Chapter 469: Jiraiya Lacks Wisdom, Tsunade Lacks Strategy, Only Orochimaru

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"As long as I can score another major achievement on the Cloud Shadow battlefield, I'll have the most war contributions. Then, if I steadily follow the plan, my chances of becoming the Fourth Hokage will be very high."

"Once I become the Fourth Hokage, Root will no longer be a subordinate branch of the Anbu; it will gain a status equal to the Anbu."

Inside the Root base, Orochimaru was painting a bright future for Danzo Shimura.

The reason Danzo Shimura was so eager to push for Orochimaru becoming Hokage wasn't because he liked Orochimaru—they had a deal.

Danzo Shimura would help Orochimaru rise to power, and in return, Orochimaru would repay Danzo Shimura after becoming Hokage.

"Hmph, Jiraiya has no grand ambitions, so he definitely can't compete with you. And Tsunade has fallen into degeneracy—there's nothing to worry about." Danzo Shimura nodded.

In fact, painting a rosy picture was one of Danzo Shimura's best skills. Otherwise, he couldn't have fooled so many Root members into dying for him. He didn't control his subordinates through ninjutsu; the Tongue-Cutter Seal was just to prevent them from leaking information.

But for now, what Orochimaru said wasn't just empty promises. In Danzo's analysis, Orochimaru's chances of becoming Hokage far exceeded those of Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to favor Jiraiya, Jiraiya himself didn't have that intention at all. Hiruzen tried several times to give Jiraiya opportunities for merit, but Jiraiya simply refused.

"To secure a major achievement faster, I hope you can send Muyue to assist me again. With him there, we can certainly recreate the great victory on the Eastern Front." Orochimaru seized the moment when Danzo showed approval to speak.

This was Orochimaru's real goal—to take Muyue to the battlefield.

To avoid revealing his intention, Orochimaru hardly investigated at all and just asked Danzo casually with a reasonable pretext.

Because Danzo was very cautious, Orochimaru couldn't get any useful information, and thus couldn't tell whether Muyue's refusal that day was his own will or Danzo's order.

So Orochimaru changed his approach, thinking that no matter the reason, as long as he could take Muyue to the battlefield, everything would be resolved in the end.

If he could replace Danzo Shimura's place in Muyue's heart, all problems would be solved.

Danzo Shimura kept a straight face outwardly, but inwardly he felt Orochimaru was still stubbornly persistent.

"I can send other elites to help you, but not Muyue. I have other very important arrangements for him." Danzo Shimura refused Orochimaru.

He could voluntarily send Muyue out to help Orochimaru earn merits, but if Orochimaru actively wanted to take Muyue away, that was unacceptable.

However, since they were close partners, Danzo didn't make it sound too harsh and used the excuse that Muyue had other arrangements.

"I see. What a pity." Orochimaru's expression didn't change, as if he didn't care too much, but his mind was racing, connecting all the dots.

"Danzo must have discovered something, so he doesn't want Muyue-kun to have too much contact with me," Orochimaru thought.

What kind of important arrangement could be more important than earning merits on the battlefield, which affected the Hokage position?

And not to be narcissistic, but Orochimaru felt that based on his performance on the Eastern Front, he had left an excellent impression on Muyue as a senior and superior. There was no reason he should have been outright refused.

Orochimaru had shown strategy and strength, spoken well of Muyue's disciple in front of the higher-ups, and often had heart-to-heart talks with Muyue. Muyue's impression of him could only be positive, not negative.

No matter how Orochimaru thought about it, he felt Danzo Shimura must have done something.

After that, Orochimaru didn't bring up Muyue again and continued discussing their Fourth Hokage plan.

Orochimaru believed in his own abilities; he would eventually influence Muyue.

Besides, given Muyue's current strength, Danzo couldn't keep him bound forever. There would be plenty of opportunities later, so there was no need to dwell on this issue.

But Orochimaru still noted this matter; once he became Hokage, he would settle accounts with Danzo Shimura.

After Orochimaru left the Root base, Danzo Shimura showed a thoughtful expression.

He was a cautious man. Since he had said he had plans for Muyue, he needed to find something for Muyue to do, lest Orochimaru accidentally discover the truth.

"I'll have him conduct some training for Root for a while." Danzo Shimura thought of a good idea.

