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Mastermind of the Akatsuki 383
🕑 Added 2025-05-03 14:23:55 +0000 UTCChapter 383: Danzo and Madara Uchiha
While the Third Hokage was lost in his chaotic thoughts, Danzo’s gaze swept over him. With a playful look, Danzo’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“Hiruzen, it seems this time, I’ve won. You, who have already fallen among the dead, can no longer stop me from becoming the Hokage of the village and leading Konoha to even greater heights.”
That familiar tone confirmed Danzo’s identity in the Third Hokage’s mind. He frowned deeply and questioned, “Danzo, just to become Hokage, are you really willing to go this far? You even colluded with outside enemies to attack the village.”
Danzo’s gaze grew colder as he fixed it on the Third Hokage.
“Orochimaru was someone you personally let escape. Rasa, too, is the result of you nurturing a tiger that would turn on you. Do you remember when I proposed to completely control Sunagakure? You rejected my suggestion. You stopped Orochimaru’s human experimentation, yet you openly enjoyed the results of those experiments by bringing Yamato into the ANBU, making him part of your personal forces.”
Staring at Danzo, the Third Hokage frowned tightly and said, “So it was you meddling in the Wood Style project after all. Do you realize your actions go against the Will of Fire? Do you think I didn’t know the Wood Style experiments could increase the village’s strength? If you all hadn’t laid hands on the nearby citizens of the Land of Fire, would I have intervened?”
Third snorted, “If I had turned a blind eye to your actions, what would the outside world think of Konohagakure once they found out? What would the Daimyo think of Konoha? If the ninjas within the village began to doubt the Will of Fire, do you know what kind of consequences that would bring?
You’ve never considered this problem. That’s exactly why, back then, Tobirama-sensei chose me and not you. Your vision is always so narrow, never considering the consequences.”
Perhaps because he had attended his own funeral, the Third Hokage was in a terrible mood. He directly argued with Danzo, letting out all the resentment that had built up in his heart over the years.
Danzo fell silent for a few seconds. He knew the Third Hokage’s words were facts, but that didn’t mean he agreed.
After taking a deep breath, Danzo spoke, “Hiruzen Sarutobi, you’re just being foolishly soft-hearted. For the future development of the village, we have to sacrifice the interests of a small portion of people. Besides, you haven’t fully upheld the Will of Fire either. You’ve done many things that betray your own conscience.
Back then, why didn’t you send reinforcements to Uzushiogakure? When Sakumo Hatake failed his mission, why didn’t you offer him protection? Wasn’t he always practicing the Will of Fire?”
Facing Danzo’s retort, the Third Hokage found himself at a loss.
He had indeed failed to send forces to support Uzushiogakure and failed to shield Hatake Sakumo from the rumors. These were major regrets of his time as Hokage.
But Uzushiogakure was far from Konoha, and they simply hadn’t had the time to send aid.
As for what happened to the White Fang of Konoha, that had been a complete accident. Who would have thought that someone like Hatake Sakumo, an elite Jōnin of Konoha, would choose to end his own life over such a trivial matter?
After arguing for a while, Sarutobi Hiruzen was just about to use his authority as Hokage to suppress Danzo, when it suddenly hit him that he was no longer the Hokage of Konoha but a prisoner inside Root’s base.
Danzo noticed this too, and with a playful tone, he said, “Hiruzen, soon I’ll be the Hokage. This time, you won’t be able to make me regret anything. I’ll defeat Jiraiya and Tsunade and become the Fifth Hokage.”
With that, Danzo ordered Shisui to lock Hiruzen in the secret chamber, then turned and left Root.
After Danzo left, Hiruzen glanced at Shisui and sighed softly, not bothering to criticize Danzo’s actions too much.
As a seasoned ninja, he was highly sensitive to chakra, especially when prepared.
He could feel another type of chakra on Danzo, traces of genjutsu. If nothing unexpected had happened, it should be Shisui, the wielder of Kotoamatsukami, who had cast genjutsu on Danzo.
And it seemed that this old friend of his hadn’t even realized that he had become a puppet.
That was exactly the terror of Kotoamatsukami. Even though it could be broken by a skilled genjutsu user, before it was dispelled, it could silently rewrite a person’s will.
Now, the one with the altered will was Danzo. In the future, it could very well be himself.
---
After leaving the Root base, Danzo instinctively stuck to the shadows as he made his way toward the Hokage building.
Soon, Danzo noticed his habit of traveling through the shadows and forcibly corrected himself to walk in the middle of the road, the most conspicuous place.
He was, after all, about to become the Hokage. He couldn’t continue acting like he used to.
