Chapter 170: Danzo's Scheme
Danzo was a little surprised.
Root's style of doing things was to be emotionless, not brainless... They also had their own ability to think.
However, the number of ninja who would question him to his face was obviously very small.
"Because only real intelligence can gain the trust of the Akatsuki..." the old man explained slowly. His sharp, hawk-like eyes stared intently at the ninja half-kneeling on the ground, who remained motionless.
"Sugiyama Noriaki, Nakamura Chie, and those other ninja—the intelligence gathered from monitoring them recently shows that they have spoken some very dangerous words and are highly suspected of defecting from the village... Although the Fifth Hokage believes that the evidence is insufficient and it is not appropriate to arrest them, and it is not good for us to act directly, using a borrowed knife to kill is also a good way to deal with the village's traitors!"
That's right. He was using the Akatsuki's hand to clear out Konoha's dead branches—
Come to think of it, in order to confirm the accuracy of the intelligence, the Akatsuki have probably already taken the corpses of those few people back to their base to study, right?
"As for the normal ninja after them, their information has already been blacked out. The few pieces of leaked intelligence were deliberately used to mislead them. Sometimes, correct intelligence... can also have a misleading effect."
As for information like height, weight, and age, these were all insignificant things. It wouldn't matter even if he told the Akatsuki everything.
That's what he believed.
As long as it was something beneficial to Konoha, he would dare to do it, even if it meant selling out Konoha's most classified intelligence.
However, the problem was that what was beneficial to Konoha was judged by his own standards...
After saying these words, Danzo began to think about how to deal with this subordinate who had raised a question.
The code of conduct for Root ninja was "under the leadership of the leader Danzo, carry out all missions that are beneficial to Konoha."
To question him to his face was obviously, to some extent, an expression of distrust for him. If he were to delve deeper, it might lead to a violation of Root's primary premise in the future—under the leadership of Danzo. But on the other hand, this also showed that this ninja was genuinely protecting Konoha from the bottom of his heart... Such ninja were very common in Root.
So, if there was no suitable reason, he could not deal with him rashly. To some extent, he might even have to promote him for the time being... After all, Root was also very short on manpower right now.
He waved his hand to dismiss the ninja who had been kneeling for a long time, and then called over another Root member who had been waiting on the side.
"So, the operation on Sasuke's side, what's the situation now?"
The situation on Sasuke's side was clearly not optimistic.
In a hidden and dark corner not far from the battlefield of Haruno Sakura and Kimimaro.
"It seems we no longer have a chance to strike!"
A grave voice sounded from the darkness. In the dark corner, a pair of eyes suddenly opened.
"I told you just now, there were several opportunities where if we had charged out, we would have definitely been able to complete the mission. You just wouldn't believe me!" another voice sounded, arguing with the former.
"What opportunities? Didn't you see how that girl teleported to Uchiha Sasuke's side in an instant?" the first person retorted, turning his head. "If we had really charged out, I'm afraid we would have been instantly killed by that ninjutsu she used at the beginning before we even got halfway!"
He swallowed and continued, "Even if we could have eliminated Uchiha Sasuke, we still couldn't have taken out that girl. With a witness, this matter could no longer be framed on Orochimaru. On the contrary, it would cause endless trouble for our Root. In comparison, the benefit of eliminating the Uchiha remnant is not worth it!"
"In short, I am the captain of this operation. You have to listen to me."
However, his subordinate was still not convinced. He pondered for a moment and then said, "You're only a temporary captain. I think you've been scared out of your wits by that Haruno Sakura brat!"
"She is very strong! She has a Body Flicker, and her close-range and long-range ninjutsu and taijutsu are both very powerful. But in the end, she is still just a thirteen-year-old yellow-haired brat! No matter how strong her Body Flicker is, she's not Namikaze Minato! We also have our secret techniques!"
"But we are not the Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki either..." the captain said calmly.
He had been observing in secret for so long and had seen it very clearly. He really did not have the courage to fight that girl, nor did he have the confidence to kill Uchiha Sasuke under her protection...
He had no confidence at all that he could deal with Uchiha Sasuke under her nose, take his eyes, and still make her think it was the Sound ninja who did it.
And in the mission that had been assigned, the framing part was the most crucial. It even required that if they were not sure they could complete this part, they should just not carry out the mission at all!
"Then are we just going to watch Uchiha Sasuke be rescued? This might be the last chance to eliminate the Uchiha remnant!" the other person said with resentment. He clenched his fist and slammed it on the ground, venting the dissatisfaction in his heart.
The captain glared at him fiercely.
"Eliminating the Uchiha versus exposing our Root, which is more important?" he snorted coldly and turned his gaze back to the battlefield over there. "The mission has already failed. We have to go! Their reconnaissance ninja are here..."
The black figures disappeared one after another into the distance.
And at this time, Gai was staring at the four people who were at a loss for words...
"I say, Gai, do you have to strike this kind of POSE..." Shino wiped a drop of cold sweat from his forehead and was the first to break the awkward atmosphere, complaining.
In front of Sakura, Gai was standing on one foot in an incredibly bizarre pose. Paired with his shit-green bodysuit, bowl-cut hair, and thick eyebrows, it was the ultimate eyesore...
Eek, and I actually felt a sense of relief just now... Sakura began to doubt whether this guy was trustworthy at all.
"This is the mark of YOUTH! Shino, you don't understand." However, Gai still gave up that pose. Perhaps he had also realized that the few people present didn't seem to be able to understand his youth.
Then again, isn't Gai already a 28-year-old man... Does something like "youth" still exist in him?
The girl complained silently in her heart.
She found that she couldn't understand this man at all. He was about the same age as she had been before she transmigrated, yet she didn't know what kind of meme he was talking about, let alone how Gai's brain was wired... Had the male consciousness remaining in her mind been worn down to this extent? No, no, no, it must be that Gai is just too weird!
This elite Jonin joked a little, livened up the atmosphere, and then quickly became serious. "It seems the enemies here have already been cleared. I had Neji take a look just now. Orochimaru did not appear in this vicinity. And the support troops we sent have also arrived."
"In other words, you are temporarily safe!"
Hearing this sentence, the huge stone in the hearts of the four of them fell, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Before long, the remaining few ninja of Gai's team also arrived one after another.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!