Shimura Danzo was highly efficient.

After Sarutobi Hiruzen assigned him the task, Danzo immediately felt spirited and rushed to the Root's base, demanding Akihara Kagura to transfer all Root ninjas under his command.

"Lord Danzo."

Akihara Kagura, displeased, frowned and said, "This does not align with the outcomes of the Hokage Tower meeting. I can only hand over a group of people to you..."

"How about this?"

Looking at Shimura Danzo, Akihara Kagura took the initiative and suggested, "As long as there are those willing to follow you, why not let them become your subordinates?"

"Oh?"

Shimura Danzo, squinting his eyes and staring at Akihara Kagura, agreed nonchalantly, "A brat who has not yet grown up cannot possess the charisma of a leader. I had intended to leave you some dignity, but later, try not to feel too humiliated..."

As expected.

Just as Shimura Danzo had anticipated, Akihara Kagura summoned all Root ninjas, letting them choose whether to stay with the Root or join Shimura Danzo's command.

Shimura Danzo's influence within the Root still prevailed, and most ninjas chose to join him, which greatly pleased him.

"Yamanaka Fu."

Akihara Kagura turned back to look at Yamanaka Fu behind him and asked, "If I remember correctly, I had always tasked you with freeing Lord Danzo's control over the Root ninjas. What exactly happened..."

Akihara Kagura looked deeply at Shimura Danzo and then at Yamanaka Fu, "Yamanaka Fu, during this time, you actually did nothing, right?"

"I'm sorry..."

A drop of cold sweat appeared on Yamanaka Fu's forehead.

Yamanaka Fu felt that his brain wasn't quite up to task.

"It's still because everyone prefers to be loyal to Lord Danzo, isn't it!"

Aburame Torune volunteered to answer for Yamanaka Fu and asked softly, "Lord Kagura, according to your agreement with Lord Danzo, can I and Fu also choose to join Lord Danzo's command?"

"You want to join Lord Danzo's command too?"

Akihara Kagura's brow furrowed, slowly extending his palm, a wooden spike emerged from his hand, seemingly with a hint of murderous intent, "Torune, you are my personal guards. You should understand what being a personal guard means, right?"

"They are also ninjas of the Root."

Shimura Danzo stood up, patted Akihara Kagura on the shoulder, signaling him to withdraw his murderous intent towards Aburame Torune, "Don't be so extreme. According to our agreement, Torune and Fu should also be reassigned under my command."

"From today onwards..."

Shimura Danzo looked towards Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune, taking them under his wing and resolving their conflict with Akihara Kagura, "Fu, Torune, you two are my personal guards now."

After Shimura Danzo finished speaking, he coldly snorted, "Kagura, I have already told you not to attempt any reforms within the Root. Just because you became the head of the Root does not mean you can replace the will I have established within it..."

"..."

Akihara Kagura surveyed everyone present, as if suppressing his anger, "Forget it, I wanted to give you a chance to start over, but since you still wish to follow Danzo to become ghosts, then by all means go ahead, I don't need you anymore..."

"Let's go."

Shimura Danzo waved his hand, leading a group of people away in a majestic procession.

After Shimura Danzo left, a figure emerged from the shadows behind Akihara Kagura, revealing itself to be Tendo Shisui, one of the Six Paths Puppets.

Akihara Kagura had always hidden Shisui in the shadows, making him readily available to be summoned. This puppet, Shisui, was indeed the de facto leader of the surviving Uchiha clan members.

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"Let's wait for now."

Akihara Kagura slightly turned his head and waved his hand, saying, "We should at least wait until Lord Danzo has left the Konoha Village before we make our move…"

The formation of the joint pursuit ninja force was swift.

The Mist Village harbored greater hatred towards Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi, and upon learning that the Konoha Village had agreed to this matter, they immediately sent their envoys and representatives.

Hozuki Mangetsu.

He was the most capable candidate from the Mist Village.

Even Hozuki Mangetsu and Akihara Kagura were of the same age.

Despite his young age, Hozuki Mangetsu was a prodigy highly praised from a young age in the Mist Village. Born into the family of the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, he mastered an extremely powerful water transformation technique and was also one of the new generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

Since the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, committed suicide, the power in the Mist Village was transferred to the hands of the elder, Genkai. However, the Mist Village could not be without a Mizukage forever.

