Chapter 556: Konoha Exterminates the Ninja Order?

Shimura Danzō's reaction caught Hanzō off guard.

He had thought that the attitude he showed to the Root ninja would be enough to make Shimura Danzō back down.

But Shimura Danzō did not give up; instead, he came to the Land of Rain in person.

"Lord Hanzō, Shimura Danzō wishes to see you," a Rain Anbu reported.

Hanzō frowned. Shimura Danzō's level of initiative was abnormally high.

He had only left the Root ninja waiting for a few days, and yet Shimura Danzō had come to the Land of Rain in person. For someone of Danzō's status, this was not appropriate.

"Bring him here," Hanzō said.

Shimura Danzō was, after all, the Hokage's Advisor who could represent Konoha.

Even though hearing the name Shimura Danzō now irritated him, he could not treat Danzō like an ordinary Konoha jōnin.

The Rain Anbu nodded, quickly left the office, and soon brought Shimura Danzō into Hanzō's office.

After bringing the man in, the Rain Anbu silently left the office and closed the door.

Hanzō stared expressionlessly at Shimura Danzō.

Shimura Danzō's expression was somewhat grim. His one long, narrow eye not covered by bandages stared at Hanzō.

Hanzō was displeased, and Shimura Danzō was equally displeased.

The plan to surround and kill Sōsuke to seize the Rinnegan was an operation he had concealed from Sarutobi Hiruzen. The longer he remained outside, the more likely he would be discovered by Hiruzen.

Shimura Danzō had intended to come to the Land of Rain only when the plan reached the stage where only the encirclement and killing remained, but Hanzō's attitude forced him to come earlier.

"I wonder what business Advisor Danzō has in coming to Amegakure?" Hanzō asked in a flat voice.

After all, Shimura Danzō was the Hokage's Advisor; Hanzō could not really start a fight with him.

Unless Hanzō was prepared for war with Konoha.

"Of course, I've come to help you, Hanzō," Shimura Danzō replied, his expression softening considerably.

Shimura Danzō felt that he was truly helping Hanzō. If he were Hanzō, the Ninja Sect would never have survived long enough to be established; it would have been wiped out while traveling through the Land of Rain.

Traveling and lecturing? Shimura Danzō only saw Sōsuke's followers increasing and his reputation growing.

"Oh?" Hanzō looked at Shimura Danzō with some doubt in his eyes.

Come to help him? Come to help him die sooner?

"Amegakure is in danger," Shimura Danzō said with a sigh.

"What makes you say that?" Hanzō asked.

He wanted to see what trick Shimura Danzō was playing.

"Sōsuke is ambitious, using all kinds of methods to raise the reputation of the Ninja Sect. Now, many ninjas who mention the Land of Rain no longer think of you, the Demigod, or Amegakure, but of the Ninja Teacher Sōsuke and the Ninja Sect," Shimura Danzō continued.

"If this continues, the Ninja Sect will gradually encroach on Amegakure's living space, eventually replacing Amegakure and reducing it to dust in history."

Shimura Danzō was not talking nonsense. Ninjas do not engage in production, so where does their money come from?

There are two main sources: one is the military funds provided by the daimyō, and the other is the commissions issued by clients.

If the Ninja Sect siphons away Amegakure's commissions, then Amegakure's decline is inevitable.

"Thank you for your warning, Danzō. I am already prepared to compete with the Ninja Sect. I believe our Amegakure ninjas will not lose to the Ninja Sect's ninjas," Hanzō said, appearing as if he had already prepared.

Could Amegakure truly compete with the Ninja Sect? Hanzō was not very confident.

Sōsuke was younger than him, and beneath Sōsuke there was Nagato, the greatest genius in the ninja world.

Nagato alone could ensure that the Ninja Sect would not be too poorly off for the next forty years.

Shimura Danzō's narrow eyes narrowed slightly. This Hanzō was not taking the hint.

However, Shimura Danzō had prepared himself mentally for this. If it were that simple, he wouldn't have needed to come personally.

"Hanzō, you are an upright person, but Sōsuke may not compete fairly with you. As far as I know, the Ninja Sect has close ties with Iwagakure," Shimura Danzō said, giving Hanzō one last chance.

If Hanzō still refused, then he would have to directly lay the matter out in the open.

"Is that so? From what I know, Sōsuke isn't a bad person." Hanzo countered.

Sōsuke was far more than not bad—even with the conflict between Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect, he had earned the respect of a large number of Rain shinobi.

Hearing this, Shimura Danzo realized that his greatest worry had indeed come to pass.

