Chapter 57 — Ruthlessness and Shamelessness
Deep in the mountains where the Land of Fire meets the Land of Wind.
Root's Secret Base No. 3.
Even after living here for some time, Hiruzen Sarutobi still could not get used to it.
Not because the conditions were too harsh—quite the opposite. It was precisely because the conditions here were too good that he found it so hard to adjust!
A lavish, fully equipped training ground, standardized rest quarters, bathhouses, a mess hall...
Every facility he could possibly imagine was right here!
Did he have any idea how much Danzo actually earned?
Even adding in private jobs the Anbu took on the side, there was no way to build a place like this.
Which meant whatever was going on behind the scenes was very much worth pondering.
"Sarutobi. It's time for the meeting."
Danzo brushed past him, leaving only those words—without even stopping to look at him.
To Danzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi was no longer the dazzling Third Hokage. His only remaining value lay in his combat strength and his influence among those Leaf ninja who had defected to their side.
"Hah... never mind."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. However Danzo had gotten his hands on such a huge sum—embezzlement, corruption, whatever it was—it was all in the past. Bringing up old matters again was meaningless.
When he reached the council chamber, he found it already crowded.
Genma Shiranui, Aoba Yamashiro, Raido Namiashi, Ibiki Morino, Ebisu, Hayate Gekko...
Yamato, Sai, Fu Yamanaka, Torune Aburame, Terai...
"Looks like everyone's here."
Danzo clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
Feeling the eyes of the assembled ninja settle on him, Danzo's mouth curled up slightly—only for him to consciously suppress it.
He relished this feeling, yet was unwilling to show any restlessness or delight.
"The previous assault plan has been in the works for three days. Now it's time for everyone to cast the final vote."
At these words, shock showed on the faces of the ninja present. Some were elated, some anxious, some sorrowful, some pained.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened.
Danzo's so-called assault plan was formally titled the "False Leaf Destruction Plan." Its purpose was not to defeat the Three Sannin and retake the Leaf, but to cause a certain degree of destruction, to prove the existence of these "true heirs to the Will of Fire," and to make a name for themselves.
"I object!" the former Third Hokage declared his view on the spot.
Danzo gave a cold snort, eyes narrowing slightly, hiding his killing intent very deep. "You think you're still Hokage? You want to exercise a veto?"
The only reason he had been willing to save the Third was for the man's residual influence at the time.
Now that usefulness had been exhausted. If the man continued to exist, the harm would outweigh the good!
With that thought, Danzo turned to the other attendees, his tone heavy and domineering: "After this greatest Chunin Exam in history, the False Leaf regime will be thoroughly consolidated. We will never have another chance!"
"Or would you rather spend the rest of your lives as rogue ninja, with people pointing their fingers at your backs? From now until you die of old age—nothing but rats in a stinking ditch, never seeing the sunlight?"
Danzo still had a modicum of self-awareness.
Compared with the Three Sannin in the prime of their strength, he was far inferior in both visible power and future potential.
The Chunin Exam was the only opportunity—and the last.
"Everyone, cast your votes. Don't let a certain someone influence you."
Danzo's loaded remark seemed to hint at something.
At those words, many ninja clenched their fists.
On the surface, this meeting was democratic and equal, but in truth, whoever dared to vote against it would surely face retribution.
Settling scores after the fact—that was exactly the sort of thing Danzo was capable of!
The result came out quickly.
Against: three votes.
In favor: thirty-five votes.
The three who voted against were, naturally, Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two advisors.
Though Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were somewhat swayed by Danzo's proposal, they were not Danzo after all; deep down, they still valued their long years of friendship.
"Excellent."
Danzo smiled coldly and said, "Start preparing from now on. When the Leaf holds the Chunin Exam and its forces are spread thin, unable to look after themselves, we will crush them in a single strike!"
Scattered applause rang out through the council chamber.
The next day.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado died suddenly of illness and were hastily cremated.
Hiruzen Sarutobi vanished without a trace, his whereabouts a mystery.
...
The Leaf. Tea Street.
"Tch..."
Wang Xu bit into a takoyaki ball, lifted his head toward the Hokage Rock not far off, and made a strange face.
"The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi—the man they called the Hero of Shinobi—and he's come to such a sorry end."
"This Danzo Shimura, his head may not work too well, but his heart is genuinely ruthless... The Third gave so much for him, and he doesn't spare a thought for past kindness or friendship. He just acts, just like that."
He ordered a cup of hot tea at a drink shop and sipped it as he walked, and in no time he had put the matter out of his mind.
In truth, if not for the fluctuation of the mental brand buried deep in Danzo's consciousness, plus the sudden influx of resource points in his inventory, Wang Xu likely wouldn't have paid the matter any mind at all.
"Tch tch... the Leaf these days is truly full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers."
One stroll down the street, and Wang Xu had certainly broadened his horizons.
Of the five members of the Akatsuki group, apart from Gaara playing his true self, the others had all used transformation jutsu and disguises to pass themselves off as youngsters.
Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Kakuzu, Hidan...
They had all turned themselves into twelve- or thirteen-year-old boys and were wandering the streets of the Leaf, without the slightest awareness that they were spies.
Still, the Akatsuki had not yet done anything outrageous, and their presence was faint. It was entirely understandable that their vigilance was a little weak.
The four great ninja powers—Cloud, Mist, Stone, and Sand—were more restrained. They had merely sent their elite genin and put them through intensive crash training.
As for the minor ninja factions, they had abandoned all shame.
A former elite jonin, demoted all the way to genin for a mistake—and given his good attitude in correcting his errors, he was specially approved to take part in this Chunin Exam...
A certain special jonin vanished under mysterious circumstances; the village chief discovered his twin brother, who had been wandering abroad for years, and specially promoted him to genin, dropping him straight into the competition...
A genin who had trained for fifty years and never once taken the Chunin Exam...
Many contestants from minor factions were "genin" of this sort—and some shameless "Kage" rolled up their sleeves and wrote their own names on the registration forms.
Small villages no one had ever heard of—Hoshigakure, Kusagakure, Takigakure, Yukigakure, Yugakure—sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, all of them coming out to compete.
They wanted to show off their presence before the daimyo of every nation and the top-tier powerhouses, to display their own worth.
The higher their value, the better their chances of serving as dogs for these big shots.
Wang Xu understood their thinking perfectly well, but he did not climb onto some moral high ground to comment on it.
After all, not everyone had a cheat ability. Many people whom fate had never smiled upon were already exhausting every ounce of their strength just to stay alive.
...
In the blink of an eye, the long-hyped "greatest Chunin Exam in history" finally arrived.
A total of 590 contestants, hailing from more than forty different ninja factions.