Uchiha Yoru moved extremely quickly, almost emptying the secret chamber without sorting anything.
First, he firmly believed everything here was treasure. There was no need to carefully distinguish anything.
As a high-ranking official who had held power for over twenty years, Danzo Shimura had handled countless amounts of money and treasures. Anything he had stored in this secret chamber, alongside Hashirama cells, was absolutely priceless.
Second, Uchiha Yoru knew he did not have much time.
The Third Hokage would arrive soon.
As one of Konoha's top officials, Danzo Shimura was definitely monitored inside the village. His location and life status would be constantly confirmed. There would never again be a situation where someone died for several days without being discovered.
That was an important lesson the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure had taught the entire shinobi world with his life, at the cost of triggering the Third Shinobi World War.
So he had to be fast.
Otherwise, Hiruzen Sarutobi would block him here, and he would lose plenty of spoils for nothing.
Besides, Uchiha Yoru still wanted to give Hiruzen Sarutobi another headache, making it impossible for him to suppress the reappearance of Wood Release through simple operations and a gag order like he had a few days ago.
After everything he had done, Hiruzen Sarutobi's reputation had to take at least one real blow.
To achieve this goal, he had given up many pairs of Sharingan.
He had even thrown out one pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
…
Today was a clear day.
The sun scattered warm light across the earth, but it quickly turned into scorching heat waves, making everyone outside curse endlessly while trying to walk under the shade of trees as much as possible.
The Third Hokage was burdened with worries. He stood before the window of the Hokage's office and smoked.
Behind him were Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. They were all waiting for Danzo Shimura so they could hold a high-level Konoha F4 meeting.
Homura Mitokado was getting irritated from waiting and could not help complaining, "What is wrong with Danzo? Why is he still not here?"
Koharu Utatane also frowned. She was somewhat worried as she guessed, "Danzo Shimura does often arrive late, but he has been late for too long today. Could some sudden incident have delayed him?"
Homura Mitokado dismissed it. "Tch. What sudden incident could be so urgent that it takes priority over our meeting?"
"If something that urgent really happened, how could we possibly not know?"
Koharu Utatane felt his words made sense, so she no longer defended Danzo and silently looked toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Third Hokage took a puff of smoke, sighed helplessly, and said, "Let's wait a little longer. The reappearance of Wood Release must be kept secret. Since I cannot explain it to ANBU, Danzo may indeed not be taking it seriously enough."
"He only returned last night. There are many things for him to handle. Let's wait."
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
Someone was actually rushing over without any regard for anything, and the ANBU sentries along the way did not stop him.
This shocked the three high-ranking officials. They knew something major must have happened.
Sure enough, the one who pushed open the office door and barged in was a Sarutobi clan ninja from the Sealing Team.
His expression was panicked. There was even fear on his face as he said, "Hokage-sama, Lord Danzo Shimura's life data has dropped to zero!"
The Third Hokage's pipe fell to the floor with a clatter.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane shot to their feet.
Neither of them could believe this information.
For a moment, the Hokage's office was deathly silent, aside from the Sealing Team ninja's heavy breathing.
Mobilize.
Emergency mobilization.
Although Danzo Shimura had lost to Sunagakure's Chiyo, Ebizō, and Third Kazekage, and had also lost to Iwagakure's rising star Kitsuchi, he was indeed a true Kage-level ninja.
Danzo also had many Root ninja around him. During wartime, Konoha Village's defenses were extremely strict.
Yet he had actually lost his heartbeat inside the village!
How powerful must an enemy be to assassinate Danzo inside Konoha Village?
Or perhaps this person's familiarity with Konoha was beyond imagination?
Could the culprit even be someone from one of the village's clans?
(Uchiha Fugaku: Slander! Baseless slander!)
In short, they had to mobilize first.
First, they needed enough strength to deal with any powerful enemy that might exist.
Second, they could use this chance to confirm where the top ninja of each clan were.
Fortunately, not a single mobilized ninja was absent.
