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

"Lord Menma, didn't you get the information you wanted?"

Naruto shook his head slightly. He had obtained information about Danzo's location. He hadn't expected Orochimaru to actually betray him and betray Shimura Danzo. It seemed that he was more valuable to Orochimaru than Danzo.

……

Inside the dark cave, Danzo was resting with his eyes closed.

After transplanting Hashirama cells and a large number of Sharingan eyes, his body was younger than Hiruzen Sarutobi's, but he also had to devote a lot of energy to maintaining the balance between Yin Release and Yang Release, even going so far as to wear a limiter to seal his right hand.

Once the balance is disrupted, he will become just like the other experimental subjects, an ordinary, unremarkable tree.

In order to fully control the power of the Senju and Uchiha, he could only continue to send people to conduct research, but without sufficient funding, it was difficult to retain those researchers, causing his plan to build a Wood Release army to be delayed again and again.

However, as long as the nobles of the River Country are secretly controlled, funding will not be a problem.

On the contrary, the Root organization is short-handed and needs to recruit a lot to fill the gaps. A large number of test subjects must also be prepared. If another lucky person like Tianzang appears, he will make a huge profit.

Now, he somewhat understands why Orochimaru targeted ordinary people near the village.

It's not that we can't find bandits and criminals, it's because there are too many restrictions within the village, and we also need to consider the thoughts of others. Those foolish ninjas will never understand the principle of sacrificing some people to save the majority.

They kept talking about the Will of Fire, but when it came to sacrifice, they all ran away.

Especially Tsunade and Jiraiya, who clearly have little experience in governing a village, yet they launched a coup against Hiruzen Sarutobi. Can they really govern a village well? They'll probably only lead it to its doom.

Once his Wood Release plan succeeds, he will eventually return to Konoha with his subordinates and become the Sixth Hokage.

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted Danzo's thoughts. He frowned and looked at the Root Jonin in front of him: "Ryuma, you're back. How did the operation to infiltrate the Land of Rivers go?"

Ryoma Aburame glanced at Danzo and said with a grave expression, "Lord Danzo, we have lost contact with all our bases in the northern and southern parts of the Land of Rivers..."

"They've all lost contact..." Danzo was restless and paced back and forth in the room.

After pondering for a moment, Danzo asked Aburame Ryoma, "Can you find out who the enemy is? Is it an Anbu ninja? Only Anbu ninjas can easily track our movements."

Ryoma Aburame shook his head: "They shouldn't be colleagues from the Anbu. The enemy's attack is coming from the Land of Rain and the sea, so they should be ninjas from Amegakure and Uzushiogakure."

Upon hearing this, Danzo's expression became uncertain.

The Land of Whirlpools is the village of that Jinchuriki who defected. That traitor brought the Uchiha clan to seek revenge. The Land of Rain is now under the control of the Akatsuki, clearly in retaliation for the encirclement and suppression I launched with Hanzo of the Salamander back then.

Both of these forces are after his life and will not let him go.

Thinking of this, Danzo shook his head and said, "Ryuma, you and your men lie low in the nearby towns until the ninjas from Uzushio Village and Amegakure Village leave before you show yourselves."

"Then what will you do, Lord Danzo?"

Danzo put on a righteous and indignant expression: "I'm leading a small number of elite troops to divert their attention. If we don't do this, you will all surely die."

Aburame Ryoma's eyes welled up with tears, and he said, "Lord Danzo, please take good care of yourself."

While organizing his elite forces to protect him, Danzo said, "Where there is light, there is darkness. Even in darkness, we must still protect the fire and the leaf. If I die, you must pass on this will."

After saying that, Danzo led the Root elites into the secret passage and disappeared from Ryuma's sight.

Ryoma wiped away his tears. He knew that Lord Danzo had escaped alone, but as long as Lord Danzo was alive, the Root organization would not disband and would eventually be able to make a comeback.

Chapter 198 The Martyrs of the Roots

On the way to the Root base, Shisui gained a new understanding of Naruto's strength.

