"Fine. Fine. If that's how you want to play it, Hiruzen."
Danzo's demeanor shifted. The gloomy aura vanished, replaced by a terrifyingly righteous posture. He lifted his chin, looking down at the Hokage with the weight of a martyr.
"Hiruzen. I want Asuma."
In that instant, the chill in the room transferred from Danzo to Hiruzen.
The Hokage's perpetually droopy eyes snapped open, sharp as kunai. He didn't speak. He just stared at Danzo, the air in the office heavy enough to crush bone.
Danzo ignored the glare. He continued, his voice dripping with patriotic sacrifice.
"The children of the elite must lead by example. If I had a son, I would have already given him to Root."
"To nourish the great tree of Konoha, Asuma, as the Hokage's son, has a duty to—"
"DANZO!"
Hiruzen's patience snapped.
He slammed his hand on the desk, standing up to his full height. The "Professor" was gone; the God of Shinobi was present.
"I believe Root has sufficient personnel. There is no need for further recruitment."
Danzo didn't flinch. "Hiruzen, if the roots cannot grow, the tree will wither. You are being selfish..."
"Enough."
Hiruzen cut him off, his voice low and dangerous.
Seeing that he had pushed his old friend to the breaking point, Danzo finally retracted his "Light of the Village" persona.
He gave Hiruzen a long, deep look.
"You will regret this, Hiruzen."
"I am the Hokage, Danzo."
Seeing there was no more ground to gain, Danzo turned and walked out without another word.
But as he reached the hallway, he felt... unsatisfied. Empty.
He stopped. Looked back at the half-open door.
He took a step back and lashed out with his leg.
BANG!
He kicked the heavy oak door shut with a violent slam that echoed through the tower.
Much better.
Feeling slightly vindicated, Danzo limped away, his cane tapping a rhythmic beat of petty victory.
Hyuga Aokawa's Backyard.
Aokawa hauled a stack of wooden targets into the yard.
With no missions during his medical leave, he decided to stress-test his limits.
The last two battles had been victories, but they were messy. They exposed his flaws.
Flaw 1: Charge Time.
His Heilig Pfeil (Holy Arrow) was a one-hit kill, but only if fully charged. In a chaotic melee, he didn't have 3 seconds to condense chakra. Against the bounty hunters, his rapid-fire shots were weak and easily blocked.
Flaw 2: Dissipation.
Without high density, the arrows fell apart over distance.
Hypothesis: Can I sacrifice density for speed at close range?
He stood ten meters from a target.
He drew the spirit bow. Instead of compressing the chakra for seconds, he released it the moment the arrow formed.
Snap.
BOOM!
The target exploded. The wooden fence behind it cracked.
"Little Aokawa? What are you doing back there?"
His grandmother's voice drifted from the kitchen.
"Nothing, Grandma! Just... exercising!"
Aokawa quickly grabbed a spare plank to cover the cracked fence.
He continued testing.
Result: Instant arrows worked fine within 20 meters. Beyond that, they unraveled into harmless light particles.
To snipe from a kilometer away, he needed time. To fight in melee, he needed speed.
I'm not Ishida Ryuken yet.
He remembered the Quincy prodigy from the anime—hands in pockets, firing machine-gun arrows with casual boredom.
Cool. But expensive.
Every arrow cost chakra. And Aokawa wasn't an Uzumaki. He didn't have a "Chakra Tonnage."
The Hyuga had decent reserves, but Heilig Pfeil was a mana-hungry skill. Adding ninjutsu to the mix drained him fast. Against a tanky opponent, he would gas out before they died.
He saw two paths forward.
Path 1: The Gacha.
Open the Stone Gate again and hope for a passive ability like Blut Vene (Blood Vein) or high-efficiency reishi absorption.
Path 2: Physical Conditioning.
Chakra = Physical Energy + Spiritual Energy.
His spiritual energy was already buffed by his transmigrator soul. His physical energy was the bottleneck.
If he trained like Might Guy—pushing his cells to the limit—he could expand his chakra pool naturally.
I have the roadmap. Just need to not die from overtraining.
But there was a third option. A wild card.
He raised his hand. The Quincy Cross glowed.
Reishi Collection.
The air around him shimmered. He wasn't pulling spirit particles; he was pulling Nature Energy.
Quincies enslaved environmental energy.
Sages harmonized with it.
Currently, his fusion rate was too low to control the violent nature energy perfectly. It was like trying to steer a hurricane with a spoon.
But he could sense it. He could pull it.
If I can act as a conduit for Nature Energy...
His eyes narrowed.
Can I reverse-engineer Sage Mode?