Chapter 298: Danzō's Doubts (bouns chapter)
After the meeting, Ishiro went to the Barrier Team, taking Akino Atsumi with him.
Ishiro gave a lesson to all the B-rank and above sealing masters of the Barrier Team, introducing them to the new runes and new rune connection methods he had learned in Uzushiogakure.
He also listed his speculations on the functions of the runes related to space-time ninjutsu.
After finishing, Ishiro also assigned a mission to the Barrier Team, letting them cooperate with Akino to add the function of sensing and restricting space-time ninjutsu to the village's defensive and sensory barriers.
This was both a mission for the Barrier Team and a mission for Akino. In cooperation with the Barrier Team, Akino's understanding of space-time ninjutsu would definitely improve.
Moreover, in the Barrier Team, if Akino had any questions about sealing jutsu, there would be people who could answer them in time.
Ishiro's subsequent arrangements for Akino were: to perform one mission a day with the other two members of Squad Five, and then complete her daily basic training. The rest of the time was to be spent in the Barrier Team.
On this trip to the Land of Whirlpools, all three disciples had gained something. Besides Akino finding a way to get started with space-time ninjutsu, Kiyoshi Ishizawa had been practicing his summoning jutsu these days.
At Ishiro's suggestion, Kiyoshi did not choose those adult, strong sharks as his main summoning animal, but instead chose a newly born little shark with a good constitution.
During this period, Kiyoshi would summon the little shark whenever he had nothing to do. Anyway, Kiyoshi knew Water Release. As long as he cast Water Release nearby to create a small pool, he could let the little shark swim in it.
Riori Uzumaki's progress was the most obvious. After learning the Shadow Clone Technique, the little girl who could now do a two-on-one fight felt that her strength had also doubled. Now, without Ishiro's urging, she was practicing the Shadow Clone Technique on her own.
Ishiro did not rush to teach her the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique but planned to teach her after the little girl had completed her water-walking training.
On this day, Ishiro received a report from the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han. The Five-Tails, Kokuō, was finally willing to proactively cooperate with Han in training his Kekkei Genkai.
And not only did Kokuō agree to teach Han to train in Boil Release, but it also planned to teach Han's disciple, Yui Toda, at the same time.
As the Tsuchikage and one of Han's best friends as a Jinchuriki, Ishiro also participated in the entire process of Han learning his Kekkei Genkai.
Ishiro both wanted to see to what extent Han and Kokuō had gotten along, and also wanted to know how Kokuō taught others to train.
Ishiro discovered that the method a Tailed Beast used to guide a ninja in training a Kekkei Genkai was completely different from how a normal ninja developed it.
Neither Han nor Yui needed to raise their proficiency in the two attributes to a very high level like Ishiro did.
The Tailed Beast naturally had the ability to transmit chakra to other ninjas. The learner only needed to receive the Tailed Beast's chakra and then experience and comprehend it.
This was like skipping the qualitative change process from 0 to 1 and directly completing the quantitative change process from 1 to 100. The difficulty was reduced by more than just a little bit.
This made Ishiro very envious. Up to now, Ishiro's wind attribute proficiency was still very far from developing a Kekkei Genkai.
"If only I had a Tailed Beast with dual wind and fire attributes to help me train." Preferably a Tailed Beast with Blaze Release. But this was obviously just Ishiro's wishful thinking. Blaze Release was just recently developed by Ogura Saki; how could any Tailed Beast have mastered this kind of Kekkei Genkai?
Ishiro couldn't remember clearly if the specific attributes of all nine Tailed Beasts were mentioned in the original story. At least, Ishiro had never heard of any Tailed Beast knowing a ninjutsu similar to Scorch Release or Blaze Release.
However, a Tailed Beast with a Wind-Fire Kekkei Genkai was hard to find, but there was still a Tailed Beast with only the wind attribute in the ninja world.
Setting aside others, the Seven-Tails, with whom Ishiro had had a pleasant chat for a few days, was of the wind attribute.
However, the Seven-Tails was still in Konoha now, so he couldn't have any designs on it for the time being. Everything had to wait until the Seven-Tails returned to Takigakure.
