"Hiruzen, I am acting for the good of the entire village. With the Konoha Bomb, the strength of our ninja will be significantly enhanced," Danzō said.
He stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen without flinching.
Even though the other man was his close friend, he would not let that hinder his plans.
The creation of the Konoha Bomb not only promised to strengthen the overall power of Konoha's ninja but also offered him an opportunity to earn income.
Ever since the Hyuga Clan had left his Root division, many members from other clans had followed suit.
As a result, Root's strength had visibly diminished.
The main reason for this was because Root had just been established and lacked sufficient deterrence.
Plus, this time around, Hiruzen had not publicly backed him, giving those families the perfect pretext to abandon Root.
What else could he do?
The [Tongue-Cutting Seal] had not yet been perfected, leaving him powerless to stop it—helpless as one subordinate after another defected.
Even among the smaller families still remaining, discontent simmered beneath the surface.
To keep them loyal and continue using them, he'd have to balance both kindness and authority.
But he was out of funds. Most of Root's resources had already been spent expanding his influence and funding Orochimaru's human experimentation.
The invention of the Konoha Bomb gave him new hope.
If members of the Hyuga Clan could go out and earn money, then surely he, the shadow protector of the village, could too.
Besides, the original purpose of the Konoha Bomb was to improve the overall strength of Konoha's ninja.
He had originally planned to sell each Explosive Tag at a certain price, but for the good of the village, he decided to forgo twenty silver coins per sale.
"Danzō, I am the Hokage. You didn't even get my approval for this," Sarutobi said gently, tapping his pipe against the table to signal his old friend.
After all, he was the Hokage.
Danzō wore an expression of anger but couldn't bring himself to argue back.
Sarutobi truly held the title of Hokage; he had no choice but to obey the Hokage's orders.
Seeing Danzō soften slightly, Hiruzen eased up a bit and tried to comfort him. "I know you're doing it for Konoha, but this move is too risky."
"The sudden appearance of the Konoha Bomb might remind other Hidden Villages of Wood Release techniques and cause panic and chaos."
"How about this? Hand over the Konoha Bombs to me, and let me take care of things."
Danzō scoffed and fixed Sarutobi with a disdainful gaze. "We've been close friends for years—do you really think I don't see your intentions?"
"The bombs are already on the market. It's already too late to recall them now."
"But if you were willing to support me openly, I'd be willing to give you thirty percent of the profits."
"Seventy percent," Hiruzen replied instantly.
"This is made using cells from the First Hokage. I can't exactly justify that to others."
While the Senju Clan had long been absorbed into the village structure, they weren't entirely gone—not to mention Tsunade, the village's royal heir.
If she ever found out, it would definitely raise uncomfortable questions.
"Fifty percent—maximum. Any more than that, and I won't even break even," Danzō bargained.
Truthfully, he didn't want to give away anything at all, but Sarutobi was the current Hokage.
With him supporting the project, the Konoha Bomb could sell even better and might even become standard equipment for every Konoha ninja.
At that point, the profits wouldn't just be a small or moderate amount—they'd be equivalent to Konoha's military budget.
That would be a massive sum of money.
Seeing his close friend insist and refuse to back down, Hiruzen didn't push further. Five percent was five percent.
Getting even five percent with just words? That wasn't bad at all.
As the two were engaged in discussion, an Anbu member suddenly appeared in the office.
"Trouble, Third Lord," said the masked Anbu.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina, has been taken by ninja from the Cloud Village."
"What?" Hiruzen abruptly stood up, his face dark with fury.
Danzo also furrowed his brow deeply, eyes blazing with anger.
"Dammit! So the Cloud Village dares to disrespect Konoha like this?"
"Hiruzen, is this how you protect the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? I should've kept her within my Root division from the start."
Hiruzen ignored Danzo's words and instead gave orders:
"Gather the Anbu members immediately and spare no effort to stop and rescue the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina!"
He was furious over the fact that ninja from the Cloud Village had taken the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from them.
But as Hokage, he had to remain calm and composed.
He believed he had protected Kushina well within Konoha, yet somehow she'd still been discovered and taken by those bandits from the Cloud Village.
Meanwhile,
In a pitch-black forest filled with shadows, Kushina was being secretly escorted out by Cloud Village shinobi.
Compared to what happened in the original story, Kushina had clearly improved significantly by now.
Her mastery of sealing techniques and the Eight Gates had grown significantly. Practical battlefield experience had also greatly increased her strength.
Still, the number of enemies before her was overwhelming—one Jonin, three class-ranked Chunin, and five class-ranked Genin. She wasn't confident she could fight them all off, so she decided to try seeking help.
She quietly discarded strands of her red hair on the ground, hoping to draw someone's attention.
Especially Minato Namikaze's attention.
Even she herself wasn't sure why she did it—some instinctive feeling must have driven her to make that choice.
Just like before in the original story,
Minato, who saw Kushina nearly every day, started searching frantically the moment he noticed she was missing.
When he spotted faint scrape marks on the ground and strands of hair, he became instantly alert.
"Could it be that something bad has happened to Kushina?"
The ninja world these days wasn't exactly peaceful. Spies were everywhere, gathering information inside Konoha, stealing vital intel, and even kidnapping wealthy merchants and nobles.
From observation alone, Minato had already sensed that Kushina was no ordinary person.
Unique hair color, incredible sealing skills, and those watchful eyes hidden in the shadows...
Someone as special as her being targeted by shinobi from another village didn't come as a total surprise.
Yet his concern for Kushina made him instinctively disregard the danger—he rushed off in pursuit.
"Oh right, I should tell Satori about this too."
Just in case, Minato used Clone Jutsu to split away and begin searching for Satori Hyūga.
He knew Satori's Byakugan had extremely long-range vision.
If he joined the search, they would definitely find Kushina—who had been captured—much faster.
One clone went to look for Satori while the real Minato pursued the kidnappers.
Locating Satori wasn't hard—being one of his closest friends, Minato found him quickly.
"Satori, Kushina may have been captured by ninja from another village." Minato Namikaze immediately grabbed Satori Hyūga's arm and spoke urgently.
Satori was taken aback. He hadn't anticipated that Kushina would be captured so soon.
He had assumed the timeline would shift further ahead.
However, realizing his own presence might have caused a butterfly effect, he quickly grew cautious.
Together with Minato Namikaze, he shot forward like lightning toward the village's outskirts.
As for chasing after Cloud Village ninja, Satori wasn't worried.
Don't be fooled by appearances—he had two Branch House Jonin hidden behind him.
When he went all out, he could match even a Jonin in strength.
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