Chapter 557: Explosions and Art

Chapter 557: Chapter 557: Explosions and Art

Hyuga Kagami strolled leisurely through the bustling streets. Everywhere he went, all he could hear were discussions about the two consecutive votes of confidence held yesterday.

The reason two votes had been held yesterday was that, according to village convention, even if Danzo was the only Hokage candidate, he still had to undergo a vote of confidence from all the village’s jonin before taking office.

Only after passing this vote could he officially succeed the Third Hokage and become Konoha’s Fifth Hokage.

However, something utterly ridiculous had happened. Despite having no competitors whatsoever, Danzo had actually failed the vote of confidence, unfortunately becoming the hottest topic of discussion throughout the village today.

Listening to the villagers’ conversations, the corners of Kagami’s mouth curled upward, and he let out a soft chuckle.

In truth, from the moment Danzo became the ’Root’ hidden in the darkness, he had already begun drifting further and further away from the Hokage’s seat.

Although Konoha’s shinobi believed that the Third Hokage should bear responsibility for the village’s destruction, they had no desire to see Danzo, an unfamiliar figure from the village’s upper echelons, succeed him as Konoha’s next Hokage.

Even though Danzo had already spared no effort in building up his reputation beforehand, such a short period was simply insufficient to overturn the impression most Konoha shinobi had of him.

Nevertheless, Danzo was still the village’s only Hokage candidate.

Thus, although he had failed the vote of confidence and could not officially become Konoha’s Fifth Hokage, he still assumed control of the village as the Acting Hokage.

As for whether he could shed the temporary title and become the official Hokage, that would depend on the next round of voting, scheduled for one year later.

After becoming Acting Hokage, Danzo wasted no time making his moves.

His first order of business was to purge the ANBU under the Third Hokage’s command, dismissing numerous ANBU squad captains, including Kagami, Guy, and Shisui.

In one fell swoop, he carried out a complete overhaul of the ANBU directly subordinate to the Hokage.

At that moment, Kagami was on his way to the ANBU headquarters to complete the handover of his position.

Kagami had long anticipated this change in personnel.

After all, ANBU squad captains like himself, Guy, and Shisui had all been personally promoted by the Third Hokage. They had long since been labeled as members of the Third Hokage’s inner circle.

Therefore, unless someone from the Third Hokage’s faction came to power, whoever became Hokage would inevitably remove their group from the ANBU and replace them with their own trusted subordinates.

Besides, his ANBU status was no longer particularly useful to Kagami. On the contrary, the frequent ANBU missions had been consuming far too much of his time and energy.

Thus, leaving the ANBU might not necessarily be a bad thing for him.

After completing the handover at the ANBU headquarters, Kagami had barely stepped outside when he encountered Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao.

"Are you three waiting for me?"

Looking at their solemn expressions, Kagami asked with a casual smile.

"Ahem, ahem..."

After coughing lightly twice, Hayate stepped forward and said, "Captain, we’ve decided to apply for a transfer out of the ANBU!"

As soon as Hayate finished speaking, Kurenai and Yugao nodded in agreement.

Danzo couldn’t possibly dismiss every ANBU member at once. He simply didn’t have enough trusted subordinates to replace them all.

Therefore, only middle-ranking officers like Kagami had been dismissed. His subordinates had not been affected for the time being.

"If you’re doing this because of me, there’s no need." Smiling, Kagami said calmly, "Although the Third Hokage is no longer Hokage, he’s still one of the village’s advisory elders. He needs your support, so you should remain at your posts."

After stepping down, the Third Hokage had returned to the position of advisory elder, just as he had when the Fourth Hokage first took office.

At the same time, citing the death of advisory elder Mitokado Homura, he had brought Lady Tsunade into the council of elders.

As a result, Konoha still maintained its customary power structure of one Hokage and three advisory elders.

Kurenai frowned. "But..."

Before Kurenai could finish speaking, Kagami waved his hand, interrupting her. He then turned his head to glance at the ANBU headquarters behind him and said softly, "That man won’t be sitting in the Hokage’s seat for long. Don’t worry."

With that, without waiting for his subordinates to respond, Kagami casually waved his hand and strode past them.

Watching Kagami’s departing figure, Kurenai muttered quietly, "That Kagami... He’s getting harder and harder to figure out!"

Hayate said, "Since the captain has given us these instructions, let’s forget about applying for a transfer."

Yugao nodded, then said, "Anyway, we don’t have any missions today. Let’s go train. If we arrive too late, there won’t be any space left at the training grounds."

Kurenai immediately perked up. "Mm! Let’s go!"

Hayate followed them with a miserable expression. "Hey, hey! We finally have a day off! Shouldn’t we take the opportunity to get some proper rest?"

...

On a large bridge in the Land of Grass.

Deidara, a blond-haired young man with his hair tied in a ponytail, stood on the bridge with his chin resting on one hand. His gaze continuously swept over the bridge piers below, a thoughtful expression on his face.

After a moment, he muttered to himself, "Finally found it!"

His gaze settled on a particular stone block beneath one of the bridge piers.

This was the weakest point in the structural balance of the entire bridge. A single minor explosion at this location would be enough to easily destroy the whole structure.

At that moment, Deidara reached into the ninja tool pouch at his waist and rummaged around for a moment.

When he opened his palm, a tiny, pure-white spider appeared in the center of his hand.

He gently tossed the tiny white spider into the air. After a few leaps, it landed precisely on the stone block beneath the bridge pier.

"Katsu!"

Following Deidara’s sharp shout, the white spider immediately exploded like an explosive tag.

The stone block shattered, and the bridge pier collapsed. In just a few moments, a perfectly intact bridge had been reduced to a pile of rubble and ruins.

"What perfect art, hmm!"

Having leaped to the side, Deidara began admiring his own precise demolition with a smug expression.

In the distance.

Several figures were concealed in the grass, observing Deidara’s every move.

When they saw him effortlessly destroy an entire bridge, they no longer had any doubts.

"Report to Lord Mizukage immediately! We’ve located the target in the Land of Grass!"

Without a doubt, these were Kirigakure ANBU dispatched by Yagura to search for Deidara.

Suddenly, Deidara seemed to sense something in the distance. He abruptly turned his head, directing his gaze toward the grass where Kirigakure ANBU were hiding.

Kirigakure ANBU immediately sensed that something was wrong.

One of them even discovered that, at some unknown point, a tiny white spider had appeared on his shoulder. Its appearance was identical to the spider Deidara had just used to destroy the bridge.

BOOM!

Before the Kiri ANBU could even shout a warning, the grass suddenly erupted in an explosion, sending a thick cloud of smoke billowing into the air.

Gazing at the smoke rising into the sky, Deidara smiled and walked away without looking back.

He seemingly had no interest whatsoever in checking who those people spying on him from afar actually were...