Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 106 The Undercurrents in Konoha

Danzo, who emerged from the Root base, is rapidly moving towards Hyuga Kanan.

Danzo realized he might not be able to defeat Hyuga Kanan, and then went silent. Neither Danzo himself nor his Root subordinates showed up in the Hyuga clan's territory during this period, seemingly having completely lost interest in Kanan. But this was merely a cover for his true purpose; he needed to subdue Kanan immediately, otherwise he would have no chance later.

Since the battle between Hyuga Kanan and Sarutobi Hiruzen, no one in Konoha Village has bothered Hyuga Kanan again, and the whole village has become eerily quiet.

That battle was inconclusive; neither fighter ever truly faced off to the death, only exchanging blows using taijutsu. However, it did intimidate other high-ranking members of Konoha, especially Danzo's Root organization.

Konoha is currently in a state of great turmoil. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire is putting constant pressure on Konoha, wanting to quickly determine the identity of Sakumo Hatake as the successor to the Hokage, while Hiruzen Sarutobi is constantly delaying, unwilling to choose a successor so easily.

Many people and families were watching and waiting. Danzo believed that the opportunity had arrived.

Many established clans and powerful ninjas are well aware of this. As the Daimyo continues to exert pressure, Sakumo Hatake's prestige is rising. In many people's eyes, Sakumo Hatake's succession to the Hokage position is basically a foregone conclusion. Moreover, Tsunade, the Third Hokage's disciple, seems to support Sakumo Hatake's succession. It seems that the entire Hidden Leaf Village is about to welcome a new Hokage.

The era when the group led by the Third Hokage was the decision-making body of Konoha, and could freely arrange and mobilize all the ninjas of Konoha, seems to be coming to an end.

Previously, almost all departments in Konoha were staffed by personnel placed by Hiruzen Sarutobi's group. Even the medical department, under Tsunade's control, had been infiltrated by many members of the Sarutobi clan, and Tsunade had no way to refuse them. Other departments were essentially under the control of Hiruzen Sarutobi's group. Naturally, clans and ninjas who didn't benefit from this situation hoped to break this pattern.

Although Danzo was also a member of Hiruzen Sarutobi's group, it didn't mean he was willing to stay under Hiruzen Sarutobi's command forever. He was determined to become Hokage, so he needed to gain the support of more clans and ninjas.

Danzo now believes that if he can subdue Hyuga Kanan, it will be equivalent to gaining the support of the entire Hyuga clan, and he will have a better chance of ascending to the position he longs for in the subsequent turmoil.

Hyuga Kanan stood quietly by the lake, his aura growing increasingly lonely. Having just experienced the prosperity of Konoha, he was able to better appreciate the elevation of his state of mind and gain a clearer understanding of the path ahead.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" Several masked Root ninjas appeared around Hyuga Kanan, forming a triangle that surrounded him. The leader of the Root ninjas spoke in a cold voice.

"Hyuga Kanan, Lord Danzo requests your presence!"

Hyuga Kanan remained standing there quietly, seemingly oblivious to the other's words. His brows were slightly furrowed, as the disturbance from these Root ninjas interrupted his state of deep contemplation.

Seeing that Hyuga Kanan completely ignored them, the masked Root ninjas clearly lost patience and prepared to forcibly take Hyuga Kanan away. In the hearts of the Root ninjas, Lord Danzo was the savior of Konoha, and as long as one was a Konoha resident, one had to obey Lord Danzo's orders.

Hyuga Kanan's expression and attitude made the Root ninjas feel that he completely disregarded Lord Danzo's orders, and even seemed to be defying them. To the Root ninjas, this was a blatant disregard for Lord Danzo's authority in Konoha.

Several Root ninjas around immediately drew their long swords, clearly preparing to take action and capture Hyuga Kanan to deliver to Lord Danzo. In their minds, there was no such thing as not being able to attack ninjas from their own village; as long as they perfectly carried out Lord Danzo's orders, what happened afterward was none of their concern.

When the ANBU ninja monitoring Hyuga Kanan discovered that the Root ninjas were preparing to attack him, they could no longer remain hidden. Their orders were to prevent anyone from interfering with Hyuga Kanan, and now that the Root ninjas were clearly preparing to attack him, they could no longer simply watch from the shadows.

Soon, the group appeared directly next to the Root ninja. The ANBU ninja leading the group appeared in front of the Root ninja and reached out to stop him.

And so, the two teams of masked ninjas stood facing off next to Hyuga Kanan. Clearly, they had both sent people to report the situation to their superiors, and their current standoff was to await further orders.

