CHAPTER 247: 247. SHARINGAN AND HASHIRAMA CELLS

"Lord Hanekawa!"

At the entrance of the Anbu base, the Anbu ninjas on both sides bowed respectfully.

Hanekawa glanced around and only recognized Haru, or more accurately, Haru’s mask.

Due to the special nature of the Anbu, its members always wore masks, never revealing their true faces.

"Lord Hanekawa."

Haru stepped forward and said, "I’ll take you to the office."

She felt a deep sense of Respect.

When she first met Hanekawa, he was just a somewhat famous genius. In the blink of an eye, he had become a high-ranking official in Konoha and the head of the Anbu.

The speed of his rise was dizzying.

"Thank you, Haru."

Hanekawa nodded slightly.

"No trouble at all, this way please."

Haru led the way and soon they arrived at an office.

"Is this new?"

Hanekawa looked around and noticed that both the furniture and decorations looked spotless, as if they had just been bought.

"Yes."

Haru explained, "Previous Anbu heads were all Hokages, so there was no dedicated office."

"I see."

Hanekawa sat down at the desk.

"Lord Hanekawa."

Haru handed him a file, saying, "This is the information on all the current Anbu ninjas."

Hanekawa casually opened the file.

The Anbu had a total of seventy ninjas, with a chief and a deputy chief.

Below them were four squads, each with seventeen ninjas, led by a squad captain who managed four teams.

A team, essentially a ninja squad, consisted of four members: a team leader and three members.

Hanekawa narrowed his eyes slightly.

Haru was not the chief but the deputy chief.

The chief was the eldest son of the Third Hokage, also known as Asuma Sarutobi’s older brother and Konohamaru’s father.

Aside from Haru, there were several Anbu ninjas who had appeared in the original story.

Such as Elephant, Vermilion, Sparrow, Lamp, and Antelope.

At this time, there should have been Shisui Uchiha as well, but due to Hanekawa’s butterfly effect, he had not joined.

"The chief is out on a mission, so he’s not in the village."

Haru suddenly remembered something and added.

"Hmm."

Hanekawa flipped to the end and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

He saw a very familiar name: Ibiki Morino.

Having just joined the Anbu, he was still an ordinary member.

Hanekawa thought of Hayate Gekko and Yugao Uzuki.

He wondered when they had joined the Anbu.

"Which members were transferred from the Root?"

Hanekawa put down the file and said, "Mark them for me."

"Yes."

Haru immediately picked up a pen and marked the file.

A minute later, Hanekawa looked through the file again.

There were seventeen former Root members, making up four teams.

Hanekawa’s mouth twitched.

He felt that these were only the surface-level Root members; there were likely many more in the shadows.

"These seventeen people assisted Danzo Shimura in his prison break and are no longer qualified to be Anbu members. Dismiss them immediately."

Hanekawa thought for a moment and said.

Haru was taken aback.

Last night, Tsunade had put Hanekawa in charge of investigating Danzo Shimura’s prison break, with the Anbu assisting.

But when had he conducted the investigation?

And as far as she knew, some of these seventeen people had been in the Anbu all night.

"Yes."

Haru didn’t dare to ask more and complied.

"For the vacancies, you handle the recruitment."

Hanekawa was pleased with her attitude and smiled.

"Yes."

Haru assured him, "I’ll take care of it right away."

"No rush."

Hanekawa stood up and said, "Take two teams and come with me to Danzo Shimura’s house."

Haru quickly gathered eight ninjas.

"Let’s go."

Hanekawa glanced at them and left the Root base.

Nine Anbu ninjas followed silently behind him.

"Where does Danzo Shimura usually live?"

Hanekawa asked casually.

"He spends half his time at the Shimura clan’s compound and the other half at the Root base."

Haru paused and added meticulously, "After the Root was disbanded, he mostly stayed at the Shimura clan’s compound."

Hanekawa pondered this.

The Shimura clan was rarely mentioned in the original story, but it was a fairly large clan, considered mid-to-upper tier.

Similar clans included the Sarutobi clan, known for their fire-style techniques.

Both clans had existed since the founding of Konoha and were quite powerful, though they lacked kekkei genkai.

"After Danzo Shimura’s death, his home was taken over by the Anbu, and no one has been allowed inside since."