Regarding Han and Yui learning Boil Release, Ishiro only watched the beginning and then stopped paying attention. He still had many things to attend to.
...
"The Byakugan?" In Konoha Village, in the gloomy underground Root base, after listening to Hei's reply, Danzō muttered to himself with some doubt.
Just now, the Root Elite Jonin, Hei, whom Danzō had sent to contact Orochimaru, had returned to Konoha.
Hei brought back Orochimaru's request: a Byakugan.
Danzō had originally thought that Orochimaru would ask for intelligence or funds for research; their cooperation in the past had been like this. But from what Hei said, Orochimaru's request was very specific this time: he only wanted a Byakugan.
This made Danzō very confused.
Although the ninja world referred to the Rinnegan, Sharingan, and Byakugan as the Three Great Dōjutsu, the Rinnegan was the eye of the legendary Sage of Six Paths, and its status was far superior to the other two.
And because the Sharingan had produced a Madara Uchiha, in the eyes of all ninjas, it was also stronger than the Byakugan. Probably only the Hyuga clan regarded the Byakugan as a Kekkei Genkai on par with the Sharingan and Rinnegan.
Danzō was no exception. In his eyes, the Byakugan was a very good reconnaissance Kekkei Genkai, but to say it was a combat-type Kekkei Genkai, Danzō just scoffed.
If other great hidden villages valued the Byakugan, Danzō wouldn't be surprised. The Byakugan had strategic value; the larger the village, the greater its use.
But for a rogue-nin like Orochimaru, the Byakugan was really not of much use. Even if Orochimaru wanted to establish a hidden village, he wouldn't need a strategic weapon of the Byakugan's level.
Danzō couldn't figure it out.
But Danzō's IQ was high. Having shouldered the darkness of Konoha for many years, he vaguely sensed that there was a problem here.
Danzō looked down on Orochimaru in many aspects. In Danzō's eyes, Orochimaru was the kind of person who was dealt a good hand but then played himself into a corner.
He was clearly the most advantageous competitor for the position of Hokage, but in the end, he had turned himself into a rogue-nin.
But there was one thing Danzō had to admit Orochimaru was amazing at, and that was scientific research.
From Orochimaru's research on Wood Release, it could be seen that his research ability alone surpassed that of the entire village of Konoha.
Since Orochimaru had taken a fancy to the Byakugan, did that mean the Byakugan had some secret that even Danzō didn't know?
When Orochimaru was in the village, he didn't have much contact with the Hyuga clan. For him to be interested in the Byakugan only now, did that mean that Orochimaru had also only recently learned of some special function of the Byakugan?
After thinking for a moment, Danzō did not directly decide whether to trade with Orochimaru. Of course, even if he wanted to trade, Danzō did not have a Byakugan in his hands.
What Danzō wanted to do most now was to figure out why Orochimaru was interested in the Byakugan.
Danzō first went to the archives in the Hokage Tower. The archives in the Hokage Tower had existed since the First Hokage established Konoha Village, and the various expired intelligence and secret stories recorded inside were the richest in the entire ninja world.
Danzō spent a whole day carefully reading through the various records of the Hyuga clan. The result was regrettable; he found nothing.
Searching through known history, the Hyuga clan had not produced any powerhouse who had surpassed the Kage-level. And the Hyuga clan had never used any abilities beyond the known Byakugan skills, not even a suspected case.
Most of the Hyuga clan's records had backups in this archive room in the Hokage Tower, but Danzō believed that the Hyuga clan must have kept some confidential documents.
But how to get these documents?
First, sneaking around was definitely not an option. Stealing things in the Hyuga clan territory? He was thinking too much. Even ninjas who could use space-time ninjutsu like Obito Uchiha and Minato Namikaze couldn't do it.
Even if Ishiro now possessed a sealing jutsu that could shield against the Byakugan to a certain extent, he didn't think he had a hope of stealing things from the Hyuga clan.
The Hyuga clan was not strong, and there were many ninjas in the ninja world with the strength to force their way in. But there were almost none who could sneak in without being discovered.
Danzō believed his Root didn't have this strength either.
