Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

She also sought advice from someone in her family who had successfully mastered the Water Release chakra nature, but the method they provided was not very reliable.

Who would risk their life to explore the nature of Water Release chakra in the deep sea?

She's not out of her mind.

"You just agreed to do me a huge favor, and I haven't reciprocated yet. How about I use this as a small token of my gratitude?"

Seeing Chizuru's hesitant and awkward demeanor, Kirito knew that her overly proud nature had flared up again, so he promptly found a way for her to accept his kindness.

"Hmph, I don't want any return gift, but if you're so eager to give it to me, I'll reluctantly accept it. Tell me, what's the secret to your mastery of Water Release chakra nature?"

Upon hearing this, Chizuru's eyes lit up, then she snorted coldly and said indifferently.

"You should first tell me what the problem is with your cultivation. Only by addressing the root cause can we successfully resolve the issue. My cultivation secrets may not be suitable for you."

Kirito shook his head.

Chizuru thought Kirito's words made sense, so she explained her current problem with cultivating the nature of Water Release chakra.

"I see. Now, let me see your training in Water Release Chakra Nature."

Kirito, having learned of the inexplicable obstacles Chizuru encountered each time she attempted to cultivate Water Release chakra nature, spoke thoughtfully.

Chizuru looked at Kirito with suspicion, but seeing that Kirito looked confident, she patiently went to the artificial waterfall again to train her Water Release chakra nature.

At that moment, a blue light shone in Kirito's eyes as he quietly activated his Spirit Transformation Technique, awakening his Spirit Vision.

The next moment, Kirito saw the soul inside Chizuru's body that had three colors: red, yellow, and black. This meant that Chizuru had mastered the three chakra natures of fire, lightning, and yin.

Soon, he saw a fourth color appear on Chizuru's soul, which was blue, representing the nature of water-style chakra.

However, this bit of blue is very small, and it appears in the red area.

Even after Chizuru failed to cultivate again, the blue color on Chizuru's soul still did not expand successfully, and was eventually swallowed up by the red color.

"This may be related to the excessive amount of Fire Release chakra in your body. Fire Release chakra and Water Release chakra are mutually exclusive, and the excessive amount of Fire Release chakra in your body has been hindering the formation of Water Release chakra to some extent."

After observing the process of the soul's color changing, Kirito deactivated his spiritual vision and shared his conclusions with Chizuru, who was looking over.

"Then what should we do?"

Chizuru wasn't interested in the conclusion; she only wanted the solution.

"The method is simple: consume all the fire chakra in your body, and then train in water chakra nature."

Kirito smiled.

When he was cultivating Yang Release chakra nature, he actually encountered a problem similar to Chizuru's. At first, it went smoothly, but he was unable to break through to the final step for a long time.

Later, when he unintentionally used his spiritual vision to observe the souls of other ninjas, he discovered that the color of their souls would change when they used a certain type of elemental ninjutsu.

After numerous observations, he concluded that the color of the soul changes depending on the amount of chakra of various attributes within the body.

Once the chakra of a certain attribute in the body is exhausted, the color corresponding to the soul will temporarily disappear.

Based on this discovery, he exhausted all the Yin Release chakra in his body before cultivating Yang Release chakra nature, and then successfully cultivated Yang Release chakra nature.

Chizuru was skeptical of Kirito's method, but with no other option, she decided to give it a try.

She began to use Fire Release ninjutsu continuously until her Fire Release chakra was almost completely depleted, and then she once again trained her Water Release chakra nature under the waterfall.

This time, she found that her training in Water Release chakra nature was much smoother than before, and the inexplicable obstacles she had encountered before were also greatly reduced.

A moment later, she looked at the small water ball in her hand with a look of surprise.

"Congratulations, you can now proudly say that you are a rare Uchiha Water Release ninja."

Upon seeing this, Kirito smiled and clapped his hands in congratulations.

"Hmph, at least you have some skill."

Upon hearing this, Chizuru crushed the water sphere and said in a feigned indifference.

However, the joy on her face was now completely undisguised.

That's for sure. She worked hard for almost a month to master the Water Release chakra nature, and now she's finally seeing results and hope of defeating Kirito's Magnet Release ninjutsu.

The joy of achieving satisfactory results after such hard work is indescribable.

In short, she is very happy now.

Kirito was also very happy; the happier he made Chizuru, the greater his chances of getting the Root members' list.

"Lord Chizuru, this is something the clan leader asked me to give you."

Suddenly, a voice broke the two's happy moment, and Uchiha Kari appeared holding a scroll.

When Chizuru saw Uchiha Kari suddenly appear, the joy on her face vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling expression.

Chapter 74: Leafy Leaves Spread by Roots

A few minutes later, Kirito left the Uchiha clan territory satisfied. Uchiha Homura, the Uchiha clan leader, did not disappoint him. The other party was very generous in dealing with Danzo. He successfully obtained a detailed list of Root members from Chizuru.

Upon returning to the orphanage, Kirito immediately goes to his room, activates the sealing barrier to prevent outside prying eyes, and then takes out the list of Root members to read carefully.

As Kirito looked at the long list of names and their backgrounds and abilities, his mood gradually became heavy.

It must be said that Danzo was a capable man, a truly competent intelligence chief. In some respects, his personal charisma was very appealing to the Konoha ninja community.

You wouldn't believe it until you see it; it's truly astonishing.

Danzo's infiltration of Konoha's various ninja clans and civilian ninja groups was very deep. He had planted spies in each clan, many of whom held high positions within their clans. Even members of the Uchiha clan were attracted by his darkness and became his informants.

