Danzo, I Am the Hokage!

"Lord Danzo! The Hokage requests your immediate attendance at an emergency meeting!" Inside the Root base, an Anbu ninja under the Hokage respectfully bowed to Danzo, who sat behind his desk.

"I understand. I'll leave at once." Danzo, half his face wrapped in bandages, replied without changing expression.

After the Anbu ninja left, Danzo immediately summoned his confidant, Aburame Tatsuma.

"Have you investigated what happened last night?" Danzo's bandage-wrapped right hand lightly tapped the armrest.

The arm he had implanted with Hashirama Cells was throbbing faintly.

"Reporting to Lord Danzo," Aburame Tatsuma said in a low voice. "Last night, a mysterious masked ninja attacked the Hyuga Compound. Hizashi Hyuga was severely injured and sent to Konoha Hospital. Hyuga Hiashi also suffered minor injuries, and the Cloud Village envoy has gone missing."

"The Hyuga Clan?" At the mention of a mysterious masked ninja, Danzo's left eye narrowed and his brow furrowed slightly.

He could not help but recall that Akatsuki seemed to have a mysterious masked individual among its members as well.

But after that battle four years ago, Akatsuki had gone into hiding and stopped recruiting externally. Danzo's subordinates had not obtained any further intelligence on Akatsuki.

They could only acquire scattered bits of information about Akatsuki indirectly through spies planted in Amegakure.

"Someone from Akatsuki?" A trace of malice flashed through Danzo's eyes. The regret of failing to seize the Rinnegan still gnawed at him.

"That seems unlikely." Aburame Tatsuma analyzed, "The spies in Amegakure have not sent any news. If Akatsuki wanted revenge, Hanzo the Salamander should be their first target. Besides, they have no reason to attack the Hyuga Clan."

In that encirclement four years ago, Danzo had joined forces with Hanzo the Salamander and deployed more than half of Root's ninja, driving Yahiko to his death and triggering Nagato's Rinnegan awakening.

Akatsuki now had only a few remnants left, hiding in Amegakure and gathering strength for revenge.

If Akatsuki wanted revenge, their first target would certainly be the closer Hanzo the Salamander.

"Let's go. Don't keep the Hokage waiting too long." Danzo slowly rose to his feet and concealed his bandage-wrapped right arm beneath his loose robes.

Aburame Tatsuma followed after him.

Inside the Hokage Office Building's conference room, the atmosphere was grave, and smoke hung thick in the air.

By the time Shimura Danzō entered the conference room with a grim expression, Konoha's upper ranks had all arrived.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, wore his Hokage Cloak and sat upright in the seat of honor at the head of the room.

To his left sat the two senior advisers, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.

To his right sat the injured Hyuga Hiashi.

An Anbu ninja wearing a White Cat Mask stood silently behind the Hokage.

"Danzo, you're a little late." Mitokado Homura adjusted his glasses with his right index finger, his gaze behind the lenses scrutinizing his old friend.

"Root has many affairs to handle." Danzo offered only that simple explanation before walking over and sitting beside Hyuga Hiashi.

"All right, everyone is here." Hiruzen Sarutobi set down the document in his hand, took a puff from his pipe, and said to Kakashi behind him, "Show this document to Adviser Danzo."

"Yes!" The silver-haired Anbu bowed slightly, picked up the document from Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk, and walked over to Danzo.

When Danzo saw the report compiled by the Anbu, his left eye narrowed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi continued, "The mysterious person who attacked the Hyuga Clan last night killed the Cloud Village envoy and threw the body into the Hyuga Compound, intending to frame the Hyuga Clan. Fortunately, Hiashi noticed something was wrong and took the initiative. That prevented more serious consequences."

"However, the enemy was very powerful. Hizashi was severely injured, and Hiashi also suffered minor wounds."