Haru continued.

"You’ve done well."

Hanekawa couldn’t help but nod. This was professionalism.

"It’s my duty."

Haru replied respectfully.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the Shimura clan’s compound.

"I thought there would be Shimura clan ninjas stopping us."

Hanekawa touched his chin and said.

"They wouldn’t dare."

Haru glanced at him and said, "Danzo Shimura was convicted of treason, so they naturally want to distance themselves."

She didn’t add that if they tried to stop him, it would be suicidal.

They could easily be accused of treason, with no way to plead their case.

"Search the place."

Hanekawa reminded them, "Look for any important documents or hidden labs."

"Yes!"

The nine Anbu ninjas replied in unison.

They quickly entered Danzo Shimura’s home and began the search.

Soon, a number of documents were placed before Hanekawa.

He picked one up at random and found it was research on the Sharingan.

The research focused on how non-Uchiha ninjas could reduce the physical burden and increase the power of the Sharingan.

Hanekawa thought of the three-tomoe Sharingan Danzo had transplanted.

It made sense that he would research this.

Referring to Kakashi Hatake from the original story, it was clear how much of a burden the Sharingan was for non-Uchiha ninjas.

The only solution was Hashirama’s cells.

Following the original storyline, Danzo would receive an arm from Orochimaru.

This arm was transplanted with Hashirama’s cells and a Sharingan, achieving a balance between the two.

If Hanekawa remembered correctly, this arm came from Shin Uchiha.

Shin had a unique constitution that allowed him to transplant any organ without rejection.

"It seems I need to talk to Orochimaru sometime."

Hanekawa closed the document and thought to himself.

Danzo had put a lot of effort into researching the Sharingan and Hashirama’s cells, but with little success.

When it came to research, Orochimaru was the real expert.

Leaving him to reflect at home was too lenient.

Hanekawa continued to browse through the remaining documents.

It had to be said, the Root was truly inhumane; most of the research involved human experimentation.

Many of the subjects were Uchiha clan members.

But not just the Uchiha—there were also members of the Senju clan.

Danzo had captured several Senju ninjas, trying to make them recreate Wood Release, even having them transplant Hashirama’s cells.

Of course, the results were failures.

And these ninjas were all disguised as having died on missions.

"If the Hokage found out, she’d probably be furious enough to whip his corpse."

Hanekawa shook his head and said.

A few minutes later, he suddenly made a sound of surprise.

"The Gozu Tenno (Ox-headed Heavenly King) ?"

Hanekawa felt it was somewhat familiar.

He subconsciously opened the document and immediately remembered the original story’s plot.

This was also related to Hashirama’s cells.

Hashirama’s cells had a unique property: after absorbing a certain amount of chakra, they would explode.

So Danzo combined Hashirama’s cells with summoning animals to create a creature called Nue.

Its purpose was simple: to be a living super bomb.

Danzo’s plan was to send ninjas with Nue into enemy villages and have them self-destruct.

Hanekawa read through it and found that the Gozu Tenno had not succeeded.

Which made sense, as the storyline involving Nue came much later, even extending into "Boruto."

Hanekawa didn’t hesitate and decided to terminate the experiment.

Self-destruction was unnecessary.

"Lord Hanekawa, we found a hidden room underground."

Haru’s voice sounded.

Hearing this, Hanekawa put down the documents and walked over.

"We’ve checked; there’s no danger inside."

Haru stood before a stone staircase leading underground and said.

"Good work."

Hanekawa walked down the stairs.

The lights were already on, and as soon as he entered the hidden room, he saw Sharingan eyes floating in nutrient solution.

Hanekawa counted them: there were twenty-seven pairs of Sharingan, with only four and a half being three-tomoe.

It seemed Danzo had quite a harvest in the Land of Frost.

No, it might not have been the Land of Frost.

Over the years, Danzo must have done many underhanded things to the Uchiha clan.

Twenty-seven pairs were actually quite few.

Hanekawa thought of Orochimaru again.

He probably had some Sharingan as well.

"This must not be leaked."

Hanekawa thought for a moment and said.

Given the Uchiha clan’s temperament, if they found out, they might take extreme actions.

He didn’t want Tsunade to have to deal with this mess right after taking office.

"Yes."

Haru immediately replied.

