"Yoru Machi, I had always believed you were the most suitable person to succeed the Hokage... but this matter of yours... sigh..."
Upon hearing Yoru Machi's outrageously disrespectful assessment of himself, Danzō, and the others, the Third Hokage did not get angry. Instead, he merely looked at Yoru Machi and let out a long sigh.
The Third Hokage himself knew very well that, during his years in office, he had become far more indecisive and timid than he had been in his youth. Whenever conflicts arose with other shinobi villages, he had always sought to smooth things over.
But there was no helping it. Although Konoha had won the Third Shinobi World War, the village had also been severely weakened as a result.
The brilliant Fourth Hokage had died in the Nine-Tails' Rampage. The Three Sannin had left the village. Yoru Machi himself had gone away and never returned after Minato and Kushina's deaths. The entire village was in a state where the old had not yet departed while the new had yet to rise.
He had tolerated Danzō's various actions entirely because, although Danzō was sinister at heart, he possessed both ability and means. No matter how dark Root might be, it was ultimately still one of Konoha's forces.
The Third Hokage understood why Yoru Machi was furious. Given his relationship with Minato and Kushina, it was only natural that he would want to kill these old men after returning to Konoha and seeing how Naruto had been treated.
But the killings were already done. What the Third Hokage regretted was that Yoru Machi had actually admitted such facts in front of everyone.
No matter how wrong they had been, they were still Konoha's Hokage and elders. As a Konoha shinobi, Yoru Machi had now slaughtered the Council of