"How should the Hokage Assistant Shimura Danzō be judged for selling out a fellow village ninja?"
Namikaze Yoru's opening words rang through the silent office like a thunderclap.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand tightened sharply around his pipe. He fixed Namikaze Yoru with a piercing gaze and rebuked him in an unusually stern tone. "Chunin Namikaze! Watch your words. Accusing the Hokage Assistant of selling out the village is a grave matter. Without concrete evidence, it amounts to framing a senior official—a serious crime!"
Tsunade frowned slightly. Though she had no fondness for Shimura Danzō, she understood the weight of such an accusation.
But she couldn't involve herself in this matter, so she could only watch and wait.
Namikaze Yoru wasn't surprised by Hiruzen Sarutobi's near-reflexive defense.
He knew all too well how complicated the Third Hokage's feelings were toward his old friend. If not for Hiruzen's intentional or unintentional indulgence and compromise, how could Danzō's "Root" have grown so powerful beneath Konoha's shadow?
He didn't press the point. Instead, he raised a second question, his tone calm as he cut straight to the heart of the matter. "Lord Third, aren't you curious? I infiltrated the Land of Water disguised as a traveling merchant, and I've always been cautious. This was even my second trip there, and I'd already made arrangements at checkpoints along the way.
"So why was I suddenly exposed, with Kirigakure Ninja lying in wait for me so precisely?"
Ignoring Hiruzen Sarutobi's changing expression, he continued, "My movements, and even the infiltration mission itself, were classified secrets within Konoha. Without someone leaking information, how could they have laid that deadly trap for me?
"And there's something even more suspicious: the people who ambushed me had the contact mark used exclusively by Anbu. How do you explain that?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi