I like to express my gratitude to "John Doe" for his support and becoming a patron on my patreon.
Patreon - patreon.com/AnimeFanfic01
______________
Chapter 105: Dark Plot, Chaos in the Land of Rain
Under the gaze of everyone, the curtain of the tent was opened.
The wind and rain behind him disappeared in an instant. Danzo walked into the tent with his head held high, the rain falling from his hood.
The curtain was gently closed after being opened, and the heavy rain and the noise of shouting for death outside were instantly interrupted and isolated outside the tent.
"We ran into some minor trouble along the way."
Danzo took off his raincoat and handed it to the guard beside him, revealing his bandaged right arm and said calmly: "I shouldn't be late, right?"
"You are an elder. How can I dare speak against you?"
Orochimaru stood in front of the table, narrowed his narrow eyes, and asked in a sinister manner, "But I still want to know, what kind of trouble did you encounter during the one or two days' trip that made you come so late?"
"You dare..."
Hearing this, the guard in black robes beside Danzo took a step forward. Just as he was about to say something, Danzo stopped him with his arm and shook his head: "I just encountered a ninja team from Takigakure Village who was chasing the traitorous ninja."
After that, looking at the menacing Orochimaru, Danzo asked in a calm tone: "You should know about Kagero Village, the Land of Mountains, right?"
The Land of Mountains, Kagero Village?
Orochimaru frowned, as if remembering something, his eyes flickered slightly and said: "The Kingdom of Mountains between the Kingdom of Rain and the Kingdom of Grass? Kagero Village is a small shinobi village in the Land of Mountains, right? It was mentioned in the letter that Sakumo-senpai gave to me."
"It seems to be a village that is good at making and using explosive tags. Before I took over as the commander of the Rain Kingdom battlefield, it caused some more trouble for the troops led by Sakumo-senpai."
"It should be a force that is hostile to our Konoha, right? Does your so-called Takigakure Village have something to do with them?"
"It doesn't matter." Danzo shook his head calmly at first, but then said with a sneer, "But it may matter."
"Oh?" Hearing this, Orochimaru also became interested, "What do you mean?"
Danzo was not in a hurry to explain anything, but placed a piece of information on the table and pushed it to Orochimaru across the table.
Orochimaru frowned and opened the information. After scanning it, he immediately became serious and subconsciously stuck out his tongue to lick the corner of his mouth.
"Kakuzu, An immortal ninja who has lived from the Sengoku era to the present, and even took on the task of assassinating the Lord First Hokage?"
The traitorous ninja that Takigakure is chasing is an elite called "Kakuzu". He once accepted the task of assassinating the First Hokage from the leaders of Takigakure.
After sneaking into the Land of Fire, he started a battle with the First Hokage, risking his life for his village, but in the end he was undoubtedly defeated by the First Hokage and almost died.
After the other party fled back to the village in great embarrassment, not only did he not receive the treatment he deserved, but he also had to face charges and punishments for failing the mission.
So Kakuzu escaped from prison driven by resentment, took away the secret technique regarded as a treasure by Takigakure Village, and used it to steal the hearts of all the village's top officials. Now he has become a bounty ninja and travels around the world.
"A ninja from a small country tried to assassinate the First Hokage-sama. Unless the First Hokage-sama showed mercy to that guy, or that guy just threw a kunai a few kilometers away to test First Hokage-sama, how could he have a chance to escape back to the village alive?"
Orochimaru was very doubtful about the authenticity of this information, but what he cared about most was the "Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear".
A ninja from a small country who is close to seventy years old can actually become a bounty ninja and be active in the ninja world. Is it related to this so-called secret technique?
"On the way here, we discovered the pursuit team of Takigakure Village, and soon realized who their target was."
Looking at Orochimaru who was thoughtful, Danzo's one eye flashed with coldness, and he said calmly: "So I asked people to imitate Kazuku's killing method and followed them to take out the hearts of several people."
Hearing this, Orochimaru raised his eyes slightly, seeming to understand his intention, and said in surprise: "Did you disguise yourself as Kakuzu and lead the hunting team from Takigakure Village to Kagerou Village?"
"No."
Danzo shook his head unexpectedly and sneered, "I also sent people to pretend to be a pursuit team from Takigakure Village and killed the family of the leader of Kagero Village. I cut the bodies of his wife and children into pieces and sprinkled them in his office space."
