Naruto: Learn the Substitution Jutsu and use it to create Star Platinum?

Last time, the Roots wanted a corpse, and you gave it to them. This time, they've framed the Roots. If you give it to the Roots again, you're clearly helping Danzo clear his name.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Lin Yi a deep look and nodded.

Lin Yi then turned to Shimura Danzo and sneered.

"Could it be that Lord Danzo doesn't want to clear his name?"

Lin Yi emphasized the word "innocent" slightly.

"Humph."

Danzo closed his one eye and let out a muffled groan, whether from anger or pain, it was unclear.

"In that case, this mission is over." Lin Yi paused. "Department Chief White Fang, along with his members and apostles, pursued the enemy village's elite ninjas, thwarted their plot in time, and averted a major loss for the village. With a minister like this, how can Konoha not be strong?"

Under Bai Ya's blushing and bewildered gaze, Lin Yi uttered a string of polite, official platitudes.

"The Hokage and the three elders have all witnessed it, and they must know that I have not uttered a single falsehood."

You fucking thing.

Danzo's face, with his eyes closed, showed a bulging vein.

"Of course, there may be other interests at play. If Elder Danzo does not believe us, we can leave it to us to examine this fake Root before we discuss it further."

After saying that, Lin Yi gently said to Shuo Mao, "Minister, it's time to go back."

"Ah."

The two of them, each dragging one of the animals, swaggered out in front of everyone.

"Ok?"

Hatake Sakumo followed Lin Yi and realized that he had gone the wrong way. For ninjas like them, once they had walked a path, they would never forget it.

Lin Yi openly activated his Sharingan and looked up.

"The archives? Oh, it seems I've come to the wrong place. I'm sorry, it's my first time at your base."

Another hair appeared on Danzo's head as he lay behind him.

"The lab, it seems I really do get lost easily... Professor, no, Minister, do you know him?"

"It seems that we, master and apprentice, are surprisingly alike in this respect; I'm also not very good at finding my way around."

Damn it, how can you, a butcher who flew into the enemy's headquarters and slaughtered dozens of Jonin and Chunin, have the nerve to do this?!

"Hiss, is this the renovation room?"

"Enough!! Someone, show them out!"

He was anxious.

Finally, after an injured root spirit led them out, the two breathed a sigh of relief.

After the two left, the Root Base.

"I never imagined that the child who graduated early back then has grown up to this extent."

"This is the extent of it? Hmph, if it weren't for that brat, White Fang would have..."

Danzo didn't finish speaking, and the Third Hokage frowned and took a drag of his cigarette.

"Him? How old is he?"

"White Fang has vision, strength, and courage. But unfortunately, a ninja with these qualities would never stoop to such treacherous schemes as me."

……

Outside the Root Base, the two did not linger this time. Lin Yi looked at the one-armed Root that was vaguely trying to awaken and summoned the World to deliver another hand chop.

"Mu Da."

When the two returned to the Hatake clan's territory, Kakashi, who had been very worried, rushed to greet them.

I breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that my senior brother and father were both alright.

"How about it?"

Kakashi looked on expectantly, thinking that the mastermind must have been defeated.

"They failed to kill him; that old coward was quite adept at playing the turtle."

Lin Yi shook his head.

Sakumo also spoke up, "Of course, we were all fine in the end, but Lin Yi, why did you make excuses for Danzo in the end?"

Lin Yi casually poured himself a cup of tea.

He took a small sip.

I tried to get a feel for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, then stepped back; it's time for me to start showing off.

"Teacher, do you think Danzo will try to deny it?"

Sakumo Hatake paused for a moment, then quickly replied matter-of-factly, "Of course I would try to argue, but in that situation, arguing wouldn't have worked, would it?"

Lin Yi shook his head.

"It's useful, and it's useless."

Lin Yi continued speaking.

"Teacher, putting that aside for now, even if Danzo doesn't deny it, do you think the Third Hokage would execute Danzo?"

"Shouldn't...?"

"Absolutely not."

