082 Naruto Mobile Game

Konoha Root, the atmosphere was exceptionally heavy.

Including the leader Danzo, there were ten people in total. From the beginning, everyone stared at their phones, until gradually, some people started putting them down.

Until Danzo also put his phone down.

A long-standing member of Konoha's upper echelons, fell into silence.

Root's organizational battle strategy was very similar to that of the Hyūga—both prioritized maxing out the leader first, then improving the organization's members.

Needless to say for someone like Danzo, he would never allow a situation where any organization member had higher combat power than himself.

But even so, their organization's overall combat power still suppressed most opposing organizations.

Just now, Danzo had completed a three-in-a-row sweep.

After finishing three consecutive wins, of course he would put down his phone, right?

His technique was average, but his combat power advantage alone was enough to reach this level, and all three opponents were fairly average in strength.

But he felt something was off.

Danzo stared at the phone screen, watching match after match continue nonstop.

Logically speaking, trading one for three gave him a huge advantage—so why was it always his side that kept losing members?

[Root · Tanuki] VS [With Rin] In battle... Battle ended.

[Root · Nue] VS [With Rin] In progress.

Seeing this, Danzo frowned. Another loss—what was going on?

"Tanuki, what's going on with you?"

"Sorry, Danzo-sama." The Root member wearing a raccoon mask lowered his head.

"Reason." Danzo said calmly.

"The opponent was too strong. This subordinate was no match."

Danzo said nothing. He opened Nue's match to spectate, and even after Nue took down the opponent, his brow furrowed even deeper.

Something wasn't right—this unsettling feeling.

[Root · Nue] VS [Uchiha's Koto] In battle... Battle ended.

[Root · Taobu] VS [Uchiha's Koto] In progress... Battle ended.

[Root · Taobu] VS [Hero Jiraiya] In progress.

Again? A one-for-one tactic?

Danzo still felt something was wrong. His Root organization's overall strength was higher than the opposing organization's. Even if it was a one-for-one trade, the HP difference would unknowingly widen over time.

By the late stage, the opponent would no longer be able to pull off one-for-one trades and would eventually be steamrolled by his side.

That was precisely why he hadn't made any adjustments.

Danzo didn't punish Tanuki either—he only told him to carefully observe and learn. Then Danzo himself pulled out another phone and started watching.

In ranked matches, having someone play for you would cause rank loss; as for what would happen if someone played for you in the Organization Dominion Tournament, he didn't know.

But he figured that since he had already finished playing and his phone was still on the tournament page, it should be fine to watch matches on another phone, right?

He went to the matchup page between Group One and Group Two, and what surprised him was that the Hokage organization was actually in the lead.

"Very good! Keep it up like this!"

...

The Hokage Office. The Third looked at the current situation and felt very pleased.

[Land of Fire — VS — Hokage]

The former had 4 surviving members, while the latter had 5. They were in the lead!

You had to know that although these two organizations were first and second on the server, their overall combat power difference was close to two million.

And this was still the early stage. Even if that two million combat power were spread out, it would still translate into an overwhelming advantage during matches.

"Thanks to you, Shikaku." The Third looked at Konoha's strategist—among the entire Nara clan, a man whose mind stood at the very top.

"It's the result of everyone's combined effort." Shikaku smiled. "But if we win against the Daimyo's side, will there be any problems?"

The Third also smiled.

"Go all out!"

Whether they could win against the Daimyo—what couldn't they do? Everyone was competing in a match; fair competition was perfectly normal.

Even if the Daimyo were here, he would dare to say: we want to beat you. Leave the task of representing this server in cross-server battles to us.

The Third's gaze swept around the room. Including Shikaku, the others were all among the strongest tier.

In comparison, as Hokage, his own technical execution in Ninja Mobile Game was actually the weakest in his organization at the moment.

No helping it—age had caught up to him. Even with experience and game understanding, his reactions couldn't match those of the young.

In this game, slow reactions were fatal!

Clack—

The door was pushed open, but the ninja in the office were all professionals and didn't get distracted.

The Third had already logged off, so he looked up—and a familiar face came into view.

Those who could enter without knocking or being summoned—there were only a few in all of Konoha.

Because of that, the Third didn't understand.

"Danzo? Isn't your organization still fighting in the Organization Dominion Tournament? And your opponent is Naruto and the others."

