Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the beginning

Hokage's office.

Bang!

Danzo pushed the door open and walked in.

"Huruzen, you came to me." A hint of anticipation flashed in Danzo's eyes.

"Yeah." The Sandai glanced at Danzo, then turned to the secretary and said, "Emi, please go out for a moment."

Some things are better known by as few people as possible, even his trusted secretary Chiba Emi should know less about them.

"Have you made up your mind, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked excitedly as Chiba Emi left.

"Well, I agree to establish the Root organization." The Sanda nodded, and then before Danzo could say anything, his eyes suddenly became sharp again, staring at Danzo and said: "But the Root must be under the jurisdiction of the Anbu, and it is only a special team under the Anbu. You have no autonomy."

"Okay, no problem." Danzo said without hesitation. For him, as long as the Root was established and he was in charge, it didn't matter if there was no procedural autonomy, it would not affect his rights at all.

And...looking at the fierceness in the eyes of the Third Generation, Danzo smiled implicitly. They were all old friends for many years, so who knew who?

As long as the Uchiha exists, the leadership of the Root will never be handed over to anyone else except him.

Because the third generation would not trust anyone except him.

Chapter 30 The Establishment of Roots

"Don't be happy too early."

The third generation exhaled a puff of smoke, glanced at his excited old friend, and said calmly: "I will only give you two teams of eight people in the Root. You can form them yourself. In addition, I will give you two more people as your assistants to help you manage the Root."

Upon hearing this, Danzo frowned, looked at the Third Hokage with some dissatisfaction, and cursed in his heart: You two deputies are not here to help me manage the Root, but to monitor me.

That's right, I'm monitoring you.

I don't want to let you do whatever you want in such an important and dark department.

The Sandaime glared at Danzo and expressed his feelings.

Danzo received the voice of his old friend, and even though he was unhappy, he had no choice but to accept it. However, he would not give in. Sooner or later, the Root would belong to him alone.

"In the future, I will gradually relax the restrictions on the Uchiha clan accepting missions. You must build up the Root as soon as possible." The third generation reminded vaguely.

Danzo understood immediately and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I will not forget the greatest significance of the establishment of the Root. This is my list of eight people. You only need to give me the two people you arranged to monitor me."

As he said this, Danzo took out the list of eight Root members from his arms and handed it to the Third Hokage.

In order to establish the Root, Danzo had already prepared everything, including all the facilities including the base.

He had already investigated and screened the root personnel five years ago, and even predicted the staffing of the first generation of roots, just waiting for this moment.

I can only say that the two of them are worthy of being friends who have grown up together, and they both know the color of each other's diapers.

To establish the Root, all that was left was the Third Hokage's nod, and Danzo had already prepared the rest.

The Sandaime calmly took the list from Danzo's hand and started reading it. He was not surprised that his old friend could prepare the list of Root members so quickly.

After all, Danzo's preparations were made under his supervision.

"Um……"

The Sanda suddenly frowned, staring at a name on the list in shock, and couldn't help blinking. After making sure he had read it correctly, he looked up and glared at Danzo and asked, "Did you write it wrong? Why is Orochimaru on the list?"

Danzo smiled slightly and said, "He is very suitable for the darkness of Root."

"Bullshit!" the Sandaime said angrily, "He is my disciple, the future Fourth Hokage, not the Root hiding in the darkness."

Besides, how could his disciples be members of a dark organization like the Root?

If everyone knew that Orochimaru had joined the Root, how could he run for Hokage?

"The Fourth Hokage?"

Danzo frowned when he heard this, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes when he looked at the Third Generation. He didn't expect that the Third Generation had such high expectations for Orochimaru.

Although Orochimaru has shown the reputation of a genius since he was a child, he has now transformed this reputation into strength and possesses the powerful strength of a jonin level at a young age.

But putting the same expectations of the Fourth Hokage on Orochimaru now would be too... that's too much.

And...why is the Fourth Hokage still the disciple of you, the Third Hokage?

Could it not be him, Danzo Shimura!

