After everyone had left, Tsunade stretched and leaned back against the chair with a look of relief.
She looked at Naruto with a smile on her lips.
"Refreshing. Kid, that stunt you pulled today was incredibly cool. Especially that part where you confronted Danzo. He probably never expected in his entire life that someone would use his own words to leave him speechless."
Naruto asked, "Granny Tsunade, speaking of that, I'm curious: if Danzo gets desperate and comes to cause me trouble or goes after the people I care about, and I accidentally kill him, what should I do?"
Tsunade said, "If that old thing really does that, I will definitely protect you with all my might."
Based on her understanding of Danzo's character, that old guy really might do just that. It seemed she needed to make preparations and give that old thing a warning.
"Granny Tsunade, I sensed the aura of Wood Release and Sharingan on Danzo. I think you need to investigate."
Tsunade froze, then widened her eyes. "Damn Danzo, to think he would dare to desecrate Grandpa's body."
In an instant, Tsunade thought of many things, and in her heart, she knew roughly what was going on.
"I'm going to investigate right now."
—
On the road far from the Hokage Building,
Danzo was walking in the lead, leaning on his cane. Behind him followed two masked members of Root.
Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fu.
"Danzo-sama, what should we do next?"
"The Fifth Hokage has already dispatched the Anbu to seal off all Root facilities. We still have some data in our base that hasn't been transferred in time." Torune said in a low voice.
"What is there to panic about?" Danzo's voice was cold.
He slammed his cane onto the stone path, interrupting the rest of Torune's words. "Most of the core data of Root has already been transferred to a safe location."
"What couldn't be destroyed in time is nothing more than some written evidence that could prove the special operations Root has carried out over these years."
"Handle this matter yourself, destroy anything you can't take with you on the spot."
"The Anbu will only be receiving an empty shell, they won't be able to dig up anything useful."
Fu was silent for a moment, then cautiously spoke, "Danzo-sama, that batch of explosive tags the Hokage mentioned at the meeting…"
"Shut up."
Danzo turned his head, and his exposed left eye shot out a cold glare.
Fu lowered his head, not daring to say another word.
Danzo withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward, his fingers tightening and loosening repeatedly on the handle of his cane.
Naruto...
He had never suffered such a huge loss before. A twelve-year-old brat had not only stolen his lines but also stolen his game, flipping him off the chessboard of power in the very way he was best at his whole life.
What he was most unwilling to accept was that all the confrontations between him and Naruto were conducted within the framework of "for Konoha."
This meant that, no matter what, he could not attack Naruto in public. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to tearing down his foundation with his own hands.
Didn't he want to resist?
Of course he did, but the explosion of two Tailed Beast Balls had left Root's strength unprecedentedly weak.
The explosion had almost destroyed the entire base, with more than half of the elite members lost, most of the remaining members injured, and the intelligence and sealing systems completely paralyzed.
Facing the fully organized Anbu under the Hokage's command, they couldn't even organize an effective defense.
Furthermore, once war was declared against the Anbu, it would be equivalent to completely bearing the stigma of being a rogue ninja.
'It seems I can only act in the shadows, and it must be under the premise of ensuring that the Hokage will not discover it.'
Danzo subconsciously touched the Mangekyo wrapped in bandages.
Kotoamatsukami!
This was a trump card he held in his hand that could reverse the situation.
'Hokage… Hokage… Why can I not be the Hokage?'
Thinking of this, Danzo gritted his teeth.
After Hiruzen died, he thought he was only one last step away from the position of Hokage, but that step had never fallen to him since the day Tobirama designated Hiruzen to succeed as the Hokage.
Now, even that man's son had climbed over his head, kicking him out of the center of power in front of everyone.
Danzo walked towards the last stronghold of Root, without saying another word.
...
When leaving the Hokage Building, Naruto had an extra green Jonin flak jacket in his hand.
A ninja wearing an Anbu mask led the way in front. The two crossed several streets and turned into a villa area surrounded by large trees.
This area was much quieter than the apartment Naruto had lived in before. On both sides of the road were detached villas and the courtyard walls were covered with vines.
"Jonin Naruto, we have arrived at the destination. I will take my leave now." The Anbu who led the way stopped in front of a villa and nodded to Naruto.
"Thank you for the trouble."
"This is what I should do."
The Anbu nodded, then performed the Body Flicker Technique and disappeared on the spot.
After the Anbu left, Naruto turned around and stood in front of the villa. He took the key out of his ninja tool pouch, inserted it into the keyhole, and gave it a twist. Pushing open the gate, a small courtyard came into view.
Naruto stood in the courtyard for a moment, then walked into the house.
The moment he pushed open the door, a faint scent of sandalwood wafted towards him.
The house had obviously been cleaned in advance. The floor was clean and the windows were open for ventilation. There were several scrolls placed on the table in the living room.
Naruto picked up the first scroll and unfurled it. As the white smoke from the release of the seal dissipated, countless Flying Thunder God Kunai poured out from the scroll.
Naruto picked one up to examine it. The handle was longer than a standard Kunai, the blade was widened, and the pitch-black metal surface shimmered with subtle golden textures in the light. It was exactly the same as the one he had customized at Tenten's house, only this batch of Kunai had the characters "Sword of Shinobi Love" engraved on the handles.
Naruto counted roughly, and there were at least two hundred of them.
Two hundred special Kunai crafted from chakra conductive metal were enough for him to cover the entire Ninja World with his marks.
He opened the second scroll, which contained money. Naruto counted it over, there was about 100 million Ryo. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough for the time being.
Naruto guessed that Minato and Kushina must have had more money while they were alive, but between their marriage, the purchase of this detached villa with a courtyard, and various other expenses, there wasn't much left.
He unrolled the final scroll, which contained records of Ninjutsu.
Naruto scanned through it. It contained most of the Ninjutsu Minato had used during his lifetime, covering everything from the basics to advanced theories of space-time Ninjutsu.
The second half of the scroll detailed Kushina's Fuinjutsu System, from sealing forms and suppression forms to barrier deployment, all densely written across the scroll.
Naruto browsed through it from beginning to end before rolling it back up.
He already possessed all this knowledge in his head, but having the physical scrolls was still beneficial. He could use them as teaching materials in the future to help Karin or Hinata learn systematically.
After tucking the three scrolls into his ninja tool pouch, Naruto began to look around the house. From the living room to the kitchen and then to the bedrooms, he finally spotted a door in the corner of a side room.
The material of the door and the surrounding wall was completely different from the rest of the rooms.
Naruto opened the door to reveal a passageway leading downwards. Following the narrow stone steps down, he found a training room at the end.
He scanned the room and spotted a familiar object on the wall directly opposite the entrance. It was Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique Formula, Sword of Shinobi Love.
The wall around the mark had been eroded by long-term exposure to Chakra, leaving very faint traces, but even after more than a decade, the mark remained.
There was no need to guess, this was clearly Minato's private training room.