Whenever Naruto arrived at a place suspected of being a Root stronghold, he would use the Shadow Clone Technique once, and then rush to the next stronghold without stopping. Each clone possessed combat power of Chunin or above.

Such strength, capable of forming an army single-handedly, cannot be achieved without the chakra of a tailed beast.

Moreover, with so many shadow clones released at once, wouldn't his brain explode from the sheer amount of information after they dissipate? Or is it that Master Menma is already used to it?

Several hours later, Naruto and Shisui arrived at the Root base.

The entrance to the base was blocked by a huge rock, which was covered with a sealing technique that blocked perception. If nothing unexpected happened, this should be the Root organization's lair.

With chakra gathered in his palm, Naruto punched the boulder, shattering it, and then ran wildly along the passage.

"Lord Menma... watch out for the explosive tags!" Shisui was about to warn him when he saw Naruto stepping on the explosive tags and getting out of the blast radius just before they exploded.

Even if it's faster than an explosion, it would still cause a collapse...

Shisui was somewhat speechless, but he was surprised that the passage did not collapse after being bombarded with explosive tags. However, he thought that it might be a new ability of the leader of Menma.

These ninjas from Uzushio Village were already used to it.

Every so often, Menma would learn a new ninjutsu, and once he mastered it, he would reach the Jonin level, which involved chakra attribute transformation.

Not long after, the two were stopped on their way by a Jonin from the Root organization, a Jonin from the Aburame clan.

Long before Shisui and Menma arrived, he had already filled the entire space with parasitic insects. These nano-sized poisonous insects could enter the body with each breath and defeat the enemy from the inside.

Upon seeing Naruto and Shisui, Ryoma Aburame sneered, "I thought I could fool the Akatsuki, but I only managed to trick the remnants of the Uchiha clan. Are you prepared to die together?"

After saying that, Aburame Ryoma activated the switch, locking the roads in all directions.

Then he lifted his clothes, revealing a dense array of explosive tags, and pounced towards Naruto and Shisui.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

By channeling the Three-Tails' chakra, Naruto conjured a stream of water out of thin air. The immense impact sent Ryoma Aburame flying, and the explosive tags on his body became wet and temporarily unusable.

"Is this your limit? If that's all, it's not enough to stop us."

Naruto still had basic respect for ninjas with Jonin-level strength, so he walked up to Ryoma Aburame, squatted down, and said...

Aburame Ryoma still had the strength to release all the poisonous insects that were parasitizing his body at once.

However, as soon as these poisonous insects appeared, they were all burned to death by Shisui's fire jutsu, rendering them completely useless.

"It seems your final blow didn't have much effect. Tell us Danzo's whereabouts; we are not enemies."

Ryoma Aburame forced an ugly smile: "The moment you stepped into the base, you were already infected by my parasitic insects. Those cute insects are devouring your internal organs and chakra. You won't last much longer."

Naruto stretched out his palm, letting the debris fall, and said with a light laugh, "You mean these little bugs? They'll be overwhelmed by my chakra. Shisui also has ways to deal with these little bugs."

Seeing this, Ryoma Aburame looked at Naruto in disbelief, then sighed softly: "Danzo and the Hokage should have dealt with you traitors sooner, instead of letting you grow up unchecked."

No sooner had he spoken than Ryoma Aburame manipulated the parasitic insects to destroy his own brain, choosing to commit suicide.

Upon seeing Aburame Ryoma dead, Shisui breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thanks to Menma-sama, if it weren't for your reminder, I probably would have already fallen victim to this. This ninja named Aburame Ryoma was Danzo's right-hand man, a very strong elite Jonin."

"So you're an elite Jonin. I thought you were a special Jonin."

Naruto made a sarcastic remark, then said, "But Shisui, don't pretend. With the Cursed Seal 2's blessing, these parasitic insects won't affect you at all. Natural energy isn't so easy to come by."

Shisui sighed softly: "I never expected that Aburame Ryoma would die at our hands. Why did he follow Danzo when Danzo was already a rogue ninja?"

"It is ideals and perseverance. You really can't stay at the roots without faith, and there are always people who will die for the roots."

"What Lord Mianma says is true."

