I, Naruto Uzumaki, don't need your approval.

Just then, a Root ninja teleported to Danzo's side, knelt on one knee, and said, "Lord Danzo, a ninja claiming to be your friend requests an audience. I suspect he might be Orochimaru."

Orochimaru?

Danzo silently recited the name, then got up from his seat and walked towards the ground.

Soon, Danzo saw Orochimaru, who was wearing a loose robe and had a shimenawa rope tied around his waist. He said rather displeasedly, "Orochimaru, your nose is more sensitive than Inuzuka's hounds. You actually found me here."

Hearing Danzo's sarcastic remarks about him, Orochimaru smiled dismissively:

"Yes, I only found out after hearing my subordinates' report that Jiraiya actually joined forces with Tsunade to launch a coup against the old man and became the Fifth Hokage, while you were forced to become a homeless ninja."

"However, I was really surprised that Jiraiya and Tsunade actually attacked the old man."

"Konoha, this decaying windmill, seems to no longer need us to guide the winds of change."

Danzo remained silent. He had indeed been cooperating with Orochimaru in private, trying to force the Third Hokage to step down by introducing an external enemy. However, before he could formulate a concrete plan, Jiraiya and Tsunade took action first.

After a moment's thought, Danzo snorted and said, "Your situation isn't much better. As far as I know, you betrayed Akatsuki and are now a rogue ninja wanted by both Konoha and Akatsuki."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly: "I can't help it, I really don't like living under someone else's roof. But, has Lord Danzo thought about what he should do in the future? Will he wander the ninja world like me, or will he regroup and become the new Hokage?"

After Orochimaru guessed his thoughts, Danzo fell into a brief silence, then stared at Orochimaru and said, "What exactly do you want? I am no longer an elder of Konoha."

Orochimaru sighed softly: "Lord Danzo, I just wanted to stick together with you and build a new base for you. The situation in the ninja world is different now than it was a few years ago. Those monsters from the bottom of the water have gradually surfaced."

……

Inside Uzushio Village, Naruto sat in the main seat, listening to reports from Himon and Shisui.

As the village chief and daimyo, he could simply give directions and then relinquish control over many things, but he had no choice but to review the submitted materials.

Although the levels of Fire Gate and Water Stop are not high, they might somehow have mastered the art of feigning compliance while secretly going against orders.

Taking advantage of his aloofness, he gradually seized power, secretly seeking benefits for his family, eventually building a powerful and influential force that even the Hokage could not ignore...

Wait, I'm the first one, then it's alright.

Absolute force can crush any dissent. Apart from the Uchiha, there are no other large ninja clans in the village, so there is no need to worry about small and medium-sized clans seizing power for decades.

"Mianma, this is the expense and income statement for the first half of the year. Take a close look at it."

“Master Mianma, these are the orphans and skilled workers that the village has recruited in the past few months. I have already settled them in the residential area. Would you like to go and take a look?”

"Lord Menma, this is an invitation from Kirigakure, inviting you to observe Kirigakure's graduation exam."

"..."

Naruto glanced at the report and found that expenses and income were temporarily balanced, thanks to the ninjas' advanced productivity, which enabled them to complete infrastructure construction extremely quickly. The only drawback was that it would squeeze the living space of ordinary people.

In some respects, ninjas and ordinary people are already two different species, but they haven't yet developed reproductive isolation.

As for recruiting technical talent, the more the better. His goal is to create a relaxed environment and atmosphere to attract a large number of technical talents from the ninja world to immigrate to Uzushio Village.

Naruto declined the offer to have Kirigakure observe the graduation exams, as he didn't have time to go there.

Just as Naruto was listening attentively to the report, a spatial fluctuation occurred, and a Flying Thunder God kunai appeared on the desk, with a scroll tied to it.

Chapter 192 Cursed Seal Techniques

Shisui looked thoughtful as he looked at the scroll that had suddenly appeared on the table.

Judging from the style of the kunai and the technique, this is clearly the Flying Thunder God Technique mastered by the Fourth Hokage. It's astonishing that Lord Menma has a ninja under his command who has mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique. I wonder who is stronger between them.

After unrolling the scroll, Naruto glanced at it and revealed a meaningful smile: "A major event has recently occurred in Konoha Village. Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, has replaced Hiruzen Sarutobi as the new Hokage, and Danzo has also defected from Konoha due to the leak of his human experiments."

