“What do you think, Danzō ?”
In the end, the Third Hokage turned his gaze toward Shimura Danzō .
He removed the pipe from his mouth and exhaled a plume of smoke.
“Hmph!”
Choose those two brats as Hokage?
What a joke!
I am the most suitable candidate!
Everyone looked toward Shimura Danzō , but all they heard from him was a cold snort.
He said nothing else.
Not receiving the answer he had been expecting, the smile gradually disappeared from Sarutobi Hiruzen’s face, and his expression became serious.
“You three go on ahead.
Danzō , stay behind.”
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
Shikaku Nara was the first to leave.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane hesitated for a moment, but seeing the expressions on Hiruzen and Danzō ‘s faces, they ultimately said nothing and left reluctantly.
The comrades who had once been so close had now drifted farther and farther apart.
After the three of them left, an unbearable silence descended over the office.
“Sigh…”
“Danzō , I know you’re dissatisfied with me for stripping you of your position.
But you really did make a mistake back then.
The Uchiha didn’t have to suffer such enormous losses.
Shisui had already…”
“The Uchiha clan can never be trusted!”
Danzō finally broke his silence.
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation on his face.
“That is what Lord Tobirama taught us!”
“Ever since Uchiha Madara, that clan has never been worthy of our trust!
I personally devised the plan to eliminate them.
It was a necessary sacrifice for the village!”
“We all knew the Uchiha were planning a coup!
You never rejected my plan!”
“How much have I sacrificed for the village?
You never see any of it!”
The anger that had been suppressed deep within him finally erupted.
Shimura Danzō vented all of his dissatisfaction.
Sarutobi Hiruzen stared at him seriously and spoke in a firm voice.
“I didn’t reject your plan!
But I also told you to wait!”
“There was still a chance to salvage everything!
Yet you went ahead and launched the operation on your own!”
“Heh…”
Danzō laughed, but his laughter was extraordinarily unpleasant.
“Wait?
Wait for what?
How long did you expect me to wait?”
“If you had listened to me from the beginning and hadn’t been so indecisive, the Uchiha matter wouldn’t have reached that point.
I was the one who cleaned up all the loose ends for you.”
It was as though he had heard a deeper meaning in Hiruzen’s words, and Danzō ‘s resentment grew even stronger.
“You’re too stubborn.
You’ve already stopped listening to anyone.”
Hiruzen shook his head.
He understood that their relationship could never return to what it had once been.
Danzō wanted more than this.
“No matter what you intend to do, Danzō …”
“The new generation of Konoha has already reached toward the sun.
They have the brightest future ahead of them.
We need to believe in them.”
“Wherever the leaves of Konoha dance, fire continues to burn.
The Will of Fire will…”
“Go tell that to the children at the Ninja Academy, Hiruzen!”
Danzō directly interrupted him.
Did the old fool really think he was some ignorant child who could be fooled with that kind of speech?
“I’ll give you one final warning, Danzō !”
“A new Hokage will definitely emerge.
If I discover that you’re plotting anything again, don’t blame me for no longer considering our old friendship!”
“Konoha, which the previous Hokage gave everything to establish, will never allow you to do whatever you please!”
Hiruzen issued his final warning.
The determination in his voice was unmistakable.
“Hmph!
Hiruzen, you’ll regret this!”
Danzō swept his robes aside, turned around, and walked away with his cane.
“Danzō , you need to understand something.”
“I am the Hokage of Konoha!”
Staring at Danzō ‘s departing figure, Hiruzen spoke with absolute firmness.
“Bang!”
The door was slammed shut, and Danzō disappeared beyond it.
“Sigh…”
Hiruzen let out a long breath.
He knew he had still been too soft-hearted.
People really did become more soft-hearted as they grew old.
No one witnessed what had happened inside the Hokage’s office.
Thus, no one knew that two of Konoha’s highest-ranking officials had just had such a bitter confrontation.
After leaving the Hokage Tower, Danzō quickly sought out Homura and Koharu.
“Danzō , you shouldn’t have spoken to Hiruzen like that.
