Seeing Kuroto walk in, the Konoha Anbu who was guarding the door bowed respectfully and politely greeted him, “Kuroto-sama… please come in.”
Kuroto nodded in response and tacitly walked inside the archives.
As the principal of the Ninja Academy, Kuroto now holds a high political rank and authority in Konoha… Therefore, it is no surprise that he is allowed to freely visit the Konoha Archives whenever he wants, and except for the forbidden section, all the scrolls stored here are accessible to him.
Anyway, after entering the archives, Kuroto started to browse through various scrolls looking for something.
But the Konoha Anbu who was helping and guiding him through the archives only felt that Kuroto was browsing through the list of ninjutsu of other shinobi villages that Konoha obtained through various means.
Firstly, Kuroto went through the scrolls recording the Jutsus from Kirigakure, then from Kumogakure, after that from Sunagakure, and finally, the section from Iwagakure, where the scroll he was actually looking for was present from the start.
The reason Kuroto didn’t directly take the scroll he was here for and chose the roundabout way of ‘looking through a lot of things, and finally choosing something that seems interesting’ is because he didn’t want anyone to figure out just what exactly was he here for.
As for what scroll was Kuroto looking for?
Well, it’s from Iwagakure, and it contains all the information Konoha has about Explosion Release… along with all the information on various compositions of explosive clay that were and are still used by the Explosion Corp of Iwagakure.
According to the information written in the scroll, there are no less than ten compositions majorly used by the Explosion Corp, and among those ten, there are five that seemed to match the description of the Explosive Clay that is used by Deidara.
Looking through the five different compositions of the explosive clay, Kuroto felt troubled, ‘Which one will be the one that Deidara uses?’ but he had no answer, so after thinking a while, he did the most brilliant thing and decided to use’em all, “Let’s try all five… rather, all ten of them… which one is used by Deidara, I will figure it out after carrying out tests.”
Oh, and for those wondering why Konoha has such detailed information on the explosion release and explosive clays? Well, it’s because, over the years, Konoha has captured a lot of enemy shinobi from Iwagakure… Oftentimes, they turn out to be members of the Explosion Corp…
Being enemy shinobi, they are tortured, and their minds are read by the members of the Yamanaka Clan, and that’s how Konoha obtains a lot of secret information from those captured shinobi.
At the same time, spies hiding in the other shinobi villages also pass on important information, and sometimes, the spies stumble upon such type of critical information and manage to send it back to their home village.
All of these are means to acquire the enemy’s information, Konoha isn’t the only Shinobi village that carries out such practice… in fact, all the shinobi villages do this.
This is also why Shadow Clone Jutsu, a Jutsu of Konoha is in the hands of almost all the shinobi villages, and they are able to use it, and the same can be said for the Lightning Clone of Kumogakure… although it was created by Kumogakure in an attempt to replicate the Shadow Clone Jutsu, it is also used by Kakashi, who is a Konoha Shinobi.
So, it won’t be wrong to say that being able to access such important information related to the Explosion Corp of Iwagakure from Konoha isn’t much of a surprise.
While Kuroto was recording the chemical compositions of all ten explosive clays, the Anbu standing on the side was looking at him in admiration.
Of course, Kuroto had long since noticed this, but he ignored it, as he is used to being admired by many in Konoha by now. Not to brag or anything, but Kuroto is one of the three rising stars of Konoha, the other two being Kakashi and Shisui, as such, similar to Kakashi and Shisui, he too has a very large fan following.
In fact, Kakashi, Kuroto, and Shisui are even called the Sannin of the new generation by the young shinobis of Konoha.
But that’s just people talking and admiring, Kuroto never cared about what people call him.
Anyway, after writing the chemical composition of the explosive clay, he checked a few other scrolls, recorded a few Jutsus that seemed interesting to him, and then left the Konoha Archives.
…
For the next few days, Kuroto continued his busy yet peaceful life.
During the day he would carry out his training for opening the Gate of Pain while resting he would study the explosion release, and research the explosion clay, at the same time, Kuroto would also make sure to spare some time to observe Shimizu Mika, and finally, during the night, he put effort into improving the Yin seal.
He didn’t really face any major hurdles while carrying out physical training, studying the Yin seal, or observing Mika, but the research of the Explosive Clay didn’t go so smoothly.
Using the five main compositions he had brought with him, Kuroto was able to configure five types of white explosive clays, however, when he tested them, he found out that their chakra carrying ability and explosive intensity is far inferior compared to the explosive clay used by Deidara.
This undoubtedly means that the explosive clay used by Deidara is his own composition, and Konoha has no information about it, so if Kuroto wants to use an explosive clay of the same quality, then he either needs to find a method and steal it from Deidara or, create a composition of his own…
Understanding this, Kuroto couldn’t help but mutter, “Sigh, I don’t know where Deidara is… and finding him is a troublesome thing, I would much rather try to develop a composition of my own, who knows, perhaps I might be able to develop something unique and better?”
With this thought in mind, Kuroto delved himself into developing a new composition of Explosive Clay, all while new movements all over the Shinobi World began.
To pursue Danzo, hunting teams from all the great shinobi villages were sent, whether it Kumo, Konoha, Iwa, Suna, or Kiri, no one wanted to be left behind and send forth some of their best men in an attempt to hunt down Danzo.
And this time around, the Uchiha Clan also participated in the roundup.
According to the message given to Kuroto by Itachi, the Uchiha Patriarch, Fugaku, himself decided to lead a team of elite Jonin and hunt down Danzo… whether he will succeed or not is yet to be seen, but considering that he too has a pair of Mangekyou Sharingan and he is currently in his prime, he does seem to stand some chance, even if it is relatively low.
Well, putting the movements of the Uchiha Clan on the side, it was surprising to see that, this time, even Kusagakure and Takigakure sent their men… Of course, Kusagakure and Takigakure sent their men under the temptation of the Kekkei Genkai Absorption Ritual and the Mangekyou Sharingan that Shimura Danzo possesses… They seem to want to try their luck and obtain either of the two if possible…
The eyes of all these hunters are eyeing one shinobi… Shimura Danzo.
As more and more shinobi fought against him, the rumors about the problem in his soul did not stop, instead, they continued to increase.
Kuroto was regularly updated on all the movements all over the shinobi world by his subordinates from Konoha, Suna, and Kiri, and being aware of everything that is going on, he decided to patiently sit in Konoha and continue to wait for a few more days.
“Danzo wants a one-vs-one fight against Homusubi… and he is using himself as bait to bring her out…
But the thing is, it’s already been so many days since he has expressed his intention, however, Homusubi has yet to show up… At this rate, Danzo will start to get impatient and desperate… In fact, it wouldn’t even be surprised if he deliberately leaks his own whereabouts… in an attempt to bring out Homusubi!
It’s just that Danzo is mistaken about one thing… Any of his plans would work only if Homusubi act according to it, which she isn’t going to!”