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Chapter 927 : A Wild Beast!
🕑 Added 2025-07-02 00:52:18 +0000 UTC“I want to see what an ancient expert looks like.”
Hiruzen's statement caught everyone, including Danzo, off guard. It went against everything they had discussed so far!
Danzo frowned, “That's too risky. You may be walking into a trap, a trap far more dangerous than the one I stepped into! If Akuro is involved with Akatsuki, the entire rogue organization might be awaiting you.”
Hiruzen chuckled, “Akatsuki… They undoubtedly possess some formidable figures. However, will they be willing to take me on after what I did against Orochimaru? The fall in my strength is a closely guarded secret that very few in the village know.”
Since Hiruzen hadn't been in a fight after the Konoha Crush assault, the rest of the world was still speculating what strength he possessed. The few spies they inserted into Konoha again were tasked to find that very answer. Unfortunately, Hiruzen never displayed his strength openly and was protected by several Anbu squads at all times.
The only way to spy on him was when he was training. Needless to say, Hiruzen was aware of it as well. Hence, he took some inspiration from the training ground across Fujin's house. It had a sufficient amount of seals to ensure neither Zetsu nor the mysterious Uchiha could spy on him undetected!
Hiruzen continued, “Besides, it's not as if I'll go alone. Kakashi and Fujin will accompany me, along with an entire division. In the end, the Land of Fire is our territory.”
Danzo still didn't agree with his old friend. He said, “A thousand ninjas might force Akatsuki to retreat, but if Akuro is an ancient expert, he may not necessarily do the same. His record against Kumo shows he isn't afraid of numbers. Your reputation may also mean nothing if he's unaware of you.”
His frown deepened as he added, “Besides, that may be the least of our worries. If Fujin is involved with him and betrays us, we may lose the entire division along with you and Kakashi! There's also the possibility of this being a bait to lure out our forces so that our village could be attacked.”
Hiruzen replied without hesitation, his quick reply indicating he had already considered these points, “The village will still have Tsunade, Jiraiya and Guy, along with most of our ninjas. That is sufficient strength to defend our village.
I won't ignore your concerns about Fujin, but that doesn't mean I agree with your instincts. Fujin couldn't have known all your hidden abilities, nor could he track your movements without being in the village. I'll keep an eye on him just in case, but I'm not so concerned about him.
As for Akuro… You missed something rather simple due to being so emotionally involved in the entire affair. If this was you during the Second or Third Great Ninja Wars, you'd have noticed this anomaly right away.”
Danzo furrowed his brows, ‘Anomaly? What did I miss?’
Hiruzen asked, “Don't you think his actions resemble a wild beast? A beast who overly relies on his instincts…”
Hiruzen's words forced Danzo to recall every information about Akuro that he possessed. His mind went into overdrive as he analyzed them repeatedly and slowly connected the dots. Slowly, his eyes widened in disbelief as he muttered, “How did I miss this?”
His tone became grave as he continued speaking softly, “Repeatedly targeting Kumo's elites and even targeting their headquarters and humiliating them… Yet, he never once ran into Ay… Almost as if he's purposefully avoiding him… His words aren't in sync with his actions. If he truly wanted to fight Ay, he should have clashed with him countless times by now. Yet, the two haven't met even once.
Is he instinctively afraid of Ay? No, that's not right. It should be more along the lines of his instincts warning him against facing someone as strong as Ay when he's still recovering his strength. Are you suggesting he instinctively feels the danger and unintentionally avoids running into Ay at all times?”
Hiruzen nodded, “That's the only logical explanation I can come up with. It can also explain why he killed you. If he only wanted Shisui's eye, he could have directly demanded it from you to display your compliance. Between the eye and your life, the choice would have been obvious.
Yet, he didn't do so and suddenly changed his mind. It implies what you were scheming was a danger he couldn't overlook. It also implies Akuro is still significantly weaker than Ay. Against you, his instincts simply didn't sense the same danger as he already possessed the abilities to counter you with little trouble.”
Danzo felt conflicted at Hiruzen's speculations. He said, “If you're correct, you're speculating he won't stay around to face you.”
