Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 118 Hiruzen Sarutobi's Scheme

The news of Sakumo Hatake's suicide spread throughout the entire ninja world in a very short time, like a whirlwind.

Several ninja villages that had been eyeing Konoha were eager to make their move, but none of them intended to strike first, as none of them wanted to let other ninja villages reap the benefits.

However, border clashes have become more frequent and larger in scale. The atmosphere of a major war has intensified, and a full-scale war could break out at any moment.

Inside the Konoha Village's conference room, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the main seat, the room bustling with people. There were at least 100 people in the room, all Konoha's elite. Even the weakest were Jonin-level ninjas, and Kage-level powerhouses like Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were also present.

This is Konoha's highest-level meeting, and the topic is the current border friction between the ninja worlds. Most people present are well aware that war is probably inevitable. Although the war has not yet fully broken out, any experienced ninja knows that it is only a matter of time. Konoha must quickly formulate a response strategy now, rather than waiting until the war actually breaks out before making a panicked response. Therefore, the meeting room is bustling with noise.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, looking at the noisy crowd below, felt a growing irritation. Konoha was in a state of utter chaos. Sakumo Hatake's suicide had left many Konoha ninja distracted. Hiruzen knew his reputation was in grave danger. Konoha's true elite ninja remained silent; they now had a new understanding of the Hokage's ruthlessness. To force Konoha's strongest warrior to his death amidst the turmoil of the ninja world was something they had never imagined.

When Tsunade saw this situation, she knew she had to say something. Konoha was founded by her grandfather, Hashirama Senju, who led the Senju and Uchiha clans. No matter how dissatisfied she was with Hiruzen Sarutobi, she couldn't truly ignore the survival of Konoha.

After thinking for a moment, Tsunade waved her hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

After seeing Tsunade's actions, everyone fell silent and waited for her to speak.

Seeing the meeting room gradually quiet down, Tsunade spoke:

"Let me say a few words first!" After seeing that the meeting room had become completely quiet, he continued, "The war has not yet begun. I believe that Konoha must increase its investment in medical ninjas and try to ensure that each team has a medical ninja. This will greatly improve the survivability of Konoha's ninja teams and at the same time ensure that Konoha's combat power can last longer and be safer."

Upon hearing Tsunade's suggestion, Hiruzen Sarutobi's first reaction was that Tsunade wanted to expand her influence and control more ninja teams to qualify him for the Hokage position. Seeing many ninjas nod in agreement, he became even more determined not to let Tsunade have her way.

So without thinking twice, they directly refused. The reason was very simple: training medical ninjas consumes too many resources and takes too long; Konoha doesn't have that many resources and time to train them.

When Tsunade heard Hiruzen Sarutobi refuse, she didn't argue. She had a general idea of ​​what was going on, but for the sake of Konoha's unity and stability, she didn't object. Everything she was doing now was to help Konoha better prepare for the war to come.

Konoha has never lacked resources. Even if it lacks funds, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire would not hesitate to support Konoha because of Tsunade's name. The Daimyo was actually very angry about Sakumo Hatake's suicide, but he would not be stingy with funds if it was to support Tsunade.

As for the issue of excessively long training times, that's even more unreasonable. Many ninjas aren't lacking in talent, but rather in the availability of good learning materials and environments. Expanding the training of medical ninjas would lead to many going to the medical department due to a lack of training resources and lineage. Furthermore, the goal isn't to train all ninjas into high-level medical ninjas, but rather to teach them some basic medical ninjutsu, enabling them to provide simple treatments at any time. Only truly talented individuals will require extensive time and resources for gradual training.

However, if the Hokage disagrees, then there's basically no chance of it happening. But a handsome young man with light blue hair directly expressed his support for Tsunade, believing her suggestion was excellent and could preserve and enhance Konoha's fighting strength. Moreover, he was an admirer of Tsunade and also an elite Jonin of Konoha. Using his secret technique, Spirit Transformation, he could threaten even a Kage-level ninja.

That's right, this elite Jonin is Kato Dan, one of Tsunade's admirers.

Tsunade smiled and nodded at Kato Dan, thanking him for his support.

Orochimaru, however, paid no attention to the situation in the conference room. His thoughts were still in his laboratory. During this period of study and mastery, Orochimaru's strength had increased tremendously. He had now completed the analysis of earth element ninjutsu and was learning to analyze wind element ninjutsu.

