章 203: Ninja Mokuton
Danzo dismisses Kakashi and Tenzo with satisfaction, then takes a scroll of information and returns to study the specifics of the assassination plan.
Kakashi leaves the Root Organization's headquarters alone and heads towards his home.
However, upon reaching home, he makes a diversion, taking a detour and silently arriving at the Hokage's office building. He easily jumps from outside into the office window.
"Hokage-sama."
He knocks on the window and sees Hiruzen smoking a pipe and reviewing documents in the office.
Hiruzen hears Kakashi's call, turns around, and sees him, then gestures for him to come in.
So, Kakashi opens the window and jumps into the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen puts down the document, inserts the pipe into his mouth, and says, "What's the matter? Kakashi, is something urgent?"
The pipe in his mouth trembles as he speaks, and the smoke is so thick that his facial expression can't be seen.
Kakashi kneels and says, "Reporting to Hokage-sama, Danzo Shimura is planning to kill the Hokage."
The pipe in Hiruzen's mouth suddenly stops trembling and is taken out.
The smoke billows up, and his expression finally changes. He hesitates: "Are you sure?"
Kakashi raises his head and says, "It's true that Danzo forced me to participate in the assassination plan. For the sake of the greater situation, I pretended to agree and helped him obtain information about Hokage-sama's departure. I stabilized Danzo and then came to find you."
Hiruzen closes his eyes, leans back in his chair, and sighs: "Has Danzo really gone so far that he must kill me..."
He seems to lament that their friendship since youth cannot compare to their current power struggle.
After all, they have known each other since childhood and formed a bond. They were both friends and rivals, and their friendship was unusual.
It took him a long time to recover from the shock of the news.
"You did well, Kakashi. Since Danzo approached you, it means he's fully prepared."
"This temporary compromise allowed you to safely deliver the message to me. But you should have reported to me earlier. Fortunately, it's not too late now."
"Since Danzo wants to take action during my journey, we'll use his plan. Kakashi, I have a mission for you."
Kakashi lowers his head and says, "Hokage-sama, please command as you wish."
"To avoid alerting the enemy, I want you to pretend to be me and depart according to the plan. Just ensure your own safety and draw Danzo and his men's attention. Leave the rest to me."
Hiruzen inserts the pipe back into his mouth and starts exhaling.
Kakashi agrees without hesitation.
In his heart, he still chose Hiruzen between Danzo and Hiruzen.
After all, Hiruzen has been the Hokage of Konoha for many years.
Moreover, Hiruzen's generous demeanor made him understand the difference between Hiruzen and Danzo.
❀❀❀
On the day of the journey, Kakashi uses [Henge no Jutsu] to disguise himself as Hiruzen wearing the Hokage robe.
He just set off with the escort team.
Along the way, Kakashi mimics Hiruzen's words and actions, ensuring Danzo's men cannot distinguish him.
The journey seems calm, but he knows that he's taking a long-term approach to catch the big fish, so he's not in a hurry.
The group travels halfway along the designated route, passing a small road with no villages ahead and no shops behind, when Kakashi finally waits for Danzo's men to take action.
A group of enemies dressed as wandering ninjas blocks everyone's path and begins fighting with the escort team members.
At this moment, when all the escort members are held back, the real killing move arranged by Danzo emerges.
Tenzen from the Root Organization jumps out from the bushes on the side, forms a seal, and launches ninjutsu to attack Kakashi.
The Third Hokage, portrayed by Kakashi, exclaims in shock, "What? It's actually Mokuton!"
Thick wooden spikes grow from the ground and pierce through the body of the "Third Hokage" in shock.
This is Danzo's audacity to kill the Hokage.
After all, ninjas are still human. In many cases, no matter how strong a ninja is, their bodies are still fragile.
A single kunai can kill an enemy, let alone a large wooden spike that directly pierces the body.
But what disappointed Tenzen was that the one he struck wasn't the real Third Hokage.
He watches as the "Third Hokage" hardens into wood after being impaled.
Kakashi appears from a tree on the other side, looking down at Tenzen disdainfully and says, "You're actually a Mokuton ninja from Konoha, why are you helping Danzo kill the Hokage?"