Although he valued Muyue's combat strength more, Danzo hadn't forgotten Muyue's unique teaching ability.

The more Danzo thought about it, the better it seemed. This way, he could both deal with Orochimaru and strengthen the Root ninjas.

Then Danzo Shimura went to see Hiruzen Sarutobi.

For Orochimaru to take Muyue to the battlefield, he had to get past Danzo first, because Muyue was a member of Root.

Danzo also had to go through the proper procedures to deploy Muyue; he needed to seek Hiruzen's approval first, since on the surface Muyue had long since left Root.

Danzo Shimura walked toward the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building with a gloomy expression.

Aside from being annoyed that he still had to get Hiruzen's permission to use his own subordinates, Danzo felt that Hiruzen wouldn't agree easily this time and would definitely drag things out, because at the last high-level meeting, Danzo had openly confronted Hiruzen.

Shimura Danzo knew Sarutobi Hiruzen too well. Hiruzen wasn't a magnanimous person either; he would definitely retaliate. Danzo was essentially pre-judging and then directly venting his emotions.

A passing ninja saw Danzo's gloomy expression but didn't find it unusual.

After all, this was Advisor Danzo; gloominess was the norm. If one day he suddenly smiled as brightly as Mu Yue or Minato, they would instead think that Advisor Danzo was under so much pressure that he had gone mad.

When Shimura Danzo reached the wooden door of the Hokage's office and was about to push it open as usual, he thought of something, suddenly stopped, pulled back the door he had half-opened, withdrew his extended foot, and curled his fingers to knock on the wooden door.

Whether it was Danzo's illusion or not, when the knocking sound rang out, he seemed to hear a slightly regretful sigh from inside.

"Enter." Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice came from inside the Hokage's office.

Only then did Shimura Danzo push open the wooden door and enter the Hokage's office.

"Danzo, what business do you have?" Hiruzen asked.

"Hi..." Danzo was about to address Hiruzen by his given name, but after recalling some memories, he quickly braked and changed his address: "Third Hokage."

Hiruzen silently lamented the wasted opportunity; Danzo was too cautious today.

Just now, he had deliberately called Danzo by his given name, intending to guide Danzo into calling his name as well. But Danzo stubbornly gave no openings, making the emotions Hiruzen had accumulated during the high-level meeting unable to be released.

"I want to transfer Mu Yue back to Root. Mu Yue's educational skills will be best utilized in Root. At that time, the quality of both Root ninja and Anbu ninja can be improved." Shimura Danzo carefully considered his words and, confirming there were no issues, spoke.

When Root was first established, Danzo's excuse was to train the Anbu. So what Danzo said was perfectly logical: Mu Yue, skilled in teaching, would return to Root and expand his teaching abilities.

Of course, Danzo knew that this request would not be agreed to by Hiruzen. Danzo said it to maintain his "persona."

He usually went to great lengths to strengthen Root's power. A talent poached from Root being schemed to be taken back was normal behavior for Danzo. That way, Hiruzen would not suspect the connection between Danzo and Mu Yue.

"How many ninja do Root and Anbu have combined? How many ninja are in the Ninja Academy? How many ninja are in all of Konoha? Mu Yue is not going back to Root." Hiruzen flatly refused.

Hiruzen would never let Mu Yue return to Root; the darkness of Root was too deep, unsuitable for a ninja like Mu Yue.

"Danzo, if you spent your efforts on strengthening Root on other matters, perhaps Konoha would be better off." Hiruzen said bluntly.

"Why do I strengthen Root if not for Konoha?" Danzo replied defiantly.

"If I didn't know that, do you think your Root would still exist today?" Hiruzen put down his pipe, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said indifferently.

If Danzo hadn't truly been doing things for Konoha, how could Hiruzen have continuously allowed Root to exist? That bit of school friendship wasn't worth Hiruzen doing that.

After becoming Hokage, the first priority in Hiruzen's heart was Konoha; everything else had to yield to Konoha.

"Since you know that, then why do you keep obstructing me?" Danzo asked in a low voice.

"Some things you've gone too far with, and some things you shouldn't do." Hiruzen replied, then lifted his pipe again.

Whether Danzo was wholly devoted to Konoha, Hiruzen couldn't say, but he was certainly doing things for Konoha with some truth.

