The Struggle for Acting Hokage, Danzo's Trump Card

Deep within the Hokage Office Building, inside the first conference room.

The atmosphere was heavy and stifling.

The fluorescent tubes on the ceiling cast a slightly cold white light, clearly illuminating the long oval conference table, the more than twenty figures seated around it, and the grave, pensive, or anxious expressions on their faces.

The Hidden Leaf Village's Jonin and Special Jonin attending the meeting sat on either side of the conference table.

At one end, the core consisted of the two advisory elders, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, along with Shimura Danzō, who sat just below the head seat with his cane in hand, his single eye half closed, looking like an old monk in meditation.

Gathered around them were mostly older jonin, or jonin closely connected to Root and the conservative faction, such as Yamanaka Fu, Aburame Tatsuma, Aburame Torune, and several veteran jonin with stern expressions who rarely took part in daily missions.

Their auras were calm and heavy, most of their gazes lowered or fixed placidly on the tabletop.

At the other end, the center was Jiraiya, who had only just returned.

He sat in his chair with an utterly casual air, even crossing one leg loosely over the other. His long white hair was somewhat disheveled, but the eyes that always carried a cynical, devil-may-care look now swept slowly over the entire room, sharp and clear.

Around him were Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza—the Ino-Shika-Cho trio—Hyuga Hiashi, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, Anko Mitarashi, Ibiki Morino, and other elite jonin of the middle generation, as well as the Anbu squad captains led by Yamato.

The expressions of these people were even more worried.

The atmosphere in the conference room stretched to its limit amid the silent standoff between these two invisible