It was now three in the morning, but the lights in the Hokage's office were still on.
Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura sat behind the desk, their expressions grave.
Before the desk, an Anbu knelt on one knee, reporting, "Hokage-sama, Danzo-sama entered the Sunagakure delegation's residence half an hour ago. There has been no movement or signal since."
Hiruzen's voice was low. "Understood. Continue monitoring all activity at the Sunagakure's residence."
"Yes, sir!"
The Anbu acknowledged the order and vanished from the room in a body-flicker.
The three elders' faces grew even more severe.
Koharu spoke up, "Hiruzen, Danzo visiting Senki Ryuji at this hour is definitely suspicious!"
"..."
Hiruzen opened his mouth to speak but ultimately fell silent.
He took a tobacco box from his drawer, retrieved some leaves, rolled them, and lit them in his pipe.
Puff~
He took a deep drag and slowly exhaled, the heaviness in his heart easing slightly.
"I believe Danzo has his reasons for this."
Two days prior, a Shinobi Academy's teacher had privately reported something to him: Danzo had secretly arranged a solo meeting with the Suna delegation leader, Senki Ryuji.
The source of this information was a teacher who had inadvertently overheard a conversation between two Sunagakure's instructors at the Academy.
Danzo meeting Ryuji wasn't inherently strange, but a secret, private rendezvous raised red flags.
While Hiruzen himself wasn't overly concerned, the two village elders serving as advisors deeply distrusted Danzo. As former teammates, they knew his character well… devious, ruthless, and ambitious, capable of anything.
Thus, they had secretly monitored the situation.
From Danzo's messenger being turned away by Ryuji that morning to Danzo personally visiting late at night, nothing had escaped their surveillance.
"It's better to be safe than sorry, Hiruzen. In some matters, you are too lenient," Homura cautioned.
Koharu added her agreement, "If we are wrong about Danzo, we can compensate him later. But what if…"
"Have you considered," Hiruzen suddenly interrupted Koharu, "that this might be intentional disinformation released by Sunagakure to sow discord among us?"
His question left the other two speechless.
Because that, too, was a possibility.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Hiruzen sighed. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I just don't wish to act on distrust towards a comrade. But proceed as you've suggested this time. I will speak with Danzo properly afterward."
In truth, Hiruzen guessed correctly.
The information had been deliberately leaked by Ryuji.
But his goal wasn't to sow discord. It was to divert the full attention of Konoha's leadership and intelligence apparatus toward the Sunagakure's delegation residence.
His plan succeeded. The Konoha's higher-ups and intelligence forces were now focused entirely on the Sunagakure's residence.
Simultaneously...
In a single-room apartment near the western outskirts of Konoha Village.
Kuro, confirming the target had ceased breathing, formed a hand seal and mentally communicated, "Master, the target has been eliminated."
"Understood."
With those words, Ryuji's consciousness took over Kuro's body.
He quickly assessed the surroundings, confirmed the situation, and opened a spatial portal.
Yomatsuya stepped out.
He glanced at the child lying on the bed, which is identical to himself, with a detached expression. "I think you're overcomplicating things. It's just an unnoticed child. Is such an elaborate operation necessary?"
"Better safe than sorry," Ryuji's voice replied lightly through Kuro. "From this moment on, you are Yomatsuya, the Konoha's Shinobi Academy Student."
As he spoke, Yomatsuya's expression grew vacant. His body swayed and collapsed.
His memories were sealed in the deepest recesses of his mind. Unless Ryuji awakened them, he himself would never know he was a puppet created by Ryuji.
He would only believe himself to be the Konoha's Shinobi Academy Student, 'Yomatsuya'.
Ryuji collected the original Yomatsuya's body into his Personal Space and placed the puppet Yomatsuya on the bed.
After completing this, he returned control of the body to Kuro.
Sunagakure's Delegation Residence.
Ryuji shifted from a kneeling position to sitting cross-legged. He rested his right elbow on his knee, fist supporting his chin, feigning deep thought.
As his consciousness fully returned to his own body, he looked up at Danzo.
The other man was calmly sipping his tea, unhurriedly waiting for Ryuji to finish his 'deliberations'.
Seeing this, Ryuji smiled. "Danzo-dono, I'm afraid Sunagakure cannot accept your 'gift.'"
Danzo was taken aback, seemingly not expecting this answer. He asked instinctively, "Why?"
"Because I don't believe in windfalls."
In reality, it was simply that he didn't believe Danzo.
It was true… in the original work, Danzo was ambitious and coveted the Hokage's seat.
He even withheld his forces during Pain's assault on Konoha to achieve that goal.
