After leaving the meeting halfway, Shimura Danzo came to the deepest section of the Root Base. Entering inside the forbidden laboratory 5, he questioned the researchers who were busy carrying out the experiments, Any progress?

The head researcher replied while stuttering, W we are s still in the middle of ital although the the data we have is not enough b but

Bang

Danzo knocked his crutch hard on the floor and said coldly, There is no time if you fail to perfect the balance between Shodaime-samas cells and Sharingan in my body within a week well then I suppose I do not need to remind you of the result that would be awaiting all of you as well as your families be sure to keep this in mind while you continue your work here.

After saying so, Danzo left the laboratory while the researchers fell on the ground with a pale face. They understand full well what Danzo-sama meant but they also know that one week is too short to achieve any significant progress.

After he has left the laboratory, Danzo was walking towards the core area of the base as his lips arched in a cold sneer, Hiruzen you are getting old, arent you? You may try to not let it affect you as much as you can, but I see it full well your strength is nowhere near as it used to be Konoha needs a new Hokage, one who can lead the village to its most glorious days and then further and you are clearly not up to the task, never were and never will be

As a former comrade in arms, Danzo is much aware of the rising frailty of Sarutobi Hiruzen, and because of this Danzo is more and more confident of taking the position of Hokage from Hiruzen.

As for the disbandment of Root?

If Hiruzen believes that he can just dismiss me as the commander of Root subdivision and that will be the end of it all, then he is sorely mistaken. The root is not just a subdivision of Anbu Black Ops, Root is my personal force and no matter what happens, they will only follow my commands Besides, its not as if he is aware of how deeper Konohas foundation truly is thought Danzo with a cold smirk.

Danzo muttered, Its about time Uchiha Itachi stop playing those foolish Shinobi games too As he spoke, Danzos figure disappeared into Darkness.

On Kurotos side.

After two days of rest and recuperation, Kuroto summoned Gaara to have a talk with him regarding what happened to Yondaime Kazekage.

Kuruto-sama how is your injury? The kid asked Kuroto with a worried expression.

Kuroto replied, I am alright, there is no need to worry As you can see for yourself, I can move quite perfectly now

Gaara nodded, he was relieved, then asked, So um, you mentioned that you wanted to have a talk with me

Kuroto nodded and after a while of silence he decided to break the news bluntly, Your father the Yondaime Kazekage of Sunagakure is now dead

Gaaras eyes widened I see! he muttered ever so slowly, then he lowered his head in silence.

Externally he was silent, but internally his mood is in turmoil He did not know what to feel about the death of his father

The same father who has never cared about him, and viewed him as nothing more than a beast, and ordered Yashamaru to kill him, and also attempted to execute him

Then why why? What is this feeling? Am I feeling sad? thought Gaara, then suddenly remembered, What what about Temari and Kankuro? Are are they alright?

Kuroto nodded, They should be fine although I am not sure how they will take this news

Gaara was silent again, then asked, And and what will happen to the village?

Kuroto said, You dont need to worry about the village I have plans for that neither is there any need to worry about your siblings I have plans for them too what I want you to focus on is upon yourself

Gaara nodded silently as his thoughts wandered all over.

Kuroto thought a little and said with an expectant look, Gaara-Kun

Gaara lifted his head with a questioning look.

Kuroto said, Gaara-Kun, I have to go and take care of a few things can I entrust you to protect this place and Karin-chan in my absence?

Gaara was silent for a while, then nodded with a determined look.

Kuroto ruffled Gaaras hair with a gentle smile then left Sky fortress and quietly sneaked inside Konoha, specifically inside his secret laboratory.

Here he met up with the Kazekage puppet that has been covering him for the past few days.

First thing first, Kazekage puppet handed a scroll to Kuroto and said, As per your instructions, I sealed Samuis soul inside this scroll using Konshin Betsuri no Jutsu (Soul Body Separation Technique).

Kuroto nodded then took the scroll from Kazekage Puppet, and observed the state of the seal.

Well, thats right, the reason for Samuis Brain-dead state is indeed Kuruto. He had previously ordered the Kazekage Puppet to seal her soul.

The soul extracted using Konshin Betsuri no Jutsu will lose all their memories, and Kuroto has some plans of using Samuis soul.

After he has confirmed that everything will the soul was alright, he put the scroll inside his shinobi bag then looked at the Kazekage puppet and asked, What all things happened in my absence?

Kazekage puppet said, After the Konohas Hokage returned from the failed raid, he held an Elder Council meeting I am not sure how that proceeded, but there seems to be some tension between him and Shimura Danzo.

Kuroto frowned, And the reason?

Kazekage puppet shook his head and said, I am not sure, while the Elder Council meeting was being held, all the Anbu and other personnel who participated in the raid were summarizing intelligence then have gained about Akatsuki and Amatsukami

Kuroto nodded, while Kazekage Puppet continued, After the elder council meeting was completed, Hokage held a Jonin Council meeting and announced the news to all the Jonin, although some key points were not revealed like the exact death count, and the identity of Nagato and Konan being Jiraiyas disciple and so on but even then it did cause a panic among the villagers especially the missing status of Yondaime Kazekage.