Hiruzen nodded, “Fujin's Wind Domain is quite terrifying. Even though I replicated it to a small extent, I couldn't scale it up to his level even before my soul was injured. It counters Akuro's techniques perfectly. Only the Lightning Dragon may pose a threat. His Lightning Chakra Mode will be heavily restricted inside the Wind Domain.
Even if he can somehow fight in such unfavorable conditions, he'll still be restricted by Kakashi and others. And, there's still my Reaper Death Seal. The danger he'll feel should be greater than what his instincts warn him due to Ay.”
Everyone contemplated Hiruzen's words carefully. Though not all completely agreed with him, they didn't have any good points to counter his view. Tsunade asked, “Do you want to reclaim the Lightning Crystal Vein?”
Hiruzen nodded, “The vein caught his eye too quickly. It might assist in recovering his strength, a rather terrifying prospect. We can't let him occupy it so easily.
Besides, this is our country. Turning a blind eye to someone else stealing our resources will damage our reputation and embolden other villages. Not something we can afford at the moment.”
He sighed, “Unfortunately, there's no way to defend the vein from Akuro even if we reclaim it. The ninjas responsible for defending it in the future will have to retreat immediately if Akuro attacks the vein or attempts to steal the mined resources.
If he rarely does so, we can turn a blind eye to it and perhaps use the situation to lay a trap or two. If we have to kill him in the future, we should get a better understanding of his instincts. That said, if he becomes too unscrupulous, we'll directly destroy the vein!”
This time, Danzo didn't disagree with his old comrade.
Tsunade said, “Alright. I'll call Fujin and Jiraiya back. I'll also summon a council meeting to inform the remaining clans of the danger and give the order to create a new division. I'll leave the composition of the army to you.”
Hiruzen nodded and looked at Danzo, “Hang on for a bit longer. It's best if the Clan Leaders learn the situation from you. But, don't mention any doubts on Fujin in front of them. It'll affect our cohesion in the future.”
Danzo nodded, “Alright. Don't worry about reanimating me. As long as Konoha needs me, I'll assist you. I'd have also liked to accompany you, but I'm afraid he'd sense me and realize all the secrets he mentioned to me are now leaked.”
Considering how willingly Akuro had given him the information, Danzo believed Akuro wouldn't worry about those secrets being leaked. However, as an old schemer, he wanted to keep his enemy in as much darkness as possible.
——
In a hidden base on an uninhabited island in the Land of Water, a black tag suddenly flared! Fujin raised his head and gazed at the tag and thought, ‘That's weird… It's been over an hour since Danzo's soul collapsed. Why did Tsunade take so long to summon me? Does it take so long for the seals to dissipate? Or did they reanimate him already?’
A mischievous smile appeared on his lips as he contemplated the results of his speculations. He thought, ‘Things will be interesting once I return. Anyway, there's no hurry. Flying from here to Konoha will take 7 to 8 hours. I'll continue my work here and teleport over later…’
Putting the order for his immediate return to Konoha to the back of his mind, Fujin continued working on the Edo Tensei jutsu.
——
“GIANT RASENGAN!!!”
An enthusiastic blonde teenager yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran while holding a Rasengan that was twice its normal size, his opponent was none other than Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannins of Konoha.
As Naruto reached close to Jiraiya, he smashed the Rasengan towards him. The intense rotating sphere of chakra was merely inches away from Jiraiya's abdomen when Jiraiya's figure suddenly disappeared.
Before he could understand what was happening, Naruto was tripped. He quickly tried to regain his balance while ensuring he didn't accidentally smash the Giant Rasengan into anything. Unfortunately, before he could control himself, a hand grabbed the back of his head and smashed him into the ground, his surprised scream muffled by the dirt.
He lost control over the Giant Rasengan, which hit the ground and created a powerful explosion! Thankfully, he was pulled out of the explosion's range by Jiraiya, who flickered along with Naruto onto a branch a couple dozen meters behind him.
Comments
Stefan_Ov3rdose
Its technically a day off, but he is writing so we shall see...
Abz_jm
Any chapter today?🙏🏾
Ren
Hiruzen is so smart!!! Akuro will flee so far away not even Fujin will be able to sense him mhm mhm
