Rasa disliked Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But he did not want Hiruzen Sarutobi to die. At least, not right now.
After all, among the rumors Rasa was currently creating, the majority were related to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Without Hiruzen Sarutobi, what would happen to the next rumors?
Other than Konoha, the other shinobi villages were all useless for this purpose.
But when he heard the second half, Rasa's expression eased slightly.
"I didn't expect Danzo to still end up taking the Acting Hokage position after all."
"The difference from the original plot is that this time, the one who fell into a coma is the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, not the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade."
"Danzo is also excellent material for creating rumors."
Previously, Danzo did not qualify.
Because his weight was insufficient.
He was merely Konoha's Darkness, the leader of Root.
He had done many things, but all of them were hidden in the shadows.
Forget the entire world. Even if the scope was narrowed to the shinobi world, there were not many people who understood Danzo.
If Rasa created a rumor related to Danzo, the popularity would be extremely limited.
If the popularity was low, the speed at which Rasa obtained points would be slow.
But now, the situation was different.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi heavily injured and unconscious, and Danzo Shimura assuming the Acting Hokage position, Danzo's name would very quickly spread across the entire world. Everyone would know it.
At that time, if Danzo was used as material to create rumors, the popularity would be much greater.
"The current rumor regarding Nawaki is progressing steadily. Jiraiya and Tsunade are pushing it forward very hard, so I don't need to spend much effort there."
Rasa looked at the intelligence document in his hand.
"Konoha's situation is becoming more and more complicated."
"Tsunade wants to rebuild the Senju clan."
"Danzo has become Acting Hokage. What kind of things can be stirred up from this?"
The gazes of Iwagakure and Kumogakure were both locked tightly onto Konoha.
They were waiting for Konoha to give them an opportunity.
Once that happened, they would pounce on Konoha like predators starved for a very long time, tearing off huge chunks of flesh from Konoha's body.
Hokage Building.
After the initial excitement passed, Danzo quickly gathered all authority belonging to the Hokage into his hands.
ANBU and Root, working from both sides.
However, the smile on Danzo's face soon grew fewer and fewer.
Because Konoha's situation truly was far from optimistic.
Previously, many neutral factions had been wavering. They held the thought of not siding with anyone, not offending anyone, and standing with whoever gained the advantage.
But now, with Hiruzen Sarutobi temporarily leaving the stage, some neutral factions clearly lacked confidence in Danzo.
Compared to Danzo, they were more optimistic about Tsunade.
Therefore, they made their decision.
More people began to leave Konoha, heading toward the capital of the Land of Fire.
Some others secretly declared their position, waiting for the right opportunity to act as insiders.
A large amount of resources was delivered into Tsunade's hands.
"The mandate of heaven is with you, Tsunade!"
Jiraiya's eyes were extremely bright.
"This is the heavens themselves believing that you are the correct choice for Hokage."
"Otherwise, things wouldn't have gone this smoothly for us."
Tsunade raised her head and looked at the sky.
The mandate of heaven?
Previously, Tsunade had not believed in such a thing. But now, things had indeed been very smooth.
She wanted to trade with Sunagakure, and Sunagakure agreed.
She encountered trouble while gathering manpower, and as a result, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly fell unconscious. Danzo Shimura rose to power and became Acting Hokage, causing the number of people joining her side to increase sharply.
"And Hiruzen-sensei went insane too, holding my Senju clan genealogy and ordering ANBU to kill people, trying to wipe out everyone related to Senju blood."
Jiraiya shook his head.
"That isn't madness. It may be that this has always been Hiruzen-sensei's habit of doing things."
"The Uchiha clan was forced into defection by him."
"The Hyuga clan was also forced into defection by him."
Tsunade's eyes flickered.
"Could it really be that after growing old, he became senile?"
"The old Hiruzen-sensei could only be called bad."
"The current Hiruzen-sensei is both stupid and bad."
Danzo rubbed his brow.
"The loss of personnel is severe. These people don't respect me as Acting Hokage at all. The moment they hear Tsunade's name, they swarm over like dogs. Disgusting."
"Right now, I have two choices."
"One is to directly invite Jiraiya and Tsunade back to Konoha and promise that I will thoroughly investigate Nawaki's matter, convict Hiruzen, and execute Hiruzen to pay for Nawaki's life."
"Since Tsunade's goal is to avenge Nawaki, she should agree to this condition."
"The Hokage position should not be that attractive to her."
"But there is also a certain possibility that after returning to the village, she will compete with me for the Hokage position."
"This is the choice to make only when there is no other option."
Danzo came to the window and looked toward the Hokage Rock opposite him.
Danzo desperately wanted to carve his own face onto it.
"There is another method. Seek external force."
"If I kill those who defect to Tsunade, it will provoke even fiercer resistance from them, and the people in the village will also think I am brutal. But if someone else kills them, then it has nothing to do with me."
"In the Land of Rivers, there is a missing-nin from Takigakure who lives off bounty work."
"His individual strength is very high."
"Letting them kill those people can prevent me from bearing the crime of slaughtering the Senju, and it will also stop Tsunade and Jiraiya from increasing their strength. Even if it is discovered, I can say the Sarutobi clan did it."
"After all, Hiruzen already attacked the Senju clan before."
"As for Shinnosuke's death, I also shaped it into something done by the Senju clan."
Danzo revealed a smile.
"Hiruzen, watch carefully."
"This is strategy!"
"This is method!"
When the commission passed through Kakuzu to Konan, then from Konan to Uchiha Obito's hands—
Uchiha Obito revealed a very subtle expression.
"Should we accept? Of course we should accept!"
Uchiha Obito looked toward the direction of the Land of Fire.
"Not only can we obtain a large commission fee, perhaps we can also use this opportunity to obtain intelligence on the Nine-Tails."
"The person capable of commissioning us to attack those defecting to Tsunade is absolutely no ordinary person in Konoha. They must be among the highest levels of the village. They definitely know the Nine-Tails' situation."
Konan asked, "Which team should we send?"
Uchiha Obito thought for a moment.
"Let Kakuzu and Sasori of the Red Sand go."
The reason he made this choice was, on one hand, because Kakuzu was the person Konoha had first contacted.
On the other hand, Sasori of the Red Sand was skilled at controlling puppets and also skilled at controlling people. With Sasori present, infiltrating Konoha and obtaining intelligence would be relatively more convenient.
Furthermore, Kakashi and Uchiha Shisui were both unsuitable for such a task.
Uchiha Obito understood Kakashi, and he also understood Uchiha Shisui.
Doing something like this would cause their faith in the Akatsuki organization to collapse.
Two days later.
Sasori of the Red Sand and Kakuzu had already arrived in the Land of Fire.
Dozens of figures entered the two men's sight.
"Kill!"