Three days later.
Konohagakure, Land of Fire — Root Headquarters.
Shimura Danzō sat in the main seat with a dark expression. Half of his body was wrapped in bandages.
"So? Have you finished the investigation?"
Danzō looked down at the two n standing below him and asked in a heavy voice.
They were Yamanaka Fū and Abura Torune, two of Danzō's most trusted subordinates within Root.
Because Danzō had personally led the previous operation, the two of them had remained behind to manage the Root base. As a result, they had narrowly avoided the disaster.
Yamanaka Fū spoke first.
"According to intelligence sent back by our agent in the Land of Rain, Hanzo of the Salamander convened a eting of Agakure's high-ranking officials three days ago."
"However, the agent's rank is too low to access the eting's specific details, so the contents remain unknown."
In the Shinobi Code, it was emphasized that a ninja must remain calm at all tis—no matter the circumstances or the situation they faced.
This was especially true for soone like Shimura Danzō, the man known as the Darkness of the Shinobi World.
Maintaining composure was one of the most important qualities for a shinobi like him.
His earlier outburst had actually been quite inappropriate. Only extre anger could have driven him to such a display.
Under normal circumstances, Danzō rarely revealed his emotions.
He stopped dwelling on the matter of Hanzo and the Akatsuki, instead turning to Abura Torune.
"How many combat personnel does Root currently have available?"
Torune answered imdiately without hesitation.
"Excluding administrative personnel and those currently deployed on missions across the shinobi world…"
"We still have eighteen jōnin-level operatives, and two hundred thirty-four special jōnin and elite chūnin-level operatives."
That might sound like a lot.
But in reality, most of these operatives were scattered across the shinobi world on long-term assignnts.
Once dispersed like this, the Root headquarters itself could barely muster even the strength of a single tactical unit.
As for genin…
Sorry.
Without at least elite chūnin-level strength, one didn't even qualify to beco a formal mber of Root.
"Damn it!"
Danzō slamd his hand against the armrest.
After taking a deep breath and forcibly suppressing his anger, he asked another question.
"How long before the trainees in the current training camp graduate?"
Torune thought for a mont before replying.
"They still lack sufficient experience. If we force them to graduate early, the passing rate for this training cycle will be extrely low."
Danzō waved his hand coldly.
"We don't have the luxury to worry about that right now. We're short on manpower."
"Notify Terai. Increase the intensity of the training imdiately and have this group graduate as soon as possible."
"At the sa ti, begin gathering war orphans and prepare to establish the next training camp."
Yamanaka Fū hesitated briefly before asking,
"Lord Danzō… should we lower the evaluation standards for this training cycle?"
The Root Training Camp was nothing like the Ninja Academy.
Its evaluations were extrely harsh—conducted at chūnin-level standards.
And there were no second chances.
In Root's examinations, failure ant only one outco:
Death.
"Of course not."
Danzō's tone was calm but ruthless.
"Better none than the wrong ones."
"My Root is not a place just anyone can enter."
"As for the manpower shortage, that won't be a problem."
"I'll go speak with Hiruzen and request another batch of elite shinobi to fill the gaps."
Hearing this, Yamanaka Fū wisely said nothing more.
The fact that he had asked that one question was already more than enough.
After all, he himself had survived that sa brutal system.
Just as Danzō was about to ask about events that had occurred during his absence, he suddenly sensed sothing and imdiately fell silent.
The next mont—
Whoosh.
A ninja wearing ANBU attire appeared in the hall.
"Lord Danzō."
"The Hokage requests your presence in his office."
The ANBU's voice carried no emotion whatsoever.
"I understand. I'll go imdiately."
Danzō had long expected that Hiruzen Sarutobi would learn of his return to the village at once.
He had already prepared himself to face him.
Since the ANBU had arrived, Danzō had no ti to ask further questions.
He stood up.
First, he would have to deal with Hiruzen's interrogation.
After all, launching an operation without authorization and losing the majority of Root's elite operatives was no minor offense.
However, after that eting in Agakure ended, another piece of information began circulating through official channels in the Hidden Rain Village.
Hanzo of the Salamander had accepted the three leaders of the **Akatsuki—Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan—**as his personal disciples.
At the sa ti, all mbers of the Akatsuki had been officially incorporated into Agakure.
Another rumor suggested that Hanzo was grooming successors.
The three Akatsuki leaders might very well beco the future rulers of the Hidden Rain Village.
"Damn it!"
Danzō slamd his good left hand onto the armrest again.
"What are you idiots doing?!"
"You can't even infiltrate a small place like Agakure?! What use are any of you?!"
He vented his anger freely.
Yet Yamanaka Fū and Abura Torune rely stood there quietly, eyes lowered, as if they had heard nothing at all.
Both n knew perfectly well that Danzō wasn't truly angry about Root's failure to infiltrate Agakure.
There was sothing else behind it.
After all, the Land of Rain was a nation forged in constant warfare.
The Rain shinobi were extrely united and fiercely xenophobic.
Their internal security and investigation systems were incredibly strict.
For an infiltrator to reach even a mid-level position inside Agakure was already extrely difficult.
Danzō himself knew this better than anyone.
So his anger now was clearly just an excuse to vent.
And in truth, their guess was correct.
Danzō's real fury was directed not at Root—
but at Hanzo of the Salamander.
Based on the intelligence currently available, it was obvious that Hanzo had discovered Nagato's Rinnegan.
He intended to cultivate Nagato as the future leader of the Land of Rain, and had already begun paving the road for him.
As for Yahiko and Konan, they were clearly nothing more than smoke screens ant to conceal Nagato.
Furthermore—
Hanzo had likely already established contact with Nagato long before.
Danzō rembered clearly that shortly before he approached Hanzo, Hanzo had already t with Nagato and his companions.
They might have reached an agreent back then.
Which ant that Hanzo's cooperation with Danzō against the Akatsuki had been nothing more than a trap.
By drawing Danzō into the conflict, Hanzo had achieved several goals at once.
He secured Nagato's loyalty and allowed him to awaken the true power of the Rinnegan.
He found a suitable successor for the Land of Rain.
And at the sa ti, he weakened Konohagakure's military strength.
A perfect three-birds-with-one-stone strategy.
Hanzo had profited enormously.
anwhile, Shimura Danzō had rely been a pawn in his ga.
A clown.
Being manipulated so thoroughly by Hanzo—and losing nearly all of Root's elite forces in the Land of Rain—how could Danzō possibly remain calm?
Right now, he hated Hanzo so deeply he wished he could devour his flesh, shatter his bones, and tear him limb from limb.
Only then would his anger subside.
After a while, however—
Once he had vented the resentnt in his heart,
Shimura Danzō gradually regained his composure.
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