But there was a prerequisite: the Hokage at that time was Tsunade. The current Hokage was Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Although Danzo and Hiruzen were often at odds, they were childhood friends. They had grown up together, played and competed since youth, shared countless life-and-death experiences, and were comrades who entrusted their lives to one another.
Would Danzo scheme to harm the Third Hokage for the position?
If he were that kind of man, he wouldn't have established Root, becoming the shadow that bore Hiruzen's burdens.
Establishing Root and operating in the shadows meant any contributions to the village would go unrecognized. No one would remember him.
Choosing that path was tantamount to forfeiting any future chance of becoming Hokage.
Moreover, Danzo was inherently paranoid and cautious.
Even if he truly harbored ambitions to usurp Hiruzen, he would never reveal his entire plan to an outsider from another village.
Even if his scheme required Ryuji's cooperation, he would never lay all his cards on the table.
Of course, these were just objective analyses.
The direct reason was that Ryuji simply had no desire to cooperate with someone like Danzo.
Danzo was shrewd, but he was also unscrupulous, sacrificing any principle or morality to achieve his ends.
Betrayal, burning bridges, and stabbing allies in the back were standard operating procedure for him.
Cooperating with such a person was like making a pact with a tiger.
Hearing Ryuji's answer, Danzo fell silent.
He found the situation increasingly troublesome.
As the leader of Root, he lacked substantial bargaining chips, relying instead on his usual tactic of grand promises.
But if the other party wasn't biting, he was out of options.
However, where there's a will, there's a way.
Danzo didn't give up. He launched into a lengthy, persuasive spiel.
Ryuji, committed to maintaining the charade, played along.
Time passed slowly. The sky began to lighten in the east.
Finally tired of the act, Ryuji slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Danzo-dono, cooperation requires sincerity. You're offering empty promises, trying to get something for nothing. That's wishful thinking!"
"This is a tangible…"
"If you continue with this charade, then please leave. I won't entertain this any further."
With that, Ryuji turned and walked away, leaving Danzo sitting alone, bewildered.
'What just happened?'
'Weren't we negotiating smoothly just moments ago? How did it collapse so suddenly?'
Though unsure of the cause, Danzo understood his plan had failed. He could only depart with regret.
In truth, his scheme had aimed to kill three birds with one stone:
First, lure Sunagakure into the war to help Konoha achieve a swift victory.
Second, use this to attack Hiruzen, forcing him to step down.
Third, after Hiruzen's resignation, pin the earlier agreement on Hiruzen as a personal blunder, then immediately turn on Sunagakure to seize the spoils of victory.
Finally, he would ride the wave of triumphant prestige to become the Fourth Hokage.
Yes, Danzo was willing to undermine the Third Hokage.
But his goal wasn't necessarily to become Hokage himself; it was to prove he was superior to Hiruzen.
Danzo and Hiruzen had met during a bullying incident in their childhood. A young Hiruzen was being tormented by village kids when Danzo happened by and intervened on his behalf.
That's how they became acquainted.
However...
Back then, Hiruzen was naive and inexperienced, while Danzo had an air of an elder brother.
Danzo assumed their relationship would always follow that dynamic.
But reality developed in the opposite direction.
They grew up together, trained together, but in everything… childhood games, academy spars, mission performance, and ultimately, the selection of Hokage, Danzo lost to the little brother he once protected.
This complete reversal of his expectations created a significant psychological gap in Danzo. He harbored a deep-seated grudge, constantly seeking to prove he was not inferior to Hiruzen.
Thus, when Hiruzen became Hokage, Danzo founded Root.
He believed that by making greater contributions than the Hokage, he could prove his point.
But as time passed, he realized this was merely wishful thinking.
To prove he was better, he had to become Hokage.
Unfortunately, this plan had failed before it even began.
Seeing Danzo leave the Sunagakure's residence unharmed, the Anbu secretly monitoring the area withdrew to report.
Not long after, Kuro also returned.
Ryuji, meanwhile, had long since gone to sleep.
Everything was calm, as if nothing had ever happened.
…
(A/N: Regarding Danzo's desire to become Hokage:
In the original manga and novels, during the Third Hokage's tenure, Danzo never actively sought the Hokage position.
While he disagreed with Hiruzen's philosophy and wouldn't admit it verbally, he acknowledged in his heart that Hiruzen was stronger. He even used Hiruzen's name to intimidate others during negotiations.
Simultaneously, he was deeply dissatisfied, always wanting to prove himself superior to Hiruzen. Thus, he constantly acted in his own way, trying to use his methods as proof.
However, anime filler content portrayed Danzo as rather foolish, even having him send assassins.)