When it is ti for you to move, you will receive a ssage," the masked man replied.
Danzo frowned.
This arrangent made it sound as though he were the masked man's subordinate.
However, when he thought about the Wood Release, the Rinnegan, and the sage inheritance he stood to gain, his irritation gradually faded.
"One last question," the masked man suddenly said, sounding curious.
"I may not answer," Danzo replied coldly. He had no intention of treating himself as the other man's subordinate.
"What does it feel like to relieve yourself?"
Danzo's eyelids twitched violently.
He felt certain the masked man was deliberately mocking him, so he answered with a dark expression and complete silence.
He had ntally prepared himself for the masked man to ask about Konoha's deepest secrets.
Yet this was the question?
Seeing that Danzo refused to answer, the masked man seed genuinely regretful. He pushed open the door and then quietly sank into the ground.
"Was that ant to disturb my judgnt? Who exactly is he..."
Sensing the masked man's presence disappear so strangely, Danzo's expression darkened again.
Even as a supposed partner, a person who could enter and leave Root freely without his approval was soone Danzo had to fear.
If the man could enter Root this casually, then he could enter Danzo's ho just as easily.
If he slipped in while Danzo slept soundly, would he even survive?
Danzo's brows remained tightly furrowed as he tried to guess the masked man's identity.
"Still, even if you truly are Uchiha Madara, you are only an old and weakened Madara now, not the Madara who could wound the First Hokage," Danzo thought, his expression easing slightly as he grasped that point.
If the masked man truly possessed Madara's full strength, there would be no need to cooperate at all.
He could have simply stord the Shinobi Sect and killed Nagato and Sōsuke himself.
The fact that he needed Danzo's help proved one thing.
He was incapable of destroying the Shinobi Sect alone.
Otherwise, he could simply take both the Rinnegan and the sage inheritance for himself.
"Should I ask Orochimaru for help?" Danzo thought of his current partner.
But he imdiately dismissed the idea.
One more person ant one more share of the spoils, and he did not want another rival for the Rinnegan.
What if Orochimaru were also promised Wood Release? That would make things even worse for him.
At present, his cooperation with Orochimaru existed only because his own strength and influence were still insufficient.
If he beca powerful enough, Orochimaru would naturally beco disposable.
The next morning, after handling Root's affairs, Danzo went straight to the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.
The sage inheritance, the Rinnegan, and Wood Release were all incredibly tempting.
But the imdiate benefit of having subordinates who mastered Kenbunshoku Haki was sothing tangible and within reach.
That, he could not give up.
The office door was shoved open with force.
Soon after, the ANBU outside vaguely heard a fierce argunt inside.
After the shouting died down, it ended with a loud slam of the door.
Then Danzo Shimura walked out of the Hokage's office.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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