As soon as these words came out, the Jonin in the camp could not help grinding their teeth and expressed their deepest sympathy and compassion for the leader of Kagero Village whom they had never met before.
Now the leader of Kagero Village, who was carried away by anger, may have killed the hunting team of Takigakure Village.
"You..." Looking at Danzo who was not ashamed but proud, Orochimaru twitched the corners of his eyes and asked subconsciously, "What else did you do?"
"Hmph!" Danzo looked surprised, "You actually guessed it." He snorted coldly, "The people in Takigakure Village should have received the information we provided and are organizing troops to go to Kagero Village to retaliate."
As soon as these words came out, everyone, including Orochimaru, looked at Danzo who was talking eloquently in front of them, showing indescribable complex expressions.
From a certain point of view, Takigakure and Kagerō Village are indeed enemies of Konoha. This wave of operations is expected to torment Kagero Village to near death.
But the methods Danzo used were really too dirty.
"What are you looking at?" Seeing the way everyone looked at him, Danzo frowned with dissatisfaction, "When we went to Kagero Village, we found that they were mobilizing troops, and the target was our Konoha! "
In other words, his unintentional move was an unintentional one. It could be regarded as killing Kagero Village's plan in the cradle and helping Konoha eliminate a minor crisis.
"Elder Danzo, you are really..."
Orochimaru's face wrinkled, and he carefully organized his words to say tactfully: "Among the people I have seen in the entire ninja world, you are the one with the most darkest methods."
"If that doesn't work, you can call yourself 'The Darkness of the Ninja' from now on."
Orochimaru suddenly understood why Sarutobi-sensei sent Danzo out.
If a guy with such dirty methods is left in the village, he will definitely cause some disgusting things.
It's better to let him go. Even if he does disgusting things, others will be disgusted.
High emotional intelligence, tolerance of darkness.
Low emotional intelligence, shit stirrer.
"Um?"
Danzo did not hear the sarcasm in Orochimaru's words, but raised his eyebrows and murmured in a low voice with interest: "The Darkness of the Ninja? It sounds like it is indeed worthy of me."
After all, that Sarutobi guy has the title of "The Professor", and as the root buried deep in the ground, he should also have a title, right?
The Darkness of the Ninja.
Doesn't this title sound more impressive than The Professor?
Thinking of this, Danzo felt that Orochimaru was more pleasing to the eye, nodded with great satisfaction and said with a smile: "Orochimaru, aren't you worried about the offensive of Sunagakure Village?"
"I happen to have a plan here that can help you solve this problem."
Orochimaru suddenly felt his heart skip a beat, an ominous premonition surged into his heart, and he subconsciously wanted to refuse directly.
If Danzo's plan was really used, he was afraid that his reputation would be ruined. What would his subordinates think of him in the future?
However, just when he was about to refuse out loud, he suddenly remembered the tense situation on the front line and swallowed his words immediately.
"..."
After a long silence, Orochimaru sighed in his heart, then raised his head to look at the jonins, and said calmly: "You guys go out first."
Everyone present was stunned for a moment, but they quickly came to their senses. Then they looked at each other, their expressions became a little weird, and they stood up and left in silence.
The weird looks in everyone's eyes made Orochimaru twitch the corner of his mouth, and he began to regret it in his heart.
"Tell me, what kind of rape... cough, what kind of conspiracy?"
Orochimaru looked at Danzo angrily and said bluntly: "Even those people you brought, even if they are elites, combined with all the remaining troops, it is impossible to confront Sunagakure head-on."
"The difference in military strength is too great, so we can only barely resist."
Orochimaru was actually very calm in his heart and was not happy about Danzo's support.
The severe challenges he is facing now cannot be easily resolved.
"Hmph, you weren't even born when I was fighting!" Danzo said calmly, sitting on the chair opposite Orochimaru, "Although Sunagakure's current offensive is so fierce and crazy, the time they can last is actually very short. "
"After all, Sunagakure is not as wealthy as us. The armaments and food they consume now were all accumulated after the village was founded."
"Do you understand?"
••••••
At the same time, in the City of Dawn in the Kingdom of Rain.
"Konan, are you sure the boss is here?"
