Fugaku Uchiha's brow twitched, revealing his inner turmoil. Why would a talented Uchiha willingly become Orochimaru's lackey? He hadn't considered his own role at all; those in power always shift the blame onto their subordinates.
"Orochimaru, give me an explanation."
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke to Orochimaru, withdrawing his previous imposing aura and now appearing like a kind old grandfather next door.
"Everyone knows that there is a Root structure beneath the Konoha, right?"
When Orochimaru uttered those words, the clan ninjas present remained expressionless, while the commoner ninjas were utterly astonished. This was the power imbalance; without sufficient authority, no one knew anything about the Root lurking in the shadows.
"And the chief judge of the Root is our Elder Danzo."
"What you may not know is that once you join the Root, you will be subjected to a curse called the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal Curse."
"Ninjas under this curse will not only lose their emotions, but will also be extremely secretive about information. Most importantly, they will be utterly loyal to our Danzo and will never betray him."
Orochimaru, usually a man of few words, launched into a long speech, a testament to his eloquence. The clan Clan Head, meanwhile, wore grim expressions. Their clansmen, Danzo by Danzo, had become Danzo private soldiers—and these were all their clan's geniuses! A clan's prosperity depends on the influx of geniuses; a clan without such talents will only slowly decline or be devoured by political enemies. But the power behind Danzo prevented them from even considering resistance.
The four leaders of Konoha hold most of the power in Konoha. If you don't obey, they have plenty of ways to kill you.
"Moreover, my assistant is Danzo's subordinate; he was sent by Danzo to frame me."
Orochimaru's words shocked everyone present, causing an uproar.
"Shisui. Let everyone take a look."
After Orochimaru finished speaking, Shisui open his assistant's mouth and pulled out his tongue.
"Look everyone, this is the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal the Root of tongue-related calamities."
As soon as Orochimaru finished speaking, the ninjas present could no longer sit still and all stood up to watch.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, meanwhile, gave Danzo a look that seemed to be asking why he had sent Root Danzo to carry out this task. Wasn't this just giving Danzo leverage against him?
Danzo received Sarutobi Hiruzen's message: the two had worked together for most of their lives, their understanding was impeccable. Danzo had no choice; only Root could guarantee the absolute loyalty of the whistleblower. He couldn't understand how Orochimaru knew this secret. It was a closely guarded secret of Root; no Root ninja would reveal it.
"Orochimaru, don't make baseless accusations. Even if this person is from Root, he only reported it because you conducted Human Experimentation. Why are you saying I framed you?"
"If you didn't do it, why were you reported?"
Danzo is a veteran of countless battles, Orochimaru to shift the conflict onto him.
"If it were just him alone, I wouldn't be so sure. But Danzo, I didn't mean to frame you; it's just that you're truly unpopular. Some people are willing to risk their lives to expose your crimes to the world."
Orochimaru looked at Danzo with a smile, as if he were looking at a clown.
Danzo saw Orochimaru's smiling face, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling. However, he went through the plan from beginning to end again and really couldn't figure out where the problem was.
"Oh, then let him come out."
Danzo spoke first.
"Haven't he always been behind you?"
Danzo turned his head and saw only his two henchmen, then turned back and shouted at Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru, are you serious? Isn't this joke going a bit too far?"
Danzo's actions startled Orochimaru for a moment before he burst into laughter. As the saying goes, the onlooker sees most of the game; the extra ninjas present all knew who Orochimaru was referring to. However, Danzo subconsciously overlooked two of his own henchmen. These two were Danzo's earliest subordinates and had become an inseparable part of Danzo, so Danzo would subconsciously ignore them.
"Step forward! Let Danzo see what's what."
Danzo's Danzo, Kaze, stepped forward. Danzo's eyes widened; he felt betrayed. Kaze was his most trusted ninja, and the Root leader Danzo had groomed. Whenever Danzo became Hokage, Kaze would immediately assume the position of Root leader. Danzo couldn't understand why Kaze would betray him.
This was entirely due to Shisui's abilities. The use of "Kotoamatsukami" completely changed Kaze's mind, making him completely obedient to Orochimaru. Even the Yamanaka Clan couldn't detect that Kaze had been modified. It was from Kaze that they learned about the existence and function of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
Seeing Orochimaru's actions, Karot realized that he had used Shisui's power. After all, only Konoha and Karot in Orochimaru knew about Shisui's Sharingan; Shisui hadn't told that old fox, Hiruzen, about this ability.
"Danzo, you don't not recognize this person, do you?"
Orochimaru launched into a tirade against Danzo, and now Orochimaru was about to attack.
"Feng, tell everyone! Let everyone know what kind of person Elder Danzo is."
After receiving Orochimaru's orders, Danzo's secrets were revealed one by one through Kaze's words.
Danzo originally intended to activate the Cursed Seal when Feng was about to speak, hoping that death would leave no evidence and render him helpless. However, Danzo discovered that the Cursed Seal was ineffective. Orochimaru had anticipated Danzo's potential attempt to silence him and had already researched and slightly modified the Cursed Seal. The first activation was effective, but the second would be crucial. This was to make it believable that Feng bravely exposed Danzo's crimes despite the danger, adding a tragic element and creating greater resonance with the audience. Orochimaru deeply disdained Danzo's methods of controlling his Danzo; using life and death to control them was considered lowly in Orochimaru's eyes. Throughout the Hokage world, Orochimaru relied on his strong personal charisma to maintain the loyalty of his followers.
Tsunade, who had remained indifferent until she heard about the unexpected deaths of Nawaki Senju and Dan Katō, became enraged.
"Danzo, you scoundrel, prepare to die!"
Tsunade smashed the table in front of her with a single punch, and in a fit of rage, she was about to rush forward and kill Danzo—her own brother and her beloved. Tsunade's world was now devoid of family and love. Now that she knew everything was Danzo 'Danzo, she wanted nothing more than to tear Danzo apart.