Danzo wasn't ignorant of Menma's performance in the Chunin Exams.
But in his eyes, he thought that was Menma's ceiling. Killing Genma Shiranui really didn't amount to much—he was just a run-of-the-mill Special Jonin. Surely he couldn't be compared to the elite unit Danzo had dispatched!?
There was no way in hell Danzo could accept such a result.
For someone like Danzo, who practically viewed himself as above all others, the only logical outcome was for his subordinates to successfully capture Menma, Sasuke, and the others and bring them back.
"The intelligence is basically accurate, Danzo-sama."
The Root member's reply was as placid as ever, without a single wasted word.
This reconfirmation caused the expression of the "Darkness of the Shinobi" to turn truly terrifying. One of the things Danzo hated most in his life was when events spiraled beyond his control.
Because that was a challenge to his ability to dominate.
The only person he ever allowed to suppress him was Hiruzen Sarutobi.
And even then, Danzo had frequently felt dissatisfied and angry. In his view, it was purely due to his teacher Tobirama's favoritism. Otherwise, Hiruzen never would have sat in the Hokage's seat. All his efforts over these years were to prove that his teacher's choice back then was a mistake.
And precisely because of this, he could not tolerate his own failure.
"Very good. Very good. Menma Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha... pass down my order. Focus all of Root's strength on searching for their locations. Also, send someone to contact Orochimaru. Tell him my patience is limited, and advise him not to make a mistake he'll regret."
Danzo looked at the Root member below with a grim expression, his words filled with unprecedented, chilling killing intent.
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
The members of Root would not question, nor would they resist Danzo's orders.
No matter how unreasonable the command, they would execute it.
The fact that they would have unhesitatingly executed an order to assassinate Hiruzen Sarutobi—the Hokage who held power in Konoha for thirty or forty years—was proof enough of how strong Danzo's control over Root truly was.
Just as the Root member was about to leave to distribute the orders...
Whoosh.
Another pitch-black figure appeared in the dim secret room.
"Danzo-sama, this is an order sent by the Hokage. Additionally, four squads of Anbu have already appeared outside the Root base."
Arriving at Danzo's side, the figure knelt on one knee. While handing over the scroll, he reported in the steadiest of voices.
"Hm!?"
Danzo's expression changed the moment he heard those words.
He unrolled the scroll directly. The moment he saw the information deliberately highlighted inside, the atmosphere instantly turned frigid.
"You bastard!"
Danzo slammed his hand furiously onto the stone table in front of him. Under the force of his grip, the scroll in his palm was crushed and torn apart directly.
Tsunade's order.
And the Anbu she had dispatched.
Both made it clear that Tsunade was warning him.
Warning him, a veteran who had given his blood, sweat, and tears for the Leaf.
How could this not make Danzo feel furious and unwilling?
But under the current system, the Kage was the absolute existence of a ninja village. Even if the two advisors and Danzo could restrict Tsunade to a certain extent, the Hokage was still the Hokage—she had the ability to flip the table.
Tsunade had just returned to the village to succeed as Hokage. Having not been in contact with her for over a decade, and not truly knowing her current temperament...
Danzo really didn't dare to act too recklessly.
Heaven only knew if Tsunade would just go berserk. If she forcibly stripped him of his command over Root, Danzo would have nowhere to cry about it.
"Huu... Sss..."
After taking a deep breath and forcibly calming his inner emotions...
"Abandon all missions for now."
Danzo ultimately had no choice but to obey Tsunade's order.
"Yes!"
The two Root members bowed their heads in response.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
They leaped away, leaving immediately.
'Tsunade, just you wait. Don't you dare give me an opening, or else!!'
Danzo stood up slowly, his single exposed left eye revealing an ultimate, piercing killing intent.
The hostility, and eventually the collision, between the higher-ups was inevitable.
This was something that could be foreseen from the start.
Just like the differing attitudes between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura back in the day.
But Hiruzen could essentially suppress Danzo and hold onto the power in the village. Tsunade, however—who Danzo viewed purely as a junior—could never make Danzo submit. The clash between the two...
This was only the beginning.
As events developed, it would inevitably intensify.
And this was obviously the situation other ninja villages—and especially Menma—wanted to see the most.
A Leaf Village that needed to struggle internally and fight against itself was the Leaf Village that best fit everyone's interests.
This way, the pressure Menma had to bear would be much lighter.
Even if Danzo's Root wasn't exceptionally strong, it was still a group of hundreds of elite ninja, with Jonin numbering in the double digits. They would still affect Menma within a certain range.
With this portion of the enemy pinned down, Menma's subsequent actions would undoubtedly go much more smoothly.
Of course, at this moment, Menma wasn't aware of these events within the Hidden Leaf.
After returning from the Valley of the End, Menma went back straight into his experiments.
His previous research on the physical body had achieved a breakthrough. This time, Menma intended to extract his own cells and fuse them into a normal person's body to observe the changes, using this to set his next goals.
However, this experiment encountered a "tiny" bit of an accident.
Bang!
Just as the First Hokage's cells weren't something ordinary people could withstand and would easily swallow the host...
The Uzumaki bloodline in Menma's body, while certainly inferior to Hashirama Senju's, was still not something an average person could fuse with.
Plus, Menma hadn't paid enough attention to controlling the injection and fusion of the cells.
In this first experiment, he watched his cells completely devour and assimilate the ordinary person's cells, seeing absolutely no neutralization reaction.
Then came the exploding organs.
The foul-smelling blood plasma splattered onto his face and body.
Menma hurriedly grabbed a towel from the side and wiped himself clean.
"Is the reaction really that intense?"
He looked at the experimental subject in front of him with a helpless expression and shook his head.