It should not have been a clan inside the village causing trouble.
Uchiha Yoru mixed into the crowd and looked at the more than two hundred jonin around him, secretly clicking his tongue at Konoha's strength.
The Third Hokage wore battle attire with armor attached. He briefly explained the reason for the assembly, then waved his hand and led the jonin straight toward Root's secret base.
When everyone approached the remote forest in the village's northeast, Uchiha Yoru sensed the Wood Release creation he had left behind.
He quietly released the seal he had set, allowing the already-activated Wood Release ninjutsu to erupt with its true power.
Suddenly, the ground surged like the sea.
The earth shook so violently that even a group of jonin had to use all kinds of methods to maintain their balance.
Then a massive tree root tore open the earth and arched up from deep underground. New buds sprouted from the root one after another.
The buds rapidly grew taller and thicker, spreading more branches and leaves, quickly becoming towering trees that blotted out the sky.
At the same time, more tree roots burst through the ground, stretching their bodies and growing dense leaves, forming a vast, cool canopy of shade.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the desolate little forest had become a dense great forest.
The Konoha ninja were all stunned. One by one, their eyes widened and their mouths hung open.
They were all jonin.
How could they fail to recognize that this was the legendary Wood Release?
And it was a Wood Release ninjutsu powerful enough to crush them.
Everyone's face flushed with excitement.
The Third Hokage, however, felt only bitterness in his heart.
Inwardly, he cursed that damned Wood Release ninja.
Now this could no longer be hidden.
A Wood Release ninja had appeared in the shinobi world again, but this ninja stood against the Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly realized that the foundation of his power no longer seemed so stable.
He had to do something to shift everyone's attention!
Homura Mitokado received Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze and immediately shouted, "Quick! Save them! That is Root's base. The people inside are Konoha ninja!"
The experienced jonin quickly regained their senses and rushed toward the location where the great trees had sprouted.
There, a huge cavity had already been exposed, and people could even be faintly seen underground.
The Konoha jonin at the front saw the specific scene and suddenly stopped at the same time.
They even blocked the companions behind them, preventing them from rushing down.
The underground scene was too strange.
A person was hanging from a thick tree trunk. Blood had gathered in a pool beneath his feet.
However, even more of that blood came from a huge pile of corpses beside him.
At least a hundred corpses wearing white coats had been piled into a small mountain.
Dark, sticky blood continuously flowed down from the corpse mountain.
Even the jonin, who were used to slaughter, felt their scalps go numb.
"Look! Everyone, look over there! Are those children?"
On the other side of the corpse mountain, child corpses were arranged neatly one after another.
Under their bodies were flat tree trunks, and white cloth had been carefully draped over them.
But parts of these children's bodies had been deliberately exposed.
That strange flesh, tightly fused with plants, looked especially conspicuous against the white cloth.
No.
It was glaring.
Some jonin were already grinding their teeth.
They were Konoha's elites.
True fools could never climb to the rank of jonin.
Researchers' corpses had been piled up without mercy, while the malformed children's corpses had been arranged with care.
Combined with the large tanks, various instruments, operating tables, and other equipment scattered everywhere, the situation was extremely clear.
This was a laboratory conducting Wood Release human experiments.
And it used living children as test subjects.
Someone had discovered this place.
That person was furious.
That person was even more powerful.
They had killed everyone involved in the experiment.
That person had even used Wood Release ninjutsu.
Without a doubt, this was done by a ninja who had awakened the Wood Release kekkei genkai.
After discovering that someone was carrying out such cruel Wood Release human experiments, this ninja had stormed into the laboratory in rage and slaughtered everyone.
Reasonable.
Too reasonable.
But every jonin sucked in a cold breath.
This was Root's base.
And the one who had breached Root's base was a Wood Release ninja.
A Wood Release ninja had openly confronted Konoha Village.
What should they do?
Soon, someone recognized the corpse hanging there as Danzo Shimura.
Then they discovered thirteen surviving children.
