Chujiu's Tea Ceremony in the Mountains

Yamanaka Chujiu's voice shifted through three distinct octaves, each tone meticulously crafted to convey an unparalleled sense of grievance and terror.

Coupled with the face he shared with the future Ino, Chujiu instantly manipulated Hiruzen Sarutobi, triggering the Third Hokage's protective instincts toward the children.

"Danzō, Lord Danzō is so scary! He wants us to be his slaves, and if we refuse, he says he'll wipe out our entire families... sob, sob, sob!"

Shimura Danzō: "!"

Chujiu's crying was impeccable; not only was his voice piercingly resonant, but he could summon tears on command, instantly weeping like a flower drenched in rain.

"He said this was an order from the Hokage! He claimed that any ninja who refuses him is defying the Hokage, that we'd be traitors to the village!"

Shimura Danzō panicked: "I did not!"

Chujiu wailed even louder: "He also said we were going to be brainwashed, that we must obey only him, and that we shouldn't even listen to the Hokage's orders..."

"He even said the Hokage would die soon, and that only Root is eternal!"

Shimura Danzō's eyes nearly burst from their sockets: "I..."

Damn it, even if that is what I think, I never actually said it out loud!

Chujiu's three sentences precisely described the image of Danzō held in everyone's hearts, leading them to subconsciously accept that he had indeed said those things.

Even among the ninjas present, only Inoichi Yamanaka and Shibi Aburame realized the truth, and that was only after a full half-minute had passed.

As clan heads, they were not as rigid as Might Guy; not only would they not expose Chujiu's lie, but they used their own methods to signal their clansmen to cooperate.

The Yamanaka and Aburame ninjas chimed in with agreement, and those with decent acting skills even joined Chujiu in his weeping, perfectly rendering an atmosphere of sorrow and bullying.

They cried with righteous indignation.

Chujiu wasn't exactly lying; at most, he was simply voicing Danzō's inner thoughts for him.

That's right, that is exactly what he thinks!

Shimura Danzō glared at Chujiu in fury, the killing intent in his eyes nearly solidifying into a raging fire to incinerate the boy.

In Konoha, he was always the one framing others.

Whether it was the Uchiha Clan with their tarnished reputation or the noble Hatake Sakumo, he had driven them to the brink of despair using rumors and other means.

Hatake Sakumo had even been slandered into suicide, forced to prove his innocence with his own life.

Today, the world had truly turned upside down; someone was actually framing him, Shimura Danzō!

A mere fourteen-year-old Special Jonin, of all people.

But after frantically searching for a way to break the deadlock, Danzō realized that the boy's framing was flawless!

Even though he was being framed to his face, he couldn't refute it!

Because those words were, damn it, his own inner thoughts!

When one's inner thoughts are spoken aloud, it naturally invites agreement, and one's face involuntarily displays micro-expressions of concurrence—along with the guilty micro-expressions of being seen through in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the "Professor of Ninjutsu," was perfectly capable of catching Danzō's micro-expressions.

Danzō's own micro-expressions were, of course, more credible than his defense.

Chujiu intended to use Danzō to nail him into a corner where he had no way to argue his case.

Shimura Danzō grew angrier the more he thought about it; when had he ever suffered such indignity?

If it were a powerful enemy from outside Konoha—like Hanzo of Amegakure, Nagato of the Akatsuki, the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure, or the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure—Danzō could certainly swallow his pride.

But Chujiu was a Konoha ninja!

Even if he was the younger brother of the Yamanaka clan head and a student of Orochimaru, he was still just a ninja of Konoha!

How could Danzō endure the insolence of a Konoha ninja?

Being framed by a Konoha ninja he viewed as an ant caused Danzō to be blinded by shame and rage, and for the second time, his emotions were manipulated by Chujiu.

A second thread of thought coiled around Danzō, stirring his anger to the maximum and causing him to completely lose his reason.

"You damn little bastard, I'll kill you!"

Shimura Danzō quickly formed hand seals and roared: "Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere!!"

A sphere of vacuum wind appeared between his hands, and amidst a sharp, whistling sound, it was hurled directly at Chujiu.

"Stop!!"

Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, and Shibi Aburame were shocked.

They never expected that with the Third Hokage present, Danzō would dare to launch an attack, attempting to kill a Konoha ninja in full view of everyone.

Because they hadn't expected it, they couldn't react in time, and the strength of the clan heads was slightly inferior, making it impossible to intercept.

Torifu Akimichi did react, but his severely injured body dragged him down, leaving him unable to perform the Multi-Size Technique to block the sphere.

As the mastermind manipulating Danzō's emotions, Chujiu had naturally anticipated Danzō's madness.

But he trusted in the Third Hokage's strength, in Hiruzen Sarutobi's love for Konoha, and believed he would inevitably step in to stop Danzō.

Thus, Chujiu gritted his teeth and did not dodge, instead putting on an expression of sheer terror to cement the image of Danzō's lawless heart.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was weak-willed and lacked decisiveness, with a pathological obsession with peace, but his love for Konoha was real.

His love for Shimura Danzō was genuine, yet Shimura Danzō had committed murder right before his eyes.

Absolutely impossible!

Previously, Yamanaka Chujiu had told Orochimaru that Hiruzen Sarutobi was forced to abdicate and nominate Namikaze Minato as the Fourth Hokage, fundamentally because he had grown old and weak.

However, Yamanaka Chujiu also knew that his claim of Hiruzen Sarutobi lacking strength was a relative weakness.

It was a weakness that simply couldn't stand up when compared to the First Hokage, a monster of raw stats, or the Second Hokage, a monster of mechanics.

Yet, among the Kage-level ninjas of the present day, Hiruzen Sarutobi was by no means weak.

Especially when facing Shimura Danzō, he felt not the slightest bit of trepidation toward this gatekeeper of Kage-level strength.

When Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Shimura Danzō use ninjutsu to launch a lethal attack against a child like Yamanaka Chujiu, his expression turned gloomy to the extreme in an instant.

Suppressing the rage in his heart, he calmly formed hand seals, simultaneously casting the Body Flicker Technique and Wind Style: Wind Return.

The Body Flicker Technique required the fewest hand seals and activated first.

Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared instantly in front of Yamanaka Chujiu, spreading his arms with his back to the boy as Wind Style: Wind Return formed a massive shield, reflecting the Vacuum Great Sphere back.

Shimura Danzō had never expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to strike him, so when his own Vacuum Great Sphere was rebounded, he was struck squarely by his own ninjutsu.

His clothes and bandages were shredded by the splintering wind blades, and his entire body went spinning, flying high into the air before landing far away amidst the dense houses of Konoha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi striking Danzō was, first and foremost, a lesson—a punishment for his attempt to usurp the authority of the Hokage and endanger the ninjas of Konoha.

Secondly, Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to send Danzō away.

Only with Danzō absent could Hiruzen Sarutobi help him off the hook and provide him with the greatest possible protection.