Looking at the small house of sixty or seventy square meters in front of him, Yahiko scratched his head with a tachi on his waist.
"Yes." Konan nodded and said firmly, "I saw Brother Kumokawa walking in here this morning."
"Oh, okay." Yahiko didn't think too much, stretched out his hand and knocked on the door.
Boom! Boom!
"Boss! It's me, boss!" He knocked on the door and shouted loudly, "That guy Nagato asked me to ask you something! I... Oops!"
Before Yahiko could continue shouting, the door was suddenly opened from inside, causing him to stumble forward and fall instantly.
But before Konan could help him, he skillfully stabilized his center of gravity.
"It was dangerous!!"
Yahiko patted his chest and breathed a deep sigh of relief. He subconsciously looked up, but he suddenly froze in place.
After entering the door, the first thing he saw was not Kumokawa, but the bookshelves filling the room and the dazzling collection of books on them.
Konan turned her head to look at the window, and in her light orange pupils, a figure who was reading a book with his head down reflected.
"Cuckoo!"
The white pigeon, whose wings have not yet washed away the night, huddled in the nest built in the corner of the bookshelf, and was quietly preening its feathers.
Kumokawa, on the other hand, was wearing white clothes and sitting by the window, lazily leaning on his cheek and reading a book with his palm on his side. His face was facing the sparkling blue sky outside the window.
He was reading at an astonishing speed. Rather than reading, he was turning the pages at random, flicking the pages with his thumb, taking an average of ten seconds per page.
The only sounds you can hear are the sound of the turning of book pages.
Konan subconsciously turned to the side, and the sunlight blocked behind her reflected on Kumokawa's face. At this moment, the room seemed to become brighter, and Konan couldn't help but open her eyes slightly.
"Boss! I finally found you!"
Yahiko's voice of surprise came from beside her, which immediately interrupted Konan's thoughts, and her eyes instantly turned a little resentful.
Kumokawa also raised his head slightly and looked at Yahiko very calmly, with a little helplessness in his tone: "The speed of strength improvement is pretty good, but when will you be able to stabilize your point?"
"It seems like you and Nagato are two extremes. One is unhappy and the other is brainless. Their personalities complement each other."
Hearing this, Yahiko immediately stood up straight and muttered with an unconvinced look on his face: "Who wants to be complement with that guy, a red-haired brat with a stinky butt and a paralyzed face!"
"Oh, by the way, boss!"
He seemed to have remembered something serious, and quickly looked at Kumokawa and asked, "That guy Nagato said that Sunagakure is borrowing roads from the Land of Rain more and more frequently, and the soldiers they sent to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain are getting more and more frequent. There are more and more people!"
"Those Sunagakure ninjas are dishonest. When passing through the Land of Rain, they often plunder some villages. The number of refugees are increasing!"
"Also, Konoha's decline in the face of Sunagakure is becoming more and more obvious..."
Before Yahiko could finish speaking, Kumokawa shook his head.
"Wrong." Kumokawa lowered his head again, turned the page of the book, and whispered, "Now this is all an illusion, it is simply Sunagakure's bluff."
"It's the false prosperity deliberately created by that shrewd old woman Chiyo."
"Ah?" Yahiko blinked in confusion, "Why?"
The Sunagakure troops led by Chiyo have not shown signs of decline at all. Although the losses are not small, they have pushed the Konoha troops led by Orochimaru to the border of the Land of Fire.
"I told you to read more, but you just don't."
Kumokawa raised his eyes slightly and said angrily: "The military strength shown by Sunagakure is indeed not weaker than that of Konoha, but more troops means more resource consumption, but Sunagakure's supplies are far less than those of Konoha."
"With Konoha's terrifying resource replenishment speed, even if all their current resources are used up, they can still replenish more resources from behind."
"But Sunagakure's resource replenishment speed, once the existing resources are exhausted, will simply not be able to satisfy all ninjas. And the Sunagakure ninjas who don't have enough to eat will destroy themselves without even fighting!"
"To put it bluntly, Chiyo is gambling now!"
At this point, Kumokawa suddenly paused and smiled with interest: "However, her calculation may have been worthless."
When he commanded the Sky Legion to attack Konoha, he did not sense Danzo's presence.
