As time passed, ShihōinNaraku’s influence within the ANBU rapidly expanded.
After personally securing funding from the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Naraku improved the treatment of ANBU members and upgraded and maintained various facilities.
The ANBU had essentially been given a complete makeover.
As a result, ShihōinNaraku quickly established himself within the ANBU and developed a faction of his own.
As the ANBU Deputy Commander, Naraku did not need to go out on missions as frequently as the other members.
Unless a mission was particularly important or dangerous, he would only personally lead a team when necessary.
The reason he had been so busy when he first joined the ANBU was mainly because he needed to familiarize himself with the ANBU’s operating procedures and learn about his subordinates.
Once everything was running smoothly, he had much more free time.
With things in the ANBU temporarily settled, Naraku shifted his attention back to the Medical Department.
After all, he was still serving as the Medical Department’s Deputy Director.
…
“Lord Naraku, these are the latest intelligence reports regarding the Medical Emergency Unit.”
“Elders Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane have already begun arranging for their people to enter Konoha Hospital.
For now, they only occupy administrative positions, but the two elders have already shown signs of trying to recruit medical ninjas.”
“As for the Emergency Unit, Hachiya Ao initially attempted to get his hands on the medical funds, but he failed.
Your subordinate stopped him.”
“We thought Hachiya Ao would continue testing the waters, but unexpectedly, he shifted his attention to the medical laboratory instead.
I suspect he has an ally inside the laboratory, but we haven’t identified who it is yet.”
ShihōinNaraku finished reading the report in his hands.
He was very satisfied with his subordinate’s work, and a smile appeared on his face.
“You did well.
Keep it up.”
“Yes, Lord!”
“As for the laboratory…”
“Continue investigating in secret.
Don’t make a fuss about it for now.”
“Yes!”
After reporting his work, his trusted subordinate turned and left.
Immediately afterward, another person appeared before Naraku.
It was Inuzuka Tsume of the Inuzuka clan, the mother of one of the Konoha Twelve, Kiba Inuzuka.
Inuzuka Tsume was the head of the Medical Department’s Veterinary and Rehabilitation Unit.
As its name suggested, the unit specialized in treating and caring for ninja beasts, so its head had always been a member of the Inuzuka clan without exception.
After all, the clan specialized in dealing with ninja beasts.
This unit also had the lowest profile of all the institutions within the Medical Department, even more so than the Corpse Disposal Unit.
Thus, there wasn’t much for Inuzuka Tsume to report, and she soon left.
The third person to appear in Naraku’s office was—
Yakushi Kabuto!
Head of the Corpse Disposal Unit!
In the original storyline, Kabuto was currently following Orochimaru’s orders, secretly embedded within Konoha’s Medical Department.
While learning medical ninjutsu, he was also helping Orochimaru gather intelligence.
To avoid attracting attention, he had deliberately suppressed his strength and had failed the Chūnin Exams seven times in a row.
But Naraku didn’t care what plans Orochimaru had.
He had simply dragged Kabuto over to his side and begun cultivating him.
By now, Kabuto had already become a Konoha Jōnin and was in charge of the Corpse Disposal Unit.
Kabuto had also brought Naraku tremendous returns.
Not only did he work diligently under Naraku and make major contributions to the development of the Medical Emergency Unit, but more importantly, Naraku had obtained a great deal of intelligence regarding Shimura Danzō through him.
…
“Lord Naraku!”
Yakushi Kabuto stood respectfully before Naraku, handing over a stack of documents with both hands.
Naraku glanced through the information before asking directly:
“Hachiya Ao came looking for you?”
“Yes!”
Kabuto had no intention of trying to hide it and admitted it directly.
He was indeed the person Hachiya Ao had gone to see in the medical laboratory.
Naraku didn’t question him further.
It was perfectly normal for Hachiya Ao to seek out Kabuto.
After all, Kabuto was essentially a triple agent, with ShihōinNaraku, Shimura Danzō , and Orochimaru all standing behind him.
Naraku glanced at Kabuto and casually asked:
“Has Teacher Orochimaru contacted you recently?”
“He contacted me just yesterday.
We only exchanged some experimental data.”
Naraku knew that Orochimaru had already begun preparing his Konoha Crush Plan.
What he didn’t know was how much Kabuto currently knew.
“Starting today, cut off contact with Orochimaru.
Don’t send him any more data from the medical laboratory.”
“Yes!”
Naraku knew Kabuto would agree verbally, but would certainly continue exchanging information with Orochimaru in secret.
Still, he only said this as a precaution.