The list contains more than 500 people, including 36 Jonin, more than 400 Chunin, and there are probably many more Genin who are not on the list.

No wonder Mito and the Third Hokage were hesitant. If Danzo were to die, the chain reaction would be enormous, and it could very well shake the foundation of Konoha.

"It's all the Third Hokage's fault. If he had been more capable, Danzo wouldn't have been able to take advantage of the situation. As it stands, Root has become too powerful to be controlled. To eradicate it completely, killing Danzo is the key. He was only able to control so many people because of the Tongue Disaster Seal."

Kirito sighed after looking at the names on the list.

However, killing Danzo is easier said than done. That old guy is too sneaky and too cautious. He can't find an opportunity now, so he can only start by targeting some of the smaller fish on this list.

First, he needs to cut off the root of the funding source.

With so many people at the root, how could the meager funds allocated by the third generation possibly support so many people?

The members of the Root are also human beings; they also need to eat, cultivate, and support their families. Money, as a resource for traveling the world, is indispensable.

According to the information provided on the list, part of Root's funding comes from several powerful nobles in the Land of Fire, and another part comes from some merchants controlled by Root.

It was precisely because of the continuous and massive financial support provided by these people that Danzo's Root organization was able to grow and expand after the third patriarch's rule, and its overall strength had long surpassed that of the direct secret service units under the third patriarch's control.

Those who provide financial support to Root are scattered outside Konoha, making them undoubtedly the easiest targets to strike.

"Some of the merchants controlled by the roots happen to be in the Land of Waves, so I'll accept their wealth without hesitation."

Kirito said coldly.

Then, a question suddenly occurred to him: how did the Uchiha people manage to gather such detailed information about so many Root members?

In Konoha, the Uchiha clan was basically under close surveillance by Danzo's Root organization and the Third Hokage's direct Anbu. It should have been very difficult for the clan members to move around without being detected.

"The Ninja Cat Clan?"

Kirito pondered this question deeply, and soon he went to the ninja cat clan that appeared in the original story.

This summoning beast clan, which appears no different from ordinary cats, has been on good terms with the Uchiha clan for generations and serves them. Their members are scattered throughout the ninja world, and they are likely an important source of intelligence for the Uchiha clan.

"Oh, cats, it seems I need to keep an eye on these cute little animals from now on."

Kirito stood up, walked to the window, and looked at an orange cat sleeping under the shade of a tree in the courtyard outside, lost in thought.

Next, he carefully reviewed the contents of the list several times, memorized them thoroughly, burned the list, and then took out paper and pen to write a simplified version of the list.

Distinguishing between friend and foe is something that not only he needs, but also those around him.

However, they don't want to remember as much as he did.

Soon, a new list was produced.

Kirito carefully put the new list away on his person, then left the room and went to a training ground in the backyard of the orphanage.

At this time, Kirito's two underlings, Yamazaki Heizo and Noda Taiga, had returned from school and were training there.

Besides the two, there were also some children from orphanages and migrant children. Most of them were diligently practicing taijutsu or ninja tool throwing techniques, while a small number were practicing ninjutsu.

Aside from Yamazaki Heizo and Noda Taiga, there are three others already training in ninjutsu: two men and one woman, named Umino Daio, Shiranui Takeru, and Yuhi Yukimi.

As soon as Kirito arrived, everyone and even the children in the training field stopped and looked at him with admiration, respect, or awe, calling him "Big Brother."

In the ninja world, the strong are revered.

Ninjas all admire the strong. Since adults are far away from them, children will naturally compare themselves with children of similar age.

Therefore, Kirito became their target.

However, when the gap becomes so large that it is impossible to catch up, some people will feel jealous or even hateful and feel sorry for themselves, while others will feel awe and realize their own shortcomings, and still others will admire them and want to follow them.

At school, besides studying hard, Kirito's greatest hobby was observing his classmates, getting to know them, and ultimately choosing a small group of them.

The children who are able to train here are all chosen by Kirito; they are people Kirito trusts and considers useful.

Danzo's intelligence analysis was correct; Kirito was secretly recruiting people of similar age, gathering those he favored around him by providing training resources, ninjutsu, and physical persuasion, thus forming a new force centered around himself.

Although this new force is still very weak, and its members are basically just kids who haven't graduated yet, they will continue to grow and stand out among their peers.

Kirito's conviction stems from the fact that these children have voluntarily had the Nightfall Mark implanted in them, enhancing their strength and potential. In the future, when they go to the battlefield, they will definitely be among the most likely to survive among their peers.

Kirito greeted the children at the training ground with a smile, offered them a few words of encouragement and gave them some pointers on their training, then told them to continue their hard work before leisurely leaving.

After Kirito left, Yamazaki Heizo, Noda Taiga, Umino Daio, Shiranui Takeshi, and Yuhi Yukimi all left one after another, and they all eventually came to Kirito's room.

"The purpose of calling you here is very simple: to make you remember the names on this scroll. I was assassinated by Sand Ninja today, but it was actually Danzo's Root agents. You are all smart enough to understand what this means. If you don't understand, then remember the names on it and be wary of them in secret."

Once everyone had arrived, Kirito reactivated the sealing barrier to prevent outsiders from peeping. Then, he took out the newly written list, placed it in front of them, and said solemnly.

Chapter 75: A False Victory

After Kirito was assassinated, the hospital's security was greatly strengthened, and he was not assassinated again for the next month.

A lot has happened this month.

The roots, which had just begun to stir again, fell silent once more.