As he moved forward, memories of the years spent lying in wait surfaced in Danzo’s mind.
A few years ago, when he tried to seize Kotoamatsukami from Shisui, it seemed that Shisui had anticipated this and used Kotoamatsukami on him instead.
Unfortunately for Shisui, Danzo had long since mastered a Uchiha secret technique to rebound genjutsu.
The Kotoamatsukami, originally intended to alter his own will, ended up backfiring on Shisui, turning him into Danzo’s most capable subordinate.
In the time that followed, he manipulated Itachi Uchiha into moving against the Uchiha clan.
The many Sharingan eyes he had collected from the Uchiha clan were used in experiments, propelling the progress of the Wood Style experiments to new heights and allowing Root to surpass ANBU for the first time in strength.
Now, by borrowing Orochimaru’s hand to “eliminate” Sarutobi Hiruzen, he had removed his greatest obstacle.
With the old fox Hiruzen gone, Jiraiya and Tsunade would never be able to stop him. It was only a matter of time before he took the seat of Hokage.
The reason he didn’t kill Sarutobi Hiruzen but instead let him live was actually very simple. The two had been old friends for decades. Danzō didn’t want the Third Hokage to die; he wanted him to personally witness his leadership, to realize his own mistakes.
Pulling his thoughts back from wandering, Danzō began to seriously consider his path to becoming Hokage.
Although he looked down on Jiraiya and Tsunade strategically, Danzō never underestimated them tactically. There was no need to say much about Jiraiya — if he had been willing to become Hokage, he would have taken the position long ago. Tsunade was much the same. As long as she was willing, she could become Hokage at any time.
Danzō had to stop Tsunade from returning to the village. At the very least, before she returned, he needed to secure the nomination for Hokage and seize the position first.
To ensure nothing went wrong, he had to take control of the Fire Daimyō as well.
Although the Daimyō was protected by the Twelve Guardian Ninja, with Shisui's abilities, it wasn't impossible to control the Daimyō of the Land of Fire. Everything was within his grasp.
With these thoughts in mind, Danzō slowly walked into the Hokage building and began his performance.
---
After the Chūnin Exams ended, Byakuya didn’t immediately leave Konohagakure.
Although the Konoha Crush plan targeting the Third Hokage had come to an end, the plan against the entire Konoha had just begun. Danzō was the ultimate weapon against Konoha.
Konoha was different from Sunagakure or Kirigakure. It was very difficult to bring it under Akatsuki’s control through conventional means.
The reason was simple. In Sunagakure, only Rasa had the qualifications to become Kazekage, so after defeating Rasa and Shukaku, Sasori naturally became Kazekage.
As for Kirigakure, the highest leader was Genji, and it was even easier to reach an agreement with him.
But the situation in Konoha was different. There were too many ninja qualified to become Hokage: Jiraiya, Tsunade, Danzō, and even Orochimaru all had the qualifications.
Among them, Orochimaru and Kushina had clearly refused the position of Hokage — their hearts were no longer with Konoha.
That fool Jiraiya had close ties with Mount Myōboku. For now, it was best not to involve the people of the Three Great Sage Regions, to avoid raising suspicions with Gamamaru.
On the other hand, both Haku and Kimimaro, who had been watching from the sidelines and hadn't even made it in time for the finals, also stayed behind for the time being.
When they observed Naruto and Gaara, thoughts of fighting sparked in their hearts as they wondered who among them was the strongest in the Chūnin Exams.
Unfortunately, before the finals could begin, Byakuya-sama’s plan had already started in haste.
The chaos of the battlefield left them at a loss, not knowing whether to help Orochimaru or the Konoha ninja. Only after it all ended did they realize that Byakuya-sama hadn’t even participated personally.
Byakuya occasionally glanced in the direction of the Hokage building, with a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.
---
On the border of the Land of Fire, after spending several days, Obito successfully mastered Edo Tensi technique.
Using the information and tissues from the deceased, Obito successfully performed Edo Tensi, this time reviving a jōnin from Konoha.
After completing the summoning, Obito personally tested the strength of the reanimated jōnin.
Compared to when he was alive, the reanimated body’s explosive power had significantly decreased. However, Edo Tensi had also covered many of the jōnin’s weaknesses, making the reanimated body extremely difficult to defeat completely.
Soon, Obito found the jōnin’s weaknesses and managed to defeat him.
After the test, Obito planned to cultivate more White Zetsu clones and reanimated bodies. As long as he had enough White Zetsu and ninja under his control, he could openly challenge the five great shinobi villages. However, the success of Edo Tensi also made Obito a bit hesitant.