Upon hearing this news, Shisui froze on the spot, his feelings incredibly complicated.

When the Uchiha clan was still in Konoha, they tried their best to fight against the higher-ups, but no matter how hard they tried, the Third Hokage and the Root organization remained standing, while the Uchiha were squeezed out of any room to survive.

However, less than two years after leaving Konoha and settling in Uzushio Village, both the Third Hokage and Danzo fell from grace.

These remnants of the Uchiha clan hadn't even had a chance to take revenge...

Naruto glanced at Shisui, saw through Shisui's thoughts, and said with a smile, "You think this is an exaggeration, but in my opinion, it's perfectly normal. To the Hokage lineage and Konoha, you Uchiha are outsiders."

"We're outsiders, that's not wrong..."

Shisui repeated the words a few times, smiled helplessly, but had to admit that Menma was telling the truth.

After the clan leader's defection and the Nine-Tails Night incident, the Uchiha had long become "outsiders" of the village, viewed with suspicion by the Hokage Building and even most ninja clans. At this time, the former clan leader was plotting a coup to become Hokage.

Naturally, they would become the target of diverting conflict, so it's better to leave the village and abandon unrealistic fantasies.

Even after the Uchiha left, the village did not improve, and the conflicts naturally focused on the Hokage, which is why Jiraiya and others' coup d'état went so smoothly.

Menma-sama is right. This is a world where everyone is worse than the last. The Third Hokage was bad, but the Uchiha clan was even worse.

Leaving Shisui aside, Naruto continued reading the letters. Kakashi had specifically mentioned the current situation in Konoha, the Third Hokage being placed under house arrest, and Danzo's escape to the Land of Wind.

Leaving aside the Third Hokage, it's impossible for Jiraiya and Tsunade to kill him.

However, Danzo and the Root members who escaped are a significant threat. In terms of strength, they are not much weaker than those from small ninja villages. Moreover, Danzo's Sharingan and Kotoamatsukami are at least boss-level abilities.

However, Danzo was clever enough to know that the directions of the Land of Earth and the Land of Water were dangerous, so he chose the weakest direction, the Land of Wind.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Naruto looked at Shisui again and slowly said, "Now that Danzo has defected, are you interested in taking back your eyes?"

Shisui's eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "Lord Menma is going to take action against Danzo?"

Naruto gently shook his head: "I don't plan to waste too much time on Danzo. I'll leave this opportunity for revenge to you, after all, he betrayed you."

Upon hearing this, Shisui was tempted; he desperately wanted revenge and to kill Danzo.

However, after losing the Mangekyou Sharingan, his strength actually declined considerably, and he has not yet recovered his peak fighting power. Moreover, even at his peak, he was not confident of defeating Danzo.

Danzo not only possessed Kotoamatsukami, but also had several elite Jonin as his bodyguards.

After a moment of contemplation, Shisui shook his head and said, "I do not yet have the ability to take revenge. I may have to wait until the new generation of the clan grows up before I can take revenge on Danzo."

"Not necessarily. The Jonin in the village still have room for growth."

After a pause, Naruto chuckled and said, "After returning from Ryuchi Cave last time, I've been having people research Sage Art Curse Seal technology. Even without the talent to cultivate Sage Art, one can still use some natural energy."

"As my follower, you can become one of the first test subjects if you wish."

"Become a test subject for the cursed seal technology?" Shisui was subconsciously a little scared, but he still gritted his teeth and chose to believe that Menma-sama would never harm him.

After Shisui nodded, the two left the Uzushio Village office and went to the Uzumaki Shrine.

The temple, which originally served as a place for sacrifices and festivals, had long been transformed into a laboratory by Ashina Uzumaki, where many technicians could freely move around.

Upon seeing Naruto and Shisui, the temple guards quickly greeted them and allowed them to pass. Soon after, they met the head of the clan, the elder.

The old clan chief glanced at Shisui beside him, then said to Naruto, "How could the leader have the heart to come and visit us, the old and the young, today? I thought the leader had forgotten about us."

Karin took off her glasses and said with a smile, "Master Menma may be busy with something, but he couldn't possibly have forgotten Karin and Grandpa."

Upon seeing Karin dressed as a shrine maiden, Shisui approached Naruto and asked somewhat uncertainly, "Menma-sama, is Karin a boy or a girl?"

Naruto countered, "Weren't you there when you registered your household registration?"

