When Danzo rushed to the Shimura Clan, he saw that their district had already been reduced to ruins. The other members of the F Four were gathered before the wreckage of the Shimura Clan.
Some surviving Shimura Clan ninja saw Danzo arrive with Root ninja and seemed to have found someone to rely on.
They burst into tears and cried, "Lord Danzo, you must stand up for us! Our Shimura Clan suffered such a terrifying attack. Someone must be targeting us!"
Another Shimura survivor said painfully, "Before our clan was blown up, I heard someone shout, 'Our Sarutobi Clan is the Hokage clan through and through! Shimura Danzō is unworthy of becoming Hokage!'"
Another survivor immediately complained to Danzo, tears streaming down his face as he spoke through sobs. "That person also said, 'Our Sarutobi Clan is going to blow you pieces of trash to death!'"
Yet another Shimura Clan ninja cried, "That bastard threw out a huge number of Explosive Tags, then used Fire Release Ninjutsu: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet. Luckily, we ran fast enough. Otherwise, we would never have seen Lord Danzo again!"
Danzo's face was filled with rage as he bellowed, "You hypocrite, Hiruzen! Did you arrange this? The strongest Fire Release Ninjutsu in Konoha belongs to your Sarutobi Clan! You must give me an explanation!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the furious Danzo with embarrassment on his face. He coughed heavily. "Cough, cough." Then he immediately composed his expression and said solemnly, "Our Sarutobi Clan has no ninja like that. Danzo, I will investigate this thoroughly and give your Shimura Clan an explanation."
Utatane Koharu looked strongly opposed as she said to Danzo, "Danzo, there is clearly something suspicious about this. We should catch the true culprit and give the Shimura Clan an explanation."
Homura Mitokado immediately objected. "Danzo, did you offend someone outside? Tell us everything you have done. We need to treat the problem at its source and find the real culprit behind this."
Upon hearing that, Danzo's one left eye turned red with fury. He was so angry that he nearly uncovered the Sharingan beneath his bandages. Then he roared furiously, "Investigate! Investigate everyone! Even if I have to turn Konoha upside down, I will find this culprit!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Danzo, who was about to make a huge spectacle of it, and directly rebuked him. "Danzo, you have overstepped yourself. I am the Third Hokage. So much has happened in the village, and the villagers need peace. If you conduct a large-scale investigation, it will cause panic among them."
Homura Mitokado immediately objected. "I object. Danzo, you should put the village first. Wasn't the Uchiha Clan just exterminated? They did not demand a massive investigation."
Utatane Koharu would never miss an opportunity to build her reputation. As long as she could object, she would speak up. She immediately said, "I object. We should investigate privately."
Danzo's face turned livid, but seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi had spoken, he merely shouted in fury, "Hiruzen, you are too weak. You are no longer fit to be Hokage!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi said solemnly, "The village will provide compensation funds for you to settle the Shimura Clan."
When Danzo heard there was money to be had, much of his anger instantly subsided. He said sternly, "Then you must provide more. Our Shimura Clan is one of Konoha's pillars. You cannot leave their families without support after their deaths."
Very quickly, ninja from Konoha's major clans relayed news of the Shimura Clan incident to their respective clan heads.
In the Hyuga Clan District, clan head Hizashi Hyuga picked up the note in his hand and thought, Damn Shimura Clan. So you finally got what was coming to you. This is incredibly satisfying.
The people who had forced Hyuga Hiashi to his death back then were Konoha's higher-ups. Four years ago, ninja from the Land of Lightning had come to Konoha as envoys.
That night, they directly kidnapped three-year-old Hinata, intending to take the Byakugan bloodline back to the Hidden Cloud Village. In the end, Hizashi Hyuga discovered them.
Desperate to save his daughter, Hizashi Hyuga struck those Hidden Cloud ninja with an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
When the Raikage learned that his ninja had been killed by Konoha's Hizashi Hyuga, he accused Konoha of deliberately tearing up the peace treaty and threatened to start a war. Unless they handed over the Hyuga who had killed the Lightning ninja, war would break out.