Kuroto nodded, this was within his expectation. The combined force of the three villages not only was unable to subdue Akatsuki but in fact suffered great loss, it would be strange if it did not cause panic among the villagers.

Kazekage continued, After the Jonin Council Meeting was held, Hokage dispatched two different squads on two missions I was unable to find out what were the specific details of the mission but I did confirm that one squad went to the Land of Earth, while the other ventured to the Land of Water

Kuroto nodded and thought, While the mission to the Land of Earth might still be fine but it would be surprising if the squad that is going to the Land of water will be able to find anything useful the way it is currently, that country is not so easy to sneak it.

Kazekage Puppet said, Firstly there was intelligence summarization

Kuroto nodded. This part is obvious. Although the raid was a total failure, intelligence summarization is still very important. Corresponding countermeasure strategies will be formulated using all this intelligence.

Kazekage Puppet continued, There have also been several changes internally. The first order he issued is towards the Noble Shinobi Clans, all the retired shinobi who are in a position to continue active shinobi life will again start to work as well as, some of the other clan shinobi who are not registered in Konohas shinobi directory will also register themselves.

Kuroto was stunned, then nodded stiffly, This was unexpected but if I think about it, it doesnt seem so strange either

Kurotos own Ninja Registration Number is 010842 which means officially there have only been about 010841 academy graduates before him. It wouldnt even be wrong to assume that of these 10841, at least, fifty to sixty percent have died in active duty. They may have died in some sort of simple mission or maybe during a war or perhaps during the Kyuubis attack on Konoha These fifty to sixty percent also include disabled, traumatized, those who went rogue.. or those who retired, and so on

So, only about thirty to forty percent of shinobi are left, who are still on active duty.

In the canon, the ninja registration number of Uzumaki Naruto was 012607. And Sarutobi Konohamarus ninja registration number was 012707.

This means, there have only been about 12707 official academy graduates by the time, Sarutobi Konohamaru graduated from the ninja academy which also included the deceased.

The shinobi of Konohamarus generation did not participate in the fourth great shinobi war.

And yet, despite all this, the Coalition of five great shinobi villages was able to assemble a total force of 80,000 shinobi. If we assume that about 10,000 Samurai from the Land of Iron participated in the war, then the entire coalition consisted of 70,000 shinobi.

On average, each village dispatched about 14,000 shinobi although this estimate is obviously incorrect because the strength of each village was not the same. For example, the number of Sunagakure Shinobi and Kirigakure Shinobi was obviously less because of their weak strength. But even if we disregard this key point and use the ideal situation, there were about 14,000 shinobi from each village.

Where did so many shinobi come from?

The number of official graduates by the time of Konohamarus generation was only about 12707, which obviously included deceased and all.

Even if all the official academy graduates are counted, Konoha couldnt have dispatched 14,000 shinobi.

So where did so many shinobi come from?

The answer to this question is very simple. Those numbers reached such a digit by including the unofficial shinobi, the unregistered ones. These unregistered shinobi are Clan members that are not part of the official Shinobi system that a village follows.

Each clan has hundreds of unregistered shinobi and these unregistered shinobi are under the command of the Patriarch of the clan, they are not under Hokages command.

And the number of unregistered shinobi easily amounts to thousands, therefore, they are not to be underestimated as they are a very powerful force.

Take Hyuga Clan as an example, other than Hyuga Hiashi, the current Patriarch of the Hyuga Clan, almost none of the other members of the Main House are registered Shinobi, as a result, they rarely venture out of the village on official missions. Even many members of the branch house are also the same, they are unregistered shinobi, they carry out missions assigned to them by the Patriarch, not by the Hokage.

Of course, Kurotos fianc, Hyuga Yui is also an unregistered Kunoichi.

And this is also why the existence of Uchiha Tsukihi who sacrificed herself in an attempt to defeat Shinno is not so unbelievable.

This is also the reason why Uchiha Shinichi, Uchiha Obito, and Orochimaru were not so skeptical about her, there are hundreds of unregistered shinobi and Kunoichi, it wouldnt be strange if Uchiha Tsukihi was also one of those.

Ordering these unregistered Shinobi and Kunoichi to take on active duty is obviously touching the personal interest of noble shinobi clans but in the face of the great threat posed by Akatsuki, and Amatsukami he doesnt have much of a choice here.

Hokage-sama has issued such an order, I wonder what benefits he will be giving to all the clans thought Kuroto silently.

After getting some more information from the Kazekage puppet, especially about the status of Team-11, Kuroto released the Shoten no Jutsu (Shape-Shifting Technique) and sent Kazekage Puppet back to Ancor Vantian.

While he, himself went into his house.

.