Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Someone used Tsunade's blood as a medium to summon her out of the Four Purple Flame Array.

Naruto immediately expanded his sensory range.

The person who performed the psychic ritual is nearby!

"Hey! What on earth happened?!"

Originally realizing that she was being targeted for breaking through the Four Purple Flame Formation, Duoya, who was secretly on guard, spoke up from the location of the barrier she was responsible for maintaining.

Naruto completely ignored Tayuya. Although there were some unexpected situations during the process, the final result was still within Naruto's expectations, and he simply disappeared from the barrier.

"Damn it! Things have gotten worse! We need to get his support!"

Naruto's sudden disappearance without explanation instantly made Tayuya feel irritable.

Since Naruto and Tsunade both disappeared within the Four Purple Flames Formation, there was no longer any need to maintain the barrier used for imprisonment.

Tayuya was the first to break the barrier. They had to hurry to support Naruto Uzumaki and couldn't let Konoha discover that they and Naruto were just using this as a feint to hide Sasuke's actions!

Tayuya hurriedly sensed Naruto's movements, but unexpectedly discovered an attack targeting her!

Tayuya instinctively jumped away from where she was standing, and her judgment was correct.

The shadow that was supposed to silently bind her missed its target.

"Sensitive women are such a hassle."

Then Tayu also heard the harsh comments made by the person who attacked her.

At the same time, Tayuya also noticed that as the Four Purple Flame Formation barrier was lifted, Konoha ninjas gathered around Sakon, Ukon, Jirobo, and Kidomaru.

They were clearly planning to keep the Sound Four occupied and prevent them from supporting Naruto.

Given the current situation, avoiding war is simply impossible.

Tayuya, who was assessing the current situation, gritted his teeth. It was all because that guy kept dawdling that the original plan had changed so drastically!

Tayuya took out her flute, which she used as a weapon, from her waist and entered the first stage of the curse seal without hesitation. The pitch-black curse marks that appeared irregularly like zigzag lines covered her skin.

"You pineapple-headed, gloomy young man, putting on airs here!"

She held the flute to her lips and blew a short, sharp note:

I'll kill you right now!

Chapter 84 Danzo Shimura

Since the founding of Konoha, there have been three recorded incidents of enemy invasion of Konoha.

One of them was the final battle at the Valley of the End between the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and Madara Uchiha, which directly led to the death of the First Hokage.

The second is the Nine-Tails' rampage that occurred within Konoha sixteen years ago.

And three years ago, Orochimaru, one of the original Sannin, joined forces with the Fourth Kazekage to launch an attack on Konoha with the combined power of Otogakure and Sunagakure.

Each of these invasions caused Konoha severe damage that required a very long time to heal.

During the first and second invasions, both the First and Fourth Hokage sacrificed their lives to keep the damage to Konoha to a minimum.

Even during Orochimaru's third invasion of Konoha, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, successfully controlled Orochimaru, the mastermind behind it—that was how things should have been. However, Naruto Uzumaki took advantage of the chaos in Konoha to cause the One-Tailed Beast within the Sand Village's Jinchuriki and the Nine-Tailed Beast within Naruto himself, the Third Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki of Konoha, to go berserk, thus amplifying the destruction of Konoha.

Now, Naruto Uzumaki, who defected from Konoha three years ago, is actually leading the design of the fourth invasion targeting Konoha. The damage and threat it poses to Konoha has far exceeded the previous three invasions related to Konoha.

The violent tremors caused by the explosion on the ground of Konoha, which could be felt even at the headquarters of the "Root" organization, which was built deep underground in Konoha and protected by multiple barriers, are proof of this.

Danzo Shimura, the elderly man who, along with Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, was an elder of the Konoha Advisory Council, squinted his only remaining left eye, maintaining a calm and dozing posture despite the tremors.

Surrounding Shimura Danzo were several Root ninjas dressed similarly to the Konoha Anbu, wearing animal masks to conceal their true faces, who provided him with close protection.

"Lord Danzo... the enemy's attacks are becoming more and more frequent. Shouldn't we go and provide support?"

One of the Root ninjas, feeling the constant vibrations, finally couldn't help but ask a question.