The more Danzo thought about it, the more unhappy he became.

He didn't understand that in the Third Generation's mind, Orochimaru, a commoner genius ninja who had no parents or ninja clan to rely on and could only rely on the Third Generation as his master, was the most suitable successor to the Fourth Generation Hokage in the Third Generation's mind.

Only if Orochimaru inherits the title of Hokage can the power of the Third Generation in Konoha be extended to the greatest extent and the interests of the Sarutobi clan be guaranteed to the greatest extent.

The Third Hokage would never allow anyone to undermine the extension of his rights as Hokage.

Because only he can firmly maintain the plan of the second generation Lord Tobirama to destroy the Uchiha clan.

The third generation has always believed this in their hearts, who else but him?

"hehe!"

Danzo sneered. The more the Third Hokage didn't want Orochimaru to enter the Root, the more he wanted Orochimaru to enter the Root. Originally, the list submitted to Orochimaru was just to test the Third Hokage's importance to the Root. Now he wanted to win over Orochimaru.

Danzo rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Believe me, Hiruzen, Orochimaru is more suitable for the Root. He is not the kind of sunny ninja who stands in the sun and receives villagers' shouts of heroism. Instead, he is a dedicated ninja who silently protects Konoha in secret."

"His talent is not in combat, but in the study of ninjutsu. He has the same natural talent for developing new ninjutsu as the second generation."

Danzo once met Orochimaru, the third generation's most proud disciple.

With just one glance, he saw the same darkness in Orochimaru as in himself... No, it should be the tenacious temperament of defending Konoha to the death.

After that, the two continued to contact each other. Orochimaru's desire for ninjutsu made him very sure that this person was very suitable for studying some forbidden techniques.

The Root is definitely suitable for a ninja with research talent like Orochimaru to join.

He also needs such ninjas to join.

"Impossible, just give up on this idea."

The Third Hokage threw out the list without any possibility of negotiation. He would not agree to Orochimaru entering the Root.

If Danzo insists, the establishment of the Root will have to be postponed.

"Okay, I'll change it."

Faced with the determination in the eyes of the Third Hokage, Danzo no longer insisted. He picked up the pen on the table and changed Orochimaru's name on the spot and wrote another name.

He also figured it out. The most important thing now was to establish the Root. It would not be too late to think about how to drag Orochimaru into the water later.

Anyway, based on his understanding of Orochimaru.

The child would definitely not be able to resist the temptation he offered, and would inevitably be drawn into darkness.

The Third Hokage wanted Orochimaru to be the Fourth Hokage?

Ha ha!

He just won't give in!

Danzo sneered in his heart.

The Sandaime picked up the list again, and after crossing out Orochimaru's name and adding a new person, he saw no problem. He took out an application form to establish a Root from the drawer, wrote his own name on it, and stamped it with the Hokage's seal.

Since then, the troublemaker “Wherever there is darkness, I will be there” has been established in the Naruto world.

Huh... Danzo picked up the application for the establishment of the Root and breathed a sigh of relief. His long-cherished desire was finally realized, and the long-lost passion in his heart was ignited.

"I'll be out first then, Hiruzen."

Danzo said and turned away, he couldn't wait to form the Root quickly.

"and many more."

The Sandaime suddenly called Danzo over, frowning, and thought about whether to let Danzo intervene in Li Yao's question. Finally, he asked, "The research equipment for the Wood Release Reappearance Plan should be in good condition, right?"

“They are all well preserved.”

Danzo turned his head subconsciously, and then suddenly realized what the Sandai asked. His eyes immediately lit up, and he turned around and stared at the Sandai hotly.

"Huruzen, do you want to restart the Wood Release Reappearance Plan?"

"No, I'm just asking."

The Third Hokage immediately shook his head and without even thinking about it, he immediately dispelled Danzo's idea of ​​restarting the Wood Release research plan.

The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, died shortly after the Battle of the Valley of the End.

Without the great god, the First Generation, to suppress the entire ninja world, a ninja war even more brutal than the endless fighting at the end of the Warring States Period soon began.

