Danzo Shimura's face turned ashen.
To be the roots buried deep underground, hidden from the sunlight and concealed in the darkness, providing nutrients for Konoha's branches and leaves to flourish, making the village stronger—these were the words he had spoken to Hiruzen Sarutobi when he first established Root.
At that time, Root was just a training organization meant to cultivate powerful ANBU ninjas for Konoha.
And Danzo himself was merely an ANBU squad captain under the Hokage's command.
However, during the process of training ANBU ninjas for the Hokage, his personal ambitions grew ever stronger. He gathered the ninjas who failed to be selected for the ANBU under his own command, branding them with the "Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal," obliterating their emotions, and turning them into feelingless "machines" that would only obey his orders.
For a long time, he had used this rhetoric to brainwash others.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that the moment he arrived at this stronghold, Tsunade would summon him and demand that he be the one to hold off Hanzo of the Salamander, buying time for her forces to annihilate the Rain ninjas.
More importantly, Tsunade stated that in order to truly stall Hanzo and convince him that the force attacking him was the main fighting force, Danzo needed to hand over most of the antidote he had brought with him.
Only in this way would Hanzo feel confident enough that he could wipe out Konoha's main force, thereby ignoring the other battlefields.
What kind of joke was this?
Although Hanzo's title of "Demigod" was only given to him by the various small ninja villages, that didn't mean his strength was weak.
Especially when combined with the large-scale poisonous mist of his summon, the salamander, Hanzo became a terrifying presence on the battlefield that struck fear into the hearts of all.
When his body was whole, Danzo possessed the strength of an elite jonin.
However, on the battlefield against the Stone, he had lost an eye and an arm, severely diminishing his power.
Even though he had later obtained the training method for the first stage of Li Anshi's flying dagger, it had only raised his lower limit; it had not been able to elevate his upper limit.
As for Hanzo, even without his summon, he was not someone the current Danzo could match.
Telling him to hold off Hanzo was undoubtedly sending him to his death!
Unless Danzo disregarded the lives of his subordinates and used them as cannon fodder to delay Hanzo, there was no chance he could survive against him.
But Danzo also knew that there were two reasons why he was able to be an elder of Konoha.
First, he was a former teammate of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The two had decades of friendship, and Hiruzen trusted him deeply.
Second, he held a force under his control, achieved by using his position to brand them with the "Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal."
Now that he had been sent here by Hiruzen, it meant he had lost the Hokage's trust.
Otherwise, Root's main mission should have been infiltration, counter-espionage, and assassination—covert operations both inside and outside the village—not frontal combat on the battlefield.
Under these circumstances, if he lost his troops, even if he survived this war, he would have no political capital left upon his return to Konoha.
"Tsunade, don't you dare slander me!" Danzo's gaze hardened, his voice low and dangerous.
Regardless of what he truly thought or what methods he would employ later, some things could not be spoken aloud!
If they were, there would be no place for him not just in Konoha, but in the entire ninja world.
"My heart is solely for Konoha."
"Back when I was fighting on the battlefield alongside the Second Hokage, Lord Tobirama, you were just a little girl who couldn't even walk."
"This eye of mine, and this arm, were both lost in the line of duty, protecting Konoha."
Stroking his right eye and the bandages wrapped around his left arm, he said coldly, "I have rendered meritorious service for Konoha, I have shed blood for Konoha!"
"Even the Third Hokage only sent me here with my troops to support you. My mission is only to assist you when you are at a disadvantage."
"If I judge that the situation does not require my intervention, then I will simply wait for the opportune moment."
"Tsunade, you need to understand: here, you need me; I do not need you!"
"You old dog, after what you've done, do you think I would still trust you with my back?" Tsunade sneered. "Also, Danzo, have you forgotten something?"
"Although you left the village with a force as if marching to war, I imagine everyone at the jonin meeting knows exactly how you left."
"If I send word back to the village that you've abandoned your mission, how do you think those jonin will spin it?"
Danzo's eyes grew cold.
This was exactly what he had always feared.
As an existence hidden in the darkness, he had manipulated many events in the ninja world.
Therefore, he knew better than anyone the power of public opinion, how "gossip is a fearful thing" and "three men make a tiger."
If he were in Konoha, no matter what happened, he could mobilize Root's intelligence network to quell or even reverse public opinion.
But now he was at the border of the Land of Fire, far beyond the reach of the village's situation.
Of course, there was another point that concerned him most.
After leaving the village, he had traveled day and night through wind and rain to reach this stronghold.
Logically speaking, Tsunade shouldn't know what he had done when he left Konoha.
But from her tone earlier, he knew that she did.
And it was precisely because of this that she was so confident in threatening him.
If he truly wanted to be the leader of Root for the rest of his life, he could completely ignore the outside world's evaluation of him.
In fact, the more evil and terrifying the rumors about him, the more beneficial it would be, as it would give him a greater deterrent force.
However, although he resided in the darkness, his dream had never changed.
He wanted to be Hokage!
He wanted to prove to Teacher Tobirama that he was in no way inferior to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
If his public image was ruined, destroying any chance of becoming Hokage, he would rather die.
"So, what's it going to be, you old dog?"
"Are you going to choose to intercept Hanzo when the war begins, or are you going to give me the antidote and let my troops fight him?"
