Chapter 35: Danzo's Urgency
Konoha.
Root Base.
In Lab No.1, the moment Danzo returned to the village, he headed straight there.
Carefully, he removed Uchiha Keisuke's pair of three-tomoe Sharingan from the vial and placed them into a human-sized nutrient tank for preservation.
"It's not enough. I need more Sharingan."
Gazing once more at the eyes floating inside the transparent glass tank, Danzo thought silently, then turned and left Lab No.1.
"Sir, the test subject sent by the Hokage has been placed in Lab No.2."
Outside the lab, the Root squad leader on duty reported to Danzo as he stepped out.
"Mm."
Danzo nodded indifferently with a slight grunt. He made no comment and had no intention of visiting Lab No.2. Instead, he returned directly to his Root office.
Right now, what concerned Danzo most was how to continue assassinating Uchiha clan members and harvesting more Sharingan.
As for the test subject the Third had spoken of, one with a supposed immunity to genjutsu—an ability that could counter the Uchiha Sharingan—
Danzo instinctively touched his left eye, then sneered.
Heh!
Immune to genjutsu?
With Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan in his possession, what was there to fear from basic Sharingan genjutsu?
Compared to the power of the Mangekyō, any so-called genjutsu immunity was trivial.
The true strength of the Sharingan had never been its genjutsu.
It was the terrifying abilities that came with the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Danzo's heart burned as he recalled seeing, from a distance, that enormous purple figure—taller than a mountain.
As long as he retained Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan, he could maintain power equal to—or even greater than—Hiruzen.
And great power was the absolute prerequisite to becoming Hokage.
Power was his greatest guarantee in toppling Hiruzen and taking the seat of Hokage for himself.
Nothing mattered more than keeping the Mangekyō Sharingan.
But… as he felt the constant stinging pain in his left eye, Danzo's brows furrowed deeply, anxiety growing.
Kagami's Sharingan was fiercely rejecting his body.
Even with sealing techniques applied, he couldn't stop the damage caused by this rejection.
Danzo could feel it—in no more than a year, his left eye's Mangekyō Sharingan would be ruined.
If he wanted to keep it, he had to resolve the compatibility issue between the eye and his body.
Otherwise… he'd have no choice but to try a forbidden Uchiha technique—one that could destroy a three-tomoe Sharingan after a single use—just to see if it might resolve the rejection problem.
But even that forbidden jutsu would require many Sharingan for experimentation in order to decode the hidden technique residing within them.
In short, no matter which method he chose, he needed a lot more Sharingan.
Therefore, Danzo urgently needed to hunt down more Uchiha clan ninja to obtain more eyes.
Returning to his office, he quickly summoned one of the two deputies assigned to him by the Third.
"Who's the next target?" Danzo asked directly.
Sarutobi Hadō, wearing the standard Root mask and holding a notebook in his hand, was a younger clansman of the Third and one of the operatives assigned to monitor Danzo. Upon hearing the question, he flipped to a marked page and replied:
"Two relatively well-known Uchiha brothers: Uchiha Luffy and Uchiha Ace."
These two had once embarrassed the Third publicly, and that's exactly why he chose them as the second Root assassination targets.
"Brothers?" Danzo raised an eyebrow, then asked, "How's their relationship?"
Sarutobi Hadō replied, "They lost their parents young and grew up relying on each other. Their bond should be strong."
Danzo's frown deepened.
"Then we'll need to strike both at once," he muttered.
The stronger the bond between Uchiha comrades, the greater the emotional trauma when one dies.
Both Luffy and Ace had awakened three-tomoe Sharingan and were regarded as geniuses. If one of them died, the other might experience a strong emotional shock—potentially enough to awaken the Mangekyō.
That potential… must be eliminated.
Danzo swore inwardly.
Whether or not the Uchiha possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan made a world of difference in power level.
Even with Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan, Danzo wasn't confident he could handle an Uchiha with one of their own.
So both brothers had to die—at the same time.
That was the only way to prevent the Mangekyō from ever awakening.
And in doing so, he would acquire two more sets of three-tomoe Sharingan.
Smiling faintly, Danzo asked again, "When's the assassination?"
At present, the Uchiha assassinations were still being coordinated by the Third, who didn't yet fully trust Danzo.
Moreover, Root's intelligence division had only just formed—they still relied on the Hokage's office for mission details. Danzo couldn't act on his own yet.
Sarutobi Hadō replied, "After the two brothers complete five missions, we'll begin planning the operation."
"No." Danzo scowled. "That's too long. Make it sooner."
Five missions?
That would take at least six months.
But his eye didn't have six months to wait.
The sooner he collected enough Sharingan, the sooner he could research a way to reduce or eliminate the rejection.
"Danzo-sama."
Hadō explained, "We still don't have complete intel on Luffy and Ace. Their combat records are limited, and we don't have a clear list of their jutsu. We need to assign more missions and observe them longer before proceeding—only then can we guarantee success."
"Two missions." Danzo raised two fingers. "I'm giving you two missions' worth of time to gather intel. No more."
"I'm sorry, Danzo-sama, that's not possible." Hadō shook his head.
"Hmph!" Danzo's eyes narrowed dangerously, staring him down. It had been a long time since anyone dared to reject him like this—aside from Hiruzen.
"That's an order from the Hokage."
Facing Danzo's pressure, Hadō felt like he was being stared down by a demon cloaked in darkness. He broke into a cold sweat and could only invoke the Hokage's authority.
Unexpectedly, that only made it worse.
Hearing the name "Hokage" made Danzo's stinging eye throb even more painfully.
The words "I should be Hokage" seemed to echo in his ears.
"Hiruzen's orders, huh?"
A mere junior Sarutobi dared to invoke the Hokage's name to suppress him? Danzo was furious.
He snapped, "And what kind of operation is Hiruzen running?! Wasn't the collection of intel on the Uchiha clan's elite supposed to be ongoing?"
"You mean to tell me you can't even gather information on two Uchiha brats without five missions? Do you know how long that takes?"
"Huh? Do you?!"
Danzo shot to his feet, barking at Hadō's forehead with fury.
He didn't buy a word of Hadō's explanation. In his view, as the Hokage who had inherited Tobirama's will, Hiruzen should have detailed intelligence on every powerful Uchiha already.
Not be relying on temporary mission assignments to gather it.
That was a colossal waste of time.
And he knew Hiruzen wasn't the type to scramble at the last minute.
Luffy and Ace's data couldn't possibly be as incomplete as this brat claimed.
Certainly not to the point of needing five missions to collect it.
Under Danzo's relentless accusations, Hadō was left speechless. With a bitter smile, he said:
"Danzo-sama, three-tomoe Sharingan users from the Uchiha clan aren't easy to assassinate."
"Without detailed intel, trying to take them out quickly carries great risk."
"If something goes wrong…"
He didn't finish the sentence—but his meaning was clear.
If there was even a slight mistake, even if they concealed their identities, the Uchiha would grow suspicious.
And it wouldn't take long for them to figure out who was behind it.
After all, the Uchiha had ruled the ninja world alongside the Senju for centuries during the Warring States Era. Their cunning should never be underestimated.
That's why every assassination of a Uchiha ninja had to be executed flawlessly.
(END CHAPTER)
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