Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 326 Danzo: How dare he?!

rustle……

The pale moonlight pierced through the dense, layered foliage, casting fragmented and swaying light through the woods.

The entire forest was submerged in the deep darkness of night; only the shapes of things nearby could be barely discerned, while the distance was a hazy, indistinct darkness.

The night wind rustled through the trees, and the twisted branches stretched out in the dim light, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

In this oppressive silence, discordant sounds repeated themselves.

Tick ​​tock...tick tock...

Thick blood seeped out from the leg, which was hastily bandaged with rough cloth, dripping onto the damp soil and fallen leaves in the forest.

Danzo Shimura was deathly pale, his forehead covered in cold sweat from the intense pain and rage.

"Damn it!"

He clenched his teeth so hard they almost broke, and struggled to drag his broken leg, pierced by a black rod and throbbing with excruciating pain, step by step with the help of crutches.

With each movement, the wound throbbed with excruciating pain, causing him to gasp for breath.

"Damn Hyuga Kumokawa!"

His voice grew lower and hoarse, his eyes burning with venomous rage: "That damned madman!"

He just couldn't understand it!
How dare that guy?!

How could you dare to actually hurt yourself so badly!
"I just want him to fulfill his promise from back then, and I just want him to support me in rebuilding 'Root'. This will be beneficial to him in becoming Hokage!"

"I didn't even plan to use the Caged Bird Seal as my trump card to control him!"

"And then, this madman actually attacked directly. Isn't he afraid?" Danzo gritted his teeth, growing increasingly furious.

Aren't you afraid I'll expose his true colors?
Aren't you afraid I'll tell Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the others how cold-blooded and ruthless this seemingly perfect guy is deep down?!
Even if they don't completely believe my side of the story, as long as the seed is planted, it will be enough to surround Hinata Kumokawa with suspicious and scrutinizing eyes!
How could he? How dare he be so brazen?!
why?
What makes this guy so fearless?
Could he be hiding some trump card that I don't know about?

Or is he simply a reckless madman?!

The inner roar of anger and the excruciating pain in his body were intertwined, causing Danzo to almost lose all his reason at this moment.

He was completely baffled; Hinata Kumokawa's behavior was beyond his expectations!

Finally, leaning on his cane, he staggered to a seemingly ordinary rock wall.

He cautiously looked around, and only after confirming that no one was following him did he raise his arm with difficulty and rhythmically tap a few times on an inconspicuous protruding rock.

Click...

A slight clicking sound rang out, and a perfectly disguised stone door on the rock wall slowly opened inward, releasing a chilling aura from the darkness.

Inside the stone gate were two Root ninjas wearing animal masks and shrouded in black.

Although in name he has been dismissed from his post and 'Root' has been disbanded.

However, most of the ninjas who joined Root actually believed in Danzo's theories, and many of them had been brainwashed by Root since childhood.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan to completely incorporate and whitewash them is not something that can be done easily.

Over the years, Danzo has built many secret strongholds in order to guard against the possibility that Hiruzen Sarutobi might use them to transfer the secrets of 'Root'.

This base was used to transfer experimental equipment and data from the 'root'.

When the stone door opened and they saw Danzo standing outside, disheveled and covered in blood, their expressions changed instantly.

"Lord Danzo!"

"You, what's wrong with you?"

The two instinctively stepped forward, wanting to help the swaying Danzo.

"Go away!"

Danzo suddenly swung his arm, roughly shaking off their support, his eyes bloodshot, filled with violence and humiliation.

He doesn't need pity, especially not from his subordinates; it only makes him feel more humiliated!

Tap...tap...

With heavy breathing and the sound of his cane striking the ground, Danzo, leaning on his cane and dragging his injured leg, limped into the deeper darkness of the stronghold.

The two Root ninjas exchanged glances, not daring to say anything more. They could only silently follow behind, closing the stone door again and completely isolating the outside world from this secret base.

Soon, after passing through a dark passageway, the view suddenly opened up before us.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of disinfectant and formaldehyde. A massive, fully equipped underground laboratory came into view before Danzo.

The cold white lights illuminated the entire space in a stark white, revealing every detail, yet adding to the inhumane and eerie atmosphere.

If Hiruzen Sarutobi saw this equipment, he would definitely feel his heart clench uncontrollably.

Because there are simply too many, and they are too expensive. From the simplest items, such as neatly arranged scalpels, hemostatic forceps, and sutures, to high-speed centrifuges, constant-temperature incubators, and high-magnification electron microscopes.

They went to places that most people would never see, such as a human tissue slicer, an extracorporeal circulation machine used to maintain vital signs, and a chakra activity maintenance device connected by complex pipes.

Even in the center of the room, there was the most eye-catching large-scale biological tissue culture and cloning base, which was probably worth tens of millions of taels of silver.

