pdf-ebookys Chapter 138 Overwhelmed
Chapter 138 Overwhelmed
Chapter 138 Overwhelmed
In the barbecue restaurant, the two chatted about their recent lives and couldn't help but marvel at each other's exciting mission experiences.
More than half an hour later, feeling that they had finished digesting their food, the two helped each other out of the barbecue restaurant.
They had just stepped outside when they overheard a quiet conversation between two people in a nearby corner: "Have you heard? Lord Danzo is collecting Sharingan from the Uchiha clan."
"What's so strange about that? I've heard that many Uchiha ninjas have mysteriously disappeared after going on missions. Tell me—"
"How pathetic, the mighty number one clan in Konoha, actually—"
Taiichi and Kakashi exchanged a glance and smiled unconsciously. It seemed that the rumors were working well, as people were already spontaneously discussing them so quickly.
Rumors, no matter what they start out, will become increasingly distorted and exaggerated once they spread.
Moreover, Taichi and Kakashi spread all sorts of different kinds of rumors. Once these rumors spread, who would care about Sakumo's original rumors?
Moreover, only Taiyi knew that not all of these rumors were false; many of them were actually true.
When Danzo learns of these rumors, he'll really have no interest in caring about Sakumo anymore; he'll probably be busy cleaning up his own mess.
The two staggered toward the training ground. Their chakra was almost used up for the day, and they couldn't waste the remaining time, so they decided to practice their swordsmanship.
That night, in a vast underground space in Konoha, the ninjas there were people who had abandoned everything—their names, emotions, and even their own lives.
They accept all of this, whether willingly or unwillingly. Nourished by darkness, they transform themselves into tree roots, deeply embedded in the earth, supporting the lush trees under the sunlight.
This is the root.
Of course, this was only the original intention behind the establishment of the Root, but whether the Root still adheres to the original idea as it has developed to this day is a matter of opinion.
At that moment, a ninja was reporting to Danzo what he had gathered that day.
At first, Danzo was quite satisfied with what he heard. His main task during this period was to spread and monitor rumors about Sakumo Hatake in the village.
The rumors had a significant effect; now, not everyone in the village, but the vast majority of villagers knew about them. As expected, Hatake Sakumo's reputation suffered a major blow as a result of these rumors.
In Konoha today, there are no longer any voices suggesting that Sakumo could become the Fourth Hokage.
Just as Danzo was gloating over his methods, the next words from the reporting ninja plunged him into an icy abyss.
"There are some rumors circulating in the village about you, sir. According to our investigation, they just started today."
"For example, human experimentation—abandoning comrades—murdering fellow village ninjas—"
"These are the records of rumors we have collected. Please take a look, sir."
Danzo snatched the scroll from the ninja's hand, his trembling hand breaking the seal. The information recorded in the first column of the scroll made his pupils shrink sharply – Wood Release human experiment.
After Danzo had finished reading through the contents of the scroll, cold sweat had soaked the back of his clothes.
This isn't a rumor; it's clearly a direct attack on his weak points. He's done almost everything in this case.
Danzo slammed the scroll to the ground, his aged face contorted with rage. The veins on his cane bulged, and his voice, sharp and venomous like a poisoned dagger, rang out: "Investigate! Dig three feet into the ground and drag those rats out!"
The Root ninja kneeling on the ground had cold sweat beading on his forehead: "Sir, things happened suddenly. By the time we learned of these rumors, it was already evening, and the people spreading them had already left."
"Useless!" Danzo kicked the ninja who was reporting to the emperor to the ground, a cold light flashing in his single eye. "Immediately mobilize all the hidden agents and focus on monitoring densely populated places such as taverns, hospitals, and markets."
He suddenly stopped, slamming his cane heavily on the ground: "Especially Hatake Sakumo, look at what he's been up to lately!"
Seeing that Danzo had no further instructions, the reporting ninja immediately nodded and said "Yes," then got up and quickly left to arrange the surveillance work for tomorrow.
Once the ninja had completely left, Danzo waved his hand, and three ninjas wearing bird-beak masks emerged from the shadows behind him.
"Son, take some men and disguise them as civilians to infiltrate the market and see if you can find any clues."
"Chou, go to the archives and copy down the list of everyone who has had access to classified documents in the last three months."
"Yin, go and find out who the Hokage has been in contact with recently."