Shisui scratched his head and said, "Master Menma, the main problem is that with Shiro, this cross-dressing master, around, I can hardly tell them apart anymore."

After the brief interlude, Naruto explained his purpose: "Elder, I brought Shisui here to transplant the Cursed Seal. He is one of the top three strongest ninjas in the village, so he should be immune to the side effects of the Cursed Seal."

Ashina glanced at Shisui again, frowned, and led Shisui into the operating room.

As an old relic from the Warring States period, he had a natural distrust of the Uchiha clan, but since they were members of the village and ninjas trusted by Naruto, he would still choose to believe them.

Several tens of minutes later, Ashina Uzumaki walked out of the operating room with Shisui.

Looking at the new lines on Shisui's arm, Naruto asked directly, "How does it feel? Have you experienced any rejection?"

Shisui nodded and shared his feelings after the transplanted cursed seal: "There was some rejection, but it was still within a tolerable range. After activating the cursed seal, I could feel that my chakra had increased significantly, and my speed and strength had also been enhanced in all aspects, but the effect was not obvious."

Shisui's description basically met Naruto's expectations.

The blessing of the cursed seal is a lifeline for Chunin and Genin, but for elite Jonin-level ninjas, it is only icing on the cake and cannot qualitatively improve their strength.

However, it still has some effect on ninjas like Shisui with three tomoe, who are close to Kage level.

Just like Sasuke with the Cursed Seal in the original work, although he lost to Itachi Uchiha, his strength had already reached the average level of the Akatsuki members.

As for transplanting spell marks at a higher level, it's not much different from directly cultivating immortal techniques.

However, what Uzushio Village lacks now is not high-end combat power, but rather Jonin, who are the backbone of the village. The number of Jonin determines the sphere of influence of a ninja village (country).

Chapter 193 I'll Go Back Someday

After a moment of contemplation, Naruto asked Shisui if he had awakened the Wood Release bloodline limit, and the latter gently shook his head.

This disappointed Naruto slightly. The Whirlpool Curse Seal was a product of combining Ryuchi Cave Sage Technique and White Zetsu cells. Even with Shisui's physical abilities, he couldn't awaken the Wood Release Kekkei. The probability of other ninjas awakening it was probably even lower.

However, from another perspective, it is also a good thing.

While the Wood Release bloodline limit is powerful, the mortality rate during transplantation is extremely high, making it unsuitable for large-scale promotion. Rather than hoping to awaken the Wood Release bloodline limit, it would be better to promote the Whirlpool Curse Seal.

Thinking of this, Naruto remembered White Zetsu.

These parasitic ninjas, who inherit the characteristics of the Divine Tree, can not only provide chakra to their hosts, but also recover from injuries such as severed limbs by transplanting White Zetsu limbs, which is obviously more advanced than the Cursed Seal.

As expected, researching chakra technology in the ninja world inevitably leads to researching the God Tree and the Otsutsuki clan.

Pulling their wandering thoughts back, Naruto and the others went to the training ground to gain more experience in transplantation experiments through practical combat, which would serve as a reference for the next experiment.

After collecting the data, Shisui said with some surprise, "The transplanted cursed seal wasn't done more than once?"

Naruto chuckled and said, "Of course, more than once. The final form of the Cursed Seal is Sage Mode, just like how the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan eventually evolved into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Moreover, Sage Mode and the Sharingan can complement each other."

With this explanation, Shisui immediately understood, and was somewhat surprised by the effect of the curse seal.

He originally thought that the cursed seal could only mobilize natural energy to enhance physical fitness, but he did not expect it to also help the Sharingan, which moved him.

The fact that Master Menma was willing to use this technology on the Uchiha clan shows that he already considers the Uchiha clan as family.

After Shisui familiarized himself with the cursed seal, Naruto looked at Ashina Uzumaki and said with a smile, "Grandpa, you really helped me a lot this time. I hope these new technical talents haven't caused you any trouble lately."

"No, but they are very interested in my appearance and want to study it."

"The Impure Earth Body is very special, but it's best if the old man doesn't let them research in this direction. The Pure Land is not an ordinary place; even the great immortals of the Holy Land are extremely wary of it."

“I’m not stupid, of course I know that.”

Uzumaki Ashina stroked his beard, then frowned and said, "However, there is still a very important matter in the village that requires the chief's immediate attention..."