It turned out that after the Third Hokage returned from the Land of Fire, an unwilling Danzo used all his means and resources to launch another political attack against the Third Hokage.
No one knew what method he used to change the stance of the other two Advisors, Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, eventually forcing the Third Hokage to step down from the position of Hokage and reconsider the election of a new Hokage.
However, since the selection of a new Hokage is generally appointed by the former Hokage.
Therefore, although the Third Hokage was forced to abdicate, he still had the right to decide who the next Hokage would be.
Walking into the Hokage Office, besides the Third Hokage, Li Chuan also saw Danzo, Homura Mitokado, Utatane Koharu, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma.
"Master."
Li Chuan greeted the Third Hokage and then nodded to the others.
His status was quite special; besides being the fourth disciple of the Third Hokage, he was also a prince of the Land of Fire. Therefore, apart from the Third Hokage, no one else had a higher status than him, and a nod was sufficient for etiquette.
"It's good that you're alright. Tell us about the situation afterwards."
The Third Hokage smiled kindly and then spoke.
Everyone instantly focused their gazes on Li Chuan.
Li Chuan nodded and recounted the general situation of his battle after tracking Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki, though he concealed his subsequent transaction and cooperation with Uchiha Itachi.
He changed the story to say that he and Uchiha Itachi were evenly matched, and later, because Uchiha Itachi's Susanoo placed too much burden on his body, he took the heavily injured Kisame Hoshigaki and fled.
And because his Chakra consumption was too great, he was unable to continue the pursuit.
"Kisame Hoshigaki is an S-Rank rogue Ninja from the Hidden Mist Village. In the last Ninja World War, he escaped multiple times from a large number of elites led by Ibiki, and his strength is extremely formidable.
Furthermore, there was Uchiha Itachi. With your strength, could you really achieve that?"
As soon as Li Chuan finished speaking, Danzo raised a voice of doubt.
As the head of Konoha's Root, he actually possessed a lot of unknown intelligence, which he had not yet contributed to the Third Hokage. Naturally, he had some understanding of the strength of Kisame Hoshigaki and Uchiha Itachi.
These two people definitely had Kage-level strength, and in his eyes, Li Chuan was at most an Elite Jonin, and his greatest specialty was Medical Ninjutsu.
"My Lord Danzo, I have recently grasped a method to improve my strength, so my strength can be considered to have made a small improvement."
Facing Danzo's questioning, Li Chuan directly fused his True Essence with Chakra, his eyes turned into Yin and Yang, and he activated the Dao Sage Mode. His body suddenly erupted with an extremely powerful Chakra fluctuation.
"Why does this look somewhat like... Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage's Sage Mode!"
Sensing the Chakra that had undergone special changes in Li Chuan, as well as the suddenly surging Chakra fluctuations, the eyes of the Third Hokage and the three Advisors all changed instantly.
The younger generation might not be clear about it, but how could they, the older generation, not understand a thing or two?
Although Li Chuan's Sage Mode was clearly different from that of Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage, it could be seen that they belonged to the same type, both mixing some kind of natural energy on the basis of Chakra.
As expected, he was worthy of being a super genius who could go from an ordinary person to an Elite Jonin in just a year or two.
In this way, it made sense that he could heavily injure Kisame Hoshigaki and repel Uchiha Itachi.
"Geniuses are like this, always surprising people. I think Shimura might not have experienced that kind of thing, which is why he doesn't understand."
The Third Hokage smiled and teased Danzo, easing the atmosphere, and then asked Li Chuan:
"In the battle, did you hear them say anything about the Akatsuki Organization?"
The high-level officials of Konoha were all gathered here this time because they learned through the reports of Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi that the Akatsuki Organization, which Jiraiya had been tracking, was actually plotting against the Nine-Tailed.
Tailed Beasts are the strongest war weapons of a Village and are existences that absolutely cannot be lost.
Li Chuan rolled his eyes, pretended to think for a moment, and slowly said:
"Regarding the intelligence on the Akatsuki Organization, I do have a little. When I was fighting Kisame Hoshigaki, I heard him mention something about Amegakure. I think it might be related to the rain Ninjas."
In fact, regarding the true identity of Deva Path Pain, within the Akatsuki Organization, only Konan, Zetsu, and Obito knew.
The other members had only ever seen the Pain Six Paths controlled by Nagato, and they actually did not know about the connection between the Nagato behind the scenes and the Land of Rain.
Even Kisame Hoshigaki and Uchiha Itachi only knew of the existence of Uchiha Madara, who was disguised by Obito.
At least for now, that was the case. Uchiha Itachi probably only learned of Nagato's identity in the later years, because if he had known before the Third Hokage died, he would not have failed to tell the Third Hokage.
Moreover, Nagato had not previously said he wanted to capture the nine Tailed Beasts; he was just circling among the major Ninja Villages as a mercenary to earn large amounts of funds.
It was only recently that they officially confirmed the plan to capture the Tailed Beasts.
Therefore, through the intelligence previously transmitted by Uchiha Itachi, the Third Hokage could not determine which Village the true leader of the Akatsuki Organization belonged to, nor who that guy who called himself Uchiha Madara and caused the Nine-Tailed disaster was.
"Amegakure?"
The Third Hokage turned his head to look at Danzo.
He knew that during the Third Ninja World War, Danzo had secretly colluded with Hanzou of Amegakure.
Danzo saw this and said with an expressionless face:
"Ten years ago, a civil war broke out in Amegakure, and even now, Hanzou has not completely resolved it. Moreover, except for sending people to participate in the Chunin Exams, Amegakure has always been implementing a closed-door policy and does not communicate with the outside world.
At present, our Root also has no relevant intelligence regarding the inside of Amegakure."
How could he not know the intelligence on the Akatsuki Organization? Back then, it was precisely because he took a fancy to that pair of strange eyes of Nagato that he incited Hanzou, that guy who had already lost his brain, to deal with the Akatsuki Organization together.
However, what benefit would it be for him to reveal the intelligence on the Akatsuki Organization?
If he wanted to topple the Third Hokage and sit in the position of Hokage, then he could not tell the Third Hokage a lot of intelligence. Even if this would cause some harm to Konoha, as long as he could sit in the position of Hokage, it would be worth it.
It was a pity that the fool Orochimaru failed to kill the Third Hokage during the Konoha Crush Plan.
"It is indeed somewhat suspicious. Could Hanzou be behind the Akatsuki Organization?"
The Third Hokage's brows furrowed.
If it really was Hanzou, that would be quite troublesome.
"Now is a time of peace. Without definite intelligence, it is best not to have a conflict with Amegakure."
At this time, Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu spoke up.
As staunch doves, the two did not want Konoha to have conflicts with other Ninja Villages.
Especially since the Land of Rain is located at the junction of the Land of Earth, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Wind. If Konoha were to rashly attack the rain Ninjas during a time of peace, it would inevitably make other Villages think that Konoha was planning something.
If that triggered the Fourth Shinobi World War, that would be bad.
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