"One hundred ninety-eight..."
"One hundred ninety-nine..."
"Two hundred!!!"
Thud—
Naruto's face once again hit the ground hard.
The nosebleed that had finally stopped began to gush out again, but he no longer had the strength to wipe it away.
He just lay there, almost completely exhausted.
"Gurararara! Can't even handle two hundred push-ups?" Whitebeard coughed twice, his old body feeling a bit unwell from not getting proper medical care for days.
But he didn't care about that at all.
Whitebeard smiled and teased, sitting by the river, "Stupid son! At this rate, you won't become the Hokage of Konoha!"
Naruto teared up.
Who would have thought becoming Hokage was this difficult?
He gritted his teeth and struggled to get up.
Amazingly, he actually managed to stand up shakily. Although his stance was wobbly, and he might fall at any moment, Naruto stood straight.
"Dad!" Naruto's determination to become Hokage was deep.
He wiped his nosebleed vigorously.
With a stubborn expression on his dirty little face, he said, "I've rested enough! Let's start the next training!"
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard said with satisfaction, "You've grown, stupid son!"
On the other hand, Itachi didn't follow Whitebeard's training methods for Sasuke, which left the competitive young Sasuke a bit disappointed.
Then.
To Itachi's surprise.
Sasuke took the initiative to follow Naruto's training methods.
"Sasuke, you'll hurt yourself," Itachi didn't expect his little brother to be this naive.
Naruto is a Jinchuriki with a naturally special constitution.
But you're a Uchiha, and the only special thing about you is your eyes.
How can you compete in physical strength?
"Hmph! If you won't train me to become a ninja, I'll do it myself!" Sasuke thought he was capable, but he quickly realized he wasn't.
A few minutes later.
"Ah! Oww! Brother, my wrist is twisted, it hurts so much!"
"Brother, my arm hurts!"
"Brother, my leg hurts!"
"Brother! I can't move!"
Itachi: "..."
...
At the same time.
In the Root headquarters.
Even though it was daytime, the Root headquarters was still dark and damp, looking as if it were nighttime. It's hard for any normal person to stay in such a place for long periods.
Obviously.
There's no normal person in Root.
"Lord Danzo!" A few Root ninjas placed several large barrels in front of Danzo. The barrels were uncovered, and the strong smell of blood wafted out.
One of the Root jonin bowed his head and reported to Danzo: "We found all our people. They're all in here."
Looking at the barrels.
Danzo fell silent.
He walked forward slowly, glancing at a barrel. Inside, he could clearly see the waterlogged white pieces of flesh, and as he got closer, he could smell the stench of the sewer.
Disgusting!
"We interrogated several residents living on that street. They mentioned there was a lot of commotion last night. They described 'wind, fire, and flood,' which we believe were caused by our ninja's jutsu."
The Root jonin paused, feeling the weight of Danzo's dark gaze, and continued: "But they also mentioned an earthquake that shook the whole street."
"An earthquake?" Danzo asked, "Was it Earth Release jutsu?"
The Root jonin shook his head: "Based on our investigation, it doesn't seem like an earthquake caused by Earth Release jutsu."
Danzo's frown deepened.
He didn't look happy.
A Root assassination squad that he had painstakingly trained ended up in barrels of flesh. Anyone would be upset.
Especially...
Those dozen or so Root members died for an unclear reason, sent to deal with an outsider and ending up dead?
What a bunch of useless fools!!
With such a group of incompetents in Root, how can he manage Konoha?
Good riddance!
Danzo knew he had been careless, not investigating Whitebeard's background thoroughly. Who would have thought such a powerful individual would be let into Konoha?
"Danzo!" At that moment, a familiar voice called out.
"Sarutobi?"
Danzo didn't expect Hiruzen Sarutobi to show up directly, barging into Root headquarters unannounced.
Yes, it was Hiruzen Sarutobi!
He had come to hold Danzo accountable.
"Lord Danzo, sorry..." The Root members behind Sarutobi bowed their heads, not daring to look at Danzo. They had no authority to stop the Hokage.
Danzo waved them away.
All Root members immediately vanished, leaving only Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Danzo frowned: "Sarutobi, what brings you here?"
"What do you think?" Sarutobi said coldly, "Don't tell me you don't know what you did. Do you realize what could have happened? If the Nine-Tails inside Naruto had gone berserk, Konoha would have faced another Nine-Tails disaster like five years ago!"
"And as the instigator, you would become the greatest sinner of Konoha, forever shamed in history!" Sarutobi said through gritted teeth, "And you didn't control your subordinates, who almost involved Naruto."
"Minato and Kushina entrusted us to take care of their child before they died. For the sake of two Konoha heroes, and for any reason..."
"We cannot harm Naruto! Do you understand?!"
Listening to Sarutobi's relentless questioning, Danzo felt a surge of anger.
He didn't lower his head to admit fault. Instead, he retorted: "If you know the Jinchuriki is so important, why do you let him wander freely? If you let me take care of the Jinchuriki, I would have made him Konoha's strongest weapon!"
"Instead of letting an outsider form a bond with the Jinchuriki!" Danzo's retort was reasonable.
"I wanted to kill Whitebeard for Konoha!"
"Who isn't for Konoha? You're noble, Sarutobi! You're great! You're high and mighty! You're morally superior!"
"Hmph!!!"
Danzo snorted coldly.
He said no more.
Sarutobi was silent for a few seconds. He didn't continue the argument but emphasized: "The Uchiha clan has reached a critical point. The situation in Konoha is becoming more turbulent."
"Danzo, I can't let Root act recklessly at such a crucial time."
Danzo had a bad feeling.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Danzo, I've discussed it with Koharu and Homura. For now, Root needs to be restricted," Sarutobi said. "From now on, all Root operations must be reported to the three of us before any decisions are made."
Danzo trembled with anger, a chill running down his spine. He couldn't accept it: "You overstepped! You have no right to do this! You'll regret not eliminating Whitebeard!"
"I'd regret it more if the Nine-Tails were released. Danzo, I'm the Hokage, the Hokage of Konoha."
Sarutobi said expressionlessly: "I'm not overstepping. As Hokage, my power is limitless."
Danzo was so angry he could grind his teeth to dust!
...
...