After listening to Danzō's explanation, Yami finally understood the situation.
It turned out that Danzō had disappeared for a while because he was secretly planning to assassinate the Hokage.
After the Nine-Tails Rebellion, the youngest and most brilliant Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, had perished. The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, once again took charge of Konoha and had no intention of selecting a new Hokage.
By procedure, a Hokage must et with the daimyo and receive official approval.
However, due to the attack on Konoha, the village was in ruins, and Sarutobi Hiruzen had delayed his journey to the Land of Fire's capital. Only recently had he begun to arrange the visit.
Danzō received this news early and mobilized all of Root's forces to assassinate the Third Hokage today.
Good news: the assassination succeeded.
Bad news: the "Hokage" they killed was actually a disguise. The real Sarutobi Hiruzen had already seen through Danzō's sche.
Just as Danzō was savoring his victory on the Hokage's throne, Hiruzen suddenly appeared and scared the life out of him.
Though Hiruzen didn't punish him, his calm and condescending tone had deeply wounded Danzō's pride.
And to make matters worse, he had finally found a shinobi with Wood Release, but Hiruzen had lured him away!
Even now, just recalling it made Danzō curse in frustration. He was so angry that he even scolded Sarutobi Biwako, who had already passed away.
Yami felt speechless.
"Old man, don't push your luck. If soone else had attempted to assassinate the Hokage, they'd have been executed on the spot. The Third Hokage has already been generous by not stripping you of your position as Root's leader."
"Does he even have the power to do that?"
Danzō sneered coldly, an unmistakable arrogance in his expression. "Root is technically part of Anbu, but Hiruzen has no real authority over it. Even if I were officially removed, my subordinates would still follow ."
"This is what it ans to be a proper tool."
"Then don't get yourself killed," Yami scoffed. "I'm still a student at the Ninja Academy, that's his territory."
"He won't touch you." Danzō's voice was firm. "It's just an assassination. It's not like this was my first attempt in the past few decades."
"When he first beca Hokage, I tried to assassinate him once. Later, I attempted to assassinate the Fourth Hokage too."
…What kind of twisted relationship was this?!
Listening to his grandfather recount his "glorious history", Yami had no idea what kind of expression to make.
The power of bonds was truly terrifying.
For anyone else, assassinating the Hokage would be a life-or-death matter. But for Danzō, it was just another way to strengthen his "friendship" with Hiruzen?!
Forget it. He didn't want to get involved in the feud between these two old n. As long as it didn't affect him, he didn't care.
After dinner, Yami returned to his room to refine his chakra, while Danzō headed back to Root's base.
Tapping the ground lightly with his cane, two masked Root ninjas imdiately appeared, kneeling on one knee behind him.
Danzō remained silent for a mont, deep in thought, before issuing his command in a cold voice.
"Gather as much swordsmanship knowledge as possible, from Konoha and other ninja villages. Organize and compile it. Instruct our contacts in Kirigakure to see if they can acquire a sword from the Seven Ninja Swordsn."
"Understood." One of the ninjas responded and swiftly retreated.
Danzō then turned to the remaining operative.
"What has Orochimaru been up to lately?"
"Orochimaru entered his lab half a month ago and hasn't erged since. Either that, or… our surveillance capabilities weren't sufficient to track him."
Danzō snorted but didn't reprimand the subordinate.
Expecting his n to monitor Orochimaru was unrealistic. The man was the most unpredictable of the Three Sannin, and after the other two left the village, his personality had shifted drastically.
Right now, their relationship was a delicate cooperation, but Danzō had already decided, he would expose Orochimaru's experints and force him to flee Konoha.
After all, conducting human experints on his own villagers—not even Hiruzen could cover that up.
But before that, Danzō planned to squeeze every last bit of value out of him.
Since Yami had a talent for swordsmanship, as his grandfather, it was only natural that he provided the best possible conditions for him.
But swordsmanship alone wasn't enough, he needed a famous blade to match it.
The first choice was the Sword of the Thunder God, once wielded by Senju Tobirama. Unfortunately, it was now in Hiruzen's possession, making it difficult to obtain.
Then, there was Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword.
The Kusanagi wasn't a single blade, but a category of legendary swords. Rumor had it that Orochimaru possessed more than one.
Danzō was definitely interested.
"Let's go," he said as he slowly walked out of Root's base.
His movents were slow and deliberate, like an old man past his pri.
"Prepare a eting with Orochimaru. I still owe Yami a sixth birthday present..."
---
Ti passed in the blink of an eye, and it was another school day.
With his backpack slung over his shoulders, Yami walked toward the Ninja Academy.
The Shimura clan estate was located outside Konoha's center. Along the way, many clan mbers greeted him with respect.
As he returned their greetings, the system notifications popped up.
[0.1 Standard Chunin Chakra]
[0.2 Standard Chunin Chakra]
[...]
The power of the system was slowly becoming evident.
One Standard Chunin Chakra Unit was equivalent to ten regular Genin.
By the ti Yami left the clan compound, his total chakra had already reached 1.3 Standard Chunin Units.
Along with that, he had obtained several additional Wind Release talents.
The system allowed for talent fusion, but since the quality was too low and the number was insufficient, his Wind Release talent hadn't yet advanced to Ultimate level.
Even so, it had clearly improved.
Upon arriving at the Ninja Academy, several students saw Yami and imdiately paled, their expressions filled with fear.
So of them looked as if they were about to cry.
Yami barely spared them a glance, walking straight into the classroom and settling into his usual seat by the window.
These were the sa students who had mocked him for being an orphan because no one ca to pick him up.
After hearing those insults, Yami had beaten them senseless.
They had taken over a week to recover before returning to class.
Was the revenge over?
Of course not.
As long as their parents were ninja, they wouldn't survive this year. They would inevitably die gloriously on the battlefield.
By then, they would experience firsthand what it ant to be an orphan.
If their parents weren't ninja…
Well, dealing with them would be even easier.
Just as Yami was absentmindedly watching sparrows on a tree branch, a cheerful voice called out to him.
"Yami!"
A lively girl with long black hair ran into the classroom. The mont she spotted him, her eyes lit up, and she imdiately rushed over to sit beside him.
Yami smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair.
"Izumi."
(To be continued.)
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