I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 151 Taking the blame and drawing attention to oneself are abilities every subordinate possesses.

"Lord Danzo, the Yakushi Nonou that Tsunade took away is only ranked C in our Root talent pool, and her background is very simple. Her estimated value is not high."

Inside the tent, upon hearing his subordinate's report, Shimura Danzo's face remained stern, even somewhat displeased, without the slightest relaxation. He spoke, "Clear background, low value. Tell me, who were the first two people to receive this assessment?"

"this"

Danzo's question left the Root ninja speechless, because the two people who had received such praise from them were Minato Namikaze and Tatsuma Sakamoto.

Of course, due to their extraordinary talents, the two were rated B in the Root's talent pool, making them worthy of recruitment.

Above these, there are A-rank, which is worth recruiting, and S-rank, which must be recruited or disposed of harmlessly. However, since Tatsuma and Minato did not exhibit any bloodline limit, nor did they have any family background or secret techniques, they can only be rated as B-rank at most.

Moreover, this evaluation system was created by Danzo himself, and his subordinates were merely judging the new forces in the village according to the standards set by Danzo.

The reason why Danzo missed out on Tatsuma and Minato, two of the most outstanding ninjas of the first generation, is fundamentally because Danzo's evaluation criteria were flawed. After all, it was Lord Danzo who looked down on commoner ninjas first!

But how could a subordinate say such a thing? He could only grit his teeth and take the blame.

However, in the eyes of this Root ninja, their assessment of Yakushi Nonou was not wrong. After all, given their similar backgrounds, Nonou's talent was not high, and her future achievements were likely to be limited.

Their assessment of them as C-rank (capable of being recruited as unactivated Root ninjas) was not wrong. Lord Danzo was just too sensitive. After missing out on Tatsuma and Minato, he became a bit delusional.

Danzo looked at his subordinate, who was kneeling before him, head bowed, unable to utter a single word, and snorted, saying, "Your assessments had better not be wrong again!"

"Yes, Lord Danzo!"

The Root ninja lowered their heads even further, and Danzo's expression softened a bit. He said, "Keep a close eye on Sakumo's child, Yuhi Shinku's child, and the children of the various clans who will be born in the next two years or have already been born."

If you miss out on Sakamoto Tatsuma or Namikaze Minato again, then you have no reason to exist!

"Yes, Lord Danzo!"

"Also, stop monitoring Sakamoto Tatsuma. Just gather information from the battlefield, and don't worry about him after we return to the village."

Remembering Tsunade's earlier warning, Danzo frowned again. He believed that even if Tsunade moved into Tobirama's residence, Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't really hold him accountable if he continued to send Root ninjas to monitor Tatsuma.

But Tsunade's warning wasn't so simple. After all, Tobirama's residence wasn't far from that person's. Tobirama had passed away, but that person was still alive and well.

If Tsunade makes a fuss about this, even with his relationship with Sarutobi, he'll inevitably have to go and apologize, and then recall his subordinates. Anyway, it's pointless, so there's no need to provoke her.

Moreover, Danzo would surely understand the ninja way he inherited from Tobirama, and would naturally stand on his side. Thinking of this, a hint of longing appeared in Danzo's eyes.

How did Sarutobi manage to secure the position of Third Hokage? Was it due to his teacher's verbal orders? That's important, but not the whole story. When they returned to the village and relayed their teacher's last words, they faced considerable resistance.

Especially that evil Uchiha Sarutobi, he was able to smoothly become Hokage, wasn't it all thanks to that person organizing the whole situation and pushing him up? Why does that person have such influence? It's because he is the matriarch of that clan.

Although that clan no longer uses Thousand Hands as their surname, their influence remains. As long as they reach a consensus, the village will not be able to cause any trouble.

As for Sarutobi, it was Danzo Shimura who helped him secure his position after he became Hokage. At that time, there were internal and external troubles, and without Danzo's help, Sarutobi probably wouldn't have been able to hold onto his position.

But what did he do after he became Hokage?! He took the most legitimate heir of that clan as his disciple and raised her to be someone who hated him.

"That person only has five years left at most. After that, his influence will have diminished. In ten years, that kid Chenma will have grown up."

"If he can become the head of that clan... Hmph, Sarutobi, let's see what you'll have to compete with me then!"

In an instant, Danzo's mind was filled with countless thoughts, and he even envisioned himself becoming the Fourth Hokage, governing the village and leading it to new heights.

Then, as he witnessed the scene of entrusting his ninja way, will, and everything to that child on his deathbed, a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips. He, Shimura Danzo, would surely be remembered in the annals of Konoha!

The Root ninja kneeling before Danzo breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this, nodded, and replied again, "Yes, Lord Danzo."

Danzo waved his hand, glancing somewhat displeased at the subordinate who had interrupted his vision of the future. If it weren't for the shortage of manpower due to the war, he would have dealt with him!

Seeing Danzo wave his hand, the Root ninjas quickly left. Inside the empty tent, Danzo tapped his fingers on the table, recalling the ten-year-long plan in his mind.

It sounds wonderful, but to achieve it, he must emerge from the darkness step by step. Only when his reputation surpasses that of Sarutobi can he oust him from power during peacetime.

With this in mind, Danzo had an idea, which he tentatively named "Becoming the Fourth Hokage starts with defeating Sunagakure!"

He waved his hand and said, "Please invite Rima, Tetsuma, and the head of the Hyuga clan. I have an important battle plan to discuss with them!"