However, Danzō was Danzō. His personality of not stopping until he achieved his goal would not change.
Since the dark way wouldn't work, then he would come in the light. Danzō decided to use his identity as a high-level advisor to directly demand it from the Hyuga clan.
The next day, Danzō, accompanied by two Root elites, Kinoe and Otsu, came to the Hyuga clan.
Hiashi Hyuga really wanted to drive Danzō away. Danzō's own style of action was disliked by major ninja clans like them, and now the conflict between Danzō and the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, was a semi-public secret among the upper echelons of Konoha.
Even if Hiashi were to vote with his feet, he would choose Tsunade. Tsunade, from the Senju clan, was much more satisfactory to Hiashi than Danzō in every way.
But Danzō was visiting in his capacity as a high-level advisor; he couldn't directly refuse.
In the Hyuga main family's reception hall, Danzō, with half his face covered and an expressionless face, didn't even take a sip of tea and directly said, "Clan Head Hiashi, the situation in the ninja world is very unfavorable for the village. Iwagakure is rising strongly. Root has been commissioned by the high-level council to deal with Iwagakure."
"I need the reconnaissance ability of the Hyuga clan."
Hiashi's brows furrowed, and he almost couldn't contain his anger. "Are the village's higher-ups going to make a move against my Hyuga clan?"
Was this Danzō acting on his own, or was he deliberately sent by the higher-ups to test him?
If the Third were still in power, then with the tacit understanding between the Third and Danzō, this matter was most likely a decision of the higher-ups. But the current Hokage was the Fifth, and the Fifth probably wouldn't heavily use Danzō.
In that case, this should be Danzō's personal action.
Thinking of this, Hiashi's confidence grew. He said faintly, "Rest assured, Advisor Danzō. If the higher-ups have any requests, they can invite my Hyuga clan in the form of a mission. I will consider it."
"You've got to be kidding me. Although my subordinates all have the Caged Bird, they won't betray the family, they won't betray me; we are all one loving family. But if they join Root, with both the Caged Bird restricting them and the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal controlling them, will they still obey my orders as they do now?"
And Danzō, hearing Hiashi's ungrateful reply, was furious. "I, who have silently dedicated decades to Konoha, a former... advisor, a current advisor, a future Hokage, personally visit you, a junior, and you have the audacity to refuse and put on airs with me? What do you mean, 'I will consider it'?"
Thinking of this, Danzō directly dropped a bombshell, "Hehe, Clan Head Hiashi, I'm afraid you don't know that someone is trying to break the Caged Bird Seal."
Hearing this, Hiashi was first shocked. "Someone is thinking of breaking the Caged Bird Seal again?" Then he was furious. "Which bastard from a branch family has eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall, daring to have designs on the Caged Bird?"
But in the end, Hiashi returned to his calm demeanor. "Let them have designs on it. It's been so many years. It's not like one or two branch family geniuses haven't thought of this and done this. Has anyone ever made any progress?"
This was an internal matter that could be investigated slowly later. But now, in front of Danzō, he could not lose the dignity of the clan head of the strongest clan in the ninja world.
Hiashi smiled at Danzō with a noble air, at least to give Danzō a sense of "I'm not panicking, I have confidence." "My Hyuga clan is the strongest in the ninja world. Not someone an outdated Hokage's advisor can control."
Danzō was not in a hurry. He reached out, picked up a teacup, took a sip, and then said faintly, "The one leading this is Orochimaru."
And then Hiashi was no longer calm. He couldn't be calm. Although Hiashi was confident in his family's Caged Bird, facing Orochimaru, he had no confidence in his heart.
Because, as the head of the Hyuga clan, Hiashi knew that the greatest strength of the Caged Bird lay in the soul. The Caged Bird was different from ordinary sealing jutsu; it was a curse seal that combined both soul and body.
Even a ninja from the Uzumaki clan, who specialized in sealing jutsu, could not break the Caged Bird.
But Orochimaru was different. Intelligence showed that Orochimaru had once researched ninjutsu related to the soul. If it really was Orochimaru leading this, then it was not impossible for the Caged Bird to be broken.
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