He wasn’t sure when he would be able to defeat Byakuya, nor was he certain whether he should resurrect Rin and Madara.
As for Madara, there was no question — he had already prepared everything before his death.
But would Rin really want to be brought back to life through Edo Tensi? Should he really let Rin experience the hell that was the shinobi world all over again? It would be too cruel for her.
After pondering for a long time, Obito ultimately gave up on reincarnating Rin. He didn’t want her to suffer, nor did he want to shake his belief in the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.
Using the Body Flicker Technique, Obito headed toward the Land of Grass.
Within the Land of Grass, there was a base that Madara Uchiha had left behind, containing many Uchiha treasures, as well as the body Madara had prepared for his own resurrection.
Passing through the walls using Kamui, Obito found Madara’s corpse underground.
Unlike the old Madara who had taught him over a decade ago, this body was in its prime, with little difference from an ordinary living body.
Once he used the Rinne Rebirth Technique, the difference between old Madara and prime Madara would be like night and day.
The elderly Madara Uchiha could only use less than half of his original strength and wasn’t enough to deal with Byakuya, but prime Madara Uchiha could easily crush him.
At that moment, Black Zetsu also arrived at the secret chamber. Seeing that Obito was about to perform Edo Tensi, he said to him:
“Obito, you’ve forgotten your agreement with Madara-sama. To resurrect Madara Uchiha-sama, you must use the Rinne Rebirth Technique.”
As the embodiment of Madara Uchiha's will, Black Zetsu naturally appeared to be loyal to Madara Uchiha on the surface, earnestly hoping for Madara's complete return to the shinobi world.
But in truth, Black Zetsu had absolutely no intention of allowing Madara's resurrection.
Madara was indeed the previous incarnation of Indra, there was no mistake about that. Black Zetsu had always been cooperating with Indra’s reincarnations.
However, unlike other incarnations of Indra, Madara Uchiha was an Uchiha who was deeply cunning and scheming, having successfully escaped death at the hands of Ashura.
And that wasn’t all — despite possessing power strong enough to crush half the shinobi world, Madara still chose to lie low in Konohagakure, not acting recklessly.
This made Black Zetsu start to doubt, to wonder if Madara had already begun to suspect something.
Obito glanced at Black Zetsu, secretly thinking to himself, ‘If it weren’t for you recruiting Byakuya, would I have ended up in such a miserable state? If I don’t find Madara Uchiha as an ally soon, the next unlucky shinobi will be me. I’m no match for Byakuya.’
Taking a deep breath, Obito said to Black Zetsu, “I also want to use the Rinne Rebirth Technique, but I haven’t had a chance to strike at Nagato and take our Rinnegan. Right now, Byakuya's power has completely slipped from our control. We must find a powerful counterbalance, and that person can only be Madara Uchiha.”
Black Zetsu glanced at Obito. He had a secret contact with Byakuya, so he didn’t care about the conflict between Obito and Byakuya.
No matter who won between Byakuya and Obito, in the end, they would both become his pawns.
However, to keep Obito deceived, Black Zetsu still nodded and said, “Of course, we can resurrect Madara Uchiha, but we need to prepare a special vessel for him. I happen to have a few White Zetsu that can serve as sacrifices.”
As he spoke, Black Zetsu clapped his hands, summoning his subordinates to bring over suitable vessels.
The vessel Black Zetsu found was indeed one of the White Zetsu, and not just any one, but one of the stronger ones. If Madara Uchiha could be revived using this vessel, he would be able to unleash at least eighty percent of his original power.
As a cloud of blue smoke dissipated, the White Zetsu on the ground transformed into sheets of paper, which quickly gathered and finally formed the shape of Madara Uchiha.
Madara Uchiha slowly opened his eyes, looked around, and then looked at himself.
When he saw that his body was only that of an Edo Tensei, Madara showed a displeased expression. He turned to Black Zetsu and Obito, and spoke with clear dissatisfaction, “I remember telling you that I didn’t want to be revived this way. What I desire is a complete resurrection, one with a living body of flesh and blood.”
Hearing this, both Black Zetsu and Obito remained silent.
Seeing their silence, Madara let out a cold snort and then asked about the other parts of the plan, “What about Nagato? And the Tailed Beasts you’ve been collecting? So many years have passed, surely you haven’t made no progress at all, have you?”
This time, Black Zetsu and Obito exchanged a glance, then replied, “Madara-sama, we’ve been following your plan all along, but many unforeseen complications have arisen along the way... You still remember Byakuya from Akatsuki, don’t you?”