"Go ahead and report back to me immediately after you've done it!"
Three figures came silently and left without a sound, without uttering a single word, as if they were born merely tools to carry out a mission.
Once all his subordinates had disappeared, Danzo abruptly overturned the desk. The porcelain cup shattered against the stone wall, just like Danzo's shattered reason at that moment.
These rumors are so accurate that they even mention things he himself had almost forgotten.
(Actually, this was completely accidental. Danzo had done so many bad things that even Taichi's fabricated rumors actually came true.)
After much thought, Danzo concluded that the only person who knew so much was Hiruzen Sarutobi. After all, aside from the extremely private matters, all of these things were done under the Hokage's orders.
"Hiruzen—" Danzo gazed towards the Hokage Building, as if he could see the Hokage reviewing documents through the walls. "You think you can stop me with this kind of method? I'm not Sakumo Hatake!"
Clearly, Danzo had identified the Third Hokage as the instigator of the rumors. Although he sent people to investigate the leak of information, in his view, the only one with the motive to do so was Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The next day, Taichi and Kakashi did not meet up; instead, they went their separate ways as agreed the day before.
But today, shortly after Taiyi separated into the third group, a memory suddenly appeared in Taiyi's mind.
Rewind one hour, and Taichi, the shadow clone, is chatting with an old man in the market.
The two chatted enthusiastically, like old friends despite their age difference, but the topic gradually shifted towards the recent rumors circulating in the village, guided by Taiyi.
"It's such a pity about Lord Sakumo. No ninja is immune to failure. He even gave up a mission for his comrades. I've seen many people say that he doesn't deserve to be a ninja."
"Who can argue with that? I cook every day and I still burn my hands, let alone a ninja mission. I think they're just targeting me."
"I heard there's been some gossip about Elder Danzo lately?"
"Danzo? I don't know him."
"You're so ignorant, aren't you? Let me tell you—human experimentation—abandoning your companions—"
As the clone Taichi recounted his story, the uncle's mouth gaped wider and wider, his eyes gleaming with the excitement of knowing the gossip of the higher-ups. This attracted even more listeners from the surrounding area.
Just as Taiyi was getting more and more into his speech, a veiled gaze swept over him from a corner not far away, startling him out of his reverie.
It seemed he had been noticed. Taiyi glanced discreetly at the corner but didn't see anyone noteworthy. Knowing he shouldn't linger, he made an excuse and left the crowd despite everyone's attempts to stop him.
With his chakra senses activated, Taiichi hadn't gone far when he noticed someone following him.
With a nonchalant smile, Taiyi's shadow clone twisted and turned until it reached a corner. Seeing that the person following him had not yet caught up, it immediately dispelled the clone.
When the follower turned into this corner, he found the alleyway deserted. Only then did he realize that he had been discovered long ago. All his caution and attempts to play the long game had backfired. It turned out that he himself was the clown.
Over here, after Taiichi finished processing the memories transmitted back by his clone, he realized that the rumors had indeed alarmed Danzo. He just hadn't expected it to happen so quickly. It seemed that he would have to be more careful in his subsequent actions.
Taichi then created two more shadow clones, instructing them to inform Kakashi of the situation if they found him, before continuing his journey.
On the other hand, Kakashi's schedule was even more unsuccessful today. He had just stepped out when he keenly sensed that a gaze was subtly sweeping over him from behind.
"We've been targeted so quickly?" Kakashi thought to himself, but his steps remained steady.
He deliberately slowed down and stopped in front of a meatball shop. Under the guise of buying meatballs, he caught a glimpse of a villager wearing a straw hat pretending to select vegetables not far behind him, thanks to the reflection in the shop window. However, the occasional glances that drifted towards him gave away his presence.
Kakashi bit into the dumpling in his mouth, the sweet taste melting on his tongue, but he couldn't suppress the chill rising in his heart.
He turned and came to a narrow alley. Before the people who had followed him arrived, he quickly created two shadow clones, which then immediately transformed into other people.
When the tracker caught up, he saw Kakashi passing by two strangers. Seeing that Kakashi was about to walk out of the narrow alley, the tracker paid no attention to the two strangers and went straight after Kakashi.
In this way, Kakashi would always take advantage of the gaps in the turns to quietly create shadow clones.
