Later, it became less busy, but everything was different at this time. Sarutobi Hiruzen was the Hokage, and Mitokado Homura and Shimura Danzo, they were elders and Hokage assistants.
Although everyone was still friends, due to various reasons, the way they interacted gradually changed. They couldn't joke and drink as freely as they did before.
"Hmph." Shimura Danzo couldn't help but snort coldly.
In his view, Sarutobi Hiruzen was completely showing off. If the position of Hokage was given to him, he would live in the Hokage Office every day if necessary.
"If sensei hadn't sacrificed himself back then, the result might not be like this."
Shimura Danzo felt that the situation at the time was too critical, causing Senju Tobirama to lose a certain degree of judgment, leading him to directly appoint Sarutobi Hiruzen as the Third Hokage.
If it were a fair competition, he might not have lost to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Indeed, if sensei hadn't sacrificed himself, Konoha would be more prosperous now." Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded and remarked.
Whether as Hokage or as a master of Ninjutsu development, the loss of Senju Tobirama was a huge loss for Konoha.
Seeing that Sarutobi Hiruzen misunderstood his meaning, Shimura Danzo was too lazy to explain, and continued chatting idly.
"Hiruzen, sometimes you need to be more decisive. We are the strongest Ninja Village, and we need to show our power."
"Establishing authority should be done, but it shouldn't be about gathering an army to invade other countries."
While chatting, the two of them got into an argument due to different political views. Neither compromised, and both insisted on their own viewpoints.
Shimura Danzo felt Sarutobi Hiruzen was too indecisive, whereas Sarutobi Hiruzen felt Shimura Danzo was too aggressive.
When the bottle was nearly empty, Shimura Danzo started packing up, silently announcing the end of the small gathering.
Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled silently as he stood up to say farewell and leave.
After Sarutobi Hiruzen's figure disappeared from view, Shimura Danzo returned to the Root Base.
"Wasting 800 ryo," Shimura Danzo felt that inviting Sarutobi Hiruzen would have been better spent on buying food for Yamato.
By buying food for Yamato, at least Yamato would appreciate him. Inviting Sarutobi Hiruzen for drinks, he only ended up feeling frustrated.
At this moment, there were only four ninjas in the Root Base. Besides one ninja staying at the base, the remaining three were waiting to set off with Shimura Danzo.
Upon returning to the Root Base, Shimura Danzo went to a secret room.
"It's too dangerous this time. One safeguard is not enough." Shimura Danzo thought to himself, while retrieving a box filled with an unknown liquid from a mechanism in the secret room.
Shimura Danzo swiftly opened the box and pulled out a blood-red eye from it.
He intended to transplant a second Sharingan.
Since he's not part of the Uchiha Clan, he couldn't voluntarily turn off Sharingan after transplanting it, and even though Shimura Danzo mastered the Uchiha's Kinjutsu, Izanagi, he only transplanted one Sharingan.
Firstly, the Sharingan, when not turned off, would continuously consume Chakra. Secondly, transplanting both eyes would require covering them both, which would look too strange.
Now that he's transplanted Hashirama Cells, Chakra was no longer a problem. The most important thing was that competing with "Uchiha Madara" for the Rinnegan would be perilous, so Shimura Danzo wanted extra insurance.
The transplant surgery was completed quickly. When Shimura Danzo opened his eyes, he felt better than ever before.
"Is there some link between the Senju and the Uchiha? Why does transplanting the Sharingan feel like this?" Shimura Danzo wondered in his heart.
When transplanting one Sharingan, Shimura Danzo felt it added a life-saving card while increasing a permanent negative status.
In terms of combat ability, with one Sharingan, he was weaker than before he transplanted the Sharingan.
However, now with Hashirama Cells and an additional transplanted Sharingan, he actually felt stronger, catching Shimura Danzo by surprise.
He only intended to increase tolerance; he didn't expect to gain enhancement.
"Danzo-sama." A Root member handed over a special cloth strip.
