Danzo: Hiruzen! You'll Regret This!

"Madara Uchiha used the Mangekyō Sharingan to control Kurama as a mount. After the First Hokage defeated Madara, he gave him a nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine-handicap and subdued Kurama with one hand. Finally, Mito Uzumaki sealed him inside her own body."

Menma's words were enough to make those who heard them grieve and those who listened weep.

"Hmph!"

The Nine-Tails turned away in displeasure. Out of sight, out of mind.

Take that back. This guy was nothing but a despicable bastard.

He actually made the old man sound that pathetic.

If the Sharingan, Wood Release, and Sealing Technique hadn't all hard-countered Tailed Beasts, how could the old man have been so easily handled by them?

Little Naruto's smile had vanished at some point, and his brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

The great fox's plight made him feel a sense of kinship.

They were clearly creatures with emotions, just like humans, yet because of their appearance and power, they were feared, hated, and treated as emotionless monsters.

The great fox's suffering was even more tragic than his own.

First, he had been controlled by genjutsu. Then, he had been sealed inside someone's body and deprived of his freedom for decades.

For Kurama, who had endured such things, it was only natural to feel disgust, anger, hatred, and other negative emotions toward the humans who had forcibly inflicted it all upon him.

"Great fox... so pitiful..." Naruto mumbled as he looked up at the towering Nine-Tails.

The Nine-Tails, who had perked up his ears to eavesdrop, instantly bristled.

"Roar, brat! Who do you think the old man is? The old man is the strongest Tailed Beast!!"

The Nine-Tails bared his fangs viciously. "Your scrawny little body wouldn't even be enough to fill the old man's teeth if you were sprinkled with cumin!"

Before Uzumaki Menma, he was meek and submissive; before Naruto Uzumaki, he struck with a heavy fist!

The Nine-Tails' voice was so loud that Naruto's ears buzzed.

But Naruto did not show the fear or terror the Nine-Tails had expected.

Because he understood how the great fox felt.

He could sense the loneliness hidden beneath the great fox's tough exterior.

Hokage Building, Hokage Office.

The fierce argument inside could be heard clearly.

"Sarutobi! Why are you unwilling to hand the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki over to Root!?"

Leaning on his cane, his body wrapped in bandages, Shimura Danzō demanded furiously.

The only things capable of making him this agitated were the Hokage and the Uchiha Clan.

And since this concerned the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the reason was undoubtedly the former.

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—once he had this "nuclear weapon" under his control, the position of Hokage would be within easy reach.

"Danzo, I've told you many times already."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke calmly. "Because he is the Son of a Hero, Minato's child, and the inheritor of the Will of Fire."

Danzo grew even angrier upon hearing that.

This sanctimonious, utterly hypocritical bastard always goes on about the Will of Fire.

But who doesn't know the truth?

The Will of Fire in Leaf Village had long since become your 'Will of Fire'!

"Hiruzen, you're usually too busy with official duties. You simply don't have time to teach him..." Danzo became more animated as he spoke, spittle flying everywhere while he even waved the cane in his hand.

"Only in Root can he receive better development! Only there can he fully unleash all his talent!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi ignored him and merely slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Sarutobi! Are you even listening to the old man? Today, you must hand the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki over to Root..."

"Shimura Danzō!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi called him by his full name, cutting off Danzo's half-threatening words and giving him a fright as well.

"Are you finished?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes were clouded, his expression complicated.

"If you are, then go prepare to receive the Kumogakure Delegation. Tell your Root to stay on alert at all times. I do not want what happened three years ago to happen again."

Having said that, he did not wait for Danzo's reply and rose directly to walk toward the window.

Smoke rose, obscuring the Third Hokage's face in a hazy veil.

Danzo could not make out his expression or gaze, but those words still made his heart skip a beat.

Three years ago, the Nine-Tails Incident...

Root's ninja had not rushed to offer support immediately. Instead, following Danzo's orders, they had chosen to monitor and obstruct the Uchiha Clan.

"What do you mean, Sarutobi?"

Countless thoughts flashed through Danzo's mind. Though he was panicking inside, his face remained perfectly composed.

"Three years ago, did you not see the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes? The Uchiha Clan must have controlled the Nine-Tails. Everything the old man did was for Leaf Village!"

"I hope so."

Hiruzen Sarutobi neither confirmed nor denied it. "Naruto will not be handed over to you. Do not bring this up again, or I would not mind thoroughly investigating your Root."

Although Hiruzen did not press the matter further, Danzo no longer had the nerve to keep pushing.

Even with skin as thick as a city wall, a man as calculating as him was both furious and guilty at the moment.

Colluding with Amegakure, cooperating with Orochimaru, the First's Cells experiments, plotting the Nine-Tails Incident...

If Hiruzen Sarutobi truly wanted to investigate thoroughly, any one of those charges would be enough to have him executed eight hundred times over.

Though Sarutobi had tacitly approved of most of them, he had never involved himself from beginning to end.

That hypocrite...

Danzo flung out a furious, powerless parting shot. "You will regret this, Sarutobi!"

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

Upon hearing that, Danzo completely lost it and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Their conversation ended on bad terms, once again concluding with Danzo's defeat.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag from his pipe.

He understood this "friend" of his far too well.

There was no way Danzo had not had a hand in the Nine-Tails Incident.

For the position of Hokage, he had even dared to assassinate him, the Third Hokage. The Fourth Hokage was even less worth mentioning.

During the Nine-Tails Incident, who had leaked Kushina's delivery date?

And how had that Masked Man slipped through Leaf Village's layers upon layers of defenses?

If someone among the upper ranks had truly colluded with an outsider, then Danzo was the only one capable of doing such a thing.

If not for that incident, Minato and his wife would not have died. His own wife, Biwako Sarutobi, would not have died either, and there would have been no need to wait for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to grow up again.

In that case, with Minato and Kushina acting as mediators, the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and Leaf Village would not have become as tense as it was now.

Danzo's scheme had been brilliantly calculated.

He had removed the Fourth Hokage, framed the Uchiha Clan, even weakened ANBU while preserving all of Root's strength. How could that be merely killing two birds with one stone?

Yet despite all that, the Third Hokage had not punished Danzo in any way.

Leaf Village needed darkness. It needed Root. And it could no longer afford to lose any more fighting strength.

"Hah..."

The Third Hokage's face was heavy and weary. In an instant, he seemed to have aged considerably.

Now, he only hoped that the alliance with Kumogakure in a few days would proceed smoothly.

Leaf Village truly could not endure much more.

"Still, Little Naruto will soon be old enough to enroll in the Academy. If we can hold on until he grows up, Leaf Village should have it much easier."

With that thought, the Third Hokage took out a Crystal Ball.

Looking at the image within it, he saw Naruto "resting" atop Hokage Rock.

Seeing this, the Third Hokage could not help but reveal a gratified smile. "It seems Little Naruto has been rather lonely lately. Perhaps it is time for me to make an appearance."