But Danzo didn't know moderation; his lower limit was almost nonexistent.

"Training Root ninja is acceptable; I will arrange that. But don't think about other things." Hiruzen directly announced the result.

Hiruzen didn't want Mu Yue to return to Root, but simply training Root ninja was no problem; it would be like letting Mu Yue train the Anbu and throwing Root in as well.

Danzo's expression was somewhat unpleasant, as if he was extremely dissatisfied with Hiruzen's arrangement.

With a gloomy face, Danzo silently turned and walked toward the wooden door of the Hokage's office.

"Hi... Third Hokage, you will regret this!"

A dull thud sounded as Danzo forcefully slammed the wooden door shut.

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile.

Just now, he had been holding back from laughing; Danzo's cautious manner of speaking was simply too funny. He had never seen Danzo like this.

"If I hadn't been a bit slow to react back then, things definitely wouldn't be like this now." Danzo, who had slammed the door and walked out, looked displeased.

Although he had perfectly avoided all mistakes and given Hiruzen no chance to make an issue of it, Danzo was still angry. Why did he have to be this careful?

If back then he had been the first to step forward and offer to be the rear guard, today it would be Hiruzen speaking to him cautiously like this.

Obito kept imagining an invisible armor around his fist in his mind, then suddenly punched out. A crack instantly appeared on the trunk of the large tree in front of him, but it did not fall.

"Damn it, why is the Armament Haki secret technique so hard?" Seeing that the tree hadn't been broken, Obito scratched his head twice.

Actually, if he used his Breathing Technique and condensed a bit more chakra, he could break the tree. But Obito was training, not trying to cut down the tree. Just now, he had only been trying to use Armament Haki, without using any other abilities.

"There's only one week until the civil war, what are we going to do?" Obito looked at the others, a bit anxious.

Originally, the civil war was scheduled once every three months, but due to the war, this one had been delayed for a long time.

Obito thought he could take advantage of this opportunity to overtake them on a curve, but the others made even greater progress.

Might Guy comprehended the Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, while Shisui comprehended the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

Obito didn't expect to defeat Might Guy; combining Rock Breathing Chakra Mode with the Fifth and Sixth Gates of the Eight Gates is too monstrous — impossible to win.

Obito's goal was to secure victories against Kakashi and Shisui, which would give him a high probability of entering the second round without facing punishment.

So now the question is: Obito has Flame Breathing Mode, Shisui has it too; Obito has the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Shisui has it too; but Shisui has mastered Armament Haki Secret Technique, while Obito hasn't. Calculate Obito's win rate against Shisui.

Actually, Obito's Flame Breathing was stronger than Shisui's, but he felt that slight advantage couldn't compare to the Armament Haki Secret Technique.

"It feels like only Kakashi has a better chance of winning." Obito could only hope that during the civil war he would draw Kakashi in the lottery.

Kakashi has the Transparent World, Obito has the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode; Kakashi has the Armament Haki Secret Technique, Obito has the Three-Tomoe Sharingan — the two are really almost evenly matched.

Crack!

A flash of lightning, and several trees in front of Kakashi all fell.

"This feeling isn't right, still far off." Recalling Mu Yue's lightning blade that sliced through everything, Kakashi sheathed his sword and shook his head.

Mu Yue's Lightning Release sword technique was more difficult than Kakashi had imagined; he estimated he wouldn't be able to use it in the next civil war and could only hope to master it before the one after that.

"In that case, only against Obito would my win rate be higher." Kakashi briefly analyzed the combat power of Mu Yue's four disciples.

After the Eastern Front battlefield, each of them had improved to varying degrees. Among them, the biggest improvement was Might Guy, followed by Shisui, while Kakashi and Obito were on the same level.

"Great Flame Ring: Flame Emperor!"

Having entered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Shisui was fiercely unleashing Fire Release at the river surface.

With the civil war approaching, Shisui had to put aside his plans to further expand his prestige and resume high-intensity training. He needed to become more proficient in using Flame Breathing Chakra Mode before the civil war began.

Might Guy was going all out with weights, training madly. Although he was the strongest, he would not slack off, because he had to keep going until he became the strongest in Konoha taijutsu and the strongest in the ninja world.

Riolu, seeing Might Guy so passionate, couldn't help but train alongside him.