Shimura Danzo didn't think much of it, took the gauze, and covered his eyes. These matters could be studied later. The most urgent thing was obtaining the Ninja Sect inheritance and the Rinnegan.
Regarding causing trouble, Shimura Danzo had strong initiative and quickly took the Root Ninjas with him to the Rain Village.
"Danzo, your eyes?" Hanzo noticed Shimura Danzo was no longer using a bandage to wrap his head and right eye but was using an opaque cloth to cover both eyes.
"Just a small issue, it won't affect our plan." Shimura Danzo said calmly.
The pair of Sharingan was his trump card, and he wouldn't reveal it until the assassination of Sosuke.
"Is everything alright on Sosuke's side?" Shimura Danzo asked.
"He has already accepted the invitation to observe the Chunin Examination." Hanzo nodded in response.
The event Hanzo chose to host was the Chunin Examination.
However, to minimize the impact, Hanzo didn't arrange a joint Chunin Examination, just a normal Chunin Examination.
"Now, we only need to wait for Sosuke to arrive in five days, and we can proceed with the plan as scheduled."
"However, did Konoha only send this few people?" Hanzo glanced around, observing the thirty Konoha Ninjas surrounding Shimura Danzo, and squinted as he spoke.
"Sometimes, fewer elites can be more effective." Shimura Danzo said with indifference.
This was the maximum number of ninjas Shimura Danzo could mobilize without alerting Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Among them, there were some ninjas not even registered within Konoha but were nurtured by Shimura Danzo outside of Konoha.
"After all, Konoha is not like the Rain Village; too much noise will attract much attention."
Hanzo slightly furrowed his brow, but didn't say much.
He didn't plan on using Konoha's power to eliminate Sosuke, so he wasn't too concerned about Konoha's strength; it was just that Shimura Danzo's words displeased him.
During the following days, Shimura Danzo acted no differently than when he was in Konoha.
He spent most of his time researching Wood Release, and then checked for any flaws in the plan to surround and kill Sosuke.
When only one day remained before Sosuke's arrival at the Rain Village, Shimura Danzo received two bad news.
The first bad news was that his growth in Wood Release had slowed.
This was something Shimura Danzo could accept, possibly due to having absorbed too much knowledge recently, not a significant problem.
The second bad news was more frustrating for Shimura Danzo.
"Habu Mokgetsu actually messed up at this critical moment!" Shimura Danzo looked at the information sent by the Konoha Root Ninja with an excited expression.
According to the plan, Mokgetsu was supposed to leave immediately after class today and rush to the Rain Village.
Given Mokgetsu's strength, he could reach the Rain Village by midnight at full speed.
This way, Mokgetsu only needed to take two days off "to rest" and could serve as his trump card in the Land of Rain, dealing with Sosuke and "Uchiha Madara."
However, today Mokgetsu was unexpectedly invited by Sarutobi Hiruzen for dinner at his home, and was also given a lecture about Ninjutsu.
Considering Mokgetsu's persona as expressed towards Sarutobi Hiruzen, declining such an invitation required a suitable reason.
Thus, Mokgetsu didn't leave Konoha until eight o'clock in the evening.
Shimura Danzo was very irate; he understood that refusing the invitation without a good reason might indeed expose weaknesses.
But no matter what, Mokgetsu did not complete his task.
As a Root Ninja, priority should be given to him, and everything else must be sacrificed in pursuit of that.
"Reprimand after the mission ends; given his speed, he should still arrive before Sosuke." Shimura Danzo exhaled.
To prevent such unexpected events, he reserved some additional time for Mokgetsu, even if Mokgetsu couldn't arrive before the battle kicked off, he could definitely join the fight later on.
Shimura Danzo gradually calmed down, his plan was still within his control.
PS:
Aside from during the Second Hokage's last stand, I've observed that Shimura Danzo always had bandages on his face, so I believe he transplanted the Sharingan as a life-saving "revival coin" fairly early.
However, the Sharingan arm certainly isn't from this period; it had to be after Orochimaru's research on Hashirama Cells came to fruition post the Uchiha Clan's massacre.