Within a few minutes, more than a dozen Medical-nin ran into the Hokage's Office.
They hastily placed Danzo on a stretcher, with several Medical-nin constantly using Mystical Palm Technique on him.
"Not good!"
"Danzo-sama's Wind Attribute Chakra is going out of control again!"
Danzo, lying on the stretcher, was already barely conscious.
Blood-red marks kept appearing across his bandaged body, and the speed at which these Medical-nin treated him could not even keep up with the speed at which his wounds were splitting open.
Kakashi looked at the wound on Danzo's body, his face twisted, and his gaze kept flickering between Naruto and Danzo.
Because he realized...
The wounds on the other party's body... looked exactly like the aftermath of Naruto's Wind Release: Bloodburst Technique.
When Hiruzen saw the Medical-nin desperately trying to stabilize Danzo, he picked up the pipe on the table and started smoking desperately.
Just moments ago, he and his old friend had been reliving their usual arguments in the office.
This was the first time in three years Danzo had come to see him.
To be honest, after so long without their usual bickering, Hiruzen had almost missed it.
'Sigh…
'Danzo, you fool...'
'Why the hell did you have to go and learn that brat's technique?!'
Back then, Hiruzen had warned him specifically not to learn this Forbidden Technique...
But who knew that Danzo would secretly train in it anyway after returning.
Though, when he thought about it...
If Danzo died in the hospital, wouldn't that actually be a good thing for him?
At least it'd be a peaceful end.
After all, Danzo had always been obsessed with the Hokage's position, and Hiruzen knew his old friend too well.
If this guy ever gained enough power, he would definitely overthrow him.
He really didn't want to have to kill his own friend with his own hands...
Kakashi had similar thoughts as Hiruzen, though with a touch of melancholy.
He had heard a little about what Danzo had done behind the scenes. Now seeing the other party suffer like this, Kakashi couldn't help but mentally give Naruto a thumbs-up.
'Good job, Naruto!'
'You've finally done something useful for the village!'
Meanwhile, Naruto, one of the parties involved, still hadn't fully grasped the situation.
Watching Danzo on the verge of death, his expression darkened.
'Damn it!'
'Danzo, don't you dare die here!'
'If you die now...'
'Who's my bro Sasuke going to take revenge on?'
'Goddammit!'
'Who on earth stole the kill?'
'Don't let me know which bastard did this, or you'll die!'
Naruto ran over to the Medical-nin with a concerned look on his face and paced around the stretcher anxiously while calling out, "Doctor! Is this old man going to be okay?"
"How could someone this old suffer like this?"
However, the Medical-nin were too busy trying to save Danzo and didn't bother to pay attention to the yellow-haired brat next to them.
Left with no choice, Naruto could only stand by and pray for the old man's recovery.
But the longer he looked...
The more he felt something was off.
He found the wound on Danzo's body seemed to be caused by Wind Release Ninjutsu.
When this thought appeared, a golden lightbulb went off in Naruto's head.
'I get it now!'
'It must be Orochimaru!'
'According to the timeline, the Chunin Exams is about to begin!'
'Orochimaru must have teamed up with Sunagakure's Shinobi to launch a surprise attack on the Root's Leader of Konoha, Danzo, so that he could implement his Konoha Crush Plan!'
'Damn it!'
'That damn snake bastard actually stole Sasuke's kill.'
Naruto glanced sympathetically at the poor, battered Danzo, then stepped closer to his head, and spoke in a righteous tone, "Bastards!"
"Who on earth used Wind Release Ninjutsu to hurt the elderly from our Konoha Village?!"
Hiruzen: "…"
Kakashi: "…"
It would have been better if he hadn't said this, but as soon as he said it, Danzo's blood pressure soared.
Danzo was originally in a daze, in a semi-comatose and semi-awake state, but after hearing the yellow-haired brat's words, he lost consciousness on the spot.
In his final moments of awareness, he kept cursing the Kyubi's Jinchuriki in his heart.
'Damn you!'
'This damned Kyubi's Jinchuriki must did it on purpose!'
"Oh no!"
"Danzo-sama's blood pressure is skyrocketing!"