"Hmph! You already said the opponent is that demon fox… the jinchūriki brat."

As Danzo spoke, he walked in and glanced around. In his heart, he lamented that he hadn't been able to bring these people into Root.

But perhaps this was even better. He could finally lead the people he had cultivated himself and properly compete with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Hiruzen, it's fine if you win against the Daimyo. It'll soon be time for our own match." Danzo sat down to the side, picked up the teapot, and poured himself some tea.

A strange feeling arose in the Third's heart. Did this guy think he had already won?

Whatever Danzo was thinking inside was his own business. The Third's expression didn't change.

"Danzo, do you have any thoughts about the cross-server competition?"

"About that? Quite a few, actually." Danzo felt delighted. It seemed Hiruzen had no choice but to acknowledge Root's strength, right?

Otherwise, why ask about cross-server matters?

Thinking this, Danzo couldn't suppress his urge to show off and started talking.

"First, although cross-server groupings are most likely random, I think they won't put organizations from the same server together in the first round again."

The Third nodded inwardly. That made sense.

Otherwise, the server's champion and runner-up would have just fought on their own server. After leaving the server to compete with others, they'd end up fighting their own people again?

Wouldn't that mean one organization would be eliminated before real cross-server battles even began?

Such internal strife should be avoided as much as possible.

"Second, I believe the only opponents worth paying attention to are organizations from the major nations. Organizations from smaller countries might not even match the strength of Konoha's second-round group-stage organizations."

As he said this, Danzo looked utterly dismissive, not taking others seriously at all.

Though, to be fair, it was the truth.

"Continue." The Third nodded.

Danzo's face darkened. Did this guy really take him for a subordinate reporting on work? He endured it—for now!

"Additionally, Sunagakure is currently suffering from a talent drought. I hear even the Kazekage organization has to scrape together people. Iwagakure and Kumogakure are our biggest opponents."

"As for Kirigakure, they've been closed off for years. But this time, we can take the opportunity to see how strong they really are."

"So, all things considered, as long as we deal with Iwagakure and Kumogakure, final victory will be ours."

"I think we should start discussing how to use the rewards in advance. Since you and I are the server's champion and runner-up, the cross-server champion rewards should naturally be split evenly."

"Exactly!" Danzo grew more and more excited as he spoke. "Three Resource Cards and one Revival Card—four in total. So just split them two and two."

"Oh right, regarding the Revival Card, I think the higher-ups should jointly discuss whether to use it."

"And also..."

Watching Danzo go on and on without stopping, the Third fell silent. He casually picked up his phone to take a look—and then his movement froze.

He glanced again at Danzo, who was still talking, and had no choice but to interrupt him.

"Danzo, you've thought things through very well. But when you came over from Root, didn't you pay attention to the battle situation?"

"Oh, it's already been decided, then? That's something I could have predicted." Danzo said matter-of-factly.

On the way here, he'd been busy imagining the future—maybe even a chance to ascend as Hokage. Who had time to worry about those things?

The Third could tell Danzo was calm—though that calm would be shattered in the next moment.

"You predicted that you lost?"

"Mm—huh? Wh-what?!!"

Danzo froze. Looking at the Third's expression—somewhere between complicated and speechless—his heart instantly jumped into his throat.

At the fastest speed of his life, he pulled out his phone. The screen was still on the event page, but the battle had ended at some unknown point.

The members were still there—not a single one had left—and a sentence displayed in the center of the screen shattered Danzo's composure.

[Unfortunately, your organization has been defeated]

"Lost?!!" Danzo suddenly stood up, one eye wide open, blood vessels bursting.

Why? Why did it turn out like this? If things had just continued developing as before, it would have been fine! How could they lose?

Then what had he been doing just now—showing off? A loser who had already lost, bragging to someone else?

Danzo's old face visibly flushed red.

"Oh? Congratulations on your organization's victory… Danzo, we've finished as well." The Third's words were light, but they made Danzo's knees bend unconsciously.

"...I have something to do." Danzo turned and left, not looking back, as if he had made some kind of decision.

The Third had nothing to say—he simply sighed.

With that, the Land of Fire's Organization Dominion Tournament officially came to an end. Although the final champion was still unknown, the organization going forth to cross-server battles was already clear.

[Uzumaki Naruto] [Hokage]