"Who's flattering you? Since no one in the village believes me after I returned this time, I had no choice but to come to you. You know my child has been born, and I don't want to leave Konoha, so I'd like to stay here for a few years. You can arrange a proper identity for me. That shouldn't be a problem, right?" Isamu said calmly.
Danzo's mouth twitched slightly. Stay for a few years? He made it sound as if Root were his own house. Being this shameless… this guy really was Isamu.
"Hmph! You make it sound easy. What benefit do I get from helping you?" Danzo asked coldly.
"What benefit? Haven't we always been working together?" Isamu replied casually.
Seeing Danzo's increasingly speechless expression, Isamu rubbed his nose awkwardly before adding, "Ahem… fine. I won't freeload. Any troublesome missions you can't handle, leave them to me. Consider it payment for staying here."
Danzo narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "With your current strength? Can you even handle them?"
If this had been the original Isamu, Danzo would have believed him without question. But the person standing before him now was only occupying another body. Danzo naturally doubted how much strength he still retained.
"Drop the 'can you.' I can handle it," Isamu replied unhappily. "Don't think I'm weak just because I changed bodies. Even now, if we fought seriously, you still might not beat me."
As he spoke, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun to life in his eyes.
Danzo nodded slightly in satisfaction. With a Three-Tomoe Sharingan alone, Isamu was already at least Jonin-level. Having another Jonin working for Root certainly wasn't a bad deal.
"Very well. You can stay at Root," Danzo finally said. "Since your strength hasn't fully recovered yet, do you want me to arrange a few teammates for you?"
"Who are you calling weak?" Isamu rolled his eyes. "Keep your useless subordinates for yourself. Even now, I'm stronger than most of them. Besides, I didn't come back alone."
"Oh?" Danzo became interested immediately. "You mean those white creatures came too? Bring them out. Let me see them."
"Right here. White Zetsu, come out."
At Isamu's command, eight White Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground.
"These are your white subordinates?" Danzo circled around them with a disappointed expression. "They don't look like much, and their strength levels are inconsistent."
"Heh. Don't look like much? Danzo, your eyesight really is terrible," Isamu mocked. "They've been hiding beside you this entire time, and you didn't notice a thing. How do you still have the confidence to say that?"
Danzo's expression shifted slightly. "You're saying they've been here the whole time?"
He had assumed these creatures were hiding outside and only used Earth Release to enter. He never expected them to have been beside him all along without him sensing anything.
"Tch, what else did you think?" Isamu crossed his arms. "And concealment isn't even their greatest ability. Zetsu, transform into him and open your eyes."
The White Zetsu immediately transformed into Danzo's exact appearance.
In an instant, eight identical Danzo Shimuras stood inside the office.
Danzo frowned in disdain. "It's only a Transformation Jutsu. Even Academy students can do that."
"Is that so? Then look carefully."
At Isamu's signal, one of the White Zetsu quickly formed hand seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
A compressed sphere of wind blasted forward and shattered a nearby chair instantly.
Danzo's eyes widened.
It wasn't the technique's power that shocked him, but the fact that this White Zetsu had perfectly used his own ninjutsu. Even more terrifying, the Chakra signature was identical to his own.
If Danzo hadn't known he was the real one, he might have suspected he himself was the fake.
"Th-this…!"
"Heh, no need to be so shocked," Isamu said with amusement. "Zetsu, transform into Hiruzen Sarutobi this time."
Without hesitation, the White Zetsu transformed again.
The eight Danzo Shimuras instantly became eight Hiruzen Sarutobis.
"Hi— Hiruzen?!" Danzo nearly jumped from his seat. "How is this possible?!"
Looking at the eight flawless copies before him, even Danzo was shaken to the core. Appearance, Chakra, even subtle details—they were indistinguishable from the real Hiruzen.
For the first time in a long while, Danzo genuinely felt stunned.
He slowly turned his gaze back toward Isamu, suspicion rising again. If these White Zetsu could imitate people this perfectly… then was the Isamu before him fake as well?
But after observing him carefully, Danzo dismissed the thought. Those eyes, that expression, that annoying attitude—there was no mistaking it. This was definitely Isamu.
"Stop overthinking it," Isamu said lazily. "I'm Isamu. No need to keep doubting me. Now hurry up and arrange somewhere for me to stay."
After a long silence, Danzo finally decided to trust his instincts.
This person was Isamu.
Without question.
Danzo immediately lowered his attitude slightly and sat closer to him.
"Isamu… why didn't you tell me earlier you had subordinates like these?" Danzo asked eagerly. "Where did you find such creatures? Can you make more of them?"
"You want some too?" Isamu laughed. "Keep dreaming. These White Zetsu were personally created by me, and the materials needed to create them no longer exist anywhere in the Ninja World. So stop thinking about it."
Danzo's excitement instantly cooled.
If these creatures could be mass-produced, conquering the Ninja World wouldn't have been impossible. But hearing that the materials were gone completely shattered his hopes.
Still unwilling to give up, Danzo narrowed his eyes again. "You're not just saying that because you don't want to tell me the truth, are you?"
"Lie to you?" Isamu snorted. "If I could still mass-produce these things, I would've gone off somewhere and built my own kingdom already. Why would I bother hiding here with you?"
Danzo stared at him silently for a long moment before finally accepting the explanation. Even if he still had doubts, he couldn't deny one thing:
These White Zetsu were terrifyingly valuable.
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