To pay off the debt, become Hokage!

The glasses on Mito Menen's nose flashed coldly, and his eyes were sharp as he stared at the Root Ninja.

Mito Kado En's voice was meaningful: "Everyone in Konoha must obey the orders of the Hokage, even Danzo is no exception, but you can bypass Danzo and disobey orders, you are more powerful than Danzo."

Mitomon En smiled and patted the Root Ninja on the shoulder, but what he said made the Root Ninja feel a chill in his heart.

"You can refuse orders and do what you want, but it is still unclear whether the roots will still exist by then."

"..."

The Root Ninja quickly knelt on one knee and lowered his posture: "I will never dare to go beyond Lord Danzo. The Root Ninja is part of Konoha. We must obey the orders of Lord Hokage...but."

The Root Ninja looked up and said, "Danzo-sama's search work..."

Mitomon En held his eyes and said calmly: "This is naturally arranged by the Hokage, you don't need to worry about it. Don't worry, you know that Danzo has a close relationship with the Hokage, he cares more about Danzo's whereabouts than you do."

The Root Ninja wanted to say something else, but Mitomon said impatiently, "Enough, don't you Root members call yourselves qualified tools, the ninjas among ninjas? Why don't you hurry up and do the mission when you have it?"

The Root Ninja paused. Since Mito Kado En had said so, he had no choice but to claim that he was going on patrol and guard duty.

"By the way, aren't there those [people abandoned by their families] among the Root? Dismiss them and send them back to their respective clans."

The Root Ninja stopped and turned to Mitomon En and said, "Advisor, those people were recruited by Danzo-sama with great difficulty..."

Mitomon En glared at the Root ninja and said, "Everything is for the stability of Konoha. This is the order of the Hokage, and you just have to do it."

When the news of Danzo's disappearance spread, the clans waited and watched for a few days. After inquiring from all sides, they began to think about bringing back the clan members they had once abandoned.

Mizuto Menen despised these clans from the bottom of his heart - since they had been abandoned, they had to be abandoned completely. He did not think that those who were abandoned by their families had no resentment towards their families.

In his opinion, these were all troubles, and it would not be a good idea to take them back.

However, he had no power to oppose the clans from doing so, and could only watch the show from the sidelines.

"Just recruit normally from the Anbu in the future." Mitomon En waved his hand and said, "Coercion and inducement are not good after all. The clan ninjas recruited normally by the Anbu are good enough and they work very hard to complete the mission."

——That’s different!

The Root Ninja wanted to refute that those [people abandoned by the family] were all talents that Lord Danzo had spent a lot of effort to recruit.

It took a lot of effort to make them fully loyal to Lord Danzo.

"This... this is not good."

Mizuto Menyan glanced at him, and now his voice was no longer calm, with obvious ups and downs. It didn't sound like a tool, but like a person.

"If you are not satisfied, you can go and talk to the clan representatives." Mitomon Yan said calmly: "As long as you can convince them, it's fine."

"..."

The Root Ninja suddenly felt a headache, but deep down he didn't want to let Lord Danzo's efforts go to waste, so he had to agree to try to persuade him.

"I understand, Mr. Advisor."

The Root ninja left with a heavy heart.

Mito Kado En watched the Root ninja leave, his serious expression relaxed and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Mitokoto En complained about Sarutobi Hiruzen's arrangement.

"Few of these Root ninjas listen to me..."

Mito Kado En's eyes flickered, it seemed that he had to ask Hiruzen for some people from the Anbu.

Since he was appointed as the leader of the Root, Mitomon En naturally wanted to do a good job.

This is also Sarutobi Hiruzen's trust - those dirty jobs that he is not good at doing need someone to do them.

Since Danzo Shimura is missing, Mito Kado En will take over temporarily.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed, leaned back in his chair, smoked his pipe and exhaled the smoke.

——I don’t know if Yan can successfully take over the roots.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes were calm and deep, and he murmured: "The power to act independently cannot be handed over. It is better for the Root to do things under my sight."

Compared to the Root led by Danzo Shimura, the autonomy of the Root led by Enmi Mitokado has plummeted.

Now, if the Root wants to do anything, Sarutobi Hiruzen must know the Root's arrangements and deployments in advance in every detail.

——The absurd thing of finding out about Shimura Danzo's disappearance a month and a half later must never happen again!

......

On the surface, Konoha is peaceful and the villagers are happy.

Secretly, the Anbu, Root, and Konoha Police Force were all dispatched to patrol and guard various places in Konoha.

The sealing department of the Uzumaki clan has been working overtime these days to check for seal loopholes and strengthen the sealing barrier.

The perception ninjas of the Yamanaka clan, the Hyuga clan, and other clans are firing on all cylinders, mobilizing their mental energy, sensing everything around Konoha, and not letting go of any unusual signs.

All departments of Konoha took action and prepared for martial law.

Uchiha Shigeka listened to Uchiha Muneyuki's patrol matters with a strange look in his eyes.

——If you look closely, this large group of people were mobilized just to guard against him.

......

Chapter 229: Orochimaru: You want me to research it, right?

The precautions taken by Sarutobi Hiruzen and others were doomed to be in vain.

The real culprit was sitting in the Konoha Police Department office with a swagger.

Uchiha Shigeka drank the tea leisurely, feeling the warm water soothing his body.

Uchiha Shigeka hid himself perfectly, and Sarutobi Hiruzen and others did not connect Shimura Danzo's disappearance with him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and others had never thought about Uchiha Shigeka - they had never had such an idea.

Even though Uchiha Shigeka and Shimura Danzo did not get along and hated each other; even though Shimura Danzo's Root stabbed Uchiha Shigeka and others in a battle at the border of the Land of Earth...even though there was such a deep hatred, Sarutobi Hiruzen and others did not subconsciously list Uchiha Shigeka as a suspect.