The jonin's emotions grew more and more intense.
When the jonin found specimen jars labeled "Senju Hashirama" in the ruins, discovered Sharingan, and saw more flesh-and-blood specimens from sacrificed Konoha heroes, their fury could no longer be restrained.
People had empathy.
People also had imagination.
When the jonin saw their predecessors treated this way, they naturally thought:
After I die, will I be treated like this too?
A consensus formed.
Danzo Shimura deserved to die!
Unfortunately, Danzo Shimura was already dead.
And his death was quite miserable.
The jonin's anger had lost its target, so they naturally turned their spearheads toward the Third Hokage.
The prestige the Third Hokage had accumulated over twenty years had not yet collapsed.
The furious eyes of the jonin had not directly stared at Hiruzen Sarutobi yet.
But the sidelong glances of more than two hundred pairs of eyes still made Hiruzen Sarutobi tremble all over.
The grief he felt upon seeing Danzo Shimura's tragic death had long since vanished, replaced by fury.
Danzo had actually left him with such a terrifying mess.
Danzo Shimura truly deserved to die!
But as the ruins of Root continued to be cleared, more and more things that could not see the light were exposed.
Especially after a hidden underground graveyard was discovered, the emotions at the scene spiraled out of control.
Large numbers of young ninja corpses were dug out.
Just among the corpses that had not yet fully decomposed, there were members of every ninja clan, let alone the many more that had already rotted into white bones.
At least a hundred jonin were digging while crying.
Their eyes were redder than the Uchiha clan's Sharingan.
Finally, someone looked directly at the Third Hokage and growled, "Hokage-sama, did you know about these things?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart nearly leaped out of his chest.
He desperately shook his head, denying that he knew anything.
He even wept bitterly while denouncing Danzo as a vile man who had committed such evil deeds behind his back.
"I am guilty! I failed to protect the village's children. I failed to discover Danzo's evil deeds in time. I am guilty!"
His masterful performance slightly eased the jonin's emotions.
At the very least, no one shouted the four words "Third Hokage, step down" on the spot.
Otherwise, the Third Hokage could only have resigned in hatred right there.
But such a huge matter obviously could not pass like this.
That afternoon, a jonin meeting that had not been held for a long time was convened.
There was no need for the Hokage to summon or organize it.
The jonin organized themselves.
During wartime, Konoha's number of jonin had risen to nearly five hundred.
Only over two hundred jonin remained in Konoha Village, but when they were completely united, they were still capable of dragging the Hokage down from his seat.
However, time was a truly magical thing.
Only six hours passed, and the special figures among the jonin had already freed themselves from the influence of emotion and changed their thoughts.
The clan heads of ninja clans and the leaders of Konoha's departments were all jonin who held real power.
Their politician instincts overwhelmed their humanity.
They quickly exchanged interests with the Third Hokage and swiftly reached an agreement.
At the afternoon jonin meeting, the Third Hokage made the deepest self-criticism, harshly condemned Danzo Shimura's ugly actions, and proposed a plan to thoroughly liquidate Root and the Shimura clan.
The Third Hokage declared passionately that he was also guilty.
But for Konoha Village's victory, and for the ninja fighting on the front lines, he had no choice but to continue serving as Hokage.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi became emotional, tears flowed down his face. He choked as he said, "As Hokage, I failed to discover Danzo's problem in time and allowed Konoha Village to suffer such severe harm. My crime is unforgivable."
"Although I cannot immediately remove the Hokage hat because of the war, I know I am already guilty beyond pardon. Once the war ends or eases, I will immediately step down as Hokage and hand everything over to the Fourth Hokage!"
After making the promise to step down once the war ended, and with the cooperation of the privileged jonin, the jonin meeting passed a vote of confidence in the Third Hokage.
He finally survived this major crisis.
After the meeting ended, Uchiha Yoru followed the cursing clan head and left the venue together with the Uchiha elders.
Yes.
The Third Hokage had made interest exchanges with almost every ninja clan head.
