"Oh?" Hiruzen raised his head.
Spar with him?
Between the two of them, ever since they became Hokage and Hokage Assistant, it had been a long time since they last exchanged blows.
Back in their youth and early adulthood, however, it had been quite frequent.
It could be said that it was three days for a small fight, five days for a big one—every day they were either nursing injuries or on their way to another bout…
The process had moments of danger as well as moments of smooth progress.
But all in all, he had never lost…
"Danzō, what do you think of Kusagakure?" Hiruzen abruptly changed the topic.
This was because he was thinking about how to arrange an identity once Senju Tobirama was revived…
If he were revived as an Uchiha, then his primary identity could not be that of a native Konoha shinobi.
Otherwise, he would definitely be exposed…
An Uchiha who looked exactly like Izuna suddenly appearing—there was no way to explain that.
Therefore, Tobirama could only be given an identity outside the village, such as an orphan who had gone missing during the Warring States period.
Perhaps he could even be assigned the identity of a descendant of Uchiha Izuna?
Whether this arrangement was appropriate, Hiruzen did not know much about Izuna himself, so it would have to be discussed together with Tobirama later.
And Kusagakure was the "birthplace of Uchiha Tobirama" that Hiruzen had currently selected.
"Two-faced, three-tongued, a fence-sitter that blows with the wind—its style matches the village's name. It survives by researching other nations' ninjutsu and constantly switching allegiances," Danzō replied professionally when it came to matters of work, even though he did not understand why the topic had suddenly changed. "This village poses a threat to Konoha."
"The part of the Land of Grass that borders the Land of Fire is a plain that is extremely easy to advance through, while the area bordering the Land of Earth is mostly mountainous terrain. As a result, they naturally tend to infiltrate the Land of Fire."
"And I suspect they have started acting as battlefield hyenas again…"
Hiruzen frowned, but inwardly he felt a flicker of joy. "Is there evidence?"
"Battlefield hyenas" referred to the act of capturing wounded shinobi during major Shinobi World Wars.
The average quality of shinobi from the great hidden villages was certainly far superior to that of small villages like Kusagakure.
However, in such circumstances, even a jōnin—once severely wounded and on the brink of death—could easily be killed by an ordinary chūnin.
The Land of Grass had once taken advantage of its nimble diplomatic maneuvering, using intelligence gained from repeatedly switching sides while the major hidden villages were locked in open conflict. Like hyenas, they would lurk in the shadows.
Once the front-line battles ended, they would emerge to clean up the battlefield, taking away heavily wounded, dying shinobi from the great villages.
Through this, they stole precious ninjutsu data—and even bloodlines.
During the First Shinobi World War, this behavior had already been discovered once, leading the Five Great Hidden Villages—tacitly coordinated even as they were fighting each other—to collectively deal Kusagakure a harsh lesson…
If Kusagakure had not knelt quickly enough, wailing and begging for mercy at the top of their lungs—
And if the Five Great Hidden Villages had not been fighting so fiercely at the time, with four "Kage" dead already…
Otherwise, that village would have been wiped out.
"There's no evidence, but I have this kind of premonition," Danzō said. "Before we deterred Kumogakure, Kusagakure's activity along the Land of Fire's border became increasingly intense. Root captured movements several times."
"I reported this to you, Hiruzen."
"But at the time, your thinking was that the Second Shinobi World War had ended not long ago, and we shouldn't provoke unnecessary conflict," Danzō said, with a trace of dissatisfaction in his tone.
Hiruzen's expression did not change. "That was my mistake."
"But fortunately, I have you as my assistant to correct me and keep watch for me!"
Hearing that, Danzō's lips unconsciously curled upward.
He knew it—whether it was Hiruzen or the village, without him it simply wouldn't work!
He was far too important!
"Forget it, Hiruzen. You have a lot to consider. If you occasionally make a misjudgment, don't blame yourself too much…" Danzō said.
After he finished speaking, a delayed shock hit him inside.
Since when did he have a habit of making excuses for the Hokage?
But thinking carefully, it seemed there really was no problem. After all, lately Hiruzen, as Hokage, was indeed worth learning from—both domestic affairs and diplomacy had been handled in perfect order.
He shouldn't be considerate of Hiruzen, but not being considerate of Hiruzen didn't seem quite appropriate either…
Danzō felt his head ache a little and decided to skip this question for now and think about it later…
"As for that Hōzuki-jō that Kusagakure built, I believe it's their hideout for concealing their hyena behavior," Danzō continued.
"A prison environment is the most suitable thing there is for serving as a closed-off compound."
Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully.
Hōzuki-jō had been built under the authorization of the major hidden villages, akin to an international prison.
The original intent was to serve as a third-party detention facility for joint trials in cases where certain missing-nin or wandering shinobi had committed crimes across multiple hidden villages.
The idea was good, but as Danzō had said—under the influence of Kusagakure's hyena tradition…
It could easily turn into a kidnapping compound hidden in plain sight.
"Hiruzen, should we take them out?"
Danzō thought for a moment. "But given the current situation in the shinobi world, if we make a move, it may trigger a chain reaction. It might not be worth it."
Hiruzen was rather surprised and teased, "You're not running a fever, are you?"
Could his old friend actually play it steady for once?
No wonder he wanted to spar—his thinking had improved, and his strength had likely made a breakthrough as well.
"Don't underestimate people, Hiruzen!" Danzō said, folding his arms.
"Let's obtain intelligence first…" Hiruzen said.
Danzō nodded. His old friend still favored caution.
"We can either let them in under false pretenses or hire them to probe things for us. In the end, they'll be sent to the Analysis Division anyway, and we can also take the opportunity to test the strength of our patrols and guard units."
"I want concrete intelligence."
Hiruzen said calmly, "Handle it as you see fit. This is your area of expertise."
Danzō was momentarily stunned. Wasn't that his own style?
Could it be that when two people worked together for a long time, they started to influence each other?
Hiruzen, you actually learned this from me!
"Then are we really going to move?" Danzō pondered. "Should we build momentum in advance?"
"If Kusagakure has resumed its hyena behavior, the harm won't be limited to Konoha. Not only the villages that participated in the Second Shinobi World War—under normal circumstances, they won't behave themselves either."
"Whenever there are border frictions between countries, they'll also go to clean up the battlefield."
Hiruzen said, "So the shinobi they detain come from many sides. There's no need to build momentum. We'll take Kusagakure with a forced march—at lightning speed."
"Afterward, notify all countries to come claim their data and shinobi."
"What could they possibly say? Would they dare claim it's wrong for Konoha to help rescue their companions who were ambushed?"
"But the benefits we gain won't be few. By clearing out the hyenas on our border, the first to arrive can also reap some extra gains."
"This is advancing by retreating."
Danzō could not help but praise Hiruzen's line of thinking inwardly, though he said aloud, "Hmph, that's exactly what I was thinking too! Then let's do it!"
"Hey, don't rush off just yet. What about that spar we mentioned earlier?" Hiruzen called out to stop Danzō, who had already turned to go carry things out, and he took off his Hokage robes.
...
Konoha.
Third Training Ground.
Hiruzen and Danzō stood facing each other.
The two looked at one another, adjusting their states, each feeling a trace of emotion.
Time had passed so swiftly. Brothers who had once advanced together had not tested themselves against each other in so many years.
"Hiruzen!" Danzō suddenly shouted his name.
"Danzō!" Hiruzen smiled.
The two accelerated at once and collided head-on!
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