In this battle, the second generation Tobirama, who possessed the strongest instant teleportation ability in the ninja world, Flying Thunder God, died in battle to protect the third generation and others from leaving safely.

Although the Third Generation and others rose up later and demonstrated to the Ninja World that even without the First and Second Generations, they could still easily overwhelm any of the Five Hidden Villages, and ultimately ended the Ninja World War peacefully.

But think about the time when the first generation of the God of Ninja World was here, when the entire Ninja World surrendered to the power of Wood Release.

The Third Hokage and other high-ranking Hokage were very unwilling to accept this.

In addition, the Uchiha clan, whose strength suddenly soared to the top of Konoha after the Ninja World War, made the Senju clan very wary.

After all, the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan have been entangled in a feud that has lasted for thousands of years, and it is not so easy to let go of the hatred between them.

Without such strong men as the First and Second Generations, how could the Senju clan not be afraid of the Uchiha clan?

The Senju clan was very unwilling to accept this. They wanted to recreate the glory of the Senju clan when the first generation was here and firmly suppress the Uchiha clan under their feet.

Therefore, the Senju clan, together with the Third Hokage and other Konoha high-ranking officials, secretly launched a plan to recreate the Wood Release technique.

Chapter 31: Wood Release Reappearance Plan

What made Senju and the Third Hokage want to restore the glory of Wood Release was Hashirama's terrifying Wood Release chakra.

Although Hashirama is dead, his soul has dissipated between heaven and earth.

However, his body remained terrifyingly active under the powerful Wood Release chakra and did not die.

In a sense, Hashirama is not dead, it's just that his soul is no longer in his body.

If there were a ninjutsu that could summon souls from the underworld back to reality, it would be entirely possible for the God of Ninja to reappear in the Ninja World.

His body was enough for him to live for at least another hundred years.

This is the power of the God of Ninja and Wood Release, so powerful that it is unbelievable.

It’s no wonder that the Senju clan and the Third Generation wanted to regain the Wood Release technique.

Not long after the end of the Ninja World War, the new head of the Senju clan and the third generation gathered all the research-savvy ninjas in Konoha in a secret base to conduct research on the reproduction of Wood Release, and Danzo was also a member of the research team.

After some discussion, research and demonstration, they believed that the most likely way was to cultivate Hashirama's cells filled with Wood Release Chakra, and then implant them into other ninjas' bodies, allowing the cells in their bodies to slowly assimilate Hashirama's cells and thus obtain new Wood Release.

Unfortunately, Hashirama's cells were too corrosive, and none of the ninjas conducting the experiment could withstand it. Their chakra and bodies were devoured by Hashirama's cells, and they were transformed into small trees covered with green branches and leaves.

Originally, the plan to recreate Wood Release had to be stopped at this point.

But the Senju clan was very unwilling.

They also believed that the reason why the experimental subjects could not withstand the erosion of Hashirama's cells was because they did not have the blood of the Senju clan.

Only the Senju clan ninjas who inherited the same bloodline as Hashirama can withstand the erosion of Hashirama's cells.

However, everyone underestimated the power of Hashirama's cells.

Many powerful ninjas of the Senju clan, including the new clan leader, were unable to withstand the erosion of Hashirama's cells and all died.

After this, the plan to revive Wood Release completely failed.

The Senju clan also completely declined due to the deaths of a large number of powerful people.

As a result, the Uchiha clan no longer had any ninja clan that could suppress them.

The Uchiha's arrogance, which was suppressed by the Senju clan, became even more arrogant.

This was a misjudgment made by the Third Hokage back then. Now he doesn't want to lose more ninjas by restarting the plan to revive the Wood Release.

Putting these aside for now, after the plan to revive Wood Release failed, all researchers withdrew from the research base.

The third generation himself never went to that secret base again.

Only Danzo has been doing some research in that secret base for many years. He must know what the equipment used to study the primary cells was like.

When Danzo saw that the Third Hokage asked him about the quality of the equipment instead of restarting the plan to recreate the Wood Release, a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes.