The Uchiha Clan's Sun

Hiruzen Sarutobi said calmly, "This is an announcement, not a discussion! You should understand that if what you did this time is truly investigated, this punishment will be lenient!"

"Danzo, Hiruzen is right, you really went too far this time!" Koharu Utatane also spoke up at the right moment, "Since you're so badly injured this time, you should take some time to rest and recuperate!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally understood the importance of Root, since most of Root's actions were carried out with his tacit approval!

However, this should not be an excuse for Danzo to act recklessly!

In recent years, Hiruzen Sarutobi has increasingly felt that the development of Root has slipped out of his control, and it's time to give Danzo Shimura a good talking-to!

Now that the war is coming to an end, a period of peace and development will follow. It would be harmless for the Roots to quiet down at this time!

Hiruzen Sarutobi has already discussed this matter with Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, so Danzo Shimura has no room for objection!

"You! You all..."

Shimura Danzo glanced at the serious-looking Sarutobi Hiruzen, then at the good cop Koharu Utatane and the composed Mitokado Homura, and immediately understood that the three of them had reached a consensus, and his objections were useless!

Danzo Shimura was too lazy to argue, so he simply shut his mouth and sulked alone.

"Then let's leave it at that!" Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi finalized Danzo's punishment and added, "However, you still need to explain why you suffered such heavy losses!"

"Given your strength, what exactly happened to cause this to happen?"

"And what is your reason for waging war against the Land of Rain?"

Upon hearing this, Shimura Danzo's expression shifted in a series of unpredictable changes, and he hesitated whether to reveal the truth.

After hesitating for a while, Shimura Danzo finally made up his mind and said in a low voice, "Do you remember when Jiraiya took in three brats in the Land of Rain a few years ago?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was taken aback upon hearing this; of course, he remembered this matter.

At that time, it was the end of the Second Shinobi World War. Jiraiya was furious because three brats from the Land of Rain had stayed there for several years, neglecting Konoha, which was in dire need of manpower and needed to rebuild.

It was because of this incident that Hiruzen Sarutobi directly excluded Jiraiya from the list of candidates for the Fourth Hokage!

A person who acts impulsively and doesn't prioritize the interests of their own village can never become Hokage!

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could answer, Danzo Shimura continued, "You should have also heard the news that Hanzo of the Salamander in Amegakure has recently taken on three personal disciples, right?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned slightly, but his brows quickly relaxed, and he asked with some surprise, "You mean that Hanzo of the Salamander's three personal disciples are the ones that Jiraiya taught in the Land of Rain?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't an idiot; when Danzo Shimura put these two things together, he guessed a possibility.

Danzo Shimura nodded and said, "That's right! Moreover, Hanzo of the Salamander is grooming them as his successors! If nothing unexpected happens, they will be the future leaders of the Land of Rain!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled slightly upon hearing this: "It's true what they say, 'The flowers you plant with care may not bloom, but the willows you plant without intention may thrive!' I never expected that Jiraiya would do such a good deed unintentionally!"

Mitokado Homura, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement and said, "With Jiraiya's connection, things will be much easier to handle between Konoha and Amegakure in the future!"

"If Amegakure can stand firmly on our side, then we will have the advantage over both Iwagakure and Sunagakure!"

Danzo Shimura scoffed at this, coldly replying, "You're overthinking it!"

Chapter 69 Regret! Shadow!

"Danzo, what do you mean by that?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he looked at Danzo Shimura, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

Could it be that Danzo Shimura did something that worsened relations between the two sides?

Danzo Shimura's eyes flickered for a moment before he explained, "One of those three brats is quite special. If he were to grow up smoothly, it would be a terrible thing for Konoha!"

"Special?" Hiruzen Sarutobi thought for a moment and asked, "Does he possess some powerful bloodline limit?"

“You could say that,” Shimura Danzo paused, then said in a deep voice, “That brat named Nagato possesses the eyes of the legendary Sage of Six Paths, the Rinnegan!”

"!!!"

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado all gasped in shock!

Mitokado Homura couldn't help but say, "Danzo, you're not kidding, are you?!"

Danzo Shimura glanced at Homura Mitokado and said calmly, "I don't have time to joke with you! I can be 100% certain that the brat Nagato's eyes are the Rinnegan!"

"Moreover, I have personally witnessed the power of those eyes. If that brat named Nagato is allowed to grow up smoothly, he might become an existence no weaker than the First Hokage!"

