This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 151 Secret Replacement (Please Subscribe)

It was already 3 a.m., but the lights in the Hokage's office were still on.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado sat behind their desks, their faces serious.

A member of the Anbu knelt on one knee in front of the desk and reported, "Lord Hokage, Lord Danzo has been inside the Sunagakure delegation for half an hour, and there has been no word from him."

Sarutobi said in a deep voice, "I understand. Continue to monitor the Sunagakure residence."

"Yes"

After receiving the order, the ANBU ninja vanished from the house in a flash.

The three men's expressions grew even more serious.

Koharu spoke up, "Sarutobi, Danzo going to see Ryuji Ayaki at this time is definitely suspicious!"

"..."

Sarutobi opened his mouth, but then fell silent.

He took out a cigarette case from the drawer, took out some tobacco leaves, rolled them up, and then lit them on the pipe.

"Phew~"

He took a deep drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled, feeling much better.

"I believe Danzo must have had his reasons for doing this."

Two days ago, a teacher from a ninja academy reported something to him privately.

That was Danzo's private meeting with "Ryuji Ayaki," the leader of the Sunagakure delegation.

His source of information was an overheard conversation between two Sunagakure teachers at the school.

It's not a big deal for Danzo to meet with Ryuji Ayaki, but it's suspicious that they arranged to meet in private and made it so mysterious.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't think much of it, the two elders who served as village advisors were uneasy about Danzo.

As former teammates, they knew Danzo's character better than anyone else. They knew he was a treacherous, ruthless, and ambitious man who was capable of anything.

Therefore, they have been secretly monitoring the matter.

From the moment Danzo sent someone to deliver the address in the morning, only to be driven away by Ryuji, to the moment Danzo personally visited at midnight, nothing escaped their surveillance.

"Better safe than sorry, Sarutobi. In some ways, you've been too lenient," Menyan reminded him.

Koharu chimed in, "If we really wronged Danzo, we can compensate him later, but what if..."

"Didn't you ever consider that this was a message deliberately released by Sunagakure to sow discord between us?"

Sarutobi abruptly interrupted Koharu's words, leaving the two speechless.

Because that is also possible.

Seeing the atmosphere become tense, Sarutobi sighed and said, "I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't want to do something that shows distrust to my comrades. Let's do it your way this time, and I'll have a good talk with Danzo afterwards."

In fact, Sarutobi was right.

The news was indeed deliberately leaked by Long Er.

But the purpose was not to sow discord between them, but to divert all the attention in Konoha to the Sunagakure delegation's residence.

His plan was very successful, and the Konoha leadership and intelligence agencies all turned their attention to the Sunagakure delegation's residence.

At the same time.

In a single room of an apartment building near the outskirts of Konoha Village, west of the village.

After confirming that the target had lost its breath, Hei formed a hand seal and chanted in his mind, "Master, the target has been eliminated."

"I see."

As the words fell, Ryuji's consciousness took over Kuro's body.

He quickly surveyed his surroundings, and after confirming the situation, he opened the portal.

Nightfall emerged from within.

He glanced at the child lying on the bed who looked exactly like him, his expression indifferent. "I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. He's just a child who doesn't get any attention from anyone. Is it really necessary to go to such lengths?"

"Better safe than sorry." Ryuji chuckled softly. "From now on, you are Yoru Moyo, the Konoha ninja academy Yoru Moyo."

As the words fell, Ye Moyang appeared dazed and swayed as he collapsed.

His memories are locked away in the deepest corner, and unless Ryuji awakens them, he himself will never know that he is a puppet created by Ryuji.

He only sees himself as "Yomyo," a ninja trainee from Konoha.

Ryuji put the original corpse of Yoru Moyo into his personal space, and then put the doll Yoru Moyo on the bed.

After doing all this, he returned his body to Black.

……

The residence of the Sand Village Mission.

Ryuji changed his kneeling posture to sitting cross-legged, resting his right knee on his thigh, and supporting his cheek with his right fist, pretending to be deep in thought.

As his consciousness returned to his body, he looked up at Danzo.

The other person slowly sipped the hot tea, patiently waiting for Ryuji to fall into thought.

Seeing this, Ryuji smiled and said, "I'm afraid Sunagakure cannot accept Lord Danzo's gift."

Danzo paused, seemingly surprised by this outcome, and instinctively asked, "Why?"

"Because I don't believe in free lunches."