Seizing this opportunity, Genkai sent Hozuki Mangetsu as the representative of the Mist Village to form a pursuit team, genuinely hoping that Hozuki Mangetsu could capture Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi, who had caused significant losses to the Mist Village. This would win the respect of the proud ninjas of the Mist Village for Hozuki Mangetsu, positioning him to succeed the Mizukage.

The position of the next Mizukage candidate indeed held a high status, yet the representative sent by the Konoha Village was the older generation ninja, Shimura Danzo, who had even served as an advisor to the Hokage of the Konoha Village. Moreover, the Konoha Village's strength was far greater than that of the Mist Village.

Clearly.

Shimura Danzo was the most suitable team leader.

Hozuki Mangetsu was somewhat dissatisfied with this and raised his objection, revealing his sharp teeth as he spoke: "Can't the Konoha send more powerful ninjas? The Mist Village wants to join forces with the Konoha to pursue Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito, hoping that the Konoha would send powerful ninjas. I thought Konoha would send your Wood Release ninjas…"

If the combat personnel sent by the Konoha were not Akihara Kagura, could this pursuit team really capture Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi?

Not Akihara Kagura…

Couldn’t they send more powerful ninjas?

At least someone of the caliber of Hatake Kakashi would do! Sending them an old man to act as the captain of the pursuit team, isn’t that a bit unreliable?

The Mist Village had other ideas.

Sending the thirteen or fourteen-year-old Hozuki Mangetsu as the representative of the Mist ninja team, because he was the same age as Akihara Kagura, hoping that the two peers could interact more, thereby maintaining a friendly relationship between the Konoha and Mist Villages in the future.

Who would have thought the Konoha would send Shimura Danzo, this old fool!

"……"

Shimura Danzo couldn't help but grip his cane tighter.

This little brat from the Mist Village dared to mock him like this!

Although Shimura Danzo knew his strength was not strong enough, couldn’t he be given a chance? After all, he wasn't without his uses. With just a little effort, Uchiha Itachi would voluntarily offer his help. If it were Akihara Kagura, that kid, he would simply kill Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito outright!

Besides…

Does Akihara Kagura know how to act for the sake of Konoha?

Shimura Danzo squinted his eyes at Hozuki Mangetsu, deducing from Mangetsu's age alone that he must be a genius ninja from the Mist Village. He immediately planned to find an opportunity to secretly eliminate Hozuki Mangetsu after the operation began, in order to weaken the future strength of the Mist Village...

Only by weakening the Mist Village...

...would they respect the alliance with Konoha more in the future.

Such a method of acting for the sake of Konoha...

Could Akihara Kagura, that brat, have thought of it?

"After all, it's a joint operation between two villages."

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at Shimura Danzo, finding an excuse for his old friend: "Danzo has once served as an advisor to the Hokage, his experience in action is much richer than Kagura's, and Kagura is my assistant. I'm getting older, and many of Konoha's public affairs still depend on him..."

The most important thing is, if Akihara Kagura participates in the pursuit of Uchiha Obito, his way of doing things is too likely to provoke a great ninja war...

Hozuki Mangetsu was not very satisfied but could not interfere with Konoha's decision, after all, the representative sent by Konoha was a high-ranking official, and he could only agree.

After this pursuit ninja troop was assembled, there were about eleven teams and more than forty people in total, all of whom were elite ninja of Chūnin rank or above.

Shimura Danzo did not plan to stay either. He left Konoha with a group of people and searched all over the ninja world to capture the three S-rank rogue ninja: Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Itachi, and Kisame Hoshigaki.

"Let's go back."

After seeing off Shimura Danzo, Sarutobi Hiruzen also breathed a sigh of relief. Now he no longer had to worry about Danzo causing any trouble in the village.

It's a pity.

The situation was far from as simple as Sarutobi Hiruzen thought.

At the Root's base.

Twelve people stood in front of Akihara Kagura.

These people, with an average age of only fifteen or sixteen, all wore an animal mask, revealing a pair of crimson eyes through the mask holes, and their bodies appeared to be exceptionally strong.

Because they all had transplanted Hashirama cells, some people even had white Hashirama faces on their chests or shoulders.

