Naruto: The Shadow Lord of the Nara Clan

Of course.

Danzo was just saying it offhand.

As long as he's in Konoha, Danzo doesn't need evidence or reason to kill someone if he wants to.

The main reason he ignored Nara Suzaku's demands was because Nara Shikakage's identity was rather sensitive.

As the eldest son of the Nara clan leader, he will most likely become the future head of the Nara clan.

Although the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance appears to be equal among the three factions, the Nara clan is actually the most important core member.

In a sense, the opinion of the Nara clan is equivalent to the opinion of the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance.

As the most influential alliance in Konoha besides the Hokage, Danzo did not want to offend the Nara clan.

This is why he went to great lengths to infiltrate the three-way alliance.

Whoever masters the Ino-Shika-Cho trio is qualified to become Hokage!

Conversely, any Hokage would be able to master the Ino-Shika-Cho trio!

Therefore, Danzo was extremely confident that Narasaki Shiba's death was related to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Narasaki Shiba died under mysterious circumstances, something that Nara Shikakage, a recent graduate, couldn't possibly have done.

Only the Anbu and Root in the entire Hidden Leaf Village are capable of such a silent and stealthy killing style and method!

Since it wasn't done by the root department, it must have been done by the dark department!

This is Hiruzen Sarutobi's warning!

Danzo was furious when he thought of Kakashi's arrogant face and his words, "I am the Hokage!" a few days ago.

—Sarutobi, you'll regret this!

—It's all that damned Orochimaru's fault!

—I've warned him many times not to mess with Naruto!

—They actually had designs on Naruto!

—If it had succeeded, that would have been fine, but they had to find a useless person like Shuimu, and he was killed on the spot!

—Mizuki, you're trash! Orochimaru, you're trash too!

Danzo still cannot accept that he was framed by Orochimaru.

However, what he found even more unacceptable was Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude.

Suppressing his anger, Danzo saw a pair of eyes in his mind.

A pair of bloodshot, chilling eyes.

Danzo's fingers, which had been tapping on the chair armrests, stopped, and his gaze became exceptionally firm.

He can't continue to be passive like this.

Hiruzen Sarutobi must understand that he, Danzo, is the future of Konoha!

Having pondered this, he looked at Suzaku Nara, who was trembling with rage, and said coldly:

"However..."

"After all, you've done so much for me, and it's really a pity about Narasaki Shiba."

"Do one more thing for me, and I'll avenge you."

Nara Suzaku, who had already lost all hope, suddenly turned red in the face, his bloodshot eyes wide open:

"Please give your orders, Lord Danzo!"

Danzo was very satisfied with Suzaku Nara's attitude.

If his plan succeeds, avenging Suzaku Nara will be a piece of cake.

Whether Nara Shikakage was the murderer or not is not important.

Because he himself is not important.

……

Sunset.

The deer, leaning against a tree, smiled as it played with a spindle-shaped piece of jade in its hand.

The unknown runes on the stone body shimmered with a faint light, much like the joyful gaze of the deer shadow at this moment.

"Finally, another usable item has appeared."

[Item: Runestone (Tough)]

[Difficulty of obtaining: C-level]

【Category: Consumables】

[Description: A skill stone containing incredible power]

Price: Not for sale

Although it's only C-level difficult to obtain, it's a skill produced by the system.

Lu Ying is full of anticipation and confidence for this.

Spread your five fingers, then clench them tightly.

With a snap, the jewel shattered into powder and vanished into thin air.

At the same time, the word "Resilience" slowly appeared on Lu Ying's skill panel.

Upon closer inspection, the skill descriptions immediately appeared before his eyes.

[Passive Skill: Resilience (lv 0)]

[Effect: When HP is below 30%, all attributes are increased by 30%]

The introduction is very simple and can be read at a glance.

But Lu Ying's mood was not simple. He raised his eyebrows, his eyes full of surprise.

"This isn't just resilience, this is clearly a power surge!"

"And it's passive, with no side effects!"

"That feels so good!"

Pleasantly exiting the skill introduction, Lu Ying turned her gaze to the character panel to check her current level and attributes.

Five days have passed since I returned to the Namaka River Forest.

Although Shikakage hasn't killed any ninjas these past few days, the wild animals living nearby have suffered greatly.

Their lives were all transformed into experience, directly pushing the level of Deer Shadow to lv8.

The attribute points gained from leveling up and daily quests have changed Lu Ying's stats to look like this.

[Level: 8]

【Strength: 32.1】

[Stamina: 33.9]

[Agility: 40.6]

【Intelligence: 45.1】

[Perception: 35.2]

Feeling his current physical condition, Shikakage secretly used the Nara clan ninjas as a reference to roughly estimate his current strength level.

In terms of pure raw strength, he should be around the level of a special Jonin.

Although he hasn't reached the Jonin level yet, Shikakage is already very satisfied.

It's only been a little over a week!

Keep in mind that he had only barely reached the Chunin level during the teacher assessment.

If Mizuki from the ninja duel were replaced by his current self, he could probably kill his past self in one move.

Moreover, in terms of actual combat ability, an ordinary Jonin might not necessarily be his match.

With the advantage of information, even elite Jonin might be able to fight!

—It's so satisfying to use cheat codes...

After a moment of reflection, Lu Ying had a sudden thought.

The next moment, a shadow silently appeared beside him.

At a glance, the attributes of the shadow soldiers became apparent.

After comparing the numbers in front of him with his own attributes, Lu Ying shook his head.

"My foundation is still too weak. Although I've reached level five, without activating my curse seal, I can only barely reach the level of a Chunin."

"However, if someone relies on their talent to launch a sneak attack, even a Chunin might not be able to withstand it."

As if she had thought of something, Lu Ying smiled faintly.

"It's a pity my cousin couldn't hold on."

"But his life also had meaning."

"At least it has given me a better understanding of the 'Shadow Body' talent."

"It's easy to use, but unfortunately it also has some flaws."

"Invading the shadows of inanimate objects is easy, but invading the shadows of living things easily arouses their vigilance. The greater the difference in strength, the more obvious this vigilance will be."

"If they simply hide in the shadows nearby, shadow soldiers are definitely skilled assassins."

"By the way, why hasn't Sasuke arrived yet?"

The deer's shadow looked towards the horizon; the sun was already setting, and the distant forest was almost entirely shrouded in shadow.

Sasuke is not a person who is often late; his good upbringing has always made him respect the rules and be punctual.

—Has something happened?

Shikakage didn't think about Sasuke's death, after all, this was Konoha, and it was Konoha where Itachi still existed.

Although Itachi wasn't quite right in the head, he did a pretty good job protecting Sasuke.

Thinking about the information Sasuke had inadvertently revealed about his clan and Itachi these past few days, Shikakage suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

No way...