Butterfly Effect

At the Jonin meeting, Danzo looked utterly incredulous, as if he were questioning his whole life. He looked downright ridiculous.

He had thought Kakashi would be all right, but he had never imagined it would happen this way.

He had assumed the final outcome would be Minato Namikaze paying a steep price to protect his student.

He had already planned to invoke the greater good and the village's interests to squeeze Minato Namikaze for all he was worth—ideally driving him out of the race to become the Next Hokage for good!

But what he had never expected was that before Minato Namikaze had even said a word, the Jonin had all thrown their support behind Kakashi and declared him innocent.

Then, at the meeting, a Jonin who had been fed up with Danzo for a long time let out an unrestrained sneer. "Elder Danzo, what's the matter? Are you disappointed that Kakashi didn't end up with his life in ruins?"

Danzo shot to his feet, furious.

"Outrageous! Everything I do is for Konoha! What kind of person do you take me for?!"

Years of infighting had taught Danzo to realize quickly that someone had set him up.

He tried to mask his panic and loss of composure with anger, then tossed out a final, "You'll regret this!"

He left the meeting early.

Upon returning to Root Base, Danzo immediately summoned his subordinates and ordered them to investigate the recent upheaval in the village!

Obito Uchiha and Might Guy were only children, after all. They hadn't planned things out, much less taken any steps to keep them secret. So the Root shinobi needed less than an hour to trace the source of the information and uncover everything.

When he received the information his subordinates had compiled, Danzo crushed the report scroll in his hand.

"The Uchiha! It was those naturally evil Uchiha spreading rumors about me!! I've always said that leaving this naturally evil clan in the village would only bring trouble!"

This result enraged him even more than Minato Namikaze being tacitly accepted by everyone as the next Hokage just a short while earlier.

That was because the two things Danzo had been most fixated on throughout the first half of his life were becoming Hokage and suppressing the Uchiha!

He had schemed against the Uchiha his entire life. How could he have known that, so close to old age, he'd be so thoroughly played by an Uchiha brat barely over ten years old?!

How was he supposed to take that?

He was absolutely livid!

He'd planned to hold back for a few more years and avoid making a move against the Uchiha during the war, but now it looked like he couldn't hold back much longer!

The Uchiha. Minato Namikaze!

Danzo repeated those two names over and over in his mind, the madness in his eyes growing ever deeper!

Shiba Seika himself probably never imagined that when he'd casually sparked a flame in Kakashi's heart just for the fun of it, he'd end up fanning the clouds of unrest over Konoha with such a twist of fate!

This time, though, Shiba Seika didn't manage to stay completely out of it.

Danzo soon came to his senses and asked his subordinate for details. "And what's this about a Shimura clansman in the Land of Rain? Why would that evil Uchiha brat think to frame me this way?"

His subordinate stared back at Danzo in surprise, his expression seeming to ask, Sir, you're asking me about this?

Danzo was about ready to explode. "How could I possibly have clansmen in the Land of Rain?! You idiots aren't actually buying the Uchiha's slander, are you?"

The subordinates around him all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his gaze.

The thing was, this fit Danzo's usual underhanded methods so well that it was no wonder even Root members had believed the rumor.

After venting his anger, Danzo ordered, "Go investigate! I want all the information on this Akatsuki Organization within a week!"

One of his subordinates asked nervously, "Lord Danzo, who should we assign to this?"

Root was already short on people.

The war had broken out, and although Root had expanded several times as a result and gained enormous power, the burden on its members had grown heavier at the same time.

They were periodically brimming with ambition and constantly short on manpower.

Both active fronts needed spies and intelligence agents, while Iwagakure and Kirigakure, which hadn't entered the war yet, also required plenty of people to monitor them.

They even had to keep some shinobi in the village, ready to respond at a moment's notice to Danzo's frequent whims.

Root didn't have any spare hands, either!

Danzo soon realized this as well. He paced irritably around the base, then slapped his forehead. "Then reassign Yūno Ryōma to handle it. Tell him to get it done as soon as possible!"

"But what about Lord Orochimaru?"

"I'll write to him personally and explain!"

Yūno Ryōma was Root's most important commander after Danzo. At the moment, he was working with Orochimaru in the Sunagakure warzone, handling intelligence infiltration there.

Orochimaru and Danzo had long worked together. Orochimaru had even briefly joined Root himself, so Root supported his work most of the time.

As a fellow Frontline Commander, Orochimaru had Root's full support in his fight against Sunagakure, while Minato Namikaze, who was battling Kumogakure in the north, wasn't nearly as fortunate.

But that day, a scroll abruptly arrived at the front lines, ordering Yūno Ryōma, who had been stationed in the Sunagakure warzone for months, to head to the Land of Rain immediately!

At that moment, even Yūno Ryōma, a die-hard Danzo loyalist and Root's second-in-command, couldn't help wanting to curse.

"Damn it! What's Lord Danzo doing?! Didn't he get my message a few days ago?

"We've suffered heavy losses in the Sunagakure warzone lately! For some reason, that madwoman Pakura keeps targeting our intelligence agents!

"I asked him for reinforcements, and he tells me to go to the Land of Rain to investigate his clansmen?!

"Am I the one who's gone mad, or is he?!"

Yūno Ryōma couldn't imagine how furious Orochimaru, the highest-ranking commander at the front, would be if he abandoned this mess and left right now.

Well, that snake wouldn't wear his intense emotions on his face, but he'd definitely hold a grudge against Root. Yūno Ryōma was certain of it.

As one of the organization's few competent intelligence agents, Yūno Ryōma let out a weary sigh and asked the Root shinobi who had brought the message, "Did Lord Danzo explain how I'm supposed to break this to Orochimaru?"

The Root shinobi lowered his head. "Lord Danzo only said he would write to Orochimaru himself."

What good would a letter do?

Could it replace the intelligence support they'd be taking away? How?

No matter how useless Sunagakure was, they had still committed all their forces to the war. Konoha could spare less than a third of its shinobi for Orochimaru's warzone.

And there might be even fewer in the future.

In a situation like this, with intelligence support cut as well, was Orochimaru supposed to pull off another miracle all by himself?

All one could say was that every victory Konoha achieved in the Third Great Ninja War in the original story truly deserved to be called a miracle.

But Yūno Ryōma had no choice. He could only obey.

At the same time, in the temporary command post, Orochimaru's face was ashen. He let a snake swallow Danzo's letter, then slowly smiled, his expression cold and sinister.

His ties with Danzo had probably reached their end.

It all began with Shiba Seika, the tiny butterfly from beyond fate.

The breeze from the few times he'd flapped his wings was finally about to gather into a hurricane that would rouse Konoha!