Shisui smiled slyly, then frowned as if he had remembered something and said, "Lord Menma, with Aburame Ryoma dead, our clues about Danzo will be cut off."

Naruto shook his head slightly and pointed to the deep passage in front of him.

Shisui rubbed his eyes. There was clearly a wall there just now, so how did a passage suddenly appear?

Naruto smiled without saying anything and didn't explain further. This passage had been buried by several meters of rubble before, and he probably wouldn't have been able to sense it if he hadn't mastered the Ryuchi Cave Sage Technique.

But now, all it takes is the Immortal Technique: Inorganic Rebirth to pave a path.

……

The Land of Wind, within the Sea of ​​Sand.

The cool night breeze blew on Danzo's old face. Having eaten a mouthful of sand during the day, he chose to quicken his pace as night fell, hoping to reach the oasis in the desert for a short rest.

Having just crossed a sand dune, Danzo received news that the Root organization's base had been attacked, and he frowned.

His second-in-command, Ryoma Aburame, disobeyed his orders and led his men to divert the enemy's attention using guerrilla tactics. Instead, he died near the Root base, which was not good news for him.

After all, even though the passage to the desert was destroyed, there was still a very small chance that it would be discovered by the enemy.

If the enemy manages to pinpoint his location through some means, wouldn't that be dangerous? He must speed up and reach the Loulan ruins, where the dragon vein is located, as soon as possible.

The dragon vein in the Loulan ruins possesses immense energy comparable to that of the Tailed Beasts.

As long as the energy of the dragon vein can be mastered, the Wood Release plan will not need to worry about energy. It can also use this energy to create some Sunagakure puppets and build a puppet army.

The reason he chose the Land of Rivers as his new base was because of the presence of a dragon vein nearby.

However, now that he is being hunted down by the combined forces of Uzushio Village and Amegakure Village, he no longer has the time to explore the uses of the Dragon Vein and can only make one last attempt.

After breaking the seal on the dragon vein, he used the kaleidoscope to control the dragon vein and become the dragon vein's human pillar.

With this in mind, Danzo refined his Wind Release chakra and used Wind Release ninjutsu to glide through the sand sea, quickly arriving at the ruins of Loulan, a huge city ruin.

Beside the ruins of the city, there was a small oasis.

Danzo had no interest in the Loulan survivors in the oasis; his eyes were fixed on the most conspicuous tower in the ruins, and he began to walk.

Chapter 199 Dragon Vein Transmigration

After the first ray of sunlight pierced the darkness, the temperature in the desert began to rise rapidly.

Following the clues left behind by Danzo, Naruto led Shisui all the way to the desert of the Land of Wind.

Faced with the vast and boundless sea of ​​sand, Shisui was completely helpless. Naruto continued forward relying on his intuition. During the journey, the two even encountered a sandstorm, wasting several hours of travel time in order to avoid it.

Standing on the sand dune, Naruto took out a desert map from his backpack and gazed into the distance.

Soon, Naruto discovered the city ruins buried by sandstorms, as well as a small gathering place on the oasis near the ruins, and gradually narrowed his eyes.

The combination of the keywords "desert" and "ruins" gives rise to the miracle of Loulan in the desert.

It was an extremely prosperous city built on a dragon vein, but it eventually declined due to the sealing of the dragon vein and became a small tribe in the desert.

The sandstorm concealed Danzo's whereabouts; he had come to the ancient Loulan Kingdom to try his luck, based on speculation.

Danzo's escape from the Land of Wind had only two directions: one was to travel along the oases to Sunagakure, and the other was to venture deep into the desert and flee to Loulan.

The existence of a dragon vein in Loulan was a secret to ordinary ninjas, but it was no secret to Danzo.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Naruto leaped down from the sand dune and said to Shisui, "There's a desert oasis nearby. Let's go check it out and figure out how to fill our stomachs while we're at it."

Shisui gazed at the yellow sand with some confusion: "Lord Menma, is Danzo really around here?"

“Danzo can’t have gone far. Let’s go to the oasis first and see if there are any of Danzo’s remaining followers there.”