Tenzen does not respond to the question, only regretting his previous mistake, and then he extends his hand forward in a seal formation.
"[Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu]!"
Tenzen's outstretched arm transforms into a piece of wood that twists and extends, attacking Kakashi standing on the tree.
Lightning suddenly appears in Kakashi's hand.
"[Raikiri]."
Even without the Sharingan, after enhancing his chakra nature transformation and using it skillfully, Kakashi no longer relies on a thrusting distance.
He first dodges the Mokuton attack to the side, then relies on the power of [Raikiri] to shatter the wood formed by [Daijurin no Jutsu]. After several moves, he destroys Tenzen's Mokuton and seizes the opportunity to strike.
Tenzen is defeated by Kakashi, unable to dodge, and is forced to the ground by [Raikiri].
However, Kakashi's [Raikiri] does not fall to claim Tenzen's life.
The expression behind Tenzen's mask is utterly confused.
Kakashi's expression behind his mask is very complicated.
"If there were a Mokuton ninja in Konoha to assist back then, I'm afraid Minato-sensei wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself."
He thinks to himself as he looks at the boy lying on the ground before him.
Mokuton, like Sharingan, has the ability to suppress Bijuu.
That's why Kakashi believes that if the young man before him had been on the battlefield back then, Kyuubi would have been subdued by Mokuton.
But he was wrong about one thing.
The true strength wasn't in Mokuton but in Senju Hashirama.
Even though Tenzen also possesses Mokuton, his power is far inferior to Hashirama's.
Hashirama's Mokuton could easily suppress Kyuubi, but Tenzen's Mokuton might struggle to control a Jinchuuriki.
Even if Danzo had truly unleashed Tenzen on the battlefield, it wouldn't have made a difference.
Tenzen, lying on the ground, awaits death with his eyes open.
Seeing that the other party hasn't acted, although he doesn't know the specific reason, he naturally understands that his top priority now is to escape.
Tenzen is about to get up when he hears the other party speak.
"Where did you learn Mokuton? Never mind, it's not up to you. Just go."
"I won't kill you because your Mokuton will eventually help Konoha."
When Tenzen hears this, he doesn't respond and immediately flees. The "wandering ninjas" who were initially fighting the escort team realize that Tenzen failed to kill the Hokage and that the Hokage wasn't even the real one.
Knowing that there's no point in continuing the fight, they all retreat from the battlefield.
To avoid casualties, the escort team does not pursue victory.
The plan to kill the Hokage fails.
However, at this moment, Danzo has already arrived at the Hokage's office and is sitting on the Hokage's throne.
He sits on the Hokage's chair gracefully, turns his chair towards the window, leans back, and imagines himself successfully ascending the Hokage's throne.
The desire for power makes him bold enough to commit such transgressive acts.
It also shows that he is very confident in the assassination plan.
Just as Danzo is lost in his fantasy, the Hokage office door opens, and he says, displeased: "Didn't I say no one is allowed to enter?"
However, he hears a very familiar voice.
"Sorry, I don't plan on giving that seat to anyone else right now."
Danzo, terrified, immediately turns his chair around and sees Hiruzen's expression, as if he's just seen a ghost.
"It seems you want to ask me why I'm still alive."
Danzo knows he's wrong, cold sweat appears on his face, and he reluctantly explains: "No, no, I just heard you left in the morning."
Hiruzen says, "Someone rebelled, no, defected. They informed me that I would be attacked during my journey."
Hearing this, Danzo nervously clenches his fists, stands up, and supports himself on the table, his face looking even worse, although it wasn't very pleasant to begin with.
"The prisoner will soon be discovered once investigated. In that case, that person surely won't escape the death penalty."
Hiruzen's eyes become very sharp, staring at him, making Danzo feel cold sweat on his back.
Danzo grits his teeth and stares back at him, his mood dropping from high to low like a roller coaster. Then he turns his head away, shock, regret, and other emotions filling his principled heart.
Hiruzen turned at that moment, facing Danzo from the side, looked out the window, and said, "But I do not advocate for additional sacrifices."
