Became the mastermind behind the Akatsuki organization

Chapter 162 Orochimaru's Suspicion

After seeing that Utane Koharu and Mito Kado En both recommended Sarutobi Hiruzen as the acting Hokage, Danzo's face became extremely ugly.

In Danzo's expectation, even if he could not become the acting Hokage, he could take the opportunity to recommend Orochimaru to be the Hokage. In that way, even if he failed in the election for the Fifth Hokage, he could still become the Shadow Hokage behind Orochimaru.

But what he didn't expect was that Utatane Koharu and Mito Kado En actually recommended Sarutobi Hiruzen to be the acting Hokage. With the minority obeying the majority, he once again missed the chance to become Hokage.

Moreover, the Acting Hokage is only an acting Hokage, but he actually exercises the power of the Hokage.

No one knows how long Sarutobi Hiruzen will serve as the acting Hokage. Will he stay in the position forever, or until he trains a suitable puppet?
As a high-ranking figure who had been suppressed by the Third Hokage for decades, Danzo did not hesitate to use the greatest malice against this old friend.

After thinking about this, Danzo walked towards the office door, then slammed the door and walked out: "Hiruzen, I don't think you can be a good acting Hokage, you will regret it sooner or later!"

After hearing Danzo's speech, Utatane Koharu and Mito Kado En looked at the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage looked a little embarrassed and explained, "I know Danzo is against me being the acting Hokage, but given the current situation in the village, it is not appropriate to elect a new Hokage."

The advisory duo nodded quickly and said, "Huruzen, that's exactly what we know, so we suggest you take over as acting Hokage for the time being. Unfortunately, Danzo doesn't understand this."

Hearing this, the Third Hokage sighed softly.

He knew that Danzo had always wanted to become the Hokage of the village, but Danzo had been in the dark for too long. Such a ninja was no longer suitable to appear in the sun, let alone become Hokage.

The image of the Hokage must be sunny and positive in order to become a role model to lead the village.

Danzo cannot understand himself now, but he will definitely understand it after he goes back and thinks about it carefully. It has been like this for so many years, and this time will not be an exception.

Recovering his gradually dispersing thoughts, the Third Hokage continued to discuss work issues with the two consultants.

Whether it is the reconstruction work after the Nine-tailed Fox Rebellion or foreign policy and strategic deployment, it requires brainstorming.

The reconstruction work was simple. With the work efficiency of ninjas, it only took a few weeks to rebuild the destroyed buildings.

As for foreign policy and strategic deployment, we will have to wait until the three ninjas return to Konoha before we can discuss it further, but overall, there are no major problems.

This is the foundation of Konoha as the number one ninja village.

Even if they lost the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, as long as the Sannin were still there, Konoha would still have the strength to fight and would not become the fat meat to be divided up.

At this time, Mitomon En seemed to have remembered something and asked the Third Hokage, "Third Hokage, the Fourth Hokage is now missing. Does the village still need to implement the policies he formulated?"

Hearing this, Utatane Koharu also looked at the Third Hokage.

Whether it is the reconstruction of the village or the foreign strategy, the Konoha high-level officials can maintain a consistent attitude, but regarding the policies once formulated by the Fourth Hokage, each of them has different ideas.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the policies formulated by the Fourth Hokage are beneficial to the development of the village and can break down the invisible barriers set by the ninja clan in various departments, thereby enhancing the overall strength of the Konoha ninjas.

But this also means that the interests of the major ninja clans will be greatly damaged.

If it were peacetime, the Hokage Building would naturally have the power to suppress this group of ninja clans, but right now the Hokage Building no longer has an absolute advantage over the major ninja clans.

If the major ninja clans took the opportunity to fight for power or even launch a coup, the village might be able to successfully suppress the rebellious ninja clans, but it would definitely fall into civil strife and division.

Therefore, we need to consider carefully whether to stop reform completely or continue to push forward reform forcefully.

After a moment's silence, the Third Hokage slowly said, "Let's put those policies formulated by Minato on hold for now. I will continue to implement them when the time is right."

Mitokado En and Utane Koharu looked at each other, and they both understood what the Third Hokage was thinking.

The Third Hokage said that the reforms were put on hold for the time being, but in reality he stopped the Fourth Hokage's reforms. It was unknown how many years it would take for the right time to come.

However, they did not oppose the decision of the Third Hokage.

They themselves are skeptical about the reforms of the fourth generation. Although the original intention of the reforms is good, the risks and benefits are often proportional.