The Shinobi Sect's strategy of mending relations had taken effect. Now the Rain shinobi and the Shinobi Sect were no longer as opposed as they had been before.

This only made Shimura Danzo more certain of the correctness and necessity of his plan.

If the Rain shinobi and the Shinobi Sect united, they might actually create a force capable of threatening the great shinobi villages.

"That's just the surface you see." Shimura Danzo countered Hanzo's rebuttal.

"The crisis of Amegakure lies not only in its competition with the Shinobi Sect, but also in the Land of Rain itself."

"Hanzo, you don't want the Land of Rain to repeat the scene of the last great shinobi war, do you?" Shimura Danzo said in a sinister tone.

"Shimura Danzo, what do you mean?" Hanzo's gaze turned extremely sharp, as if trying to pierce through Shimura Danzo's body.

The Second Great Shinobi War was the greatest pain of Hanzo's life. He had wanted to gain more benefits for the Land of Rain, to lead it in breaking the order of the Five Great Nations.

But he overestimated the strength of Amegakure and underestimated the strength of those great shinobi villages.

In the end, the Land of Rain was devastated, the entire country engulfed in war. Not only did it fail to develop, but it became even more backward.

Before the defeat in the Second Great Shinobi War, the whole of Amegakure were Hanzo's fans—most of them fanatical.

After the defeat, however, Amegakure produced quite a number of rogue ninja. This shows the impact the Second Great Shinobi War had on the Land of Rain and Amegakure.

Shimura Danzo's words had truly touched Hanzo's bottom line.

"Heh." Shimura Danzo sneered inwardly, unconcerned about Hanzo's terrifying, murderous aura.

His current power and status had also been won through his own battles. After all, who among them hadn't walked out of the sea of blood and mountains of corpses on the battlefield? How could this intimidate him?

"What the Shinobi Sect has done has touched Konoha's bottom line. It is a threat that Konoha must eliminate. In the process of elimination, it is hard to avoid some unavoidable destruction." Shimura Danzo said in a deep voice, as if the Shinobi Sect had committed something unforgivable.

The Shinobi Sect had touched his own bottom line as the Advisor to the Hokage, which by rounding up, also touched Konoha's bottom line.

Hanzo frowned deeply. Shimura Danzo's words were far too heavy; his tone was as if Konoha would send ninja forces to destroy the Shinobi Sect in a few days.

This was somewhat beyond Hanzo's expectations. What had the Shinobi Sect done to make Konoha so eager to eliminate them?

Because of Shimura Danzo's words and position, Hanzo subconsciously regarded Shimura Danzo's attitude as Konoha's attitude.

After all, Shimura Danzo, a high-ranking Konoha official, would not act in the name of Konoha over some personal matter, would he?

"What did the Shinobi Sect do?" Hanzo couldn't help asking.

He was genuinely curious about what the Shinobi Sect had done to Konoha.

Would someone of Sōsuke's character and wisdom offend Konoha without reason?

"That involves Konoha's secrets. I can only tell you it's related to Iwagakure." Shimura Danzo answered like a riddle master.

He had no choice but to be cryptic—he couldn't very well say it was because of Sōsuke's Shinobi Sect inheritance and Nagato's Rinnegan.

And by dragging in Iwagakure, it would become a conflict between two great shinobi villages, making it hard for Hanzo to verify.

"Iwagakure..." Hanzo showed a thoughtful expression.

Earlier, when Iwagakure stood as a mediator for the peace talks between the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure, Hanzo had already felt that Iwagakure was plotting something. Later, Iwagakure got so close with the Shinobi Sect; it would be normal for them to have some dealings.

"Could it be related to the war in the Land of Grass?" Hanzo recalled the recent great battle between Konoha and Iwagakure in the Land of Grass.

Each side won one battle, but in the end Konoha got the upper hand and drove Iwagakure out of the Land of Rain.

If it involved participating in a great nation's war, then Konoha's attitude made sense, as this was one of the most taboo matters for those Five Great Shinobi Villages.

"Since it's a conflict between the Shinobi Sect and Konoha, what does it have to do with my Amegakure?" Hanzo asked after thinking.

After all that Shimura Danzo had said, none of it involved Amegakure.

Even if the Shinobi Sect was genuinely caught up in great nation games, the best Amegakure could do was not help—not help Konoha kick the Shinobi Sect.

"That's why I argued hard and secured a plan more beneficial to both sides: only execute the chief evil.

Apart from Sōsuke and Nagato, everyone else can be considered shinobi deceived by Sōsuke. Konoha will spare them."

"The condition is that Amegakure must help Konoha kill Sousuke."