"If I meet that person, I want to tell them. I won't be responsible for this action."
When Danzo heard this, even he couldn't hide his surprised expression.
"Instead, I hope that person will do their best for the village from now on."
Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe.
Danzo, grateful that Hiruzen's kindness had spared his life, quietly walked toward the door to leave.
As he was about to go, he stopped, turned slightly, and said, "It has always been like this from the beginning—you are the light, and I am the darkness. Where there is light, there must be darkness, but if one disappears, the world will no longer be in harmony."
This time, Danzo's words were his sincere thoughts.
He also knew that Hiruzen didn't kill him because the two of them were one light and one dark, one black and one white.
Both were indispensable in a certain sense.
Hiruzen was the Hokage bathed in sunlight, while Danzo was the root buried deep within the earth.
So Danzo's hostility towards him dissipated, and he gave another instruction before leaving.
"Also, be careful of Uchiha Shintaro. I invited him as well. Even though he didn't agree, he never refused."
Hiruzen held his pipe in his mouth and murmured, "Uchiha Shintaro...?"
After Danzo left, Kakashi also returned to the village that day.
"Come in."
This time, Kakashi knocked on the door and entered.
He walked into the Hokage's office after hearing this.
"Hokage-sama, the mission was completed successfully without any casualties."
"Well done, Kakashi."
Kakashi lowered his head, ignoring Hiruzen's praise, and instead reported very important information.
"The person responsible for killing the Hokage was a Mokuton ninja and a subordinate of Danzo."
"Oh?" Hiruzen raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by the news.
"Could it be that the experiment was successful..."
He muttered softly, but Kakashi heard it sharply.
After the report, he unconsciously left the Hokage's office. Kakashi, who should have gone home to rest, inadvertently went to Shintaro's house.
"You're here. Have you completed the mission Danzo assigned to you?"
Shintaro asked while letting Kakashi in.
"Yes, I chose the Third Hokage's side and informed him of the information. Danzo's assassination plan has failed. However, during the assassination attempt, I encountered a Mokuton ninja..."
"Mokuton?" Shintaro pretended not to have heard of it. He truly hadn't heard of it, but he could see it with his own eyes.
"Yes. Even though he's not strong now, he will definitely be useful to Konoha in the future, so I didn't kill him."
"The Third Hokage should know the story behind it. He mentioned it was related to an experiment, but I didn't take the initiative to ask."
Kakashi told him everything he knew, and it was clear that he was still a little concerned.
So Shintaro said, "A Mokuton ninja, an experiment. I've heard from Orochimaru about an experiment more than ten years ago involving the transplantation of Hashirama's cells into infants to create Mokuton Ninjas. Counting his age, that boy's age matches perfectly."
Kakashi nodded unconsciously, then suddenly realized something and stared at him, "How do you know he's a boy?"
Shintaro realized that he had slipped up, so he added, "Danzo sent that young man to invite me to assassinate the Hokage with him. At that time, I knew that the young man must be relying on something to win Danzo's respect. I didn't expect that what he was relying on was being a Mokuton user."
Kakashi was persuaded, nodded, and said, "Yes, Danzo entrusting him with such an important matter indeed shows his trust."
Shintaro added, "If you want to know more specifically about him, you can go to the Konoha archives to find out."
❀❀❀
So Kakashi snuck into the Hokage Building's archives that night, thinking he would only get information about the wood escape experiment.
After searching, he successfully found the information.
"Did they really cause so many casualties just to study Mokuton?"
He looked at the death toll from the horrific experiment.
This showed that the only successful one from the experiment was Tenzen, and the data should have been hidden by Danzo.
"Indeed, the experiment to transplant Hashirama's cells caused too many deaths, so I asked it to be stopped. I didn't expect Danzo would have a successful experiment."
Hiruzen appeared in the archives at some point, startling Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama, I'm sorry, I didn't..."
Facing Kakashi's respect and apology, Hiruzen said indifferently, "It's fine, I noticed your reaction when I mentioned the experiment. Young people are always curious about knowledge, I don't blame you."
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