What's more, among the current Jonin in the village, more than two-thirds are from the Shinobi clan.

Moreover, in the departmental reforms carried out by the Fourth Hokage, the ninjas from the Sarutobi and Ino-Shikacho families, apart from the Uchiha in the security forces, came the loudest opposition.

……

After walking out of the Hokage building, Danzo looked back at the location of the Hokage's office.

He knew that Sarutobi Hiruzen would soon be back in the Hokage's office and would delay the election for the Godaime Hokage as long as possible.

Danzo had already thought of the scene of his confrontation with Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the look on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face when he refuted him.

It's simply that the Fire Country Daimyo disagrees, and there's nothing I can do about it. This is all about maintaining the relationship between the ninja village and the Daimyo's mansion, and we have to put the overall situation first.

The Fourth Hokage is just missing, not dead. If Minato comes back, I will definitely hand him over.

It's because Jiraiya and Tsunade are unwilling to become Hokage. Without suitable candidates, I can only continue to serve as acting Hokage with great difficulty.

This sinister old monkey never even thought of letting him be the Hokage.

And all this was not because he was not strong enough, nor because his achievements were not outstanding enough, but simply because he failed the test when Teacher Tobirama led them to cover their retreat.

If he had been able to get ahead of Sarutobi at that time, he would definitely have become the Third Hokage.

Danzo became more and more angry the more he thought about it, and he wanted to throw the cane in his hand away, but he had to maintain his image as the leader of the Root organization, and he also needed this cane to support his aging body.

He is different from the old but strong Sarutobi Hiruzen who was able to fight the Nine-tailed Demon Fox last night.

After his failed attempt to ambush the Akatsuki organization together with Hanzo of the Salamander, he increasingly felt that his strength was declining as he grew older.

Although he was reluctant, he had to admit it.

Now he no longer has the strength to compete with Sarutobi Hiruzen, and even dealing with elite jonin like Ino-Shika-Chou is very difficult for him.

There is only one way to restore the declining body functions.

That is to study Hashirama cells and perfect cell transplantation technology.

As long as he can obtain the power of the first generation, he is confident that he can defeat Sarutobi Hiruzen and become the new Hokage of the village.

Thinking of this, Danzo quickened his pace and walked out of the village. Twenty minutes later, Danzo arrived at the Root Laboratory located in the forest outside the village.

He established this laboratory without telling the third and fourth generations. There was only one experimental project in it, which was to study the technology of transplanting Hashirama's cells and mass-produce Wood Release ninjas for the village.

Continuing along the dark passage, Danzo soon entered the interior of the laboratory.

When the Root guard saw Danzo, he lowered his head and said, "Danzo-sama, Orochimaru-sama returned to the village several hours ago."

Orochimaru is back? Why doesn't he go find Sarutobi Hiruzen?

Danzo frowned, then found Orochimaru sitting in the lounge and said sarcastically:
"Orochimaru, you came back just in time. If you had come back a day earlier, the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki might not have died."

Orochimaru glanced at Danzo and said expressionlessly:

"I heard about what happened to Minato and Kushina. Their sacrifice was a big loss to the village."

"However, I heard that Minato sacrificed himself voluntarily to seal the Nine-Tails and defeated the attacking space-time ninja. He is truly a ninja who is better than me. It's a pity that people only have one life. If I were him, I would never perform a forbidden technique like the Demon Seal."

Danzo's expression changed slightly, and he began to stare at Orochimaru.

He hadn't told Orochimaru this information about the Fourth Hokage yet Orochimaru already knew it. Could it be that he had planted spies among his own men?

As if he had seen through Danzo's thoughts, Orochimaru said calmly:
"The old man sent someone to notify my men, but I have nothing to do with Minato and Kushina, so let's talk about the Wood Release experiment."

After a pause, Orochimaru continued:

"During the past few days I was away, I found dozens of good experimental materials. As long as you have the funds in place, the Wood Release experiment can be carried out immediately."

"I have already prepared the funds..."

Danzo nodded, then looked at Orochimaru and said, "However, the Wood Release experiment is not the most important thing right now. We have another important thing to do immediately!"

"What's the matter?" Orochimaru glanced at Danzo and his tone was very perfunctory.

"Regarding the election for the Fifth Hokage, since the Fourth Hokage is dead, we should quickly participate in the election for the Fifth Hokage. Only when you become the Hokage can you experiment as much as you want in the village."

