"Heh, little brat, you want to play with me? You're 20,000 years too early," Tian Qi said, and walked away without looking back.
After resting for another day in Tianqi and spending the day with Tsunade, they finally arrived at Root's monthly brainwashing conference.
Tianqi got up early and headed towards the other side of Konoha. Soon he arrived at the place Danzo had arranged to meet him, where he found a small, dilapidated house.
Two people with cat faces blocked his way and said coldly, "This is a military area; unauthorized personnel are not permitted to enter."
Seeing that the two were blocking him, Tianqi took out the token given to him by Danzo.
"Come in, Lord Danzo is waiting for you inside." They glanced at him and let Tianqi through directly. Why didn't they check carefully? Who the hell would want to enter the Root for no reason, especially with a top-level token? They must have nothing better to do than go to a tourist attraction.
Entering the small, dilapidated house, there was a staircase leading underground. Tian Qi walked along, curiously looking around. "Although it's underground, the airflow and lighting are almost the same as outside. It seems Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Danzo a lot of support."
At the end of the road, two more people wearing cat-face masks appeared and took Tianqi directly to Danzo's office.
As they approached the door, a ninja knocked loudly. Bang! Bang! Bang! "Come in!" Danzo's voice came from inside.
"Lord Danzo, the person has arrived," a ninja wearing a cat-face mask said respectfully to Danzo.
"Alright, I understand. You may leave now," Danzo waved his hand, dismissing his men.
"Danzo, this is incredible! The buildings and the quality of the ninjas here are quite remarkable. You could be considered the underground Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi must have supported you a lot, right?" After his subordinates left, Tianqi walked directly up to Danzo and said with a curious expression.
"There are some things he can't do, so I have to do them. He has no choice but to support me." Danzo refused to answer questions about being an underground Hokage.
"To put it bluntly, he's hypocritical and two-faced. Humph, all the Hokage are the same," he said, getting a little angry.
"Heh, so what? As the Hokage, he's the face of the village, and there are some things he has to do." He was happy to see Tianqi so annoyed with Sarutobi; the more annoyed Tianqi was with Sarutobi, the stronger the bond between them would become.
"Alright, stop with the nonsense. When's the meeting? After the meeting, go do what you were supposed to do." He didn't want to continue the topic of Sarutobi, after all, he was the former captain, so that was enough.
"Here, these are your clothes and mask. You'll need them whether you're leaving or entering the village. You should also wear them at the Root to prevent anyone from leaking your information. From now on, you'll be called Sani." Danzo took out a set of clothes directly from the drawer.
"The clothes are nice and fit well, but the name is a bit strange, Sani Sani. I feel like I've heard this name somewhere before." Tianqi took the clothes and put them on immediately.
"That room next door is yours. You can put your things there or rest. Put your clothes and belongings in there, and then we'll go to the meeting," Danzo said, pointing to a small room next door.
"Oh," Tianqi put his clothes away, and the two of them went to the meeting place, where more than two hundred people were lined up neatly below, waiting to be brainwashed.
"Two hundred or so ninjas, not bad. Where did you find them?" Tianqi asked, following Danzo.
"These ninjas were drawn from various clans and selected from ordinary ninjas; they are all elites." Danzo was quite satisfied with his subordinates.
"They were transferred from various families? Will they listen to you after they arrive?" Tianqi asked, voicing his doubts.
“Every day, professionals will explain the knowledge to them, and I have placed ninjutsu inside everyone who enters Root. If they dare to betray me or disobey me, the ninjutsu inside them will kill them. Now, even if I ask them to commit suicide, they will not hesitate,” Danzo said with a sinister smile.
"I see. That's really your style. No wonder they're so obedient." Tianqi finally understood why the Root ninjas listened to Danzo so much. They were brainwashed and had their lives controlled by others, so it was impossible for them to betray him.
Danzo then began his speech, saying that the ninjas basking in the sunlight are like leaves, while we ninjas in the darkness are like the roots. Without our roots, the leaves cannot survive, so we… (omitting ten thousand words).
While Danzo was brainwashing his subordinates, Tianqi stood beside him, completely lost in thought. He selectively forgot Danzo's brainwashing words; whoever wanted to drink that toxic chicken soup could drink it, but he certainly wouldn't.
"Let us fight hard for Konoha!" Danzo shouted.
"For Konoha"
More than two hundred people shouted "For Konoha!" along with Danzo.
After an hour of brainwashing, the brainwashing session finally ended, and Danzo took Tianqi directly to his office.
"I'm saying, Danzo, your Root organization shouldn't only have this many people," he said with a puzzled look. With so few people, it's unlikely that Danzo could expand and become powerful.
Danzo explained to Tianqi's doubts, "I've sent many people out to gather intelligence. Intelligence is very important for surviving in the dark."
"I see. That explains why there are so few people. They've all been sent out. Danzo, you didn't betray the village's information, did you?" Tianqi squinted at Danzo, trying to read whether Danzo was lying.
"Hmph, you're overthinking it. No matter what, I would never betray the village. We can handle our own affairs privately; there's no need to involve outsiders," Danzo said with a serious expression.
"Well, that's good. If you betray the village, I will never cooperate with you." Tianqi stared at Danzo's face and couldn't tell that he was lying.
It must be said that although Danzo had many bad habits and his strength was not great, he was extremely loyal to Konoha. Such a person still had a bottom line, which was much better than some fools who were fooled by Black Zetsu.
"You should pack your things today. I happen to have a mission for you. Go out of the village and take care of it. This is the target's information." Danzo took out a file folder from the drawer and handed it to Tianqi.
"Oh, I already have a mission on my first day at the headquarters," Tianqi said, taking the file bag.
Tianqi slowly opened the bag and began to examine it. "Kato Tsuru, a Cloud Ninja, an elite Jonin?"
"Well, recently this Cloud Ninja named Kato Tsuru has been collecting various secret techniques in the Land of Fire, hoping to bring them back to the Land of Lightning. We can't let him succeed, but he's an elite Jonin with formidable strength. Only you can reliably defeat someone like him, so I'm sending you this time."
"Whether he lives or dies, he must be kept here. As for those secret techniques, bring them back if you can, otherwise forget about them. They're just insignificant techniques anyway. Do you understand?" Danzo said to Tianqi with a serious expression.
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