Chapter 46: Danzo's and Byakuya's Thought Process

After getting permission from Byakuya, Ryoma, who had been sweating profusely for a long time, left.

At that moment, he finally understood why Lord Danzo had chosen Byakuya out of all the high-ranking members of the Akatsuki. It was because in some ways, Byakuya's behavior was exactly the same as Lord Danzo's. The recent meeting brought back memories of his first encounter with Lord Danzo.

Byakuya was essentially the dark side of the Akatsuki. After calming his emotions, Ryoma headed towards the nearby root base without looking back, ready to fully inform Lord Danzo about the details of the previous meeting.

As for that root team, they had already been discarded as pawns. It was always necessary to sacrifice some useless ninjas to carry out valuable missions in order to fulfill Lord Danzo's plan and protect Konoha. This was also the reason for the existence of the root.

Soon, Ryoma encountered Lord Danzo in a dense forest. At first, Lord Danzo furrowed his brow upon seeing Ryoma return alone. However, after hearing Ryoma's report, a subtle smile formed at the corner of his mouth.

Sacrificing four middle-level root ninjas was nothing. There were as many pawns as needed. Reaching an agreement with Byakuya of the Akatsuki was the top priority, as it was related to his future plans.

Recalling the recent experience, Ryoma couldn't help but voice a reminder:

"Lord Danzo, isn't cooperating with this Byakuya too dangerous? Not only does he conceal the combat power of elite jonin, but he also guessed your intentions. And considering his age, isn't he a bit too young?"

Glancing at his old subordinate, Lord Danzo chuckled lightly, saying:

"Age and combat power can both be disguised. These are not important. What's crucial is that Byakuya has ambition and the ability to realize it. As long as we allow him to continue growing, he will eventually be able to threaten Hanzo's position. At that time, whether the Akatsuki replaces Hanzo or is eliminated by Hanzo, it will be of no concern to us. Don't forget, our goal is merely to sow chaos in the Land of Rain."

Upon hearing this, Ryoma nodded slightly.

With Lord Danzo's abilities, easily handling a high-ranking operative lurking within the Akatsuki was not a challenge but merely his sensitivity and concern.

He worried whether Byakuya would truly rise to become a threat to the Root and the Akatsuki.

Now, it seemed that as long as Lord Danzo was around, such a scenario was unlikely to occur.

However, Ryoma forgot one premise: that Danzo was genuinely for Konoha, not merely using it as an excuse to pursue his own interests.

...

After Ryoma left, Byakuya found a random spot to sit down and began examining the benefits left by Ryoma.

The seals on the storage scrolls were simple and easily deciphered by Byakuya. Inside were several boxes of finely crafted kunai, shuriken, and wires, along with a few scrolls recording C-rank ninjutsu, and three million ryo in cash.

Byakuya roughly estimated the value to be worth around ten million ryo, which was equivalent to one-third of Asuma's bounty or completing ten S-rank missions.

Considering they were still in wartime, the actual value of these supplies was even higher. Thinking this, Byakuya couldn't help but marvel at Konoha's wealth.

 The Root was not just a training institution within the ANBU; it could offer such lavish gifts. No wonder every time during the Ninja World War, everyone collectively targeted Konoha.

On one hand, Konoha was too strong, needing to be dragged down to prevent it from taking advantage; on the other hand, Konoha was too wealthy. Even if defeated, they might still extract some reconstruction funds from Konoha.

After placing the supplies back into the storage scrolls, Byakuya opened the scroll containing the summoning contracts.

There were only a few names on the scroll, likely the previous owners of the summoning beasts. Byakuya wondered if they were still alive, or if they had become cannon fodder in the Ninja World War.

After carefully inspecting and confirming there were no traps, Byakuya dripped blood onto the summoning contract and performed the summoning jutsu.

The summoned creature was a bird of prey, convenient for delivering messages. Unfortunately, unlike other special summoning creatures, it lacked combat abilities and only had the advantage of fast flight speed.

After releasing the summoning jutsu, Byakuya put the two scrolls into his backpack and fell into contemplation.

Until today, he had never expected to establish a connection with Danzo and even reach an agreement of mutual assistance, becoming partners who utilized each other.

However, since Danzo took the initiative to offer gifts, Byakuya had no reason to refuse.

From Ryoma's words, it seemed that Byakuya and Danzo were aligned in short-term interests, both hoping for the rise of the Akatsuki within the Land of Rain.

The only difference was that Danzo aimed to cause trouble for the Hokage and Hanzo and keep the Land of Rain in turmoil.

On the other hand, Byakuya's goal was to replace Amegakure with Akatsuki. After all, the Akatsuki would inevitably clash with the Hidden Rain Village sooner or later. To prevent the event of the Akatsuki being annihilated, as in the original plot, he had to prepare to absorb the Amegakure in advance.

Moreover, by establishing contact with Danzo, he could easily obtain information about Konoha and the Root, bringing the prospect of a win-win situation closer.

Of course, this win-win was for him to win twice.

Before long, Konan arrived with the bodies of Root ninjas, her expression grim.

While pursuing the Root ninjas, she saw Byakuya (clone) stepping into a trap set by them. His body was engulfed in flames and blown to pieces. It was what she thought.

At that moment, Konan was completely stunned, thinking Byakuya was dead.

After killing all the Root ninjas, she belatedly realized that Byakuya wasn't that weak. He had been following her from the beginning, but it was only a paper clone.

Seeing Konan's furious expression, Byakuya's face gradually became serious.

"Konan-senpai, do you remember what I said during our first mission together? I just want to show you the true face of the ninja world. Even this is just the tip of the iceberg."

Hearing this, Konan fell silent. She did recall this statement. Byakuya was doing it for her own good, constantly training her to experience the cruelty of the ninja world.

But Konan still felt something was amiss. It had been several months. Why hadn't it ended yet?

After prompting Konan to reflect and successfully diverting the topic to the deception of the paper clone, Byakuya looked towards the bodies of the Root ninjas beside Konan.

"Konan-senpai, have you figured out the identities of these attackers?"

Konan nodded, rummaging through the bodies of the Root ninjas and retrieving several tokens with Iwagakure markings.

"I suspect they are ninjas from Iwagakure."

Then, Konan recalled her previous experience in Kusagakure before rubbing her chin.

"They could also be ninjas from Kusagakure? They've disguised themselves before."

"Konan-senpai's intelligence is almost as good as nothing..."

Byakuya joked as he walked to the side of the Root ninja's body, inspecting it before smirking at Konan.

"These people are neither from Kusagakure nor Iwagakure. They are all members of Konoha's ANBU."

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BONUS CHAPTERS!

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1000 PS = 5 Bonus Chapters!

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Please get this book in ranking so I can translate more chapters in a batch.