According to the information sent by the Yakushi from Konoha, Danzo may have gone to one of the two battlefields, most likely Orochimaru's Rain Country battlefield.
Although Danzo's character is not very good, he at least experienced the first ninja war. This kind of trick can deceive Orochimaru, but it will never deceive that old guy Danzo.
"Yes." Kumokawa touched the fine lines on the title page and whispered thoughtfully, "Now that I think about it, the best option that Danzo and Orochimaru can think of is probably to kill someone with a borrowed knife and divert trouble to the others"
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but chuckle and murmured to himself: "It seems like it's going to get lively, so I'll try to get involved."
••••••
"That old woman Chiyo always likes to take risks."
"After all, you just rushed to become the commander-in-chief. You have no previous experience in commanding large-scale wars, so she bet that you will not be able to withstand the psychological pressure and will completely collapse before their resources are exhausted."
Listening to Danzo's clear analysis, Orochimaru's pupils shrank, and he whispered: "Is that so?"
In fact, as long as he calms down a little, he can figure this out.
But Chiyo didn't give him any chance to think at all.
He was either fighting on the battlefield, or calmly restoring chakra after exhausting chakra, preparing to completely recover before the next Sunagakure attack.
The string in his brain was always tense, leaving him no time to adjust and rest.
"...I was too impatient and the authorities were confused."
After thinking about this, Orochimaru's tense body suddenly relaxed. He looked at Danzo in front of him, put away his contempt, and said in a deep voice: "Continue, what is the plan you are talking about?"
We can't just drag them to death by fighting a war of attrition with Sunagakure, right?
Although it seems that it can be used, the price/performance ratio is too low and it consumes too much.
"In this critical moment, the key to breaking the situation." Danzo raised his hand and touched the scar on his chin and said with a smile, "Of course it lies in the Land of Rain."
"The Land of Rain?" Orochimaru frowned, then thought deeply, narrowed his eyes and said, "You mean to pull the Amegakure Village into the water and let them distract Sunagakure's fighting power?"
"Yes, just as you thought." Danzo nodded with satisfaction, "Drag Amegakure Village into the battlefield between us and Sunagakure, and let Amegakure Village share some of the pressure on our behalf."
Orochimaru closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
But soon, he opened his eyes, shook his head and said, "This is indeed a good idea, but the current leader of Amegakure Village, the old man named Musashi, is an extreme conservative. How could he resist Sunagakure?"
If the leader of Amegakure Village was a little tougher, how could Sunagakure easily invade by borrowing a way?
Not to mention resisting Sunagakure, that guy could even breathe a sigh of relief when the villages within his territory were plundered. He was extremely weak and made it clear that he planned to be a coward.
"No, just because that old guy Musashi doesn't want to take action doesn't mean that others won't take action."
Danzo stretched out a finger and shook it, and said with a cold smile: "In this ninja world, there will always be young people who are passionate and not afraid of death. They all can't understand Musashi's weakness, but no one has ever stood up."
"And now, the man named Hanzo has stepped forward, and his ambition is clearly revealed."
"What we have to do is give him a little push and continue to intensify the conflict between Sunagakure and Amegakure. Hanzo will naturally launch a coup and stand up to lead the hardliners to resist Sunagakure's atrocities!"
In this way, not only can the pressure and threats of Sunagakure be reduced, but the battlefield can also be moved to the Land of Rain, making the environment around Konoha more stable.
But isn't this just a replica of Takigakure and Kagerō Village?
"As expected of you, Danzo-sama."
Orochimaru's eyes twitched, and his expression immediately turned serious: "Then do this, I need your help to completely lead the war to the Land of Rain!"
As for whether this would sacrifice the civilians of the Rain Country, and whether the civilians of the Rain Country were innocent or not, Orochimaru selectively ignored these issues.
The biggest difference between him and Jiraiya is that no matter how despicable the strategy is, as long as it can bring victory to Konoha, he will do it at any cost.
It's just simple addition and subtraction.
Thinking of this, the cold feeling on Orochimaru's body became more intense, and his snake eyes became more like a cold-blooded animal.
"Very good."
Keenly aware of this change, Danzo nodded appreciatively: "Don't worry, that's exactly why I came here."
"Roots, I will bear this darkness with you!"
(End of chapter)