"Humph!" After hearing what Koharu said, Danzo snorted heavily, and then walked out of the Hokage's office with a gloomy face.
Hiruzen of this period was very powerful and had a very high prestige. His disciple, the Sannin, were powerful shinobi who stood at the helm of the current ninja world, and the disciples of the Sannin had also began to emerge in the ninja world. With the power that Danzo had in Konoha, he was simply incapable of competing against Hiruzen.
In this situation, Koharu and Homura, who were the Hokage Advisors, also stood on the side of Hiruzen.
When he reached the door, Danzo glanced at Asahi out of the corner of his eye, with a sinister smile on his lips.
Although Danzo was not much of a smart person, he was very patient. In addition, he was also devoted to Konoha and helped Hiruzen do some shady things from time to time. Therefore, Hiruzen was very tolerant of Danzo and turned a blind eye to many things.
It was for this reason that Danzo was able to do so many little things under Hiruzen's nose, and even joined forces with Orochimaru to study the Hashirama Cells.
But all this was part of Danzo's bigger plans.
Given the current situation in Konoha, the most likely person to succeed the Fourth Hokage was none other than the Sannin.
Danzo was working with Orochimaru to study the Hashirama Cells, but as soon as Orochimaru's research results come out, Orochimaru would no longer be of any use to Danzo. At that time, Danzo would betray Orochimaru without hesitation and force Orochimaru to become a traitor.
As long as Orochimaru leaves Konoha, the only ones with the greatest hope of succeeding the Fourth Hokage would be Tsunade and Jiraiya.
However, Jiraiya's free and easy personality destined him not to choose the position of Hokage. The remaining Tsunade was now suffering from hemophobia, and Hiruzen would never pass on the position of Hokage to Tsunade who suffered from hemophobia.
For Danzo, as long as he forced Orochimaru away, the position of Hokage would be his.
Of course, Danzo also wanted to take advantage of the Third Great Ninja War as an excellent opportunity to strike a blow to Hiruzen's prestige in the village.
Originally, Iwagakure and Sunagakure besieged Konoha, and Konoha was bound to fall into a tough battle. Once Konoha suffered heavy losses in the war, Hiruzen, as the Hokage, would have an unshirkable responsibility. In order to appease the emotions of the villagers and the Konoha ninjas, he had to proceed with the election of the Fourth Hokage.
It's a pity that all this was destroyed by Asahi.
The withdrawal of Sunagakure meant that Konoha now only had Iwagakure as its only enemy. Given Konoha's strength at this moment, defeating Iwagakure was only a matter of time.
While Danzo secretly hated Asahi in his heart, he also had the urge to win him over.
Needless to say, Asahi's talent was great. He was a genius boy recognized by the entire Konoha. Moreover, Asahi had now become Tsunade's disciple, and with time, there was hope that he could grow to Tsunade's level.
However, if he wanted to win over Asahi, he must find his flaws, or weaknesses, in Asahi's character.
After returning to the Root base, Danzo immediately called together the ninjas of the Root and ordered them to secretly monitor Asahi and report Asahi's daily actions to him at any time.
…
After Danzo left the Hokage's office, Koharu and Homura also left.
Hiruzen looked at Asahi with a kind face and said softly, "Asahi, just now it was just a routine inquiry. It doesn't mean that the village suspects you. Don't take it to heart."
"Of course! I am also a ninja, I understand all of these are the necessary procedures, Hokage-sama." Asahi replied respectfully.
"You are Tsunade's disciple and also my grand-disciple. There are only two of us here, so there's no need to be so restrained." said Hiruzen kindly.
If he had not read the original work and analyzed Hiruzen's character, Asahi would really have thought that the fifty-year-old man in front of him was actually like a kind grandfather.
However, once one became the Hokage, he was bound to be exposed to power struggles, which were always dark.
The reason why Hiruzen had been the Hokage for so many years and still had such a high prestige in the village and even in some ninja clans was that all the bad things were left to Danzo to do.
On the surface, Hiruzen and Danzo were competing for power, but secretly, the two of them had a lot of cooperation.
"Yes, I understand!" Asahi responded, his expression became much more relaxed, but he remained cautious in his heart.
Feeling that Asahi seemed to relax a little, Hiruzen smiled and asked, "You have made great contributions to the village this time. What reward do you want?"
This was a big question, and it was also a test of one's character.
For a person as cunning as Hiruzen, no matter what Asahi answered, he would use it to infer Asahi's character.
Asahi also thought of this problem, but this was Asahi's only chance to obtain the [Flying Thunder God Technique], and Asahi must not miss it.
"My current life was given to me by the village. It is my honor to serve the village." Asahi was humble at first, and then said shyly, "But… When I saw Minato-senpai using the [Flying Thunder God Technique] to dominate the battlefield, I was really very envious. I wonder if I can have the opportunity to learn this ninjutsu."
Asahi had a clean background and there was nothing suspicious about him. As long as he was not lured by the enemy villages, he would be a backbone of Konoha's future. This was Asahi's advantage.
Especially since Asahi had now become Tsunade's disciple, as long as Asahi was not a fool, he would never betray Konoha and join other ninja villages.
Hiruzen now had only two concerns about Asahi.
One was that he was afraid that Asahi would hold a grudge against Konoha for using him as a cannon fodder. He knew that Asahi was different from ordinary ninjas. He had a lot of thoughts and was a person with a mature mindset. If he harbored resentment towards Konoha because of this, he would definitely become a hidden danger for Konoha in the future.
The second reason was that Asahi trains too hard, and Hiruzen was worried that Asahi had ulterior ambitions hidden beneath his immature appearance.
Putting these two points aside, as a ninja from the Hokage-lineage, Asahi was both talented and a person who's willing to work hard. There was no reason for Hiruzen not to train Asahi.
The most important thing was that Asahi had been working together with Asuma for a year and had established a "deep" friendship with him. Shikaku also had a very high opinion of him, and according to Shikaku's judgment, Asahi did not hold a grudge against Konoha because of some unfair treatment in the past.
Because of all these, after hearing Asahi's request, Hiruzen hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said: "The conditions for using the [Flying Thunder God Technique] are very high, even I haven't learned it. Are you sure you want to learn this ninjutsu?"
"Yes!" Asahi nodded heavily and said with longing expression, "Ever since I saw Minato-senpai use this ninjutsu, I have been very eager to learn it. Even if this ninjutsu is difficult, I want to give it a try."
"Okay, come with me then." said Hiruzen.
Asahi followed Hiruzen into a secret room where he took out the Scroll of Sealing from a secret compartment, unfolded it, found the location where the [Flying Thunder God Technique] was recorded, then made a few hand seals and unlocked the seal of the Scroll of Sealing.
Asahi had seen the Scroll of Sealing once in the original work, when it was stolen by Naruto.
However, after seeing the Scroll of Sealing with his own eyes, Asahi immediately concluded that the one stolen by Naruto must have been a fake.
*****
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