This Danzo Is Weird!

"The Hidden Leaf Village will provide a loan to the Hidden Rain Village, with a total value of two hundred million ryo, to be used for the repair and development of the village."

It had been less than ten days since the Battle of the Hidden Rain Village, and this news once again thrust it into the spotlight.

What is the relationship between the Hidden Leaf Village and the Akatsuki organization?

What is the Hidden Leaf Village's true purpose in supporting the Akatsuki organization?

What sinister plots is the mysterious figure of the ninja world, known as the "Darkness of the Shinobi," orchestrating behind the scenes?

For a time, the entire ninja world was in a state of turmoil and unease.

Many people did not understand Danzo's actions, but they all felt that there must be some sort of conspiracy involved.

For example—

"Danzo, this matter is utterly absurd, and I absolutely do not agree!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, upon seeing the newspaper early in the morning, stormed into the Hokage's office and roared at Danzo.

Behind him were the two elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado.

Minato Namikaze stood to one side, ready to mediate at any moment.

It turned out that his concerns were not without merit.

Faced with the irate Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo simply used one sentence to defuse the situation.

"Sarutobi, I am the Hokage's advisor."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was nearly driven mad.

Ever since he had stepped down, Danzo seemed to be addicted to this phrase, and no matter what opinion he put forward, Danzo would mechanically respond with it.

"The same reason again!"

"Can't you say something else?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi had reached his breaking point.

No matter what, he was determined to stop Danzo today!

Danzo finally raised his head and looked at his old friend, speaking calmly:

"Sarutobi, I seem to recall that you have already stepped down."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened, but he still gritted his teeth and said:

"It's true that I have stepped down, but I have the right to voice my opinion."

Danzo tilted his head slightly and continued:

"I also seem to remember that you are not currently an elder, are you?"

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened even further.

Indeed, he did not hold the position of advisor elder, as his identity had always been that of the former Hokage!

Fortunately, he managed to restrain himself and forced out a sentence through his teeth:

"So what?"

At this, Danzo's face wore a polite smile as he said:

"Since you are neither the Hokage, nor the Hokage's advisor, nor an elder, I suggest you leave. We are about to hold a high-level meeting here."

Danzo's words instantly caused Hiruzen Sarutobi's already dark face to turn red with anger.

"Dan... Danzo, I will..."

He could no longer contain himself and was about to burst into a tirade when Minato, who had been prepared for this, quickly intervened.

"Third Hokage, please maintain your composure!"

Minato hastily restrained the Third Hokage.

Under his calming influence, Hiruzen Sarutobi's rage finally subsided somewhat.

He glared at Danzo through gritted teeth and said coldly:

"Danzo, no matter what you say, I absolutely will not allow you to provide aid to the Hidden Rain Village!"

Danzo paid no heed to Hiruzen Sarutobi's warning.

"Sarutobi, I am the head of the Finance Department. How the village's funds are allocated is my responsibility.

Moreover, these military funds were secured by me from the Daimyo, and they have nothing to do with you."

Come on, if he didn't seize the opportunity to win the hearts of the people of the Land of Rain, then he wouldn't be Danzo, would he?

The power of the Rinnegan's "Hell Path" was indeed very appealing, but the gratitude of the people of the Land of Rain was equally substantial and satisfying.

Danzo decided to have it all!

That was why this aid bill came into being.

Today, Danzo had merely used the "Shinobi World United News" to leak a bit of information and had already successfully received five hundred skill points in his account.

Just think about it, once this plan was truly implemented, his skill points would explode!

So, the two hundred million ryo loan was definitely going to be provided by Danzo!

Even if the Sage of the Six Paths came, he couldn't stop it!

Danzo said so!

But Hiruzen Sarutobi was clearly still not giving up.

"Danzo, you are nurturing a tiger to bring disaster upon yourself!"

In his view, the act of giving away large sums of money to others was nothing but sheer foolishness!

After all, there was no such thing as honor or integrity in the ninja world.

Those smaller countries might take your subsidies today and then betray you tomorrow!

If it weren't for Danzo's past contributions to the Hidden Leaf Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have suspected him of betraying the Hidden Leaf Village.

However, Danzo showed complete confidence and said:

"Rest assured, as long as I am alive, the Hidden Rain Village will not have any ulterior motives."

"Moreover, for the mere cost of two hundred million ryo, we can buy the loyalty of a Kage-level ninja to shield us from the threats of the Hidden Sand and Hidden Stone Villages. This deal is by no means a loss."

While Hiruzen Sarutobi was still worried about the possibility of betrayal, Danzo's gaze had already shifted to the two major countries behind the Land of Rain— the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.

Only by establishing good relations with the Hidden Rain Village and supporting its development could Danzo create a stable environment in this strategic location, thereby promoting the westward expansion of the Hidden Leaf Village's commerce.

Not to mention that the Hidden Leaf Village also needed to use the Land of Rain as a transit point to continuously transport steel from the Land of Wind back to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Compared to these benefits, two hundred million ryo was but a drop in the ocean!

Not to mention that it would also earn Danzo a considerable number of skill points.

This move could be described as Joe Biden touching a high voltage electric wire— a total win!

Only someone with a short-sighted view like Hiruzen Sarutobi would worry about the issue of betrayal here.

Was the issue of betrayal something that could be resolved with just two hundred million ryo?

Unfortunately, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not understand Danzo's thinking, and so he could only storm out once again.

"Danzo, you will regret this!"

With that, the door slammed shut with a loud "bang."

Watching Hiruzen Sarutobi's retreating figure, Danzo let out a soft chuckle and then turned to the two advisor elders.

"And you two, are you also here to stop me from providing a loan to the Hidden Rain Village?"

Under Danzo's half-smiling, half-serious gaze, the two elders exchanged glances and ultimately conceded.

They let out a bitter laugh:

"No, we just wanted to see if there was anything we could help with."

Danzo was quite satisfied with this answer.

"Since you don't object, the Logistics Department should quickly sort out the supplies and deliver them to the Hidden Rain Village."

His gaze fell on Homura Mitokado, as sharp as a blade.

"I will have the Root members conduct inspections and provide escort."

Danzo's reminder completely extinguished Homura's subtle intentions to sabotage.

"Also, I plan to have the Foreign Affairs Department send an embassy to the Hidden Rain Village and establish an embassy there."

Danzo naturally continued with the terminology from his previous life.

"Embassy?"

The two advisors' faces immediately showed a puzzled expression.

Sending an embassy to the Hidden Rain Village was understandable; after all, the Hidden Leaf Village had provided them with so many loans, it was only reasonable to send a few people to oversee things, right?

But what was this "embassy"?

"It is essentially a place for the embassy to be stationed long-term. The embassy can directly represent the Hidden Leaf Village and provide necessary assistance to Hidden Leaf villagers within other countries' territories."

Upon hearing Danzo's explanation, the two elders understood.

Setting up a base within another country's territory.

And it was a legitimate, above-board base!

"Not only should we set up an embassy in the Hidden Rain Village, but it would also be ideal to have Hidden Leaf embassies in the Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Mist Village."

Danzo voiced his thoughts.

After all, there were now interests of the Hidden Leaf Village within the boundaries of the Land of Water and the Land of Wind.

It made perfect sense to establish an institution to maintain relations with these two countries.

Of course, since they were envoys, it was only natural to bring along some security personnel, right?

"I will assign this task to Shisui. It will serve as a small test for him."

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