"He's just kindly reminding you..."
A tall Root Ninja couldn't help but show a trace of anger, unable to hold back a rebuke at Uchiha Sasuke: "How dare you just..."
Clang!
The sound of the Ninja Sword being drawn was clear!
A thin line of blood splashed from the neck of the tall Root Ninja!
"Don't provoke Sasuke-kun..."
Twelve-year-old Sai could only cautiously try to calm down the enraged and panicked companions around him. His face was particularly pale, fearing that he might also suffer misfortune: "We can't possibly be a match for Sasuke-kun..."
"Are you trying to win people's hearts?"
Uchiha Sasuke coldly glanced at Sai, mockingly taunting: "A bunch of useless fools gathered together trying to challenge me? The future leader of Root will definitely be me!"
"..."
A group of Root Ninjas all turned to look at Sai.
No way...
Lord Danzo is retiring? And he's choosing a successor between Sai and Uchiha Sasuke, these two kids? They truly never expected this!
"It's not like that..."
Sai noticed the gaze of his teammates and wanted to explain.
"Move aside!"
Uchiha Sasuke walked over, interrupting him, rudely shoving Sai aside, and headed straight for Shimura Danzo's office.
This heinous behavior obviously made the Root Ninjas present even angrier, with everyone glaring at Uchiha Sasuke's back, the sound of gritted teeth coming and going...
Unfortunately...
No one dared to voice their anger.
After all, Uchiha Sasuke's reputation for killing without hesitation had already spread, and everyone knew he would dare to kill even in front of Lord Danzo!
"Sai."
A Root Ninja stepped over, patted Sai on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "Compete with that kid, we support you to become the Root Leader!"
"But wouldn't Lord Danzo choose Sai so easily?"
"Our opinions don't matter anyway..."
"Still, we must support Sai!"
"Alright."
Another Root Ninja interrupted the quarrel, his gaze also falling on Sai: "Sai, if Lord Danzo intends for you to succeed, then you must achieve it. Once you become the Root Leader, we'll all follow your orders!"
"Wait a minute..."
Sai frowned slightly, hoping everyone could see the reality and not pin their future hopes on him: "Lord Danzo never mentioned letting me succeed as Root Leader..."
"He probably said it to that kid!"
"Lord Danzo wants you to compete with him..."
"Sai, you grew up in the training class, don't lose to him!"
"It's easy to say, but that kid's strength is very strong..."
"Root doesn't just speak by strength; it looks at who completes more tasks! That kid just joined Root not long ago!"
"True..."
"Sai has completed a lot of tasks!"
"The Third Hokage has died, and Lord Danzo is about to retire soon. We must act quickly; we'll help you complete all of Sai's tasks..."
The group of Root Ninjas began to get noisy, immediately affirming a fact, that their superior Shimura Danzo is about to retire, and the future Root Leader will certainly be selected from Sai and Uchiha Sasuke, those two kids.
No matter what...
No one wants their superior to become Uchiha Sasuke, that unpredictable bastard who could kill at any moment. They would prefer to support Sai!
"..."
Amid everyone's expectations, Sai felt immense psychological pressure.
For Sai, working in this Root organization was exceedingly difficult, as his superior Shimura Danzo treated them as killing tools, training them to slaughter each other since childhood...
Until Sai barely managed to survive, growing up alongside his brother who chose to die so that Sai could live, finally freeing him from dangerous and cruel training to become a formal employee, the new colleague Uchiha Sasuke came to overhaul the workplace...
Now...
Root faces internal promotion pressure again.
All colleagues are expecting him to be promoted, but why should he become the Root Leader? Lord Danzo never even brought up this matter with him. Most likely, he's just being pitted against Uchiha Sasuke as a rival...
Predictably, Lord Danzo will soon retire, and as someone once used by Lord Danzo to sharpen Uchiha Sasuke, when Uchiha Sasuke succeeds to Lord Danzo's leader position, where does that leave Sai?
Will the future superior tolerate him?
It's too difficult...
Life in Root is extremely arduous.
Youthful Sai gazed at the Root base, which resembled an abyss, thoughts swirling in his mind, pondering when he could finally break free from this hell...
Fortunately...
Uchiha Sasuke would only be with them for a while.
Uchiha Sasuke had just joined Root and became Shimura Danzo's guard ninja, so he wouldn't operate alongside their group of ordinary ninjas, and this indeed brought a huge relief, at least without the fear of having their throats slashed by the new colleague at any moment.
Comparatively...
Uchiha Sasuke's life seemed much more comfortable.
Since Shimura Danzo would never take personal risks and had just regained power, he naturally sought to establish his existence among the village's upper echelons, so Uchiha Sasuke only needed to follow Shimura Danzo around the village, attend meetings inside the Hokage Tower during the day.
The first day.
Uchiha Sasuke saw the opportunity for his plan to succeed, as he observed Shimura Danzo's ambition, mismatched with his abilities.
Because of the death of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, this old fellow, returned to power. Perhaps it was because he had Uchiha Sasuke, this ace combat power, that he almost wanted to openly show his ambition for the Hokage position!
"The situation in the village is urgent..."
Shimura Danzo looked at Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, unceremoniously presenting his proposal, decisively revealing his intentions: "Why not let me temporarily assume the position of Hokage..."
"..."
Not only did the two Hokage Advisors furrow their brows, even Uchiha Sasuke felt that Shimura Danzo's level of political maneuvering was too foolish.
At this moment...
How has the situation in the village become urgent?
The Hidden Sand Village's ninjas had already announced their surrender to Konoha, and the Great Country Ninja Villages were simply sending small groups of ninjas to infiltrate. The situation in the village was gradually stabilizing, and there was no sign of anyone attempting to rebel and seize the Hokage position, so how could it be considered an emergency?
At least someone should be causing chaos in the village to create an image of an emergency!
No way...
All are Root leaders...
This Root Founder's political level is too lacking, isn't it?