"forget it."

Orochimaru showed little interest, and said with a playful look in his eyes: "The old man will definitely become the acting Hokage. He never thought of letting me become the Hokage, otherwise he would not have recommended Namikaze Minato."

Seeing that Orochimaru had lost interest in the position of Hokage, Danzo frowned:

"Orochimaru, do you really have no idea about the position of Hokage? This is not the Orochimaru I know."

"Becoming Hokage is just an attempt in my life. It doesn't matter if I fail."

Orochimaru hesitated for a moment, then continued, "Besides, now that we haven't become Hokage, aren't we still conducting Wood Release experiments? The Fourth Hokage can't restrict us, and the old man can't restrict us either."

Facing the sluggish Orochimaru, Danzo looked disappointed and changed the subject:
"I know what you're thinking. Let's suspend our cooperation after the Wood Release experiment is over. After all, if we don't become Hokage, it's still too dangerous for you to conduct these experiments."

After saying that, Danzo turned and left the lounge, walking towards the depths of the corridor.

Orochimaru has lost interest in the position of Hokage, which means it is impossible for him to become Hokage through Orochimaru. In this case, Orochimaru as an ally has lost his value.

After the Wood Release experiment is completed, you can look for new allies.

Looking at Danzo's leaving back, Orochimaru sneered in his heart. He knew that Danzo had always wanted to use him to gain the power of Hokage, but he had also been using Danzo to obtain funds for experiments.

From the very beginning, the two parties were only in a relationship of interest, rather than like-minded companions.

After the Wood Release experiment was completed and the key experimental data was obtained, there was no need for him to cooperate with Danzo anymore, and there was even no need for him to stay in Konoha.

Ever since he had the idea of ​​defecting and building a village, he felt more and more that the position of Hokage was just a burden.

Becoming the Hokage not only means shouldering the responsibility of managing the village, but also having to face conspiracies and attacks from both overt and covert sources.

The deaths of Minato Namikaze and Kushina are the best examples.

Minato Namikaze, who mastered the space-time ninjutsu, should have been the best ninja at escaping and the most difficult to kill, but his life was bound by his village, wife and children, and he eventually died together with the Nine-Tails.

Ninjas live in a world where only life is the most important thing, not so-called ideals and emotions.

Clearing his mind of distracting thoughts, Orochimaru began to seriously study the whole story of yesterday's Nine-Tails Rebellion. Although he didn't care about the life and death of the village and the Fourth Generation couple, he was very interested in the identity of the masked man who attacked and the ninjutsu he used.

First of all, the masked man mastered the space-time ninjutsu and was able to enter and exit the Konoha barrier freely.

Secondly, the masked man has the ability to control the Nine-Tailed Fox, which is most likely some kind of powerful sealing technique and illusion.

In his impression, the only ones who could use sealing techniques to control the Nine-Tails were the first and second Hokage, and the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Mito.

The only one who can control the tailed beasts with illusion is Uchiha Madara, who was awarded the title of Shura in the ninja world decades ago.

But Uchiha Madara was killed by the first Hokage decades ago. Even if he used some method to fake his death and escape, he should have died of old age by now.

Could it be that an Uchiha in the village has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan?

After thinking about it carefully, Orochimaru shook his head secretly. If the Uchiha really had the Mangekyō Sharingan, with their arrogant personalities, it would be impossible for them not to use the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Besides, the Mangekyō Sharingan is just a legend, and it is unknown whether it exists or not.

At this moment, Orochimaru suddenly remembered something and looked towards the direction outside the village. His gaze seemed to travel through thousands of mountains and rivers and saw the country that was shrouded in rain all year round.

Just because the Uchiha in the village doesn’t have a Jinchuriki who can control the Nine-Tails doesn’t mean that the Hidden Rain Village can’t do it.

Although Yahiko and Konan of the Hidden Rain Village are Jiraiya's disciples and their strength seems to be far from the level of Kage, the descendant of Uzumaki, Byakuya, is not that simple.

During these months of investigating various countries and choosing a location for building a village, he unexpectedly obtained a piece of information.

Danzo had carried out an operation in the Hidden Rain Village a year ago, which directly led to the loss of most of the Root's elite troops, and since then, Hanzo of the Salamander has never appeared again.

Since the Uchiha in the village were unable to attack the Fourth Hokage and his wife, could it be that the Hidden Rain Village did it?

(End of this chapter)