"The next leader of the Land of Rain possesses the strength of the First Hokage. Do you think this will be a good thing for Konoha?"

Originally, Shimura Danzo had no intention of telling Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others about Nagato's Rinnegan.

After all, Danzo Shimura wanted to keep this power in his own hands. After telling Hiruzen Sarutobi, even if Konoha obtained the eyes, they would basically be out of his reach!

However, Nagato is currently under the protection of Hanzo of the Salamander, so there is little hope for him to obtain the Rinnegan on his own!

More importantly, Nagato has now submitted to Hanzo of the Salamander, which is definitely a huge threat to Konoha!

That's why Danzo Shimura changed his mind and revealed the Rinnegan.

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two could speak, Danzo Shimura continued, "After I discovered those eyes, I originally planned to sow discord between the Akatsuki and Amegakure."

"Even if we can't have these eyes, we must at least prevent them from being used by Amegakure!"

"But what I didn't expect was that the Akatsuki and Hanzo of the Salamander had already colluded together and took the opportunity to set a trap for me!"

"This is also the reason why my roots suffered such heavy losses this time!"

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his fist on the table and said angrily, "Danzo, you've gone too far! You should have informed us as soon as you received the news! You shouldn't have acted on your own!"

"By doing this, you could very well push a future powerhouse who was originally friendly to Konoha to the opposite side! You'll be creating a formidable enemy for Konoha!"

Danzo Shimura scoffed, "Wake up, Hiruzen! How could someone who's taken in as a personal disciple by an ambitious man like Hanzo of the Salamander possibly have any goodwill towards Konoha!"

"Our best course of action is to nip any threat to Konoha in the bud!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned and said, "Danzo, your idea is too radical! That child was taught by Jiraiya for a few years, and he has a connection with Konoha!"

"I believe that Jiraiya, with his discerning eye, would not have trained a disciple who poses a threat to Konoha!"

"Heh," Shimura Danzo sneered disdainfully, "Speaking of which, I'd like to ask you something. Jiraiya taught Nagato for several years; there's no way he didn't notice Nagato's special qualities!"

"But Jiraiya not only didn't bring Nagato back to Konoha to train him, he didn't even tell us about the Rinnegan!"

"What are his intentions in doing this? Is he even a ninja of Konoha anymore?!"

Shimura Danzo's series of questions immediately silenced Hiruzen Sarutobi.

From this perspective alone, Jiraiya did indeed go too far, and Hiruzen Sarutobi is beyond reproach.

If Jiraiya had brought Nagato back to Konoha to nurture him when he discovered Nagato's special qualities, perhaps none of this would have happened!

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that ever since Jiraiya signed the summoning contract with Mount Myōboku, he had been searching for a prophetic child who could bring about a great change to the ninja world.

Jiraiya was so convinced of this that he was almost driven mad by it!

From then on, Jiraiya was more like a representative of Mount Myōboku than a ninja of Konoha!

After a long silence, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally spoke, "I will discuss this matter with Jiraiya. Meanwhile, Danzo, you no longer need to concern yourself with this matter. I have my own plans regarding Amegakure and the Rinnegan!"

Shimura Danzo immediately understood Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts and said, "Hiruzen, do you still fantasize about resolving this matter through peaceful means?"

"it's out of the question!"

"Our most important task right now is to take over the Land of Rain!"

"Even if we can't take direct action, we should still send a large army to force Hanzo of the Salamander to hand over Nagato!"

"We absolutely cannot give Nagato time to grow!"

"Things haven't gotten to that point yet!" Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a smoke ring and said calmly, "We'll make a decision after I've spoken with Jiraiya!"

"The Land of Rain is, after all, a battlefield where various forces are intertwined and mutually restraining each other, so that moving one part can affect the whole situation!"

"Neither Sunagakure nor Iwagakure will stand idly by and watch us attack the Land of Rain!"

"Konoha can no longer afford war, so Danzo, you should give up the idea of ​​waging war against the Land of Rain!"

The Third Shinobi World War has been going on for so many years, and Konoha's opponents have changed one after another. Now that peace is finally on the horizon, Hiruzen Sarutobi really doesn't want to drag Konoha back into the flames of war because of some uncertain factors!

"Hiruzen, you can't..."

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

"You... Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

Shimura Danzo wanted to hold on a little longer, but Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately unleashed his killing move, silencing Shimura Danzo!

Danzo Shimura's face turned ashen; once again, he had been outmaneuvered by Hiruzen Sarutobi, who used his status as Hokage!

