Chapter 194 Loyal Dog or Evil Wolf
After listening to his subordinate Pu's explanation, Danzo was heartbroken and couldn't calm down for a long time.
Years of accumulation were cleared out in one day. Danzo looked at the empty base in front of him, his breathing becoming heavier.
Now thinking back to the time when he just woke up from his coma and saw Minato seriously injured and felt secretly happy, Danzo felt as if he had been slapped hard in the face.
Minato Namikaze suffered a great loss, but how much better was Danzo Shimura?
"Where are Utane Koharu and Mitokado En now?" Danzo calmed himself down and asked again.
Thinking of what his subordinates had just said, that the Root was handed over to these two people for custody while he was unconscious, Danzo wanted to rush over and question these two old men angrily.
However, Pu replied, "This... I don't know either. Since the defeat at the Kannabi Bridge, the two elders have rarely appeared in public in the village."
Upon hearing this, Danzo was so angry that he slammed the crutch in his hand to the ground again.
"Waste! Two irresponsible wastes!"
At this time, Danzo might have forgotten that when the four of them joined forces to suppress the new generation of ninjas in Konoha, he did not evaluate his two old friends in this way.
But now that things have come to this, it’s no use saying all this.
After the defeat in the war, the two elders have now gone into hiding, and Danzo knows that he can only rely on himself from now on.
After sitting in the base for a long time, he decided to rebuild the roots!
After all, the base, resources, equipment, and real estate are still there, and Danzo's ambition to compete for the position of Hokage is still there. He is unwilling to see the Root become history.
However, when his thoughts turned into actual actions, Danzo truly felt how bad Konoha’s current situation was!
There were few ninjas worth using in the village except for the kids who were still in the upper ninja schools and the lower ninja cannon fodder who were there to fill in the gaps.
After working for several days, Danzo was only able to gather some of the remnants of the past troops, most of whom were wounded or disabled like Pu.
The other former Root members who were in good health and still had their combat capabilities intact basically ignored Danzo's recall order.
After all, Danzo was offline for too long this time, and there was no capable second-in-command like Ryoma Aburame to help hold the situation during his coma.
Those subordinates who were truly loyal to him had died in the war for various reasons several months ago.
Danzo had no choice but to resort to the same old trick again, trying to use his position as an elder to go to the various ninja clans to ask for people.
But this time, he encountered unprecedented coldness.
"Master Danzo, please go back. We are a small clan, and we have no unemployed ninjas."
"Elder, I'm really sorry. We, the Aburame clan, are very willing to contribute to Konoha, but our children are still attending ninja school, so we are really powerless."
"Master Elder, there is no one left in our clan. Do you think I am suitable? Suitable? Haha, I think you are really hungry, Master Elder."
After several ninja clans escaped, Danzo found nothing.
The huge gap between the past and the present, between ideals and reality, tortured Danzo and made him exhausted.
"How could this be?"
It was a little hard for him to believe - why did it feel like several years had passed in the village when he had only been lying in bed for a few months?
How could the change be so big?
Until Pu, who had been following him loyally, whispered a reminder: "Master Danzo, have you forgotten that Master Hiruzen is no longer the Hokage?"
"..."
In the past, Danzo was often angered by Hiruzen's words "I am the Hokage".
But it was not until Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped down that he realized what it meant to be forgotten by others when they leave.
The Hokage's preference and the Root's loyalty were the two core pillars that helped Danzo consolidate his position in the past.
But now that these two pillars are broken, it is understandable that he is ignored by the ninja clan.
"Then tell me, what should we do now?" Danzo had no choice but to ask Pu.
"Master Danzo, I think we should start with the younger ninjas?"
Adults are not easy to fool, but children are always easy to fool.
No matter what, Danzo at least still has the title of elder.
It's fine if those old ninjas refuse, but why should you, a young man, refuse? You seem to be a little disloyal to the Will of Fire!
Danzo's eyes lit up when he heard this and he took action immediately.
To be honest, Danzo Shimura is still capable of taking action. Once he has a direction, he always sets off very quickly!
But not long after, when Pu saw the people that Danzo brought back, he felt a black screen in front of his eyes for a moment.
At this moment, he would rather Lord Danzo not set off!
"This... Lord Danzo, you..."
Danzo seemed not to see Pu's pale face and introduced him to everyone with great pride.
"This is my new recruit: Hatake Kakashi. He will serve as the captain from now on, codenamed Thunder.
At the same time, he will serve as my deputy, responsible for directing all future external actions of the Root."
Pu Wanwan didn't expect that Lord Danzo would come back with such a big "surprise" after going out for half a day.
He finally found an opportunity to approach Danzo alone and asked anxiously.
"Master Danzo, why did you recruit Kakashi into the Root?"
"Didn't you say that we should start with the young people? Kakashi is now the youngest Jonin in the village. The fact that I was able to recruit him is enough to prove that the Root is the true foundation of Konoha!"
Pu Ji was sweating so much.
"Sir, have you forgotten the past grudges between him and us?"
In this world line, the Root had captured Kakashi and almost tried him.
Because the Kakashi in this time and space was awakened by Shiba Kiyokawa very early on and began to investigate the truth about his father's death. During this period, several lives were lost and he was caught by the Root.
Pu found it hard to believe that Kakashi would forget the past so easily.
But Danzo still looked very confident.
"Everything I did in the past was for Konoha. You don't need to worry, Kakashi. No, Lei will understand."
No, sir, where do you get your confidence from? Pu really wanted to ask.
However, Danzo is not completely mindless and conceited. He has his own reasons.
"Besides, Minato is seriously injured now, and Lei has recently obtained a Sharingan, which has made him the target of the Uchiha clan. Apart from me, who can give him protection now?"
This reason sounds reasonable at first glance.
But Pu still had a vague feeling: ever since Kakashi entered the Root base, his eyes had always been filled with a strong sense of purpose when he looked at everything around him.
Every time when Kakashi looked at the data room, archive room and the rooms locked by sealing techniques in the base, Pu always felt a sense of fear.
Pu couldn't tell whether they had attracted a loyal dog seeking shelter or a tolerant evil wolf.
But within a few days, before Pu could have any more cautious thoughts, the first task after the fundamental reorganization came unexpectedly!
Because on this day, a big news shook the entire ninja world—
The Third Mizukage of Kirigakure died suddenly!
(End of this chapter)