It was a huge device made of several transparent glass containers and metal, filled with a pale green nutrient solution, with a dense network of pipes connected to its base.

Danzo Shimura stared intently at the several pairs of white eyes that were quietly floating inside the container.

He staggered to the container, his distorted and ferocious face reflected in the glass wall, and several containers with white eyes were labeled with names.

Hyuga Iroha, Hyuga Takashi, Hyuga Tetsuya...

And, that name he loathed.

—Hyuga Kumokawa!
Looking at that name, Danzo's anger and humiliation surged again.

"Hyuga Kumokawa, do you think you can defeat me like this?"

He whispered, "You're wrong. You have no idea what I'm willing to give up for Konoha, what I've gained in order to obtain power, or what I've actually mastered!"

Based on the truth about the "Caged Bird Seal" that he pried out of Hyuga Higo.

The known method of activating the "Caged Bird" curse seal is through the so-called "same bloodline" connection between the main family and the branch family.

But this was nothing more than a lie spread by the Hyuga main family to cover up their true intentions and prevent outsiders from coveting the main family's Byakugan.

The main family applies and controls the "Caged Bird" curse mark to members of the branch family not through bloodline, but through the resonance of the Byakugan itself!
It's a special kind of connection and suppression between Byakugan of the same lineage!

And right now, he happens to possess a pair of Byakugan belonging to the main branch of the Hyuga Kumokawa family!

After a moment, Danzo's breathing gradually calmed down, and what followed was an even more insane thought that arose from humiliation and anger.

"Lord Danzo." A cool female voice entered my ears.

A woman codenamed 'Mink' walked out of the laboratory, wearing a white lab coat and a mask that covered her mouth and nose, revealing only her eyes.

When she saw Shimura Danzo's disheveled appearance, her brows furrowed subconsciously, revealing a hint of surprise.

"What is this...?" She had just begun to ask when Danzo rudely interrupted her.

"mink!"

Danzo's voice was hoarse, his eyes flashing with an almost obsessive light as he stared intently at her: "How is the second phase of the experiment to forcibly fuse Hashirama's cells with the Hollows progressing?"

Previous experiments allowed him to successfully fuse his right arm, which had been transplanted with Hashirama cells, with a captured "Hollow," thus removing the first shackle that sealed the Hashirama cells.

This allows him to utilize his powerful chakra and Wood Release to the fullest extent.

However, two shackles remained to be removed. With the technology available at the time, forcibly removing the remaining shackles would only cause the cyborg cells to go berserk.

but now……

"It's progressing smoothly." 'Sable' seemed to have anticipated that Danzo would ask this first, and nodded.

"By tuning the 'interstitial cells' and 'virtual', we have successfully mastered the fusion ratio of 'interstitial cells' and 'virtual'."

She looked at Danzo's right arm, which was covered by his sleeve but exuded a chilling aura, and at his right eye, which required chakra to suppress.

"You can now attempt to remove the second shackle."

A researcher's fervor flashed in 'Mink's' eyes as he continued, "If I'm not mistaken, you will be able to control the power of Hashirama cells more stably."

"Even more, it can completely control the Sharingan in your right eye, allowing you to open and close it freely without having to bear such a huge burden all the time."

Upon hearing this, Danzo's eyes flashed with a terrifying light, and he seemed to temporarily forget the excruciating pain in his leg.

He stared intently at the pale eyeballs suspended in the container, and an even more greedy and insane thought surged uncontrollably into his mind.

“If…” his voice was hoarse, his gaze fixed intently on the 'mink,’ “I would like to have another pair of white eyes transplanted, is that possible?”

Upon hearing this, even the usually composed 'Mink' was visibly taken aback.

She subconsciously glanced again at Danzo's disheveled figure and the severe injury to his leg, and seemed to understand something, her eyes flickering.

“It’s feasible.” She slowed her pace and pondered, “However, we need to wait until the third phase of the experiment is successful and the last seal on the arm is removed.”

"In that state, there were four completely different and even conflicting powers: Hashirama cells, Hollows, Sharingan, and Byakugan."

"Under the suppression of 'virtual', a stable balance of coexistence will be formed."

"Alright!" Danzo's voice trembled with excitement, carrying a desperate madness as he said, "Immediately, prepare for the surgery and complete the second phase of the experiment first."

He was willing to risk everything, not only to obtain the four powers of Wood Release, Hollow Release, Uchiha Release, and Hyuga Release, but also to completely control the guy who dared to humiliate him!

When the time comes, I'll make that guy Hyuga Kumokawa kneel down in front of me and admit his mistake. Let's see who's the one who's wagging his tail and begging for mercy!
(Update is late, I haven't been updating much lately, but I tried to post more today QAQ)

(End of this chapter)