Kakashi looked up and asked curiously, "Why, senior?"

"It's very simple. In reality, neither my teacher nor I have lost anything. My teacher's so-called reputation is nothing in their eyes, but Danzo has suffered a great loss."

Hatake Sakumo nodded.

The words may be crude, but the principle is sound; after all, it was the two of them who went in and started hacking and slashing.

"And then, if the Hokage wants to punish someone, what does he want?"

Sakumo Hatake raised an eyebrow slightly, as if he understood something.

Lin Yi nodded and pointed to the one-armed Root ninja not far away.

"If we want him, the Third Hokage will definitely detain him. Then, he'll probably just spout some nonsense about locking Danzo up there to await interrogation."

"And would the Third Hokage really be willing to execute Danzo, who is severely weakened and whose weaknesses are being exploited?"

Hatake Sakumo suddenly realized.

He just doesn't get involved much, but he's not an idiot.

Lin Yi patted Kakashi, who was still completely bewildered.

Danzo was originally a tool for the Hokage to do dirty work and underhanded tricks. The Hokage was absolutely unaware of this plan to frame the teacher. What does this mean?

The knife is not behaving properly.

And the fact that he almost succeeded shows what?

The knife is too sharp.

If Lin Yi were to kill Danzo at that time, he would not only help the Third Hokage suppress his sharp edge, but also make him more obedient, thus giving him leverage.

The Third Hokage was overjoyed; how could he possibly want to break this perfectly suited sword?

"That's true, but even if Danzo isn't killed, the Third Hokage will still punish him, right?"

Sakumo Hatake was still puzzled, since Danzo hadn't even been punished yet.

"No, teacher, our goal was never to kill Danzo, nor to make things difficult for him."

"Ok?"

Chapter 24 Restoring Reputation

Now Sakumo Hatake and Kakashi are sitting at the same table. They went through all this trouble just to kill Danzo, didn't they?

"Teacher, our goal is to restore your reputation, and even further, to build an even better one."

The purpose of restoring their reputations is to prepare for the future competition for Hokage, allowing you, teacher, to realize your ambitions, and incidentally, to let Kakashi and me become the next Hokage.

Sakumo Hatake shook his head, smiled, and nodded at Lin Yi.

"In the past, after dealing with Danzo, our story was enough to achieve this goal, which is why we killed Danzo."

Now that we can't kill Danzo, we need to find other ways to achieve our goal, and a meaningless punishment is certainly not what I want.

Lin Yi swallowed a mouthful of tea to moisten his throat before continuing to speak.

"As mentioned before, if Danzo is to be punished, he must be handed over."

Lin Yi gestured towards the one-armed ninja beside him.

"If we hand it over, it'll just go to the Third Hokage anyway, and it won't fall into Danzo's hands."

Sakumo Hatake countered with a question.

"That's right, but teacher, have you ever thought that the Third Hokage doesn't care about your so-called reputation either? He won't kick you when you're down, but similarly, he won't help you out of the goodness of his heart."

But when the time comes, will Danzo, whom we tricked, let us have our way? After all, he will have already been punished by then.

Even if the Third Hokage knew that you, Sensei, were now trying to become Hokage, he would most likely side with Danzo; people's opinions are always influenced by their own self-interest.

Lin Yi explained slowly.

Actually, he didn't say the whole story. Danzo was the Hokage's sword, but wasn't White Fang the same? Once the sword wanted to turn the tables and become the master, the Hokage would be more eager for Sakumo Hatake to have even more stains on his body.

"Once we take him down, we'll have leverage over him, and we can destroy him at any time. Danzo will not only stop hindering us, but he'll even thank us for helping our teacher."

"Thank us?"

"Hmm." Lin Yi nodded in affirmation of his teacher's question. "Teacher, do you think Danzo wanted this person to be with us, or with the Third Hokage?"

"Could it be... that we have it here?"

"Of course, you see, when we took him away in the end, did Danzo offer the slightest resistance?"

White Fang recalled that they had even "visited" the Root in front of Danzo.