Do Not Use Power to Destroy the Rules Set by the Village; I Don't Care About the Hokage Position Anymore!

Inside the Hokage's Office, smoke swirled, shrouding Hiruzen Sarutobi's weary face in a hazy gray.

The sounds of celebration outside the window drifted in faintly, but they did nothing to dispel the gloom in his heart.

The pipe between his fingers trembled slightly, just like his chaotic thoughts at that moment.

Orochimaru... he really came back.

However, in this way, he directly joined the Uchiha clan.

It felt like a silent slap across the face of his former teacher.

It's both mockery and retribution.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

The voice was soft, yet carried an unusual rhythm, unlike Danzo's usual somber and hurried tone.

"Come in."

Hiruzen Sarutobi suppressed his turbulent emotions and tried his best to keep his voice steady.

The door opened.

Shimura Danzō, leaning on a cane, walked in alone.

There was no one behind him; there was no Orochimaru, not even a single guard.

The air in the office seemed to freeze instantly.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze passed over Danzo, fixed on the empty corridor behind him, as if trying to find the figure he both longed to see and feared to see.

After a few seconds of deathly silence, he slowly shifted his gaze back to Danzo.

The expectation in his eyes was like charcoal embers extinguished by cold water, quickly turning to ashes, and then igniting an uncontrollable rage.

" Danzo..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was forced out from between his teeth, low and dangerous.

"I gave you temporary command of the Hokage's Personal Guard, not the authority to take them for a stroll in front of the Uchiha! Where is Orochimaru? Tell me, where is he?!"

He slammed his hand on the table, making the ashtray jump.

"What are you doing?! Can't you even handle such a small matter? Or are you too afraid to even face Chiyo Uchiha now? What happened to your ambition to Hokage Position?!"

This was a blatant humiliation, and the most effective way he had controlled Danzo over the years.

Keep him dangling in the air with power and ambition, letting him live forever in the fantasy that "maybe I can rise to power next time," so that he willingly does all the dirty work that can't be seen in the light of day.

However, Danzo's reaction today is completely different.

Unlike usual, his single eye did not flash with humiliation, greed, or resentment.

Then he lowered his head and offered a somber explanation or assurance.

Instead, he let out an extremely faint, yet chillingly cold, sneer.

"Hmph..."

Danzo raised his head, his single eye calmly, even with a hint of pity, looking at the enraged Hokage.

" Hiruzen, even now, are you still trying to manipulate everything, to manipulate me, in this ridiculous way?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was startled, almost doubting that he had misheard.

Control?

This word has never appeared so explicitly in their decades-long "tacit understanding".

"What do you mean?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice rose slightly with shock and anger.

"My meaning is very clear."

Danzo's voice was eerily calm, as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.

Orochimaru was missing-nin voluntarily returned to Konoha, and was personally received and supervised by the Uchiha Clan Head Chiyo Uchiha.

The entire process complied with Article 7, Section 3 of the village's wartime emergency regulations, and was therefore reasonable and legal.

I, Shimura Danzō, have neither the right nor the reason to forcibly demand people from the Uchiha Guard Unit based solely on your verbal order.

The Hokage's authority should not be used to break the rules set by the village itself.

These eloquent and impeccable words, like the sharpest Kunai, precisely pierced Hiruzen Sarutobi's expectations.

His eyes widened, as if he were seeing this old friend of decades for the first time.

"Rules?! Legality?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed in anger, his laughter filled with absurdity and fury.

" Danzo! You want to talk to me about rules?! When you were in Root, how many 'rule-breaking' things did your subordinates do?"

Do you need me to recall them one by one? The assassination of the Uchiha Radical Faction, framing the Cloud, secretly intercepting war supplies that should have been distributed to the various clans; even...

He even secretly contacted Orochimaru to obtain information on his Forbidden Technique!

"Which of these is in accordance with the rules?!"

He stood up abruptly, leaned forward, and stared intently at Danzo, trying to find a trace of familiar panic or malice in his eyes.

"What are you pretending to be, obeying the law?"

I'm giving you a chance by asking you to go and demand the person back!

An opportunity to legitimately suppress the Uchiha, seize Orochimaru's research findings, and increase your own leverage!

Don't you understand what my abdication will mean for your future bid for the Hokage Position?!

You just...

You came back empty-handed?!

Tell me, what are you thinking?!

Hiruzen Sarutobi reprimanded in a low voice.

He thought this would awaken Danzo's heart, which was filled with the desire for power.

But he was wrong again.

Danzo was not intimidated; instead, he took a step forward.

His single eye no longer held the greed it once did.

Instead, a strange and cold flame ignited within it, a near-obsessive sense of "justice" utterly distorted by Kotoamatsukami.

" The Hokage Position? An opportunity?"

Danzo's voice suddenly became impassioned, yet carried a chilling coldness that sent shivers down one's spine.

" Hiruzen, do you think I'll still be fooled by your empty promises?"

Like dangling a donkey on a leash, you put a carrot in front of me that I can never reach, expecting me to do all sorts of dirty things for you?!

"You!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi momentarily speechless.

"You're right, the 'roots' are indeed not clean."

Danzo his cane on the ground with a dull thud, interrupting Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.

"But with every action, every sacrifice, every time I got my hands dirty, I told myself it was for Konoha!"

It's to eliminate potential threats to the village!

"It's so that you, the Hokage sitting in the sunlight, can better maintain that false light!"