After all, he is still the Hokage of Konoha.”
The moment they met, Homura’s faint reproach reached his ears.
Danzō ‘s face immediately darkened.
Right now, he especially couldn’t stand hearing anyone mention the Hokage.
Koharu stopped Homura.
She could see the anger brewing within Danzō , so she immediately changed the subject.
“Well?
Has Hiruzen really decided to nominate a Hokage candidate?”
“Hmph!
He decided a long time ago!”
“What does he mean by asking for our opinions?
He was merely informing us!”
Danzō snorted coldly.
Although their relationship could no longer be repaired, he understood Sarutobi Hiruzen too well.
He had already seen that Hiruzen had made up his mind.
Koharu frowned, a hesitant expression appearing on her aged face.
“Then, Hatake Kakashi and ShihōinNaraku…”
“ShihōinNaraku cannot become Hokage!”
“ShihōinNaraku absolutely cannot!”
Homura and Danzō spoke at the same time.
If Naraku really took the position, they would suffer greatly.
Even with all the confidence he had in himself, Danzō didn’t believe he could remain Naraku’s equal once Naraku became Hokage.
“Then choose Hatake Kakashi!”
Homura had been an excellent shinobi in his younger days, and when the critical moment came, he was not lacking in decisiveness.
“Hatake Kakashi…”
Danzō frowned.
This candidate was troublesome for him as well.
Because behind the suicide of Kakashi’s father, Sakumo Hatake, Danzō had played a part.
At the time, Konoha’s White Fang had become far too influential.
Even the renowned Sannin were merely juniors compared with Konoha’s White Fang.
Strength, seniority, prestige—
Sakumo Hatake had been impeccable in every regard.
Especially during the war, Konoha’s White Fang had rendered tremendous service to the village.
If Danzō hadn’t intervened and caused trouble back then, there would have been no need to choose the next Hokage.
They could simply have put Sakumo Hatake in the position.
So Danzō had acted.
And Sakumo Hatake had ultimately taken his own life.
Otherwise, given Sakumo’s prestige and seniority at the time, even if the mission had been extremely important, he would never have killed himself over its failure.
Especially since the comrades he had chosen to save at the expense of the mission had also stood up and condemned him afterward.
There were very few people in all of Konoha capable of creating such a storm.
But now things had become troublesome.
If Danzō simply watched Hatake Kakashi become Hokage, what would happen if Kakashi eventually learned something?
Would he let Danzō off?
Perhaps enough time had passed that Kakashi had already moved on.
But Danzō would never believe it.
He judged others by himself.
With his suspicious and cautious personality, he would never allow himself to let down his guard against others.
Still, if he had to choose between ShihōinNaraku and Hatake Kakashi, he’d rather see Kakashi become Hokage.
But who said it had to be one of those two?
Becoming Hokage had long since become a deep-seated obsession in Danzō ‘s heart.
He wouldn’t stop until the day he died.
…
Inside a dark, secret base, Shimura Danzō stood motionless with his cane in hand, deep in thought.
“Send the information out.”
“Yes!”
A shinobi answered from the darkness before departing.
In the blink of an eye, the information traveled all the way to the Land of Grass.
“Hiss, hiss, hiss…”
Hearing the familiar hiss, Orochimaru lowered his head after completing an experiment.
A cute little white snake was coiled at his feet.
Although it was only slightly thicker than a chopstick, the little white snake spat out a scroll about the size of a palm.
No one knew how it had managed to store the scroll inside its stomach.
Orochimaru picked up the scroll and began reading.
Aside from the usual inquiries about the progress of his experiments, the remaining information immediately lifted Orochimaru’s spirits.
“Hehehe…”
“They’re already preparing to choose the next Hokage?”
“Time really does fly.”
“I wonder if my teacher has been missing me.”
“Things are starting to get interesting.”
“I’m really looking forward to this…”
“Hehehehehe…”
Orochimaru’s long tongue slid across his lips as his cold, sinister laughter echoed throughout the underground base.
◇ THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE…
◇
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