Chapter 10: Danzo's Plans

---Root Base in Konoha---

Danzo was silently sitting on his chair. Although he appeared to be calm, he was boiling with rage inside.

Hiruzen had already taken fifty percent of his Root shinobi and is planning to place them in Anbu.

"Hiruzen is cunning as ever. He first took the new shinobi who still did not believe in me instead they believed in the village and him. Then he took the various clan shinobi and had them return to their clan to appease all the clans and their heads as well as the families of the clan shinobi who would be happy to see their members back. He would then take them in anbu. Worst of all, He had me remove the curse seal on their tongues removed. But Hiruzen assured me that they would not tell anyone about the missions they took. Still, I have the core of the root shinobi with me. I even managed to hide Kinoe from him." Danzo mumbled

"But all the resources I used to nurture them are gone. GONE! JUST LIKE THAT!" He shouted at the end

Five root shinobi flickered and kneeled in front of him.

He has called a meeting and asked these five to be present. They have already been briefed about what happened.

"Your orders, Danzo sama?" They asked

"We will stay low for a while and recover from this loss while gaining more assets," Danzo said

"Taking clan shinobi is not an option for now. Since the orphanages are full, there should be quite a few good ones. Take some kids with talent from there." He instructed them

One of the kneeling shinobi hesitated but still spoke up "I don't think that we would be able to take kids from Konoha Orphanages since Lord Third has appointed Anbu to watch over the orphanages."

"Damn that Hiruzen, wasting precious Anbu shinobi at this time to protect Orphanages. He must be ranting about that will of fire to those kids in the orphanages. Forget it, Get kids from outside of Konoha. Who knows we might fight a gem out there?" Danzo said while trying to control his anger towards Hiruzen.

Danzo then turned to look at one of the kneeling man.

"Tanuki, How much have you progressed with the project Gozu Tennō?" Danzo asked him

Tanuki replied, "Although we have made progress, it would take at least another Fifteen years to complete it, Danzo sama."

Danzo thought for a while then said "We can't wait for that long. Hiruzen has already taken out half of my forces. We need that project completed as soon as possible. Since we are going to lay low, You can have as much manpower as you want to gather materials for your research. More funds would also be allocated to you. If need be, take help from Orochimaru. But don't let him know what we are doing. That snake can bite us any time."

"Understood Danzo sama. With the increased resources and manpower, it would take sufficiently less time to complete the project." Tanuki said

"Good"

------Scene Change----

Ken continued his chakra control training.

Days turned into weeks, and Ken's relentless practice continued. Every morning, under the watchful eye of his grandfather Hiruzen, he sat in the training ground, determined to master the Leaf Concentration Technique. His chakra reserves, once unwieldy and erratic, began to gradually submit to his will.

He managed to increase the time from one second to 1 minute to 10 minutes to 30 minutes. Hiruzen has given him a target of sticking the leaves on his forehead for 40 minutes. Eventually, he managed to reach the target one day.

Hiruzen, who had been observing from a distance, approached with a proud and warm smile. "You've done it, Ken. You've mastered the Leaf Concentration Technique."

Ken jumped in excitement as he had finally done it. "Now I can finally start learning jutsus."

Hiruzen laughed at that as he brought another leaf "Not yet, You will have to first do the same thing with another leave. Then you will have to do it with five leaves till we start your ninjutsu training. I would then teach you the academy basic three jutsus. Then we would go back to chakra control training before you start learning proper ninjutsu."

Hearing this, Ken heaved a heavy tired sigh as he continued his leaf concentration training in the mornings.

While in the afternoon, He would train with Mukai.

"Training Taijutsu at such an early age can be both beneficial and detrimental. If you develop the wrong habits, it will be difficult to remove them from your fighting style. Besides, since you are young, You still don't know which taijutsu style would suit you." Mukai explained to Ken

"That's why we will be training your physical strength, endurance, and stamina for the next few months. Since you have learned the basic taijutsu style of the Sarutobi clan, we would also learn to master its basic katas." Mukai said

"You would be doing 30 pushups, 50 squats, and running around the training ground 10 times. Once you are comfortable with this training routine, we will gradually increase it." Mukai said

Normally, No one would have a child do such exercises as no child's body would be able to handle it. But the existence of chakra changed it as chakra increased the physical strength and endurance of the body.

But it did not mean that Ken liked the fact that he had to do so much physical exercise. Even in his previous life, he did not like doing physical exercises.

He complained to Mukai "Can't we just do it when I am older?"

Mukai just gave him a blank stare and a 'No'.

Ken could only complain in his mind by saying 'Child laborers!!' while doing the physical exercises.

Like this, Six months passed.

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