"Don't be too hasty. Don't underestimate Tsunade. She's not one of those pretty but useless female ninjas. Even in the current situation of Konoha, her summoning beasts can save many people. That's her duty as Hokage. All we need to do is wait for the Hokage's faction, led by Tsunade, to fully exhaust Naruto before I seal him away."

Danzo held the cane in his left hand in front of him. His main method of dealing with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was still the Sharingan. Making a move too early could expose the Sharingan in his right hand and right eye.

Furthermore, the Mangekyou Sharingan in Danzo's right eye, which originated from Uchiha Shisui, and its exclusive eye technique called "Kotoamatsukami," was not a technique that Danzo could use continuously.

To retrieve the Nine-Tails from Naruto's body, he can only use "Kotoamatsukami" once.

If he fails, even Danzo, who had the cells of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju implanted in him, would need an extremely long time to accumulate enough ocular power to release "Kotoamatsukami" again.

This was Danzo's most important secret, one that even the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, did not know.

Danzo could not provide a reasonable explanation for the origin of his large number of Sharingan eyes. He could suppress the rumors, but if the secrets about the Sharingan were revealed, it would affect his progress in impeaching the Fifth Hokage for dereliction of duty after the crisis in Konoha, and in winning over the surviving Hokage faction ninjas.

His right eye cannot perform the "Kotoamatsukami" technique over a wide area.

That's why Danzo was willing to be patient; all his forbearance was for the purpose of becoming Hokage.

Although Danzo had a premonition about the invasion of Konoha led by Naruto Uzumaki, he, like the other Konoha ninjas, was surprised by the speed of Naruto's actions.

However, Danzo quickly seized this opportunity to gather the ninjas of the Root organization, preserving enough power for Konoha under his leadership to prevent the other four great nations from coveting Konoha after the crisis.

Moreover, this crisis is also an opportunity to destroy the reputation that the Sannin have accumulated over many years.

Whether it's Tsunade or Jiraiya, this crisis has sealed their fate of losing public support and the trust of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

After the crisis, Konoha was leaderless, and Danzo, who had been active in the upper echelons of Konoha since the time of the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju and had decades of prestige, was the only one qualified to become the new Hokage.

Once the Nine-Tails is regained under control, and other great nations that have lost their tailed beasts are faced, Konoha, which currently appears strong but is actually weak, can be pushed back to its true peak.

Everything was so wonderful and exciting.

But Danzo Shimura, the man hiding in the shadows of Konoha and the ninja world, knew very well that a plan was just a plan, and only by using any means necessary could it be made a reality.

"Well then, Sai... now tell me the information you got from Yamanaka Inoichi."

Danzo finally dropped his feigned sleep and opened his left eye, his sinister gaze fixed on the pale-skinned black-haired boy kneeling before him with a clearly fake smile on his face.

The ninjas of the "Root" organization do not show their true faces or names. There is only one situation in which they remove their masks and have names: when they have received orders from Shimura Danzo to prioritize Shimura Danzo's interests and blend into the crowd to carry out espionage missions.

"I understand. The detailed information is all in the scroll, and I will briefly summarize the key points..."

Sai, a young ninja from the "Root" organization, took out a scroll from his ninja tool bag and handed it to Danzo. He then explained to the other members of the "Root" organization the information he had obtained from Yamanaka Inoichi.

"...The Sharingan that Naruto transplanted into his left eye was the same eye he had taken from Kakashi Hatake. Its eye technique is the same as Naruto's Flying Thunder God Technique, both being space-time ninjutsu."

Sai's words caused a slight commotion among the other Root ninjas.

Danzo, however, silently flipped through the more detailed written intelligence that Sai had handed him with his left hand.

Three years ago, shortly after the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was killed by Orochimaru, Itachi Uchiha, who had joined Akatsuki, briefly infiltrated Konoha.

At that time, Itachi Uchiha fought against Kakashi Hatake, who also had the Sharingan.

Kakashi, who only possessed a regular three-tomoe Sharingan at the time, spent a great deal of time and effort evolving his three-tomoe Sharingan into a Mangekyou Sharingan after experiencing the terrifying power of Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan.

His Mangekyou Sharingan's eye technique is a space-time ninjutsu called "Kamui".

Not many people in Konoha knew this information, and Danzo happened to be one of them.

