Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 229 How Misunderstandings Are Formed

"Ms. Izumi, have you missed me after more than a month?"

After dealing with the two unruly and rebellious girls, Tamura Hiroshi returned to the room where Shimura Izumi was being held, his signature gentle smile still on his face.

Just like Sa before he turned evil.

"Of course I miss you, I miss your blood, your flesh, your organs, everything about you."

With that same insane, creepy smile, Shimura Izumi refused to succumb to the restrictions of the Eight Thousand Spears Mark. He still wanted to devour this damned bastard, savor his flesh and blood, and let him die in endless pain and despair.

"Incorrect answer!"

With a change of expression, Tamura Hao walked over and cupped that smooth cheek again, using his Tsukuyomi eye technique to direct and act out a new script.

Izumi Shimura, on the other hand, had long been accustomed to this and had always maintained his own will and consciousness.

She would never give in to that bastard, not even if it meant death.

Unfortunately, physical reactions were unavoidable, but fortunately she had a thicker patch, which allowed her to endure it for longer.

After a round of self-directed and self-acted scripts, Tamura Hiroshi, seeing that Shimura Izumi hadn't changed much, felt that he needed to try a different approach.

Although he could keep the woman locked up indefinitely, it would be difficult to explain to Lord Danzo.

"Next, we will go to Sunagakure to provide support. Although it's not in Sunagakure itself, it's still over there."

Shinnosuke-kun is locked up there, Izumi-san, would you like to go and rescue him?

Seeing that Shimura Izumi still had that creepy smile, Tamura Hiroshi decided to play along with him.

Furthermore, the fusion progress between Shimura Izumi and the modified three-tailed beast has reached its limit, but it has also been stalled. To complete the final fusion, a deeper level of stimulation needs to be provided.

"What do you want to do?"

Upon hearing the name he had longed for, a cold glint appeared on Shimura Izumi's face, and a madness surged deep within his eyes.

That was a taboo in her heart, and she would never allow this bastard to hurt Shinnosuke.

"I received information that Shinnosuke betrayed Danzo Shimura's information to Sunagakure, including information about Root."

News of Shimura Danzo's secret experiments with Wood Release and the Sharingan has spread throughout the ninja world, causing great resentment in Konoha. The Senju clan even suggested removing Shimura Danzo from the list of candidates for the Fourth Hokage.

It would be really interesting to rescue Shinnosuke and bring him back to Konoha now. I wonder if your father and the Third Hokage can still get along.

With a mischievous glint in his eyes, Tamura Hao was really looking forward to seeing Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi have a falling out... no, a falling out, or even become enemies.

"You won't succeed!"

After a long silence, Shimura Izumi finally revealed a determined look; she would definitely stop this bastard's plot.

"Then we'll wait and see!"

He pinched that smooth cheek, then turned and left with a wicked and arrogant smile.

He was eager to see what choice Sarutobi Shinnosuke would make. He had already informed Yekura that the person who kidnapped Yagura was likely Shimura Danzo, and Yekura had relayed the information back to Sunagakure. He thought it would bring a surprise.

Tamura Hao's guess was correct. After receiving the information from Yekura, the Third Kazekage personally went to the prison to interrogate Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

"I have told you all the information I have."

Seeing the Third Kazekage's cold expression, Sarutobi Shinnosuke was puzzled.

He has been imprisoned here for the past few years, and his body has been injected with a special toxin from Sunagakure for a long time, making it impossible for him to refine chakra.

He was persuaded by Sunagakure last time to reveal information about Danzo Shimura and Root, which gave him some freedom and reduced the dosage of the injection.

Although he couldn't refine chakra in large quantities, it didn't hinder his cultivation, including physical training. His diet had also improved significantly, and his body was recovering well.

But given the expression on their face, it's clear they're up to no good.

"That's not all. Our latest intelligence indicates that Shimura Danzo was able to unleash a Susanoo that was 100 meters in size, and single-handedly suppress and capture the Three-Tails Jinchuriki of Kirigakure."

Meanwhile, his daughter, Izumi Shimura, had previously obtained the Three-Tails' chakra and could transform into a form similar to the Three-Tails.

You didn't mention these crucial points, which resulted in the loss of a number of excellent ninjas for Sunagakure.

The Third Kazekage was deeply wary, as Danzo Shimura possessed far too much power, having been feigning it all along.