Moreover, Konoha has not officially joined the battle yet; it is still in the friction and probing phase. Konoha still has time to slowly cultivate more medical ninjas.

As the discussion in the conference room concluded, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Tsunade and Dan Kato leave. His anger could no longer be contained. An elite Jonin had dared to support Tsunade, and now they were leaving together—this instantly fueled his murderous intent towards Dan Kato.

"There will be plenty of opportunities to kill them later, but Tsunade is very difficult to deal with."

Hiruzen Sarutobi kept thinking about opportunities to kill his opponent. The border skirmishes would provide many chances to eliminate Dan Kato. He also needed to find a way to force Tsunade out of Konoha, so that no one in Konoha would be able to threaten his position as Hokage.

In the following period, the atmosphere of war intensified, and Tsunade and Kato Dan seemed to be getting closer and closer. Hiruzen Sarutobi also knew that his opportunity had come.

Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's arrangement, Danzo once again dispatched Root ninjas. In another border skirmish, Kato Dan died, and even Tsunade, who was nearby, could not be saved. This instantly shattered Tsunade's spirits.

Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that this matter was not enough to truly damage Tsunade, and he and Danzo were plotting a more important mission. They both believed that if they could eliminate this person, Tsunade might truly break down and lose all interest in becoming Hokage. That person was Tsunade's younger brother, the last member of the Senju clan to inherit the Senju surname, Senju Nawaki.

However, this person is not so easily dealt with, not because of their immense strength, but because of their extremely special status. Neither the vanished Senju clan nor Tsunade would allow them to leave Konoha Village so easily. Most importantly, they are Orochimaru's disciple.

Orochimaru is not someone who can be easily fooled. His cunning, strength, and mentality make him a near-perfect ninja. And if Orochimaru were to discover this, Konoha might truly descend into chaos.

Moreover, Orochimaru is becoming increasingly mysterious. He is rarely seen in the village, but every time you see him, you can sense that his aura has become stronger. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi can no longer see through his exceptionally talented disciple.

No one knows exactly how strong the opponent is, but Hiruzen Sarutobi has a preliminary assessment that the opponent is at least on par with him, but his strength is probably far greater than that.

The aura emanating from Orochimaru was increasingly resembling that of someone Hiruzen Sarutobi was unwilling to mention: Hyuga Kanan. Both were equally mysterious and equally powerful.

Ultimately, Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't entirely sure if Orochimaru was the biggest threat to his Hokage position. However, Orochimaru seemed to be losing interest in the village, and hadn't even appeared in Konoha recently. Even at the recent Jonin meeting, he only reluctantly attended after Hiruzen sent an ANBU messenger, and didn't utter a single word or express any opinion at the meeting.

Now there's no record of him accepting any missions, and it seems that only Senju Nawaki regularly meets with him.

Anyone plotting to eliminate Senju Nawaki had to avoid Orochimaru while simultaneously preventing him from discovering any trace of their scheme. Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura were constantly devising their plans.

At the time, Senju Nawaki was just a 12 or 3-year-old child. Sarutobi Hiruzen deliberately appeared around Senju Nawaki many times, and kept mentioning that the village was facing a shortage of manpower. He also kept instilling in him that he had to make meritorious contributions in order to have a chance to become Hokage.

A young man in the prime of his life, upon hearing that he needed to constantly complete missions and accumulate merits in order to have a chance to become Hokage, and that Konoha was currently short-handed, and that he was already a formal Genin who had never left the village to carry out any combat missions, how could he possibly continue to stay in Konoha with peace of mind?

Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's constant temptations, Nawaki Senju began to pester his sister Tsunade and his teacher Orochimaru, hoping they would arrange for him to leave the village to carry out a mission, which would allow him to increase his ninja experience.

Tsunade, of course, couldn't agree and refused outright. No matter how much Senju Nawaki tried to hold her back, she wouldn't let go. Tsunade had already vaguely sensed something was amiss. Kato Dan's death last time had seemed very abnormal, and how could she possibly let her only younger brother go out on another adventure now?

Tsunade had a hunch that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura might have been behind Dan's death last time, and she couldn't let her younger brother test their limits again. Furthermore, she needed to have a proper conversation with Orochimaru to make him aware of this very strange phenomenon in Konoha.