Chapter 75 Interlude: The Darkness Moves

------Root Headquarters-----

Danzo listened to his men reporting to him. He held a meeting every week for his soldiers to share any important information that they had gathered.

"What should we do about Iwa's brazen attempt to sort discord between Konoha and the country of the rice fields?" A root anbu asked kneeling in front of Danzo after telling him about Team Shikuro's mission in the Land of Rice Fields.

"Leave the matter to Hiruzen. Although he is naive, since the mission involved his grandson, he would surely do something about it. We have little resources already. I can't afford to waste them on such stupid things." Danzo replied through gritted teeth.

He wanted to make Iwa bleed but he was short on resources. His hatred for Iwa was deep only second to the Uchiba clan.

Their second Tsuchikage, Mû was the reason for the lack of his arm after all.

He would get back at Iwa once he becomes Hokage though.

"What is the progress of your research, Tanuki?" Danzo asked his lead researcher.

"We have made quite a lot of progress, Lord Danzo. The additional funds and the more manpower had helped us advance our research by years. Maybe in the next 5-6 years, we would have it ready."

Danzo hummed for a moment before asking

"Were the snakes given by Orochimaru good enough? I hope that snake did not cheat us by giving mediocre ones."

"We are still doing our research on them. Fifty of those snakes have already died. But we are positive that at least one of them will be ready by the time the rest of the project is completed." Tankui replied

"Mmm," Danzo then looked at another root member who shared his intel.

"Some of the Uchiha clan members are not happy with some village rules like them having no participation in Anbu. They want the Uchiha to have more freedom in the village." The Root reported as he continued

"They believe that if there was a Uchiha in the Anbu, the nine-tails tragedy would have never happened. Some of them even have the idea that a Uchiha should become the next Hokage."

The root ninja could see veins popping on Danzo's forehead before Danzo calmed down

"I told Hiruzen about this but he ignored my advice. Even now, he would ignore this matter. Sensei had told us never to trust a Uchiha. Maybe sensei made a mistake in choosing him as the Hokage..." Danzo gritted his teeth before continuing

"Since Hiruzen won't take any action against the Uchiha. I will have to take this matter into my own hands. Hunt these Uchiha down. Do it outside the village. Don't leave any witnesses. Make sure to collect their Sharingan before disposing of their bodies."

"Yes Danzo sama!"

----Scene Change----

----Somewhere in the Land of Fire---

Orochimaru exited his hidden laboratory. He had gone out of the village on the pretense of a S-rank mission. He completed the mission in a short time before focusing on his extracurricular activities.

"It looks like I have no choice but to change my body. The weakness of genjutsu and not being able to learn senjutsu is hampering me. Hmm....While Jugo is a good choice of a body, his incompatibility rate with me is too high."

"That leaves me with the boy who has two kekkei genkais so he is not bad either. His compatibility rate is also pretty high making him a perfect host for me.".

"But I would have to wait for him to grow. At least till when he is fourteen years old. I can't let him slack off. Maybe I should give him a gift to motivate him to grow stronger. Yes, giving him a curse mark would be perfect. It would also make it easier to switch bodies with the curse mark on him." Orochimaru muttered

"But I can't do it just yet. Sensei would have my head without any hesitation if I moved against his grandson. Despite being old, he is still too strong for me and I have been getting a bad feeling from sensei for some time now. It is as if he has grown strong. But that should be impossible. What are you hiding sensei?"

----Scene Change---

---Village Hidden in the Land of Rain---

"It's time to deal with Hanzo, Konan. It's time for us to avenge Yahiko."

"So we are finally going to move against Hanzo?" The masked man suddenly appeared in front of them

"Yes" Pain nodded

"Good. You have not forgotten about our deal right?"

"No, The deal still stands. You taught me how to harness the power of my eye, the Rinnegan and in return, I will help you to collect all the tailed beasts for us to achieve peace. But I still wonder how did you know about the Rinnegan this much?"

The masked man though did not answer as he disappeared in a swirl.

Deva path Pain looked at the place where the masked man vanished from, before continuing to walk in the direction of Hanzo's residence.

Five other pains joined him on his way. Konan staying to look after the real Nagato.

"Yahiko, Watch over me as I fulfill your dream of peace."

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