"Quickly transfer him to the hospital! Go, go, go!"
Hiruzen rubbed his head, his face grim, and he shouted at Naruto who was provoking Danzo, "Naruto, stop bothering the Medical-nin."
"Get over here!"
"Fiiine."
Hearing what Hiruzen said, Naruto looked at Danzo worriedly, and kept looking back while walking over. If someone didn't know, they would have thought he was Danzo's family member.
When Hiruzen saw Naruto's reaction, his blood pressure suddenly rose. He quickly opened his drawer, took out his antihypertensive medicine and took it himself.
Meanwhile, after the Medical-nin finished stabilizing Danzo's external injuries, they hurriedly carried him out on a stretcher.
At this time, the Shinobi who went to retrieve the mission reward also came back. Hiruzen took Team 7's mission reward and handed it to Kakashi.
After deductions, Team 7 still had more than 18 million ryo left. Kakashi took the reward, divided it equally among the four of them, and gave it to his three students.
Naruto looked at the 4.5 million ryo in his hand, then looked at Hiruzen, who was smoking. At this moment, a plan came to his mind, and an evil smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Bang…
Naruto slapped the money onto the desk and put on his most innocent expression as he said to Hiruzen, "Grandpa Sandaime!"
"I want to issue an S-Rank mission!"
"I suspect there is a spy from Sunagakure in the village! I'm personally commissioning Team 7 to investigate the village for a month!"
As Naruto said this, everyone present turned to stare at him.
The entire Team 7 was stunned.
'Wait…'
'Since when was this an option?!'
While Naruto said they would be investigating Sunagakure's spies in the village for a month...
Kakashi knew that Naruto was just trying to prevent the situation last time where the villagers used 20 million ryo reward to get them to go outside the village for their mission from happening again...
Hiruzen's face froze. When he heard that Naruto was going to assign a mission, he was stunned for a long time.
His first instinct was to refuse this kid's nonsense.
However…
Given how the village had literally just done the same thing to Team 7, if he rejected Naruto now…
He had a feeling the kid might level Konoha Village in retaliation.
When the Hokage's secretary saw Hiruzen so conflicted, she immediately came over to him and whispered, "Sandaime-sama..."
"Some time ago, Jiraiya-sama sent a message, saying that he will be able to return to the village soon..."
Hearing this, Hiruzen's eyes lit up and he looked at the secretary beside him with ecstasy.
'Really?!'
'That's really great!'
He had been looking forward to it for years and finally, Jiraiya returned to the village!
At this moment, Hiruzen's heart were filled by joy, and he even forgot about his dying best friend.
"Hahahahahaha!"
"Naruto, I agree to this mission!"
"The mission of finding the spies in the village is left to your Team 7!"
Hiruzen laughed heartily.
He didn't care about why Naruto was talking about a spy right now, as he believed it was just an excuse made by him.
He waved his hand and asked the secretary to write the mission's scroll. Then, the client, Uzumaki Naruto, paid the money and received the mission's scroll.
Just when Kakashi was about to leave the office with his team members, Sandaime suddenly called out, "Oh, that's right."
"The village will be holding a joint Chunin Exams with other villages in a while."
"I'll notify you of the exact date later."
After saying that, he waved his hand and signaled Kakashi and others to leave.
Then, he thought of something and turned to ask the secretary beside him, "About the promising Genin in this village...."
"Have they completed enough missions to meet the promotion criteria?"
The secretary took out a notebook from her bosom and flipped through it for a long time before answering, "Almost, Sandaime-sama."
"As long as Naruto doesn't go on another mission spree..."
"Everyone just needs to complete three days of missions to meet the requirements for the Chunin Exams."
Hiruzen nodded, feeling very helpless.
It can't be helped. Naruto's mission-grinding is too terrifying.
The most important thing is, he's doing them like crazy before the Chunin Exams is about to begin.
Because of him, most Genin, who wanted to participate in the Chunin Exams, hadn't completed enough missions to qualify.
Just as the two were discussing about the Chunin Exams, Hiashi and Shikaku pushed open the door of the Hokage's Office.
"Sandaime-sama..."
"We'd like to post a 20 million ryo C-Rank mission..."