Chapter 99: Harbouring Evil Intentions (Part 1)

Danzo calmly said this small request, which shocked everyone present.

As we all know, the guardian ninja of the Land of Fire is the private armed force of the daimyo.

This organization emerged after the First Ninja World War, because some unethical ninja villages had their eyes on the enemy daimyo during the war, forcing the daimyo of each major country to start paying attention to their own security issues.

The First Ninja World War also allowed the entire ninja world to see what the war between the ninja villages of major countries was like.

The Ninja Era was officially established in this war.

As the ruling class of the daimyo who supported the ninja village with the economy, from then on, all the guards around him were replaced by elite ninjas.

In the earliest period, the number of daimyo guards was only a few.

With the development of the times, this very elite small ninja organization finally became a structure and transformed into a private armed force directly under the daimyo called the guardian ninja.

The reason why everyone at the conference table was surprised was that before this, the number of Guardian Ninjas around the Daimyo of the Land of Fire would not exceed six or seven at most. After all, the guard force is more valuable than quantity.

But now it is going to be expanded to twelve people, and Konoha is also required to provide people...

This is not a trivial matter.

"Is this the Daimyo's exchange condition?"

Mitomon En frowned, and then seemed to understand something, and suddenly objected: "This matter cannot be agreed to easily. I think it is necessary to negotiate again."

"Yes, the sudden increase to twelve warriors, the guard force around the Daimyo seems to be a bit too much, right?"

Utatane Koharu also disagreed.

But she obviously had other concerns, and then she complained softly with a dissatisfied tone: "After the elites of Konoha joined the Guardian Ninjas, isn't it equivalent to losing talents in vain..."

After all, it is a private armed force directly under the Daimyo.

Of course, the ninjas who are qualified to join the Guardian Ninja must be the elite among the elites, and under normal conditions, they must be ninjas of the level of elite Chunin or above, so the daimyo's move is undoubtedly to poach talents from Konoha...

In a corner of the conference table, Nara Shikaku, who seemed to be invisible throughout the whole process, flickered his eyes and expressed his opinion at this time: "What the two consultants said is right."

"According to the practice of the past few decades, the Guardian Ninja should not need so many people."

"After all... under the daimyo's mansion, in addition to the elite organization Guardian Ninja, there is also a direct armed force such as the Fire Temple. If it continues to expand, it may affect Konoha's status in the Land of Fire..."

As we all know, the ninja village is a gathering place for military forces in a big country.

The daimyo provides economic support for the ninja village and therefore relies on this military force. The two sides are mutually dependent and have a special cooperative employment relationship. Once the number of elite ninjas under his command is too large, it is possible that many commissioned tasks can be solved by their own subordinates without the help of the ninja village as a power organization.

Therefore, the influence of the expansion of the Guardian Ninja on Konoha is not small...

Seeing that everyone was opposed, Shimura Danzo's face suddenly looked a little ugly. This was the exchange condition he had negotiated after going to the daimyo's mansion. How could he let this effort go to waste? As for the influence of the expansion, of course he also thought about it, but as a hawk, this influence was not within his consideration.

"Ahem..."

After Danzo glanced at everyone, he suddenly cleared his throat, and then threw down a word that shocked everyone again: "It seems that I need to add that I have already agreed to the expansion, and there is no room for slowing down..."

"This is all to deal with the difficulties at this time, and to allow Konoha to defeat the Rock Ninja, and it is a compromise that has to be made."

"As long as the war can be won, the compensation obtained at that time will be nothing compared to this."

Wow.

At the conference table, Danzo's words caused an uproar as soon as he finished speaking.

"Danzo..., such an important matter, you actually decided it privately?" Mitomon Yan couldn't help but slam the table and ask loudly, and his eyes looking at the former were full of dissatisfaction.

"You are short-sighted!

The expansion of the Guardian Ninja will have a long-term impact on Konoha, which cannot be offset by the compensation obtained after winning the war. Such a rash decision is really unworthy of your position as the assistant of the Hokage!!"

Unexpectedly, Utatane Koharu's words were even more intense.

He actually directly accused Danzo of dereliction of duty...

On the other side, Nara Shikaku saw that the advisory group and Danzo were about to quarrel, but he smiled bitterly in his heart and chose to return to silence. Even if he was a staff officer, this matter was basically a done deal, so in his opinion, there was no point in arguing and accusing.

In his peripheral vision, he couldn't help but glance at Namikaze Minato, who had not spoken from beginning to end on the main seat, and seemed to be thinking about something at this time, and he was immediately very strange.

Since the Nine-Tails incident, he felt that Minato Namikaze had become very different from before.

The former Fourth Hokage was diligent in governing after taking office, and almost did everything himself. He looked like he wanted to be a diligent and competent Hokage, and he didn't even practice much.

But now it's completely the opposite. Not only does he focus on practicing, but he also almost leaves the usual affairs to others, and even uses shadow clones to work...

Even so, strangely, every decision made is convincing.

So the silence of the Fourth Hokage, who is hard for him to see through, must have a reason. He might come up with a solution to properly resolve the expansion of the Guardian Ninja soon...

But what is the reality?

Although there was a debate at the conference table, Minato Namikaze's mind was not here. He was actually trying his best to recall the memory of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas...

He really couldn't remember this plot. He could only remember that the Twelve Guardian Ninjas existed in the original work, but ended up with internal division.

In theory, seeing Danzo being unanimously resisted and questioned should be something worth watching.

But after experiencing many high-level meetings, Minato Namikaze was no longer tired of the scene. Danzo's methods were tough and his decisions were radical, while the two consultants were conservative and even a little pedantic. It was really meaningless for these old people to quarrel.

Minato Namikaze had no memory of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas, so he had to give up.

After coming to his senses, he found that the meeting table had already been in a commotion.

"All this is for the village, this is a necessary sacrifice!!"

As if he had lost his patience, Shimura Danzo suddenly skipped the topic and said coldly: "I have already decided on the ninjas selected from Konoha to be guardian ninjas."

"For the newly formed Twelve Warriors, Konoha only needs one elite."

"In addition, the five new candidates after the expansion are said to have been decided by themselves..."

Unexpectedly, Danzo had already decided on the candidates, which made the two advisors dissatisfied again. You have already decided on everything, and you still asked us to discuss what?

For Danzo's arbitrary behavior, the two advisors and Nara Shikaku finally had to look at Minato Namikaze.

As the fourth Hokage, he was the one who could make the final decision on this matter.

"I agree to expand the number of Guardian Ninjas."

After noticing everyone's gazes on him, Namikaze Minato thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his lips slightly, expressing his approval.

Without waiting for everyone to be surprised, he quickly added: "But the selection of the Guardian Ninjas, don't worry about it, Master Danzo, let me decide."