Therefore, Danzo was not surprised.

What caught his attention, however, was the battle between Naruto Uzumaki and the leader of the Akatsuki organization, which was in the intelligence scroll Sai had given him.

The intelligence scroll details how Yamanaka Inoichi obtained information directly from the brain of the female ninja from Amegakure, whom Jiraiya had brought back to Konoha, using a secret technique of the Yamanaka clan.

Danzo did not doubt Yamanaka Inoichi's intelligence-gathering ability. Yamanaka Inoichi's terrifying control over the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques made him trusted and given a high position by the Fourth Hokage, the Third Hokage, and now the Fifth Hokage, starting from the Fourth Hokage's time.

Yamanaka Fu, who was formerly affiliated with the "Root" organization and also came from the Yamanaka clan, indirectly confirmed Danzo's point.

The intelligence gathered by Yamanaka Inoichi detailed how he directly observed Naruto's use of Kamui during his battle with Akatsuki from the mind of a member of the Akatsuki organization named Konan.

This is very important intelligence; no wonder Naruto Uzumaki was so eager to carry out his invasion plan against Konoha.

However, Naruto did not expect that his "decapitation" operation against Yamanaka Inoichi would still allow Yamanaka Inoichi to survive and successfully pass on the information to the Konoha leadership.

This intelligence gap will greatly increase the chances of the Root organization defeating Naruto Uzumaki at crucial moments.

Danzo, however, did not appear as relaxed as one might imagine.

"That guy was indeed on guard against 'Kotoamatsukami'."

After carefully reading through all the information in the scroll, Danzo, unusually, revealed a sense of unease about the enemy.

Danzo had already made some guesses about why Naruto Uzumaki was so enthusiastic about the Sharingan.

"Minato Namikaze...it was truly a pity he died."

Danzo put away the intelligence scroll, but stopped talking about Naruto. Instead, he suddenly changed his attitude and murmured a word of praise for the Fourth Hokage who had passed away many years ago.

Even if Orochimaru's Will of Fire hadn't been distorted, the position of Fourth Hokage would likely have been entrusted to Minato Namikaze by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He was a true genius; Danzo could even see the shadows of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage overlapping in him.

He had no weaknesses in terms of strength, public opinion, coordination ability, political skills, and the inheritance of the Will of Fire. At that time, he was only in his early twenties and even had a growth potential of several decades.

Even during the Nine-Tails' rampage sixteen years ago, he still had enough strength left after the crisis ended. However, because he could not bear the reality that his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, had her tailed beast removed and died alone, he chose to seal the Nine-Tails into his child's body and then commit suicide with Kushina Uzumaki.

If Minato Namikaze had been more rational back then, and had he lived to the age of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, the ninja world might have produced a second God of Shinobi.

However, even though he had already died, he disrupted Danzo's plans for the Nine-Tails twice after his death.

To prevent the Nine-Tails from going berserk and to protect his children, the Fourth Hokage left plenty of backup plans in the Eight Trigrams Seal that sealed the Nine-Tails, something Danzo had also heard about.

The Fourth Hokage's "backup plan" allowed Naruto Uzumaki to escape the control of "Kotoamatsukami" twice.

After his first attempt to induce the Nine-Tails within Naruto to go berserk and thereby manipulate public opinion to deny Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude towards Jinchuriki failed, Danzo was unable to attack Naruto again for a long time.

Three years ago, during the joint Chunin Exams, Danzo and Orochimaru, though not explicitly stating it, tacitly cooperated without affecting each other, finally giving Danzo a second chance to attack Naruto Uzumaki.

Everything went smoothly at first.

However, the Eight Trigrams Seal that Naruto used to seal the Nine-Tails was reinforced again, allowing that guy to successfully defect from Konoha.

Aside from the fact that the Eight Trigrams Seal itself had other hidden tricks known only to the Fourth Hokage himself, Danzo couldn't think of any other way that Naruto Uzumaki was able to break free from Kotoamatsukami's control three years ago.

It was this hero of Konoha's excessive behavior that made Naruto Uzumaki a real problem.

But this trouble won't last long.

Just like this violent explosion that shook even the ground beneath Konoha, it will eventually come to an end.

"It seems the ground attack has come to an end."