A fleeting shadow seemed to pass through the previously empty tent and then disappear. Danzo sat leisurely in his seat, waiting for the group to arrive.

Tsunade and her group, who had just left the camp this morning to head to another battlefield, encountered a group of Rain Ninja.

"Find cover and hide!"

The moment the enemy was detected, Tatsuma gave the order. The Chunin quickly found cover or took out the raincoats and invisibility cloaks they had prepared in advance from their ninja tool bags. However, the Genin were still a bit confused. Only a few people, such as the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, managed to hide.

The other genin subconsciously looked at Tsunade. In their view, Tsunade, as a jonin, should be the one qualified to give orders, because that's what the books taught.

Tsunade's brow furrowed, and she snapped, "Didn't you hear me?! Or can't you even do this?!"

Tsunade was never a gentle person. Her gentleness was always fleeting, extremely fleeting. Not to mention these unfamiliar genin, she rarely showed her gentle side, even to her own younger brother.

After being angrily rebuked by Tsunade, these genin suddenly knew what to do and began looking for cover. However, the better cover around them had already been taken by chunin and a few quick-reacting genin. They were in a panic, not knowing what to do.

Without anyone to lead them, they dared not expand outwards easily. Tatsuma and Minato exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of disappointment in each other's eyes. These genin were too weak.

The battlefield is not a game of hide-and-seek. The Rain Ninja will not wait for them to hide before slowly arriving. Tsunade also jumped onto the canopy of a large tree and coldly looked down. As a ninja, this is something that must be experienced, and she believed that Tatsuma and Minato could handle it.

When Tatsuma and Minato saw that there were still more than a dozen genin who had not been able to find good cover and whose raincoats were poorly made, they shook their heads and instantly left the spot, leaving the dozen or so genin even more panicked.

Soon, the group of six Rain Ninjas quickly approached the area and saw about a dozen Genin fleeing in panic, with several others clearly crouching on the ground. They all felt inexplicably humiliated.

However, the leading ninja quickly ordered, "Be on guard! Watch out for their team leader!"

As a major ninja village, Konoha wouldn't allow a dozen or so genin to run around outside. There must be a ninja leading the group, and someone who can lead so many people at once must be at least a special jonin, or more likely a jonin.

However, this ninja captain probably didn't expect that there were not only a dozen or so panicked genin in the small forest, but also nearly fifty chunin, one jonin, and almost three hundred genin.

It was too short a time. If they had been given a little more time, they might have discovered something was wrong with the forest, but Chenma had no intention of giving them that chance.

"Earth Release! Yellow Spring Marsh!"

Chenma, who was hiding to the side, formed hand seals, and a muddy patch of land appeared under the feet of the Rain Ninja and some Konoha Genin. However, they did not notice it immediately because of the rainforest.

By the time the ninjas heard their captain's order to survey the surrounding area, Tatsuma had already completed the casting of his technique. Chakra surged into the ground, turning the already muddy land into a man-eating trap like a quicksand pit in the desert.

The lower halves of the six Rain Ninjas were submerged in the suddenly appearing swamp. The chakra attached to the swamp made it difficult for them to break free, and in an instant, they all panicked.

"alert!"

Just as the captain gave the order and was about to use water magic to disperse the swamp, a yellow light flashed before his eyes. This was the last sight he saw.

Holding a kunai, Minato expressionlessly slashed the kunai across the throats of the ninjas one by one, and in a flash, he was already out of the swamp area. Tatsuma's chakra was also channeled into the ground again.

The ground churned, engulfing all six Rain Ninja, leaving only a few ninja tool bags and scrolls on the ground. Tatsuma then emerged from his hiding place and said, "The enemy has been dealt with."

As soon as she finished speaking, Tsunade descended from the treetop, looking at her disciple with satisfaction. Minato also smiled warmly and asked the dozen or so genin who hadn't had time to hide and were startled, "Are you alright? Did I scare you?"

The dozen or so people who thought they would be abandoned realized that Tatsuma and Minato had not abandoned them because they didn't care about their lives. It was just that a few Rain Ninjas did not require all of them to hide.

Even Shikaku, who had been hiding nearby, patted the mud off his clothes. He suspected that Minato and Tatsuma left behind a dozen or so genin for two reasons: first, to lure the Amegakure ninja, and second, to frighten the Amegakure ninja from getting too close if the others weren't hiding.

Shikaku wasn't the only one who realized this; many Chunin also did. The six people who had just fought were all wearing vests, and they assumed that some of them were Jonin who wouldn't dare to make a move. But now it seems that they were just Chunin.

However, the fact that Tatsuma and Minato worked together to take down six Chunin almost instantly still amazed them, but they quickly came to terms with it. After all, these two monsters had previously defeated a hundred Chunin at once to become Chunin.

Tsunade picked up a few scrolls and glanced at them. One was a mission scroll, which was to patrol the Land of Rain and drive away or kill ninjas from other countries. The rest were just sealing scrolls, nothing to worry about.

She tossed the scroll to Tatsuma and said to the somewhat shaken genin, "If we continue to go deeper, the Rain Ninja will appear more and more frequently, and their numbers and strength will gradually increase."

I don't want to see this chaos happen again. Unless I give the order, then Tatsuma and Minato's orders will prevail! I don't want to lose men before even reaching camp! Understand?!

"Yes, Lady Tsunade!"

A group of young girls shouted loudly, especially the dozen or so who were so flustered that they couldn't hide their whereabouts, they shouted even louder.

(End of this chapter)