His voice carried decades of pent-up resentment, yet it was skillfully guided by Kotoamatsukami, pouring out in a completely new direction.

"But what about you, Hiruzen? How did you treat this 'loyalty'?"

Danzo's one eye stared intently at Hiruzen Sarutobi, his words like the spitting of a venomous snake.

"You enjoy the order and convenience that 'Root' secretly provides, but you have never truly trusted me, and you have never truly thought about handing over the Hokage Position to me!"

You're just using me, using my ambition, using my methods to consolidate your own power!

Once I'm no longer of any use to you, or once I might become a threat to you, you'll abandon me without hesitation, just like you abandoned Orochimaru!

Just like how you tacitly allowed me to force White Fang back then! Just like how you clearly noticed Orochimaru violating village rules by conducting human experiments but suppressed the matter and pretended not to know, not taking action until the truth could no longer be concealed before discarding him as a pawn!

"Shut up!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face turned deathly pale, and he shouted angrily to stop him.

"Why are you silent? Is it because you feel guilty, my dear Lord Hokage!"

Danzo pressed on relentlessly, his words becoming increasingly sharp, and he unearthed one by one those long-buried, dark past events.

"And the Uchiha! How did Kagami Uchiha die?"

Are you really completely unaware?

He's the only Uchiha who truly believes in the Will of Fire and is willing to get close to the higher-ups!

They are still our comrades!

Can you really absolve yourself of all responsibility for his death?!

Now that Chiyo Uchiha has risen to power, he has won the war and the hearts of the people with his strength, and yet you've begun to feel fear?

Are you afraid he'll threaten your position?

So they're so eager to capture Orochimaru and use him as leverage to control the Uchiha?

Hiruzen, when did your magnanimity become so narrow?!

"Not me! It's the consultants!!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi instinctively tried to defend himself, but his voice trembled slightly.

"Is it all their fault? Are you always going to be that innocent, forced, and selfless Hokage?"

Danzo's mockery was almost tangible.

"Stop spouting that nonsense, Hiruzen!"

Every act of acquiescence, every hesitation, every "unavoidable" action is an act of condoning darkness!

You are the Hokage!

The real decision-making power has always been in your hands!

You chose compromise, you chose balance, you chose to maintain your seemingly stable but actually rotten order!

You have let your teacher down!

You've let down the ninja heroes who gave everything for you and for this village!

This series of accusations, like the most violent Lightning Release, slammed into Hiruzen Sarutobi's defenses.

He staggered back a step, bumping into the desk behind him, scattering documents all over the floor.

He opened his mouth, breathing rapidly, but found himself unable to utter a sound to refute it.

Every word Danzo uttered was like a mirror, reflecting all the compromises, helplessness, darkness, and... hypocrisy he had displayed over his many years in power.

Those things he had buried deep in his heart, carefully wrapped up with the " Will of Fire " and the "Greater Good," were completely and brutally exposed.

He looked at Danzo before him, this old friend who was both familiar and unfamiliar.

Danzo's eyes had lost their former ambition and scheming; only a cold, fanatical "clear-headedness" and "justice" remained, which he could not comprehend.

That look in his eyes terrified Hiruzen Sarutobi more than any conspiracy or trickery.

A tremendous shock and an unprecedented sense of guilt overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.

He suddenly realized that perhaps it was his years of indulgence, manipulation, and tacit approval that had created Danzo's darkness and driven Orochimaru to his doom...

Now, karma has caught up with them.

"You... you..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's finger trembled as he pointed at Danzo, his voice dry and hoarse.

"You're insane, Danzo... Do you even know what you're saying?!"

"I am perfectly sober, Hiruzen."

Danzo looked at him coldly, his tone returning to calm, but even more resolute.

"More clear-headed than ever. I've finally seen your true nature, and I've also seen who is truly capable of leading Konoha to Yamato and light."

"No, you coward, bound by the past and corrupted by power!"

He paused, then spoke each word with the air of a final judgment.

"You can keep that Hokage Position. I, Shimura Danzō..."

"I don't care anymore!"

Having said that, he no longer looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi's pale, shocked, and devastated old face.

He turned around resolutely, leaned on his cane, and strode towards the door.

" Danzo! Stop right there!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi used his last ounce of strength to try and grasp at the last shred of authority.

His response was Danzo's unwavering back, and...

"Bang!!"

As the sound came, Danzo slammed the heavy door to the Hokage's Office Danzo with all his might!

" Danzo, you'll regret this!!"

The angry voices echoed in the corridor, as if symbolizing the complete breakdown of their decades-long complicated relationship.

Inside the office, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood frozen amidst the mess, the loud slamming of the door and Danzo's final words, "I don't care," still echoing in his ears.

The cheers of celebration outside the window drifted in faintly, but now sounded incredibly jarring and distant.

He slumped back into his chair slowly and weakly, the pipe in his hand already extinguished.

Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating his face, which instantly seemed to have aged ten years, a face etched with shock, bewilderment, and... a deep-seated guilt.

Danzo...

Things have really changed.

He became someone he didn't recognize at all.

Could it be because he just saw Chiyo Uchiha?

For the first time, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a chill run down his spine.

It didn't come from any powerful enemy, but from within the village itself, from the Uchiha Clan Head whom he had never truly understood, yet now seemed to control everything.

He lost.

It wasn't that they lost to Danzo's betrayal, but rather to the retribution accumulated from all the choices they had made in the past.

The office was filled with a deathly silence and heavy, painful sighs.