"In truth, Shimura Danzou initially wanted Root ninja to disguise themselves as Ninja Sect ninja to assassinate Rain ninja, then disguise themselves as Rain ninja to assassinate Ninja Sect ninja, stirring up conflict between the two sides before luring Hanzou into launching a siege on Sousuke."

"This could be called Shimura Danzou's usual method of inciting conflict."

"However, upon careful thought, Shimura Danzou realized that this plan was not suitable for the current Ninja Sect and Amegakure."

"Amegakure and the Ninja Sect are ninja forces within the same country and have signed a friendly cooperation treaty. If the dead were not important figures, both sides would definitely stay calm and verify the facts first."

"But killing important figures wouldn't work either, because the Ninja Sect has too few capable ninja, and Rain Country is too small, making it difficult to carry out disguised frame-ups."

"Moreover, if Shimura Danzou shows up as soon as something happens between the Ninja Sect and Amegakure, Hanzou, unless he is a fool, will become suspicious."

"If Shimura Danzou had enough time, this plan could also work. Given a year or two, he could definitely arrange it flawlessly."

"But 'Uchiha Madara' gave him too little time to act."

"That is why Shimura Danzou used a plan of overwhelming force, leveraging Konoha's deterrence to intimidate Hanzou with war: if he did not want Rain Country to become a battlefield, he would join him in killing Sousuke."

"This plan, so long as it was not discovered by Hiruzen Sarutobi, was also a fairly perfect plan."

"'Kill Sousuke, and Rain Country can avoid war...' Hanzou understood Shimura Danzou's meaning."

"However, Hanzou was not naive enough to think this was a benefit Shimura Danzou had secured for them; he only felt that Konoha did not want to expend too much power."

"Sousuke represents the Ninja Sect's present, and Nagato is the Ninja Sect's future. If these two die, it would not be much different from the Ninja Sect's direct annihilation."

"It was not that Hanzou looked down on Kakuzu; Kakuzu truly could not compare to Sousuke, whether in strength or other aspects."

"'Hanzou, you haven't forgotten the humiliation Sousuke inflicted on you, have you? After Sousuke dies, everyone will only remember the living demigod Hanzou, not the dead shinobi teacher Sousuke.' Shimura Danzou reminded him calmly."

"Now Hanzou no longer had the reputation of a demigod; when Hanzou was mentioned, everyone thought of Sousuke, and thought of the Wild Dance of the Fire Dragon, known as the strongest fire release."

"Hanzou did not speak."

"Did Sousuke bring him humiliation? Probably yes. Thanks to Sousuke, all the ninja in the entire shinobi world knew that Hanzou had been defeated by a reverse attribute."

"Would Hanzou agree to Shimura Danzou's siege on Sousuke because of this? Partly, but not very much."

"For a proud demigod like him to fall to such a state, it was impossible for him to have no resentment towards Sousuke."

"But some remaining pride in Hanzou's heart prevented him from blaming everything on Sousuke."

"Did he lose to Sousuke because Sousuke used underhanded tricks? No, it was because his own strength was inferior to Sousuke's."

"Even the reason for fighting Sousuke originated from a misunderstanding caused by his own misjudgment."

"How could Hanzou have the face to blame everything on Sousuke, how could he have the face to develop a desperate killing intent towards Sousuke?"

"'Without Sousuke, not only will Konoha not attack Rain Country, but Rain Country can also avoid civil war. This is a rare opportunity for peace.' Shimura Danzou continued to coerce and bribe."

"Shimura Danzou did not understand what Hanzou was hesitating about. Putting himself in Hanzou's shoes, he would definitely agree."

"It was true that he plotted for the Rinnegan and the Ninja Sect's inheritance, but this matter was indeed beneficial to Amegakure."

"'This is a major matter. I need some more time to think it over and discuss it with the other high-ranking officials.' Hanzou finally replied. He neither agreed nor refused."

"A threat, an almost undisguised threat."

"Hanzou gave Shimura Danzou a deep look and said nothing."

"The defeat in the Second Shinobi World War had taught him the power of the Five Great Ninja Villages."

"Shimura Danzou was arrogant, but he indeed had the capital to be arrogant. Among the mighty Five Great Ninja Villages, Konoha was also the strongest."

"After Shimura Danzou left, Hanzou made a show of convening a meeting of Amegakure's high-ranking officials."

"However, he did not bring up the matter of Sousuke at the meeting, but instead passed other resolutions."

"When making the most important decisions, Hanzou always decided alone."

"At night, Hanzou disguised himself and left Amegakure."