The Third Hokage was truly afraid of the Raikage, so he had Danzo and Utatane Koharu pressure the Hyuga Clan.
Hyuga Hiashi of the branch family had willingly chosen to die in Hizashi Hyuga's place in order to protect his older brother and the Byakugan bloodline.
It was all because clever people like Danzo had continuously pressured the Hyuga Clan. In the end, the Hyuga Clan had no choice but to sacrifice one to save the rest.
Every member of the Hyuga Clan deeply hated Konoha's current higher-ups and wished nothing more than for something to happen to the Shimura Clan.
The heads of the other major clans showed different reactions as they read the letters in their hands. The three Ino-Shika-Cho clans all said, "Konoha truly is going through troubled times. It seems the village will not settle down for a long while."
Some smaller clans that fawned over the Shimura Clan began to worry. With anxious expressions, they said, "Did Lord Danzo offend someone? Will we be retaliated against?"
Many civilian ninja in Konoha were shocked when they heard that the Shimura Clan had been attacked. They discussed it one after another. "What is happening to Konoha? Why do major ninja clans keep getting wiped out? Could Lord Danzo's family have produced a rogue ninja like Uchiha Itachi too?"
Danzo wore a stern expression as he asked the ninja of his clan, "Where is Shimura Kumano? Tell him to get out here and see me! Where has the Shimura Clan's property gone?"
A Shimura Clan jonin looked terrified and stammered, "Reporting to Lord Danzo, the clan head has already been killed. All of the Shimura Clan's property has disappeared."
Danzo instantly flew into a rage upon hearing that. He roared furiously, "You useless trash! Those assets were the operating funds for Root!"
A large number of Root ninja began searching through the ruins. They overturned the collapsed buildings and conducted a carpet search, yet they did not find even a single coin.
More and more Root ninja began reporting, "Reporting to Lord Danzo, we found no assets in the ruins. There are only the corpses of Shimura clansmen."
Just then, a band dressed in white approached while beating gongs and drums. Yunye was at the front, holding a horn and blowing it with repeated toot-toots.
When the band members saw the Third Hokage and Konoha's other higher-ups present, they immediately stopped playing.
The Third Hokage and the rest of Konoha's higher-ups were all baffled. Hearing the cheerful music, their expressions turned awkward.
Yunye respectfully said, "Third Hokage, Lord Danzo, we just heard that an explosion occurred in the Shimura Clan. Our Uchiha One-Stop Service would like to send off the victims and escort these Konoha ninja into heaven. What do you think?"
After saying that, Yunye looked expectantly at Danzo, hoping they would agree.
Hearing the band's cheerful drums and the crisp notes from the horn, Danzo's eyes instantly reddened. He cursed furiously, "Are you trying to die? You actually came here to laugh at me?"
When Yunye saw the enraged Danzo, his heart immediately trembled. But remembering Qingcheng's words, he softly said, "Lord Danzo, please do not be angry. Our one-stop service is meant to mourn the departed and let their deceased family members rest in peace. We have no intention of mocking anyone."
Yunye further emphasized, "We handled the Uchiha Clan's seventh-day rites too. If you do not believe me, go ask around."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said angrily, "Stop causing trouble here. Get out of here, all of you!"
Yunye looked embarrassed and honestly said, "Goodbye, Third Hokage. Goodbye, Lord Danzo. If something like this happens again in the future, you can call our one-stop service. We guarantee that the departed will go straight to heaven."
Danzo was so furious that he jumped in rage and cursed again, "You bastards! How dare you laugh at me! Are you looking to die?"
Yunye and the others were all startled. Every band member scattered at once and ran toward the Uchiha Clan.
Homura Mitokado said with disapproval, "They are only band members. They wanted to see off the dead of the Shimura Clan. Why are you yelling at them? You are mistaking kindness for ill intent."
Seeing her teammate object, Utatane Koharu immediately spoke up as well. "This is not the office. We are Konoha's higher-ups, and we must maintain the dignity of Konoha's leadership."
Danzo's face was ashen as he angrily said, "If your clan had been exterminated, could you still maintain your dignity?"
Mitokado Homura's face filled with embarrassment upon hearing that.
Before you continue