The size of that Susanoo alone is no weaker than that of a tailed beast, not to mention that it has been conducting experiments with Wood Release, so it may also possess Wood Release power.

Now that they've acquired the Three-Tails, they're even more difficult to deal with.

If they were to unleash their full power, their front lines would collapse instantly.

"How far has the research on the roots progressed?"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke was astonished; he truly didn't know this.

He only knew that Danzo Shimura's Root organization was secretly conducting research on the Sharingan and the First Hokage's cells, but he wasn't sure to what extent.

Before being captured, he had only seen Shimura Danzo use the transplanted three-tomoe Sharingan, but it could only be used to amplify taijutsu and swordsmanship, and the actual improvement was not significant, let alone Susanoo.

The Third Kazekage stared intently at the young man opposite him, as if trying to see through his entire soul.

He spoke again after a long while, his tone still icy.

"Is there anything else you want to say? If not, you will return to your original life and will only be able to leave when your father signs a ceasefire agreement to redeem you."

This is a bargaining chip; Hiruzen Sarutobi will definitely try to rescue or redeem it.

If they were to attempt a rescue, they had made meticulous arrangements to ensure that any personnel sent would not return.

If they redeem it, they can take the opportunity to gain more benefits from Konoha, such as forbidden techniques or secret arts.

But he hoped to get more information from him, from all aspects.

"That's all I know about Shimura Danzo and Root, but Orochimaru is very talented and capable in scientific research. Perhaps he helped Shimura Danzo speed up his research and thus gained great power."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke couldn't say much more; all he could say was about Shimura Danzo and the Root.

At this stage, Shimura Danzo and Root are his father's rivals, even enemies.

He was well aware of Shimura Danzo's desire for the Hokage position. Now that he had the opportunity to compete for it, and given Danzo's formidable strength and his remarkable patience, he posed an immense threat.

That is why, after confirming the information provided by Sunagakure, he betrayed Danzo Shimura and the Root organization.

They wanted to use this to weaken the influence of Shimura Danzo.

"Give him the full dose of medication, lock him up in the deepest part of the house, keep him under strict guard, and forbid anyone from getting close."

Seeing that Sarutobi Shinnosuke still wouldn't speak, the Third Kazekage snorted coldly and gave an order to the Anbu ninja behind him.

He hadn't expected Sarutobi Shinnosuke to reveal any more information; he was just there to observe the other's reaction and make some judgments.

After saying that, he got up and headed back to the Fengying Building.

"Ye Cang knows how to hide her strength; it seems she also has her eye on this position."

Picking up a piece of intelligence, the Third Kazekage confirmed that the Scorching Release user from their Sunagakure village also wanted to become the Fourth Kazekage.

He planted his men in the support team that Yekura had taken with him and witnessed Yekura's all-out effort on the other side of the battlefield.

Its peak combat power and chakra reserves far exceeded those of the past, clearly indicating that it had been hiding its strength all along.

It was only because the battle over there was so fierce that they had to unleash their full strength; otherwise, they would have remained in the dark.

He was not satisfied with this act of concealment and strength. Moreover, Yecang's strength had already surpassed his own, unless he could cultivate Sage Mode.

Although Yekura was very talented, he did not want to pass the position of Kazekage to her. The main reason was that Yekura was not a member of his faction, and passing the position of Kazekage to someone outside the faction was a major taboo.

Look at how many people were killed in Kirigakure. The long-standing conflict left Kirigakure riddled with problems. The final coup and rebellion dealt a heavy blow to Kirigakure, and it took them several years to recover.

Not to mention that Yekura is from a ninja clan. Although the Scorching Release clan doesn't have many strong members at the moment, it is still a major ninja clan.

If Yekura becomes the Fourth Kazekage, his family will inevitably rise in status, which will disrupt the village's current stable distribution of interests, eventually leading to internal strife and chaos, or even a coup d'état like that of Kirigakure.

That was not what he wanted to see. For the sake of Sunagakure's stability, the Fourth Hokage could only be his disciple, Rasa.

Magnet Release originated from One-Tailed Fox; it is a newly appeared bloodline limit and is not even stable.

For example, Rasa's Magnet Release controls iron sand, Rasa's Magnet Release controls gold sand, and the One-Tailed Beast controls sand.

Rasa has not yet formed a clan, let alone a ninja clan, so he can be perfectly integrated into his own faction, making him the best candidate.