Hyuga Kanan clearly had no interest in watching their standoff. After glancing at the group indifferently, he prepared to leave. He was extremely displeased that the Root ninjas had disturbed him, but he suppressed his anger, not wanting to get involved with Konoha and cause himself any more trouble. However, if they provoked and disturbed him again, he would not back down and would eliminate them all.

Seeing Hyuga Kanan preparing to leave, the Root ninjas disregarded the ANBU ninjas beside them and attacked him directly. They didn't care about the Hokage's direct ANBU; they only knew that Lord Danzo's order was to bring Hyuga Kanan to see him. If he had stayed quietly, they would have given the ANBU team face and awaited Lord Danzo's next order. But since their target was about to leave, they had no such scruples; they only knew that they had to carry out Lord Danzo's orders.

Several figures, wielding ninja swords, charged towards Hyuga Kanan, intending to injure him and then bring him to Lord Danzo. The ANBU ninjas attempting to stop them clearly hadn't anticipated the Root ninjas' immediate attack and failed to react in time.

Seeing the Root ninja charging towards him, Hyuga Kanan's suppressed anger finally erupted. In Kanan's eyes, they were being utterly shameless. He had yielded earlier to avoid future trouble, but they had clearly taken his concession as weakness. Kanan had fought Hiruzen Sarutobi before; they couldn't possibly be unaware of that. Their audacity in attacking now proved that his deterrent effect on Konoha was insufficient, so Kanan no longer needed to show Konoha any respect.

Hyuga Kanan was completely wrong. However, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't tell his subordinates about their fight, and the ninjas present couldn't spread the word that even the Hokage himself couldn't defeat Kanan. Therefore, those who knew were silenced. After all, they needed to protect the reputation of Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was touted as Konoha's strongest Hokage.

Even if Hyuga Kanan knew, he wouldn't care. Konoha's constant harassment was really annoying Hyuga Kanan. In particular, being interrupted in his enlightenment had already made Hyuga Kanan quite angry. Now that they dared to take action directly, he didn't need to suppress his anger.

Hyuga Kanan didn't even glance at the Root ninjas. He had already sensed that Hiruzen Sarutobi was using the Konoha Barrier Technique to observe him, but since he hadn't given any orders to stop him, he didn't need to give him any face.

With a casual wave of his hand, Hyuga Kanan sent the lake water forming a sword shape that shot towards several Root ninjas. In the blink of an eye, the water swords pierced through the Root ninjas and pinned them to the ground.

This was merely Hyuga Kanan casually using the power of the water element rules. Hyuga Kanan was now extremely adept at using the water element rules; he could mobilize the surrounding water elements to attack whenever he wanted.

The ANBU ninjas trembled slightly as they looked at the Root ninjas pinned to the ground. They hadn't even had time to react; they had only seen several of them instantly knocked down. This proved that if Hyuga Kanan wanted to attack them, they wouldn't have had a chance to react either.

Hyuga Kanan didn't even glance at the people on the ground, preparing to leave. He lifted his foot, then slowly lowered it again, looking in one direction. He knew the other side meant no good; these people were clearly there to pave the way for later actions.

Soon, more than ten Root ninjas appeared around them, led by Danzo. The dozen or so Root ninjas completely blocked all of Hyuga Kanan's escape routes and stood around waiting for Danzo's orders.

Hyuga Kanan frowned slightly, but still didn't leave immediately. He knew that if he left right away, he would be bothered to death by this Ninja Darkness. At the same time, he also wanted to know what tricks the other party was planning to play this time.

Danzo arrived a short distance in front of Hyuga Kanan, glanced at the few Root ninjas lying on the ground, and then threatened Hyuga Kanan:

"Hyuga Kanan, do you know your crime? As a member of Konoha, you are so cruel, directly harming Konoha ninjas."

Upon hearing Danzo's words, Hyuga Kanan frowned even more deeply. He roughly knew what Danzo was up to, but the other party had clearly underestimated him. If Danzo insisted on pursuing him relentlessly, then he was truly prepared to eliminate him today. He disliked trouble, but if the other party dared to set his sights on him, then he could tolerate a little trouble.

"Oh, so what are you planning to do? I'm giving you one last piece of advice: don't bother me anymore. I don't want to have anything to do with Konoha anymore, so it's best if you don't bother me anymore."

Upon hearing Hyuga Kanan's words, Danzo revealed a smug smile. He had been thinking about how to recruit Hyuga Kanan, and finally decided to first frame him for a crime, then use the promise of helping him with these troubles to persuade him to join Root. Once he was in Root, he would have plenty of ways to control him.

"Hyuga Kanan, you have harmed Konoha ninjas with cruel methods. Everyone, capture him and bring him back to Root for personal interrogation."

"Yes, Lord Danzo!"

The Root ninjas around immediately drew their swords and quickly approached Hyuga Kanan.