"I sent Anbu after him, but they lost track of him. The enemy appears to know Konoha's barrier extremely well. This is no trivial matter. I've already ordered the Barrier Team and the Anbu to investigate."

After saying that, Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pipe and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Naturally, Hyuga Hiashi could not truthfully report that he himself had killed the Cloud Village envoy last night.

Hyuga Hiashi had pinned everything that happened last night on the mysterious person. With one of the Hyuga Clan's two brothers severely injured and the other lightly wounded, they had already given Konoha sufficient explanation.

Even if Cloud Village raised doubts, the Hokage's upper ranks could not possibly blame the Hyuga Clan. What would the other ninja clans think then?

"Lord Third Hokage." Hyuga Hiashi added, "When I returned to the compound this morning, I found that someone had broken into my study."

Hmm?

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply and said in a low voice, "It seems he shook off the Anbu pursuing him, then doubled back."

"The enemy is very familiar with our village's layout..." Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into thought.

The first people who came to mind were the rogue ninja who had defected over the past few years.

But after going through them one by one, he could not think of any rogue ninja with the strength to fight the two Hyuga brothers alone. A ninja that powerful could not be unknown.

In present-day Konoha, Orochimaru and Itachi Uchiha had not yet defected. Among the more than a hundred recorded rogue ninja, Hiruko was probably the strongest.

"Did the ninja techniques he used have any distinctive traits?" After reading the Anbu report, Danzo pressed Hyuga Hiashi for more details.

Could such a powerful ninja be someone who had forged a grudge against the Hyuga Clan during the last war?

Hyuga Hiashi carefully chose his words. "His taijutsu mastery was exceptionally high, and he seemed quite knowledgeable about the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist. But I could not identify his taijutsu style."

Hiashi was too embarrassed to say that the other side had beaten both brothers flat in barely a dozen exchanges, so he could only weave his words carefully.

"The technique he used was unlike anything I had ever seen. It seemed to condense chakra into a sphere, and its destructive power was immense," Hiashi added.

"A sphere of condensed chakra..." Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately thought of the Rasengan invented by the Fourth Hokage.

But Hyuga Hiashi continued, "It was somewhat similar to the Rasengan invented by the Fourth Hokage, but much larger. And unlike the Rasengan's brightness, the spherical technique the enemy formed was dark in color. Its destructive power was also astonishing. Hizashi was struck by that attack and nearly lost his life."

"Then what exactly is his goal?" Utatane Koharu asked in confusion. "Is he trying to provoke a war between Kumogakure and Konoha?"

The Cloud Village envoy had died in the Hyuga Compound. If the Hyuga Clan had not held off that mysterious person until the Anbu arrived, the blame might have been pinned on the Hyuga Clan.

Hyuga Hiashi said without changing expression, "Perhaps."

In truth, he did not know what the mysterious person's goal was either. He had discovered the Cloud Village envoy kidnapping Hinata and killed him on the spot. If that mysterious person had not appeared, this meeting might have become Konoha's upper ranks questioning the Hyuga Clan's intentions.

"I'll have someone notify Jiraiya and the ninja traveling outside the village to gather information on this mysterious person." The meeting ultimately failed to reach a clear conclusion.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could only order heightened vigilance while dispatching people to contact Jiraiya and the other ninja outside the village for information.

After everyone else dispersed, Danzo alone remained in the conference room.

"Hiruzen." Danzo's single eye turned toward Hiruzen Sarutobi in his Hokage Cloak, suddenly growing cold. "It has only been three years since the Nine-Tails Incident, and now the village has been attacked again. Is this the accomplishment you have to show for taking this seat again?"

"The village is short on high-level combat power right now. Why not hand Naruto over to Root..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi cut him off sharply. "That is Minato's child!"

"Precisely because he is Minato's child, he should be cultivated with all our strength!"

The Third Hokage said decisively, "Enough! Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

"Hiruzen! You'll regret this!" Shimura Danzō left those words behind, slammed the door, and strode away.