Now, however, an even more outstanding and powerful Yekura has appeared, putting him in a difficult position.

"I hope that in the upcoming war, you can recognize yourself, understand the situation of the village and the ninja world, and make a wise choice."

Ultimately, the Third Kazekage put the intelligence aside, hoping that Yekura could understand everything and give up her ambition for the Kazekage position.

Konoha is too strong. Not only is its foundation powerful and profound, but it also possesses the strongest tailed beast, the Nine-Tails, and produces geniuses frequently.

Minato Namikaze's current strength and methods are enough to make him wary, not to mention his potential for further growth in the future.

In the last battle on the peninsula, Konoha seemed to have lost, but it obtained the Three-Tails and the Four-Tails. With Konoha's resources, it is entirely possible to create a Three-Tails Jinchuriki and a Four-Tails Jinchuriki.

With the addition of the two Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, that makes four, far exceeding the number from Sunagakure.

In this situation, the emergence of a young and powerful individual like Yekura is more beneficial to Sunagakure, but also very dangerous. Hopefully, Yekura herself can come to this realization.

Besides, Kumogakure is also very powerful. Although it is far inferior to Konoha, it has great potential and is also stronger than Sunagakure.

Just thinking about those two ninja villages gave him a headache and made him feel exhausted.

"Hopefully, the upcoming decisive battle will have a good outcome."

Looking at the support request from Kumogakure, the Third Kazekage knew that their decisive battle was fast approaching.

Konoha and the Land of Fire will not allow them to truly occupy the Land of Rivers, let alone their plans to renovate all the rivers in the Land of Rivers.

Therefore, a decisive battle is inevitable, at which time Konoha's true strength will be revealed, and it may be even more brutal than the previous Peninsula war.

The future of Sunagakure depends on this battle.

"It's a pity that there's no spark between Yekura and Rasa, otherwise we wouldn't have to worry about them if they could become a couple."

His thoughts turned to Yecang, and the Third Kazekage sighed.

If those two could become husband and wife, all the troubles and problems would disappear, and Yekura and his family would become Rasa's helpers.

Pity!

Leaving aside the Third Kazekage's worried expression, on the other side, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, who was imprisoned in the deepest part of the dungeon, was injected with the full version of the drug. Once again, he was unable to refine chakra, and even his muscles became numb and sore.

In this state, he can't even cultivate, let alone fight.

However, Sarutobi Shinnosuke didn't pay much attention to this. He was pondering the information the Third Kazekage had mentioned earlier. Given the Third Kazekage's status and the current situation, he shouldn't have needed to deceive him.

In other words, Danzo Shimura truly mastered Susanoo and developed it to an incredible level.

They even obtained the Three-Tails, which is troublesome now.

After pondering this for several days, the Sand Ninja in charge of guarding the area came to deliver food as usual. Compared to before, the food they provided now was much worse, consisting of only a bowl of water and a dry, hard flatbread, just enough to keep them from starving.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke didn't pay any attention. He took the pancake and water through the small window of the iron gate, knelt down, and slowly ate it.

But they quickly realized something was wrong. There was something in the pancake. When they took it off and unfolded it, they found a tough talisman with a sealing spell on it.

This discovery startled Sarutobi Shinnosuke for a moment, but he quickly continued eating his rice crackers with water.

After finishing gnawing on it, he went to a corner that couldn't be seen from the iron gate, took out the small talisman, and tore it into pieces.

With a barely perceptible soft sound, a miniature shadow clone of Hiruzen Sarutobi, no bigger than a finger, appeared. It was a miniature shadow clone he had specially created. It didn't have much chakra and couldn't even release ninjutsu, but it was enough to transmit messages.

"dad!"

Upon seeing that familiar figure, Sarutobi Shinnosuke almost cried.

God have mercy, he fell into deep despair after being captured, especially after discovering that he was no longer a complete man, which made him break down.

"Stop crying!"

The shadow clone rebuked him angrily, saying that as Hiruzen Sarutobi's son, he could not cry, much less shed tears.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke finally held back his tears, and at the same time, hope rose in his heart.

My father finally came to save me, instead of being humiliated and redeemed.

If he were to be humiliatingly redeemed and bear this stain, he would have no chance of competing for the Hokage position again.

Unable to escape on her own, she could only wait for her father to rescue her.