"Of course, I acknowledge that you have made contributions and worked hard for Konoha. So, if you choose to intercept Hanzo, I will heal your eye and your arm."
"With my current medical ninjutsu, transplanting an eye and fully restoring your arm is not an impossible task."
Seeing that Danzo had been intimidated by her information, Tsunade narrowed her eyes and offered him a deal.
Long before Hiruzen had sent Danzo to this stronghold, Li Anshi had shared some of his knowledge about Danzo with her.
Of course, not knowing whether the current Danzo had already transplanted the Sharingan and Hashirama's cells, he had only hinted that she should pay attention to his bandaged eye and arm.
This point had indeed caught her attention.
Nine years ago, Danzo had indeed lost an eye and an arm on the battlefield.
Before Li Anshi's reminder, she had overlooked this.
It was as if his eye and arm had always been like that.
But how could that be?
Under her guidance, even if the medical ninjas of Konoha couldn't compare to her, they were still capable of performing eye transplant surgeries and cellular regeneration medical ninjutsu.
With Danzo's status in Konoha and his position as the leader of Root, which trained the ANBU, he could have had medical ninjas heal his eye and arm whenever he wanted.
Yet, it had been over nine years since he was injured, and he had never thought of having his injuries healed.
Was this possible?
Impossible!
Since it was impossible, why had he made this choice?
What exactly was he hiding?
After much thought, the only thing she could come up with was that he might want to transplant a Sharingan or a Byakugan into his eye.
As for his arm, she couldn't imagine whose arm he wanted to transplant.
"There's no need!"
As soon as Tsunade finished speaking, Danzo immediately stood up and rejected her offer.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked at her.
He didn't know whether her previous words were a genuine offer to heal him or a probe for information.
But regardless of her true intentions, he felt that it was not wise for him to remain in prolonged contact with her at this moment.
She was, after all, the number one medical ninja in the world; she was extremely sensitive to the human body.
If she were to notice something, it would not be a good thing for him.
Perhaps then, he wouldn't even be able to show his loyalty to the village, but would instead be branded a "rogue ninja," becoming a stain on Konoha and hunted down by its ninjas.
"I will fulfill my duties and do what I must. As for the antidote for the salamander poison, I'll keep a portion, and the rest is yours!"
With that, without waiting for her reply, he walked straight out of her tent.
"That old dog. It seems he really is hiding something deep, just as Anshi said."
Tsunade said nothing, watching him leave.
In this meeting between the two, thanks to the intelligence provided by Li Anshi and her own numerous preparations, she had won a total victory.
Not only had she obtained enough antidote from him and determined their respective opponents for the upcoming war, but she had also confirmed that there was a problem with his eye and arm.
Of course, even knowing this, she would not make a move against him at this time.
As he had said, he had rendered meritorious service and shed blood for Konoha; he was a hero of the village.
Perhaps everything he had done was driven by his own selfish desires, but she did not doubt his loyalty to Konoha.
Having obtained the antidote, she did not intend to violate the agreement she had made with him.
Fighting the Rain ninjas or fighting Hanzo—it made no difference to her.
If he was willing to intercept Hanzo, she would lead her subordinates to fight the Rain. With her abilities, she could summon countless clones of Katsuyu to attach to her subordinates and heal them in real-time.
In this way, the casualties among Konoha's ninjas would surely be kept to an extremely low level.
In fact, if everyone was careful, they might even achieve a "zero casualty" victory.
Did they not understand the value of the "Number One Master of Medical Ninjutsu in the Ninja World"?
And if she were to fight Hanzo, she didn't plan to use a large force to engage him.
At most, she would bring a few jonin to assist her, using herself as the spearhead to battle him.
In this way, the ninjas under her command would suffer no casualties either.
As for Danzo's side, although she didn't want any unnecessary casualties among Konoha's ninjas, she also knew that he would not allow her to treat the ninjas of Root.
At the very least, up to this point, the information about the "Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal" that he used to control the Root ninjas had not been leaked.
In everyone's impression, Root was still the organization that trained ANBU ninjas for the Hokage.
If she were to treat them, she would definitely discover the cursed seal.
At that time, the civilian ninjas of Konoha might not be able to do anything, but the ninja clans would definitely teach him and the Shimura clan an unforgettable lesson.
After all, the ANBU was the Hokage's direct force. Joining the ANBU meant becoming the Hokage's subordinate, which was a way for the clans to share in the Hokage's power.
Therefore, in order to increase their clan's weight in the Hokage's heart, everyone sent their elite ninjas to join Root, so that when there were openings in the ANBU, they could join through selection.
If they found out that their clan members had been branded with the "Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal" and had become Danzo's personal soldiers, how could they possibly let him off?
At that time, there would be no place for him or the Shimura clan in all of Konoha.
…
Swoosh!
In the forest, a streak of white light flashed, carrying a sharp aura as it hurtled towards Li Anshi.
"Not bad!"
Li Anshi reached out his right hand, his index and middle fingers pinching together, and the white light stopped at his fingertips.
Feeling the power on the dagger, he praised, "Very good, Rin. It seems you have already comprehended your 'ninja way'."
"Now, what you need to do is to put your ninja way into practice."