These twelve individuals were selected by Akihara Kagura from the survivors of the Uchiha clan, and their first mission was to infiltrate Shimura Danzo's residence.

"From today on."

"Everyone is not allowed to deactivate their Sharingan."

"During this time, you must hide in Shimura Danzo's house, find Shimura Danzo's basement or any place where you can hide, and avoid being detected by anyone."

"Shisui will assist you in the shadows. If you encounter any difficulties, you can go to Shisui for help. Absolutely no one is allowed to appear on their own... When the day comes that you can appear, I will have Shisui notify you."

"Don't forget."

Akihara Kagura looked at the group of masked subordinates in front of him and continued: "The deceased clan members are still hoping for your revenge in the underworld, and the living clan members are still waiting in my genjutsu world of Tsukuyomi, waiting for you to carve out a path of survival for them in the real world."

"Yes!"

These Uchiha were taught by Shisui to be quite obedient.

The mission of surviving in the world was carried by these twelve people on their shoulders; they absolutely could not act recklessly.

"Go."

Akihara Kagura waved his hand.

The group of Uchiha rushed out towards the exterior of the Root base.

Since all the Root ninjas have left, Akihara Kagura also made all the other personnel of the Root leave, leaving the entire Root base empty. Akihara Kagura then released a group of Uchiha men, women, and children, all wearing masks to act as the logistics personnel for the Root base.

The surviving Uchiha had only two purposes.

The first purpose was, naturally, to seek revenge against Uchiha Itachi and Shimura Danzo.

The second purpose was the future inheritance of the Uchiha clan.

This Root base, always isolated from the Village of Konoha and almost never visited by anyone, thus became the dwelling place for this group of Uchiha.

Time flew by.

Shimura Danzo was still searching for the traces of rogue ninjas outside.

Konoha did not miss Danzo at all.

Akihara Kagura's days were somewhat tedious and boring, except for the usual meetings at the Hokage building, the rest of his time was spent visiting Karin and Naruto, and also continuing his own physical training.

During this time, it was not without good news.

For example, under the tutelage of Mitarashi Anko, Karin had to graduate early to join the Root, but she also successfully gained the approval of her teachers, and the teachers of the Ninja Academy would help her apply for early graduation.

Konoha entered a period of peace.

However, this peace seemed particularly false amidst the undercurrents swirling through the ninja world, and Akihara Kagura must do everything possible to enhance his combat power, with physical training being of utmost importance.

To be honest,

The physical techniques of Konoha's Jonin were generally good.

Especially a Jonin renowned for his physical techniques, not only was his strength formidable, but his combat experience in physical techniques was also abundant, surely he could teach Akihara Kagura a lot.

However...

Now was not the time for them to meet.

Inside a training ground in the Village of Konoha.

Two figures were fighting fiercely in this training ground, using only physical techniques to duel until Akihara Kagura ended the battle by sending his opponent flying with a punch.

"Your physical techniques are improving faster and faster."

Shisui's body slowly floated and stopped beside Akihara Kagura.

As a genius of the Uchiha clan, Shisui had almost polished his physical techniques, swordsmanship, genjutsu, and shuriken throwing to a considerable excellence, making him the perfect sparring partner for Akihara Kagura.

"How long has Danzo been gone?"

Akihara Kagura ignored Shisui's praise and asked casually.

"Almost two months now."

Shisui immediately gave the answer.

"Two months, time really flies."

Akihara Kagura wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered, "Forget it, the person I'm concerned about has already returned to Konoha. Let him discover the secrets in Danzo's house. If he discovers Danzo's secrets, he probably won't delve into more details..."

"Right."

After saying this, Akihara Kagura added another instruction: "Be careful, send at least a squad of people, one person is not an opponent for that person."

"Just right."

"I will be busy with something tomorrow."

"The Ninja Academy has submitted Karin’s application for early graduation."

Akihara Kagura gave his own reason in a soft voice, "Tomorrow morning, I will review Karin’s graduation application with the Third Hokage. In the evening, Kakashi, Naruto, and I, along with Anko, have planned to celebrate Karin’s passing the graduation exam by going to a barbecue restaurant."

"Then just set the action to start when I go to the barbecue, it won't raise any suspicions.”