Even those in the Root didn't think it was Uchiha Shigeka's doing.

Uchiha Shigeka's lips curled up slightly, revealing a smile.

“This is exactly the effect we want.”

In the final analysis, they didn't believe in their hearts that Uchiha Shigeka dared to do anything to Shimura Danzo. Even if he was really brave enough to attack Shimura Danzo...the fight between the two would definitely make some noise, leaving behind conspicuous traces and clues.

They underestimated Uchiha Shigeka's power and over-trusted Shimura Danzo's strength.

I never thought that Uchiha Shigeka would crush Shimura Danzo and others, and I never thought that Shimura Danzo had the Inner Four Symbols Seal engraved on his body.

Uchiha Shigeka just watched Sarutobi Hiruzen and others struggle silently for half a year.

"...I think we can be sure that the other party is specifically targeting Danzo."

Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his temples to relieve some of the headache.

In order to prevent the unknown force from harming Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen and others were on high alert for half a year.

The ninjas who were arranged and mobilized were all tense and ready for battle - how could the order given by the Hokage himself be false?

Although no one knew what Sarutobi Hiruzen was guarding against, the many ninjas of Konoha took it very seriously and did not dare to slack off.

......But after half a year, there was no trace of any unknown forces.

"I think you are right." Mizuto Menen also felt a headache. He had just fought with those Root ninjas.

The reason is naturally because Mizuto Menen introduced Anbu ninjas into the Root.

——The Root was established by Lord Danzo, and all the ninjas in the Root were trained and recruited by Lord Danzo.

Now Mitomon En has brought in Anbu ninjas to compete with them, to balance them, and to pull them down.

This is blatantly shaking the foundation of the root's existence!

If this continues, the Root will be assimilated into the Dark Section sooner or later!

The Root Ninjas look down on the Anbu Ninjas - they have been carrying out the most dangerous missions in Konoha. As Lord Danzo said, it is because of their efforts in the dark that Konoha has peace today!

The Root are much more hardcore than those Anbu members who often do patrols and guards!

The Root Ninja is resentful and dissatisfied with Mito Kado En, and has repeatedly asked the other party to expel the Anbu Ninja!

They want to ensure the purity of the roots!

Mito Kado En was also very dissatisfied with the Root Ninjas - who would be satisfied with the Root Ninjas who kept calling Danzo-sama all the time, spoke disrespectfully to him, and acted on their own?

Mitomon En wants to build his own root, and these diehard fans of Shimura Danzo must be suppressed.

We must let the ninjas of the Root know who is in charge of the Root now!

Utane Koharu glanced at the frowning Mitomon En and said, "En, are you still worried about Danzo's diehard fans?"

Mitokado En nodded, sighed and said, "Huruzen trusted me and let me be the leader of the Root, but those diehards of Danzo don't obey orders, often argue with me, act on their own and don't listen to others... I can't dismiss them all."

Mitomon En adjusted his glasses: "After all, they are quite powerful. The Root carries out dangerous and confidential missions. Without them, the Root cannot function."

Although the Root Ninjas have their shortcomings, Danzo Shimura has put a lot of effort into their training.

The overall strength of the Root Ninjas is not bad, most of them are at the level of Jonin, and although a few are weaker, they all have their own unique skills.

For example, lock picking, theft, interrogation, etc....all of them are talented.

Mito Menyan coveted these talents and thought it would be a pity to dismiss them.

But if the Root Ninja doesn't appreciate the kind words and benefits he offered, then you can't blame him for giving up the soft approach and using the hard approach!

Sarutobi Hiruzen waved his hand and said, "Yan, we haven't found Danzo for such a long time. Although the public said he was missing, you and I both know that Danzo is probably... in danger."

"I think the ninjas of the root will understand this truth after a long time. You should be more patient. One day, the ninjas of the root will be of use to you."

"I understand, Hiruzen."

I hope so, Mizuto Menyan thought.

"Since the other party hasn't made any moves in the past six months, Hiruzen, do we still need to continue the precautionary alert?"

Utane Koharu looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen groaned for a moment and said, "Leave one-third of the ninjas to continue to guard, and the rest will cancel the martial law mission."

"Yes, Hiruzen."

Utatane Koharu agreed to Sarutobi Hiruzen's arrangement, then she changed the subject and said, "What about Danzo? Should we continue looking for him?"

The three people present all understood that Shimura Danzo was in great danger.

The unknown force was hiding very deeply, and there was no news at all. The three knew that continuing to search would be a futile waste of manpower.

Therefore, we need to change our thinking and try another approach.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes flickered, and he said to the two: "Cancel the mission to search for Danzo, but this does not mean that we give up looking for Danzo."

"I have other plans."

"Ok?"

Mitokado En and Utane Koharu looked at each other, and both could see expressions of confusion and curiosity.

"Hiruzen, what are your plans?"

Mitomon En asked, and Utane Koharu looked at her sideways.

Sarutobi Hiruzen avoided talking about this: "This matter is still in the theoretical stage. I will tell you when there is any result."

"If all goes well, we will all know what happened to Danzo and whether he's dead or alive."

Upon hearing this, Utane Koharu became even more curious.

"Hiruzen, can't you reveal a thing or two?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen remained silent, obviously not wanting to say more.

Seeing that Sarutobi Hiruzen was silent, Mito Kado En and Utane Koharu didn't dare to ask any more questions no matter how curious they were.

"Okay, then we'll wait for good news from Hiruzen."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and said seriously: "Ah, wait for my good news."

......

Mitomon En and Utane Koharu left.

After sitting there for a while, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked out the window towards the west.