After creating enough clones, he "coincidentally" ran into Taiyi, who was also there to train, at Training Ground No. 7, as planned.
The moment the two met, Taiichi realized from Kakashi's expression that he was being followed.
As expected, Danzo was no pushover either. In just one day, he had already arranged the necessary manpower both in the village and in Kakashi's place.
The two exchanged pleasantries on the surface, but secretly they were exchanging information.
"I was discovered this morning when I used a shadow clone to spread rumors. Later, I found out that there were people watching me everywhere in the village, especially in crowded places."
"I was followed as soon as I stepped out of the house. It seems Danzo also suspects that we are spreading rumors." Kakashi suddenly paused halfway through his sentence.
"What's wrong?"
"Sorry, one of my shadow clones got destroyed. Now they know what we're capable of."
"It seems we can't continue tomorrow. The hype has already built up, and if we keep jumping around, it'll be easy for them to find fault with us."
"Um!"
After the two finished their discussion, Taichi stood up and took the initiative to ask Kakashi to spar with him, to which Kakashi readily agreed.
The two then began to spar, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings, under the watchful eyes of their pursuers. A flurry of sword flashes and crisscrossing blade energy filled the air, leaving the observers utterly dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of Taichi and Kakashi, the rumors about Danzo spread rapidly in Konoha Village, and as time went on, these rumors became increasingly outrageous through word of mouth.
The most outrageous claim has even become that Danzo wanted to seize power as the Fourth Hokage through a coup.
Although the rumors spread far and wide, one cannot help but admire Root's efforts. By noon, all the shadow clones created by Taichi and Kakashi had dissipated. To find so many shadow clones in the vast sea of people in Konoha, one can only imagine the immense price Root paid.
However, the situation has now become irreversible, and at least today the two of them no longer need to actively spread the rumors; the villagers have already begun to spread these rumors spontaneously.
In the afternoon, when Danzo learned of the latest report, he could no longer suppress his anger. The gloomy Danzo once again transformed into a master of desktop cleanup, sweeping away everything in front of him. His roar echoed throughout the headquarters for a long time.
"Useless! Useless! What's the use of the village spending so much money to train you? You can't even do this simple thing right, you're all useless!"
After venting his anger, Danzo calmed down once more and stared intently at the ninja who had given the report, his voice icy cold as he asked the question.
"What about Sakumo Hatake?"
"Everything is normal. Sakumo Hatake didn't go out all day. His son, Kakashi Hatake, did go out and wandered around the village. He ran into Taichi Matsushita along the way, and the two sparred together for a long time."
"Have the people who spread the rumors been caught?"
The ninja who was reporting began to tremble again. He had never seen Danzo so angry before, but he could only grit his teeth and say, "The people who spread the rumors are very cautious. They all use shadow clones to do their work. When we made our move to capture them, they all disappeared on their own."
"Click"
A clear cracking sound reached the ears of the reporting ninja, who glanced up and saw it was the sound of Danzo's water cup being crushed.
"Get out!" A voice suppressing anger rang out. The reporting ninja felt as if he had been granted a pardon and immediately got up and left, fearing that if he was even a moment late, Danzo would use him to vent his anger.
In the quiet, dark room, only Danzo's heavy breathing could be heard. Thinking about the reports that Zi, Chou, and Yin had sent earlier, and how no one had recently looked through the classified files, and how the people Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen were all very ordinary, Danzo's feeling of being out of control became increasingly obvious.
Those who do things meticulously and spread rumors are also masters of shadow clones. At this time, Danzo in Konoha could only think of two people with such ability and motivation: Hatake Sakumo and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
If Sakumo Hatake wanted to do it, he should have done it long ago; there was no need to wait until his own rumors had been circulating for so long. Besides, he didn't even know who was spreading his rumors; he had no target at all.
If we eliminate all the impossibilities, the only remaining answer is the correct one.
"Hiruzen! You're starting to use any means necessary to hurt me now!" Danzo muttered to himself. "Since you're so ruthless, then don't blame me for being heartless too."
"son."
"Here." A calm, even indifferent voice rang out, and a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
"Take a few men and go to the village immediately to spread the new news—"
Listening to Danzo's arrangements, even the usually indifferent Konoha had a strange glint in his eyes.
With the Root members led by the son taking to the field, what kind of storm will Konoha, which was already in turmoil, be stirred up next?