I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 483 Coercion and bribery are the best ways to get others to do or not do something.

"What, you got kicked out of your office too?"

Inside the simple house, Danzo looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had entered with practiced ease, and said sarcastically.

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't angry. Instead, he walked over to the sofa, sat down, and said, "Isn't this what you wanted? To make Tatsuma the future of Konoha."

"How old is he?! How can he shoulder such a heavy responsibility?! Only through my careful guidance will he be worthy of the position of Hokage!"

It would have been better if Tatsuma hadn't been mentioned. As soon as Tatsuma was brought up, Danzo's face contorted. It had only been four short years since his plan against Sakumo Hatake failed and he was stripped of his power.

Sakamoto Tatsuma went from being Konoha's rising star to becoming Konoha's next Hokage, which was quite different from what he had envisioned!

He didn't even have the right to object anymore; he could only stay in this empty house day after day, facing the unchanging house, wasting his time.

Now, let alone competing for the position of Fourth Hokage, no one in the entire Hidden Leaf Village even shows him any respect anymore.

Even the restaurant owner, who used to eat there every day, thought he had retired and stopped calling him "sir"!

He wanted to change, but now he wasn't even qualified to take on missions as a ninja anymore. Staying in Konoha was his only "mission" now.

He watched helplessly as Konoha's development spiraled out of his control, even beyond his expectations, and he was powerless to do anything about it—no, he was willing but unable to.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at his old friend for a long time before shifting his gaze. He took out his pipe and tobacco, filled it, and slowly lit it. He took a puff, and the hazy smoke obscured his vision, preventing him from seeing the resentment and ferocity on Danzo's face.

"Can you do better than him?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, and Danzo opened his mouth, about to speak, but Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand and said, "No need to answer, because the answer is obvious. You will not do better than Tatsuma."

Whether it's you, me, or anyone from Konoha, who is qualified to "teach" Tatsuma now?

Even now, he is like our teacher back then; every move he makes is worth our repeated reflection and contemplation, in order to learn something from him.

Or have you made progress that even I was unaware of? In terms of ability? Talent? Even in terms of interpersonal skills? What can you possibly teach him now?

Danzo lowered his head, breathing heavily, and even felt dizzy. Although his information was currently outdated, he could still know many things with Hiruzen Sarutobi's permission.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi said, what Tatsuma did required even his repeated contemplation and deliberation. However, Danzo said weakly, "He's only twenty years old, he still..."

"Back then, how much older were we than him? We lacked the ability, and because of the opposition in the village, we took a few more years of detours, but Chenma..."

"He's more capable than us, and nowadays the village no longer voices any opposition to him. Do you think he needs to repeat the mistakes we made?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted again, looking at Danzo and saying, "You just don't respect me, you don't respect my abilities, you think you can do better than me, and you even want to replace me."

That's no problem. I'm not much better than you, that's a fact. Without your help, I wouldn't be where I am today, and the village wouldn't be where it is today. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Therefore, there are some things I can tolerate and tacitly allow you to do that you shouldn't do, and I will also bear half of the responsibility for your mistakes.

But Chenma is different. You are not capable of replacing him, and I will not allow such a thing to happen, now and in the future.

"And now I am still the Hokage, and I can still pardon you. But once he becomes the Fourth Hokage, do you think my influence will be enough to secure much leniency from him?"

"What are you trying to say?"

Danzo looked up at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who put his legs down, flipped his pipe over, tapped it a few times on the coffee table, and poured the ash onto it. Then he said:

"Disband the troops you organized outside the village. If a major battle breaks out, the village will indeed be left undefended, but I am still in the village and will not allow anything to harm it."

"Hmph! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"If you dare to leave, don't even think about coming back."

After Hiruzen Sarutobi finished speaking, he put away his pipe, stood up, and walked towards the door. Danzo opened his mouth, wanting to shout out the words he had shouted countless times, but this time, they all got stuck in his throat.

Hiruzen Sarutobi walked to the entrance but stopped, looking at the photo hanging on the wall. It was a group photo of the Second Hokage and his direct subordinates, but now even this photo had become mottled and covered with dust.

After staring at the photo for a long time, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression gradually darkened, but he didn't say anything more. He simply reached out and took down the frame, carefully wiping it with his clean sleeve.

Only after the picture frame regained its shine did he hang it back up, turn around, take a deep look at his dear friend in the darkness, and leave without lingering.

The door opened, and light shone in from outside, shining on the spot-cleaned glass of the picture frame and reflecting onto Danzo's face.

Danzo was also blinded by the light and saw the picture frame by the light. However, before his eyes could adjust to the light and focus, Hiruzen Sarutobi closed the door.

The light in the photograph disappeared, and the light on Danzo's face also disappeared.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped out of Danzo's house, he raised his hands and formed several hand seals, but did not activate any techniques. In just an instant, the entire space seemed to freeze.

Pedestrians, vendors, customers, even passing dogs stopped.

"Hokage-sama!"

The next second, everyone bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi, even the dog performed a standard downward-facing dog pose.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "The village is short-staffed, so you don't need to stay here to guard. Those who need to report for duty should do so, and those who want to rest for a while should do so as soon as possible. The village will be entrusting you with more important tasks."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

No one asked why, and no one said a word. Everyone left, and the dog ran briskly towards the Inuzuka clan.

Even the houses around the area were ransacked, and people left. Even the birds that had nested nearby flew away.

In just a few seconds, the once bustling street was completely deserted. Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed and turned to look at Danzo's house.