"I have mastered the forbidden technique of Impure World Reincarnation, killed some ninjas from Sunagakure, resurrected and controlled them, and now the arrangements are complete."

In a little while, I'll control those people to create chaos in Sunagakure with explosive tags, and your grandfather will come to help you escape.

The antidote was in the pancake you ate. Once you're outside, run east immediately. There's a large ninja hawk from Sunagakure there, which I've arranged to control. You can use it to fly away...

Hiruzen Sarutobi's shadow clone jumped onto his son's shoulder and whispered the rescue plan in his ear.

Long before he mastered the Impure World Reincarnation technique, he began planning to rescue his son, because only by rescuing his son could he truly fight the Sand Village.

The Third Kazekage's arrangements here were indeed meticulous, but they were only aimed at external enemies. He could rely on the reanimated Sunagakure ninjas to break through from within, and this time he sent in this miniature shadow clone.

The reason for choosing today is that a sandstorm is sweeping towards Sunagakure.

Faced with such a natural disaster, even the ninjas of Sunagakure had to temporarily avoid it. Even if Sunagakure discovered that their son had escaped, it would be very difficult to track him down.

"Danzo really mastered Susanoo as powerful as Madara Uchiha, and he even stole the Three-Tails. Is he going to create a Three-Tails Jinchuriki? Is it Izumi?"

After his father finished explaining the rescue plan, Sarutobi Shinnosuke couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him.

"Did Sunagakure tell you this?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's shadow clone understood that this was definitely something the Sand Village had said on purpose, trying to distract his son and make the subsequent interrogation easier.

"The Third Kazekage said it himself."

Like his father, Sarutobi Shinnosuke did not want Shimura Danzo to become too powerful, neither in terms of his own strength nor in terms of the Root group under his command.

Otherwise, Danzo Shimura would never have been willing to take the position of Hokage's assistant; what he wanted was the position of Hokage himself.

"It's all true. Shimura Danzo stole the Sharingan power that the Uchiha clan had accumulated for thousands of years. He probably absorbed that accumulation to develop Susanoo to that level."

The Three-Tails' Jinchuriki was indeed captured. Koizumi had previously sealed a small Three-Tails left behind by the Second Hokage during his research. Danzo may have been plotting against the Three-Tails in Kirigakure as early as that time. Koizumi might not even be as simple as we perceive her to be.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was deeply wary of his old friend, whose schemes were far too cunning. He had underestimated the man before, and even his prospective daughter-in-law.

Danzo had clearly been plotting against the Three-Tails for a long time. Sealing the smaller Three-Tails onto Koizumi was obviously to allow her to adapt to and integrate with the Three-Tails' chakra in advance, preparing her to become the true Three-Tails Jinchuriki.

This explains why Koizumi, despite her strong aversion to Danzo, accepted the three-tailed beast. Clearly, the relationship between father and daughter wasn't as bad as it seemed on the surface; it might even have been a deliberate act.

Since she went to such lengths to plan, Koizumi must be supporting Shimura Danzo. I was fooled by that girl before.

"spring……"

His lips trembled. Sarutobi Shinnosuke didn't want to believe it was true. Had Izumi been deceiving him all along?

"Forget about her, Koizumi is not the same Koizumi she used to be."

With a sigh, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't want his son to continue associating with Izumi Shimura, otherwise he would surely be ruined in the future. Their Sarutobi family didn't need a young mistress, or even the future clan head's wife, who was so cunning and had such ambitions.

Moreover, Koizumi has changed more and more. The way he looked when they last met made him feel uneasy. Clearly, that was Koizumi's true face, which he had hidden too well before.

"I understand, Dad!"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke swallowed hard and nodded, but his fists remained clenched tightly.

Was he really being deceived the whole time?

If that's really the case, then all my previous actions have become a joke, especially the ridiculous and foolish act of risking my life to send Quan away.

"Don't overthink it. Your task now is to escape and go home. Your mother and I are waiting for you."

After offering a word of comfort, Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his hand to form hand seals, dispelling the small shadow clone and transferring the memory fragments back to his main body.

Next, we just wait for the sandstorm to sweep over Sunagakure, and then we can officially begin the rescue plan.

What Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't know was that his every move was being monitored by a Black Zetsu clone, which immediately relayed the information to Tamura Hao.

(End of this chapter)