The Shimura Actually Has Ice Release

"It hurts, it hurts, take it easy, Takeshi!" Obito sat on the ground, baring his teeth as he winced from Takeshi's small hands fumbling all over his face.

"Tch, stop whining. You're the one shouting about wanting to be Hokage, and you can't even take this little bit of pain?" Takeshi gave him a look of contempt and pressed even harder with his hands.

Hmm, that should be good enough.

Seeing that the ointment had been properly applied to all the wounds on Obito's face, Takeshi finally stepped aside and went to the nearby river, washing his hands in the cool water.

Gotta admit, Kakashi's really a considerate guy, carrying around ointment for external injuries like that.

"A Hokage needs someone else to apply ointment for him? A medical ninja would've already come over and used that green-hand-thingy jutsu and healed it up in no time," Obito muttered with a pout, fiddling with his now crooked goggles.

"Yes, yes, future Hokage-sama. And where exactly is your medical ninja right now?" Takeshi walked over and rubbed his wet hands all over Obito's clothes, making sure to dry them thoroughly.

"Hehe, medical ninja… uh… well, y'know~" Whatever Obito had thought of, it made his cheeks flush pink. He didn't even realize Takeshi was using him like a towel.

So he's already seen Rin, huh?

"If you two are done, I'm going back to training." Not wanting to witness any more of this nonsense, Kakashi folded his arms behind his head and spoke lazily.

"That's not fair, Kakashi! You're just gonna leave me to take care of this brainless idiot by myself? He's both of our responsibility!" Seeing Kakashi trying to slip away, Takeshi lunged forward and grabbed his arm, refusing to let him go.

"Oi, what the hell are you talking about—'our responsibility'?!" Kakashi widened his dull, dead-fish eyes, trying hard to shake off Takeshi's grip.

Obito, who had been momentarily stunned, caught on quickly.

"Dammit, Takeshi! Who are you calling brainless?! I'll fight you for that!"

With that, Obito lunged like a rabid dog, diving straight into the fray.

The three of them ended up tangled together, rolling around in a chaotic mess. It's unclear whose footing slipped first, but the next thing they knew, all three had tumbled into a nearby patch of grass, rolling further and further away.

...

"So you're saying, Fugaku didn't take any action at all? Not even calling a clan meeting?" Hiruzen Sarutobi finally managed to get hold of his pipe. He quickly lit it, stuffed it in his mouth, and didn't show a trace of satisfaction until he'd taken a deep inhale and blown out a thick cloud of smoke.

Talking to women and smoking—these were Sarutobi Hiruzen's two great joys in life.

Which was also why he showed up on the streets of Konoha nearly every day.

After all, most paperwork was handled by the advisory council. Military strength and intelligence? That was Danzō's problem. As Hokage, Hiruzen only needed to manage the village's overall direction to keep Konoha sailing smoothly through the stormy seas of the shinobi world.

"Yes, Third-sama."

"In that case, we adults should stay out of the kids' squabbles. Konoha is a big village. These little skirmishes between kids happen all the time. If the police force had to step in every time there was a fight, the Uchiha clan would be overwhelmed." Hiruzen smiled as he exhaled his final puff of smoke and patted the ANBU in front of him on the shoulder, making his stance clear.

Anyone with half a brain could see the issue with the Uchiha clan, but Hiruzen had no good solution for it.

All he could do was delay this explosive lightning strike that could destroy Konoha. Buy time until the next generation—or even the one after that—produced a Will of Fire successor capable of resolving the Uchiha threat without force.

"Let the Uchiha suffer, and let Danzō take the blame."

That was Hiruzen Sarutobi's all-purpose solution for the Uchiha.

Confident that the Uchiha wouldn't act rashly anytime soon, Hiruzen smiled once more and strolled back onto Konoha's streets, off to chat up more young and pretty girls.

Meanwhile, Danzō had returned to his Root base with his subordinates—where he was met by Orochimaru.

"Danzō-sama." Orochimaru greeted him in his usual eerie, serpentine tone.

Danzō, unsurprised by Orochimaru's arrival, waved off the men behind him.

"You're dismissed."

"Orochimaru… what brings you here at this hour?" Once they were alone, Danzō feigned ignorance and questioned Orochimaru calmly.

"Hehe, I just came to inform Danzō-sama that there's been… some progress on the Hashirama cell experiments..." Orochimaru extended his tongue and licked his lips.

This dark, slithering white snake...

Danzō raised an eyebrow subtly.

So Orochimaru's trying to use the Wood Release as bait again, to grab my attention and take control of the situation.

Too bad for him... if this were the old me, I might have already agreed by now.

But...

"Is that so, Orochimaru? If I recall correctly, your teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen, has already issued a strict ban on all Wood Release experiments. What you're doing now shows a complete disregard for the Hokage's authority." Danzō's tone was cold.

This old bastard!

Orochimaru's expression darkened immediately.

If it hadn't been for this geezer coming to him in the first place offering cooperation, Orochimaru would've already been off chasing immortality. Why waste all this time on the Hashirama cells?

And now? Not only had his research funds been cut without warning, but Danzō was also looking to cut ties and pretend like nothing ever happened.

Stunned by Danzō's shamelessness, Orochimaru was momentarily speechless. The two simply stood there in awkward silence.

"I'll pretend today never happened. Leave." Danzō had already made up his mind to sever ties completely. Without waiting for a response, he turned and began walking deeper into the Root base.

"Danzō-sama..." Still unwilling to give up the funding, Orochimaru couldn't help but call out.

"Oh, right. I'll inform Hiruzen that someone with your talents is wasted here in Root. You should return to his service." Without even looking back, Danzō's parting words officially banished Orochimaru from Root.

"Is that so? Understood." Orochimaru wasn't someone to beg. If Danzō was dead set on cutting ties, then Orochimaru wasn't going to stick around.

Seeing how firm Danzō's stance was, Orochimaru stopped pretending.

The look he gave Danzō's back was like that of a venomous serpent.

"I hope you won't regret today's decision, Danzō-sama."

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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