He has said what he needed to say, done what he needed to do, and given Danzo a chance. He only hopes that Danzo will not disappoint him again.

The village can no longer act according to the will of Hiruzen Sarutobi as Hokage, but must instead act according to the will of Tatsuma Sakamoto as Hokage.

He could tolerate Danzo, but what about Tatsuma? If he could tolerate him, then Sakumo Hatake would be dead, or at least reduced to the state of Danzo he is today.

The best outcome for Danzo right now would be if Tatsuma were willing to let bygones be bygones and forgive past transgressions, but that would only mean that the past would not be brought up again.

However, if Danzo still cannot see the situation clearly and cannot understand his position, then Hiruzen Sarutobi will be powerless to save his best friend.

After Tatsuma takes office, his influence will be greater than during Hiruzen Sarutobi's rule. This is determined by his personality, governing philosophy, and political skills. The Hokage during Tatsuma's time was destined to be the Hokage whose word was law.

Once Tatsuma decides to punish Danzo, no one can save him.

Inside the Wood Release laboratory, Orochimaru's Flying Thunder God kunai was activated, and Tatsuma also appeared in the laboratory. Tatsuma said with a strange expression, "Lord Orochimaru, how many times has this happened?"

Orochimaru scoffed, "They changed the password and passphrase more than ten times, but didn't even modify the most basic algorithm. The cryptography class is full of useless trash."

"Just because someone's lock is bad doesn't give you a reason to break in."

Tatsuma sighed helplessly. The re-employment fund had only been operating for two years, and the dividends were far from enough for Orochimaru to purchase equipment. Moreover, the two of them had already discussed opening a beauty salon and training medical aesthetic doctors with the initial funds, so Orochimaru was still penniless.

However, Orochimaru was someone who was unwilling to stop his research. So, after sneaking into the Wood Release laboratory with Tatsuma a few times, he set his sights on it and, unsurprisingly, broke through its defense system.

He would sneak in every day to conduct experiments, only to be caught by Biwako and kicked out. Then he would change the password and password for the Wood Release laboratory, which Orochimaru would then crack and sneak in again, and so on.

Biwako even complained to the Hokage's office, but since Tatsuma was now in charge of the Hokage's office, he could only "protect" Orochimaru and appease Biwako.

Orochimaru snorted and said, "When are you going to become Hokage? I want to use this laboratory openly and legitimately."

"That's still a long way off."

"Then what are you doing here? Are you in the way?"

Orochimaru was clearly in a bad mood because his experiment had been interrupted, especially since Tatsuma had now "gone astray" and had lost interest in scientific research, which made Orochimaru even more dissatisfied.

Tatsuma shrugged, handed over a scroll, and said, "Letter of appointment, battlefield command, I've got it for you. Get in charge of the arrangements as soon as possible."

Orochimaru took the scroll, his expression finally improving. After looking at the contents, he smiled and said, "Perfect, I have a lot of materials I want to study, all in a few small countries in the northwest."

"I'll take this opportunity to have the Konoha ninjas collect them for me. By the way, will you approve the funding?"

"What am I supposed to do with my approval? I still have to wait for the daimyo. Of course, if I have the authority to allocate them, I'll definitely give you priority."

Tatsuma chose to offer Orochimaru a promise, and Orochimaru nodded in agreement. Although it was only priority, not a special privilege, it was better than nothing. He then looked at the scroll and asked:

How many people can I recruit?

"There are only about 20,000 active ninjas in the entire Hidden Leaf Village. With four battlefields, you can prioritize and allocate resources to your side. First, recruit 5,000, and then select 2,000 to supplement them. There is only one requirement: you must achieve a great victory in the early stages."

Tatsuma tried to make Orochimaru feel like he was getting the better deal, but Orochimaru reacted almost simultaneously and said, "Three thousand people are enough to keep the Sand Village occupied. The Hidden Mist Village's movements are still uncertain, so they don't need many people."

"Give me five thousand plus two thousand, and that's considered priority and preferential treatment? Iwagakure is deploying all its forces, with nearly thirty thousand ninja participating, and even reserves. How can you expect me to achieve a great victory?"

"They're not easy to fool!"

With a sigh, Tatsuma said, "It's not that we have to keep winning big, but at least maintain our victories until the situation becomes clear and Iwagakure launches a full-scale war. With your abilities, maintaining victory shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Orochimaru rolled up the scroll, licked his lips, and asked, "Is there a requirement for the casualty rate?"

"No, this time, we'll only talk about the relative casualty rate. Just make sure it's not higher than the Iwagakure ninja's."

"That's a ratio of one to four, almost one to five, which is almost impossible in a protracted war."

"Only the initial stage is needed."

Tatsuma said confidently, "If a full-scale war breaks out, I have a way to bridge the gap in numbers."

"Then I'll keep my expectations up and give myself two weeks to complete the combat readiness work."

"Ten days."

"OK."

Orochimaru nodded, then began to shut down the ongoing experiment. Tatsuma asked curiously, "Is it urgent? Aren't the experimental results even available?"

"We need to drag the bottom-ranked guy out of the bathhouse and let Tsunade sober up, which will take two days."

"That's true. Well then, Lord Orochimaru, I won't bother you any longer. I still need to visit those two clans."

Tatsuma ignored Orochimaru's pleading look and was about to make an excuse to leave when Orochimaru asked, "Will Hyuga cooperate with you?"

Tatsuma's awkward but polite smile vanished, replaced by a serious expression, tinged with disgust. He smirked and said, "If you don't cooperate, I'll have to do some serious research on the Caged Bird."

(End of this chapter)