In reality, they simply didn't believe Danzo's words.

Indeed, in the original work, Danzo was ambitious and wanted to become Hokage.

Even when Pain attacked Konoha, they did not intervene to achieve this goal.

However, this is based on the premise that the Hokage at that time was Tsunade, while the current Hokage is Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Although Danzo and Sarutobi have never gotten along, they are childhood friends who grew up together. They played and competed with each other since they were young, and went through countless life-and-death experiences together. They have long been companions who have entrusted their lives to each other.

Would he betray the Third Hokage for the Hokage position?

If Danzo had done that, he wouldn't have established Root and become a scapegoat for Sarutobi.

Establish roots, and operate in the shadows.

Such individuals, no matter how much they contribute to the village, will remain anonymous.

No one will remember him.

Choosing this path means cutting off any possibility of becoming Hokage in the future.

Furthermore, Danzo was by nature suspicious and cautious.

Even if he really had the idea of ​​harming the Third Hokage and then taking over for himself, he would never tell someone from another village like him.

Even if his proposed plan required Long Er's help, he would never reveal the whole story.

Of course, the above are all objective reasons.

The obvious reason is that Ryuji simply doesn't want to cooperate with someone like Danzo.

Danzo was quite shrewd, but he was a man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals and had no regard for morality or ethics.

Betrayal, betrayal, and stabbing in the back are all standard operating procedures.

Cooperating with such a guy is like asking a tiger for its skin.

……

Upon hearing Ryuji's answer, Danzo fell silent.

He felt things were a bit difficult to handle.

As the leader of the root tribe, he had no real bargaining chips to offer, only his usual empty promises.

But if the other party doesn't fall for it, then there's nothing he can do.

However, things can be accomplished by human effort.

Danzo didn't give up either, and started arguing with Ryuji at the top of his lungs.

Ryuji, wanting to complete the act, played along and argued with him.

Time slowly passed, and the sky began to lighten with the first light of dawn.

Ryuji, no longer willing to continue the charade, slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "Lord Danzo, cooperation requires sincerity. This empty promise, this attempt to get something for nothing, is a bit too much!"

"This is absolutely true..."

"If you're going to keep spouting nonsense, then please leave. I'm not going to keep you company."

After saying that, Long Er got up and left.

Danzo was left alone, bewildered in the wind.

What's going on?

We were talking so well just now, how did it suddenly fall apart?

However, I don't know what happened.

But Danzo knew his plan had failed, and could only leave with regret.

In fact, his plan this time was to kill three birds with one stone.

First, they planned to lure Sunagakure into joining the war so that Konoha could end it as soon as possible.

Secondly, this was used to attack Hiruzen Sarutobi and force him to abdicate.

Third, after Sarutobi steps down, they can attribute the previous agreement to Sarutobi's personal actions, directly turn against Sunagakure, and seize the fruits of victory.

Then, riding on the fame of victory, he became the Fourth Hokage.

Yes, Danzo will harm the Third Hokage.

But he did this not because he wanted to become Hokage, but to prove that he was stronger than Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Danzo and Sarutobi met during a bullying incident.

When young Sarutobi was being bullied by the village children, Danzo happened to be passing by and stood up for him.

Then the two got to know each other.

but.

At that time, Sarutobi was naive and knew nothing, while Danzo had the demeanor of an elder brother.

He assumed that their relationship would remain like this in the future.

But reality turned out to be the complete opposite of what he had envisioned.

They grew up together, but no matter what they did, Danzo could never compare to this younger brother whom he had once taken care of.

Whether it was childhood games, sparring as a ninja trainee, performance during missions, or even his eventual rise to Hokage, he lost to Sarutobi.

The development of the story, which was completely contrary to his expectations, caused Danzo a great psychological letdown. He remained resentful about it and wanted to prove that he was no weaker than Sarutobi.

So when Sarutobi became Hokage, he established Root.

He believed that he could prove this point by making a greater contribution than the Hokage.

But as time went on, he realized that it was just wishful thinking on his part.

To prove that he is stronger than him, he must become the Hokage.

Unfortunately, the plan failed before it even began.

……

They saw Danzo leave safely.

The ANBU who were secretly monitoring the Sunagakure delegation's residence also went back to report.

Soon after, Hei returned.

Ryuji, on the other hand, went to bed early.

Everything was calm, as if nothing had happened.

(End of this chapter)