That's how Hiruzen Sarutobi is; whenever he can't win an argument, he'll use his status to intimidate others!

This further intensified Danzo Shimura's obsession with the Hokage position!

"Alright, Danzo, let's wait until Hiruzen and Jiraiya have talked about this before we discuss it!" Koharu Utatane stepped in to smooth things over and changed the subject, saying, "Actually, besides wanting to know what happened to you, we have another matter to discuss with you!"

"Minato performed a great service on the battlefield against Kumogakure, capturing the Third Raikage's son, A, and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki alive!"

"The delegation from Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village) that came to negotiate has arrived in the village!"

Chapter 70 Cowardice!

The Hidden Cloud Village reacted swiftly upon learning that A and Killer Bee had been captured alive by Konoha.

Just one day later, Tsuchida, the elder of Kumogakure, took over the reins of Kumogakure, tightened the front-line defenses, sent the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, who was still learning to master the power of the Tailed Beasts, to the front lines to oversee the situation, and sent a team of envoys to Konoha.

Danzo Shimura had been active in the Land of Rain for the past few days and had only just returned to Konoha today, so he only learned about this now.

"They've captured A and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki alive?!"

A glint flashed in Shimura Danzo's eyes, and in a moment he realized that this was a golden opportunity to crush Kumogakure in one fell swoop!

Before Shimura Danzo could fully express his excitement, he suddenly noticed that Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane looked a little off!

Danzo Shimura felt a sudden jolt of fear, realizing something was wrong.

Danzo Shimura asked, "Have you already met with the Kumogakure delegation?"

Koharu Utatane nodded and said, "They met once yesterday. They demanded that Konoha immediately release A and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, otherwise Kumogakure will launch a full-scale war against Konoha, a war of mutual destruction, a fight to the death!"

"Hmph, just bluffing!" Shimura Danzo scoffed disdainfully, saying, "Their two strongest fighters are in our hands. What do they have to offer to fight us to the death?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi smacked his lips and said, "You can't say that. You know those brutes in Kumogakure aren't exactly mentally sound. They're capable of things like mutual destruction!"

"Bullshit! All those brutes are just their disguise! They..." Shimura Danzo suddenly realized something was wrong and exclaimed excitedly, "You didn't agree to their conditions, did you?!"

"Not yet..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a smoke ring, which calmed Danzo Shimura down a little.

However, what Hiruzen Sarutobi said next completely broke Danzo Shimura's composure!

"But releasing them is a certainty; it's just a matter of how many resources we can get from the Hidden Cloud Village!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke calmly.

"You!" Danzo Shimura was furious upon hearing this and shouted, "What are you all thinking! Everyone knows the situation in Kumogakure!"

"Their Two-Tails Jinchuriki hasn't become a perfect Jinchuriki yet, and their Hidden Cloud Village only has a handful of top-tier fighters left!"

"Now that we have captured their strongest A and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and half of the entire Hidden Cloud Village is crippled, instead of thinking about how to completely defeat them, we are only thinking about how many resources we can get from them."

"What are you all thinking?!"

Danzo Shimura simply couldn't understand how Konoha, the largest village in the ninja world, had become so pathetic!

Mitokado Homura explained, "Danzo, calm down. You can't just look at the surface of a problem; you should take a longer-term view!"

"The ninja world isn't just about Konoha and Kumogakure. If we really fight Kumogakure, the other three villages will definitely benefit!"

"You have to understand that we are still in a standoff with Iwagakure. That old guy Onoki is no good. If things go wrong, Konoha might once again face the passive situation of fighting two against one!"

Danzo Shimura remained unmoved upon hearing this, and said coldly, "I admit that what you said is indeed a possibility, but Onoki is a guy who won't do anything without a profit!"

"One is the powerful Konoha, and the other is the weakened Kumogakure. I think anyone should know which one to choose!"

"Onoki will definitely take this opportunity to tear a piece of flesh from Kumogakure!"

“Don’t speak too definitively,” Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and said, “Onoki is indeed profit-driven, but as the Kage of a village, I think he understands the principle of ‘if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold’ even more!”

"Onoki is indeed happy to see Kumogakure weaken, but even more so he doesn't want to see a powerful Konoha rise up!"

"Otherwise, the next force to face the might of Konoha might be Iwagakure!"

"Therefore, it is more likely that Iwagakure and Kumogakure will unite to jointly resist Konoha!"