Hanekawa looked at the Sharingan and fell into thought.

What should he do with so many Sharingan?

In the ninja world, eyes could be transplanted easily, but he didn’t want to change his own.

Returning them to the Uchiha clan felt like a waste.

After some thought, Hanekawa decided to store all the Sharingan in a storage scroll.

As the saying goes, what’s in your hand is yours to keep.

Hanekawa looked around and noticed something resembling a freezer in the corner.

He walked over and was startled.

These were Hashirama’s cells!

They were frozen, but he could still sense their vitality beneath the ice, as if they were alive.

Hanekawa’s expression turned strange, remembering a question from his past life.

With so many Hashirama cells being used, had Hashirama become a mummy?

In the original story, many people had used Hashirama’s cells.

Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, Danzo Shimura, Orochimaru, and the White Zetsu.

What should he do with these?

Returning them directly would be difficult.

Once separated from the body, Hashirama’s cells became living entities and couldn’t be reattached.

But Hashirama’s cells were like poison; they couldn’t be used directly.

To use them, White Zetsu was needed as a neutralizer.

Thinking this, Hanekawa stored the Hashirama cells.

He would deal with them after capturing a White Zetsu.

Hanekawa searched the hidden room and, after confirming nothing was missed, returned to the surface.

But Danzo surely had more than just this hidden room.

Like the secret base outside the village where Yamato had been hidden.

"Haru."

Hanekawa instructed, "Investigate all the Root bases and take people to search them."

With the Sharingan and Hashirama’s cells secured, he didn’t need to go personally.

But these secret bases held significant value and couldn’t be overlooked.

After all, he and Tsunade were now in charge of Konoha.

Only when you’re in charge do you realize how expensive things are.

"Yes."

Haru nodded.

This task should have been done when the Root was disbanded.

But with Danzo still around, the Anbu couldn’t search without the Third Hokage’s orders.

"Lord Hanekawa."

Haru suddenly remembered something and took out a scroll, saying, "This is the wealth we found."

"How much is there?"

Hanekawa’s eyes lit up, and he asked instinctively.

"There’s 47 million ryo in cash, and the rest are valuable gold and silver items."

Haru replied.

"That little?"

Hanekawa was speechless, "He was the Hokage’s advisor for so long."

Haru remained silent, unsure how to respond.

In fact, for a jonin, this was a considerable amount.

"How are Anbu salaries calculated?"

Hanekawa casually took the scroll and asked.

"Like regular ninjas, based on mission rewards."

Haru paused, then added, "But because the missions are more numerous and difficult, the salaries are higher."

"Impressive..."

Hanekawa couldn’t help but marvel.

The Anbu were truly born to be workhorses.

But he now knew how to make his mark as a new official: start with the salaries.

Money was always the most effective motivator.

"Handle the rest; I’ll come back tomorrow."

Hanekawa waved his hand and said.

"Yes."

Haru bowed slightly.

After leaving Danzo’s home, Hanekawa headed straight to the temporary residence of the Cloud ninjas in Konoha.

"Han... Hanekawa?!"

The Cloud ninjas were terrified at the sight of him.

This was the ninja who had defeated the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails, wearing a tailed beast’s skin!

His performance that day had left a deep impression, even haunting their nightmares.

"I’m here to see Mabui."

Hanekawa said calmly.

"P-please wait!"

The Cloud ninja hurried into the courtyard.

Mabui and Samui were discussing how the Cloud Village could retrieve Yugito Nii, Killer B, and the Fourth Raikage.

Though they were stuck in Konoha, the village hadn’t stopped them from contacting the Cloud Village.

The Cloud Village was now in chaos.

On Mabui’s suggestion, Darui had temporarily taken charge.

Darui was a half-student of the Third Raikage and a bodyguard of the Fourth Raikage.

Though young, he had mastered Lightning Release and Storm Release, and was skilled in swordsmanship.

Most importantly, the Cloud Village’s higher-ups had been wiped out, leaving no one more qualified than Darui.

"Lady Mabui, Lady Samui."

The Cloud ninja knocked and entered, trying to stay calm, "Han... Hanekawa is here, at the entrance!"

Mabui and Samui exchanged glances, both seeing the unease in each other’s eyes.

But given Hanekawa’s current strength and status, they had to meet him.

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