Only the Uchiha clan had been bypassed, leaving Uchiha Fugaku hanging in midair.
The Uchiha clan had more than thirty jonin, but only fourteen were in the village, including Uchiha Yoru.
After the Third Hokage completed interest exchanges with everyone, he naturally did not need to care about the Uchiha clan.
And when the vote came, everyone cast a vote of confidence.
Only the Uchiha clan ninja expressed opposition, making the Uchiha appear out of place among everyone else.
Although the Third Hokage had given up huge benefits, his exquisite political maneuvering completely destroyed the jonin's shared hatred.
Most jonin discovered that their clan heads or department leaders were not of one mind with them.
And the Uchiha clan was different from everyone else.
Suspicion and distrust immediately diluted the hatred.
Even dissatisfaction toward the Third Hokage was replaced by dissatisfaction toward clan heads and leaders.
The idea of making the Third step down could no longer be remembered.
Uchiha Fugaku felt deeply wounded.
Uchiha Setsuna was so angry that he cursed loudly.
But no matter how one looked at it, it was powerless rage.
Everything returned to its proper track again.
…
Uchiha Yoru greeted Elder Uchiha Yūichirō and Elder Uchiha Ryūnosuke, then returned home on his own.
He entered, took off his shoes, greeted Miwa Masayo, hugged and cuddled her affectionately, and took out one of his small dried fish to comfort the tabby cat.
Then Uchiha Yoru carried a cup of hot tea into his basement.
The moment he pushed open the door, he saw a pitch-black face.
Not that the person's skin was black.
Rather, the person's expression was so foul that his face seemed dark.
Uchiha Yoru ignored this person's terrible mood.
He formed hand seals and released the Sharingan Transcription Illusion Technique in the basement that had been projecting what he saw and heard.
Then he smiled and asked, "How was it?"
"Hmph. This transcription genjutsu is somewhat interesting. Did you develop it?"
"Ah? You're actually talking about this? Well, since you brought this up, I'm going to get excited."
"This technique is still quite incomplete. At present, it can only display what I see and hear. It cannot be attached to other ninja, and it has a major distance limitation."
"You want to let other ninja use it, and also break through the distance limitation… You brat, you actually want to use this technique on the battlefield?"
"Exactly. As expected of you. My original purpose in developing this technique was to use it for frontline ninja. That way, we can get rid of excessive layers in ninja army command structures and achieve seamless connection between the front lines and the command center, making it more suitable for ninja combat."
"That does make sense. It seems you brat also have rich battlefield experience. Not bad. Hmm, let me think. If you want other ninja without Sharingan to use it, you can consider starting with Yin Release chakra and simulating the operating method of the Sharingan…"
"Ohhh! Amazing! So it can be done that way…"
Uchiha Yoru excitedly took out a notebook and recorded the ideas the other party proposed one by one.
While recording, he made preliminary organization and planning, adding his own inspiration as well. His gains were enormous.
The more Uchiha Yoru discussed with this person, the happier and more excited he became.
Before they knew it, over an hour had passed, and the framework of a new technique had perfectly taken shape.
At some point, only the soft rustle of writing remained in the basement.
That was Uchiha Yoru calculating some key data.
Time when inspiration erupted was extremely precious.
He wanted to complete as much work as possible.
When Uchiha Yoru stopped writing, the person across from him let out a deep sigh and said sadly, "If only you had been born twenty years earlier."
Uchiha Yoru smiled. "Being born nineteen years ago isn't too late. For me, no time is too late."
"It's different. It's different for Konoha Village. The current you can no longer become Hokage."
"Haha. Orochimaru, disciple of the Third Hokage, is the most suitable and outstanding successor for Hokage. I won't blindly get involved."
"But I think you are the most suitable candidate for Fourth Hokage…"
"Enough. I helped you see Konoha Village's current state, and you helped me improve a ninjutsu. We owe each other nothing. Don't try to manipulate me with words."
"Besides, your time is limited, Senju Tobirama-sama."
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