If their relationship were exposed in the future, it would be troublesome for Naraku himself as well.
The Konoha Medical Laboratory had been established personally by Naraku.
Its primary purpose was to develop various new medical ninjutsu, as well as provide a place for Konoha’s medical ninjas to conduct experiments.
Orochimaru had always thought highly of Naraku.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t taken Naraku with him when he defected.
So when Orochimaru learned that Naraku had established a medical laboratory, he immediately became interested.
Through Kabuto, he obtained information about most of the medical ninjutsu and other achievements being developed and improved within the laboratory.
Of course, if that were all there was to it, Naraku would have killed Kabuto long ago.
In exchange, Orochimaru’s knowledge and research findings were also passed back to Naraku through Kabuto.
This secret exchange could be considered a tacit understanding between them.
Both Naraku and Orochimaru benefited from it, but neither of them would ever admit that such an arrangement existed.
Now, however, Naraku had personally severed this connection.
One reason was that the Konoha Crush Plan was about to begin.
The other was that, with the level-up system, he no longer needed to worry about improving his strength.
There was no need for him to keep playing with fire alongside Orochimaru.
…
“You young people really have so many ideas.
An old man like me can barely keep up anymore.”
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, picked up the document ShihōinNaraku had handed him and began reading it with a cheerful smile.
“Splitting up the Medical Emergency Unit?”
As Hiruzen read through the document, his expression gradually became serious.
After roughly going through it, he closed his eyes and thought for a moment before hesitantly saying:
“This is rather sudden.
The Medical Emergency Unit is extremely important right now.
If we do this…”
“It isn’t really sudden.
The Medical Emergency Unit should have been divided up a long time ago.”
“Right now, the Emergency Unit is responsible not only for Konoha Hospital and the laboratory, but also for the medical affairs of every shinobi in Konoha.
The entire organization has become bloated.”
Naraku spread his hands and explained his reasoning.
In fact, the Medical Emergency Unit should have been divided up once it began expanding rapidly.
But Naraku had been its head at the time.
He certainly wasn’t going to weaken his own authority for no reason.
Things were different now.
Splitting up the Medical Emergency Unit was actually beneficial to him.
“First, we need to establish a new rehabilitation center to serve the daimyō, nobles, and wealthy merchants of various countries.
That way, we can avoid them constantly complaining about having to stay in the same place as commoners.
It will also eliminate certain security risks…”
“The medical laboratory also needs to be relocated.
The current location has too many people coming and going.
A more secluded and quiet location would be more suitable…”
“Many shinobi aren’t suitable for treatment in an open hospital because of their identities and other reasons.
Security and confidentiality are equally important…”
“The medical ninja training institution established by Teacher Tsunade also needs to be improved.
Konoha still has far too few medical ninjas…”
ShihōinNaraku went through his entire plan in detail.
By the time he finished, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s eyes were already wide open, and he didn’t know what kind of reaction he should have.
“You’ve made some very good points.
Let’s proceed according to your plan.”
Hiruzen finally came back to his senses.
Seeing that Naraku had finally finished, he immediately agreed.
He might not understand the technical aspects as well as Naraku, but after serving as Hokage for decades, he could certainly recognize how much benefit Naraku’s proposed reforms would bring to Konoha.
Of course, if the plan outlined in the document were actually completed, Naraku’s prestige within Konoha would undoubtedly rise to another level.
“Tsunade really did find herself a good student.”
Hiruzen was still somewhat proud.
After all, ShihōinNaraku was also a talented member of the Hokage faction.
“But this makes things troublesome.”
“Right now, Naraku already meets every requirement for becoming Hokage.”
Strength, seniority, prestige, and connections—
ShihōinNaraku lacked none of them.
Hiruzen himself didn’t think he had possessed conditions as favorable as Naraku’s when he first took office.
But because of this, a faint worry began to surface in Hiruzen’s heart.
If Naraku really became Hokage, would there be anyone capable of restraining him?
The emergence of this thought was also because Sarutobi Hiruzen had sensed a threat from ShihōinNaraku.
If Naraku hadn’t been Tsunade’s student and a junior of the Hokage faction, Hiruzen might already have begun suppressing him behind the scenes.
Back then, Sakumo Hatake’s rise had been extremely frightening.
Shimura Danzō had therefore acted to suppress and pressure him, ultimately driving him to suicide.
Did Sarutobi Hiruzen truly know nothing about it?
Perhaps it was entirely possible that, at the time, Sakumo Hatake had also posed a threat to the Third Hokage.
◇ THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE…
◇
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