Chiba's Questioning!

Konoha.

Inside the conference room.

Looking at everyone kneeling on the floor.

Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to have been drained of all strength and could no longer utter a word.

"You all leave first."

"I want to speak with the Third generation and the others."

At that moment.

Chiba's voice rang in everyone's ears.

"Yes!"

Shikaku Nara was the first to react.

He did not hesitate for even half a second.

He rose and headed for the door without offering a single unnecessary pleasantry.

Smart people knew best when to keep their mouths shut.

Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Choza followed right behind him.

Fugaku Uchiha gave Chiba a long, deep look.

That gaze held an undisguisable fervor and reverence.

Then, he left the conference room alongside the others.

In only a few breaths.

The spacious conference room became desolate and empty.

Bang—

The heavy solid-wood doors were shut tightly from outside.

Chiba leaned back against the chair at the head of the table.

His utterly indifferent gaze swept across the three old fools before him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Utatane Koharu.

Mitokado Homura.

The three masterminds who had stood at the pinnacle of Konoha's power pyramid for decades.

Yet now, they looked like three stray dogs.

The Hokage Hat atop Sarutobi Hiruzen's head had been removed and placed beside the table.

His once meticulously groomed hair now appeared somewhat disheveled.

Even the age spots on his face seemed darker than usual, as though he had aged ten years in an instant.

Utatane Koharu stared at the tabletop.

Her shriveled lips were pressed tightly together.

Mitokado Homura's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

He did not even dare wipe it away, letting it stream into his eyes and sting fiercely.

"Chiba..."

A full five minutes passed.

Sarutobi Hiruzen finally could no longer endure the suffocating torment.

His Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.

But he only called out one name.

The rest of his words caught in his throat, unable to come out no matter what.

"You kept us here..."

"Do you want to humiliate us?"

After some more time passed.

Sarutobi Hiruzen closed his eyes, concealing the despair in them.

The current Sarutobi Hiruzen had completely resigned himself to his fate.

From the moment every clan turned against him.

He understood that he had no chance whatsoever of turning things around.

Before absolute power, every scheme and trick was a joke.

Besides.

Senju blood flowed through Chiba's veins.

That was Konoha's absolute legitimacy.

"Hiruzen!"

Utatane Koharu abruptly raised her head.

Her wrinkled face was filled with humiliation and unwillingness.

Mitokado Homura also looked anxiously at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

They could not believe that their once domineering companion had lowered his head so easily.

"Humiliate you?"

"Do you think you're worth wasting my time on?"

Chiba let out a cold laugh.

His laughter was full of undisguised contempt.

Utatane Koharu trembled with rage.

She had lived for over seventy years. When had she ever suffered such utter humiliation?

Even the Daimyo had to respectfully address her as Advisor when meeting her.

Yet in the eyes of this teenage boy, they did not even qualify to be humiliated.

"I'll be direct."

"During the decades you held power."

"Sarutobi, Shimura, Utatane, Mitokado."

"How much of Konoha's money did your four clans swallow, and how many of Konoha's resources did you take?"

"Where did the Senju assets left behind by the First and Second Hokage go?"

"How much of the compensation from the Second Shinobi World War was withheld?"

"How many kickbacks did you take from procurement during the Third Shinobi World War?"

"And the Anbu operating funds, the Orphanage appropriations..."

"..."

Chiba laid out these rotten accounts one by one.

Either do not do it, or do it properly.

That was the principle Chiba had always believed in.

Since he had accepted the position of Fifth Hokage.

Even though he had not yet taken office, he would secure benefits for Konoha.

And recovering these devoured resources was Chiba's foremost goal.

Meanwhile.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were struck as though by lightning.

Their eyes were wide open, and they had even forgotten to breathe.

How was this possible?!

These matters had been handled with extreme secrecy.

Their books had long been made flawless.

How could this brat, who had been away from the village for over a year, know so much as if he had seen it himself?!

In truth.

Chiba had not looked through the account books at all.

As a transmigrator, he understood these people's nature far too well.

In the original story, Konoha's economic situation had always been baffling.

The Land of Fire was the richest nation in the Ninja World, and the Daimyo's funding certainly could not have been small.

Yet the ninja on the front lines had to conserve even Explosive Tags.

Yakushi Nonō, the director of the Orphanage, had even been forced by Danzo to become a spy in exchange for funding.

Where had the money gone?

The answer was simple.

It had all gone into the pockets of these few clans.

"Chiba!"

"Don't slander us!"

"We have devoted ourselves to Konoha for decades. How dare you defame us like this!"

Utatane Koharu abruptly stood up.

She pointed at Chiba, her finger trembling like a leaf in the wind.

Once these matters were verified.

They would be utterly disgraced and might even be torn to pieces by Konoha's ninja.

"Chiba."

"You may be about to become Hokage, but you must still rely on evidence when you act."

"An accusation without evidence is an insult to the Konoha High Command!"

"Our Four Great Clans have paid such a tremendous price for the village's development over the years..."

Mitokado Homura stood up as well.

He forced himself to remain calm and pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"What you swallowed."

"You will spit it all back out, down to the very last bit."

Unfortunately.

Chiba remained seated, not moving in the slightest.

He ignored Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura outright and looked at the silent Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Impossible!"

Utatane Koharu shrieked.

Her voice was shrill, like nails scraping against glass.

"Those resources were already used up!"

"They became ninja tools, medicinal materials, and the strength of our clans' ninja!"

The moment those words left her mouth, Mitokado Homura inwardly cried out in alarm.

This stupid woman!

Wasn't she indirectly admitting that they had embezzled the resources?

But Utatane Koharu could no longer care about that.

Make her spit out what she had swallowed?

That would hurt worse than killing her!

The Four Great Clans had attained their current status entirely through the accumulation of those vast resources.

Once they handed those things over.

Their clans' foundations would be completely emptied out.

They would not even need another ninja village to act.

The clans within Konoha alone could devour them alive!

Chiba sneered inwardly.

As expected, they were trash.

A little scare was all it took for them to confess everything.

But.

Chiba still did not acknowledge them.

He merely watched Sarutobi Hiruzen in silence.

Though Sarutobi Hiruzen had now been stripped of the Hokage position by Chiba.

He was still a Kage Level powerhouse, and the only Kage Level powerhouse among the Four Great Clans.

Only Sarutobi Hiruzen could make decisions for the Four Great Clans!

The atmosphere turned cold again.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura finally realized as well.

In this room.

They were not even qualified to speak to Chiba.

All the pressure was concentrated on Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen remained silent.

He neither refuted him nor agreed immediately.

He was weighing his options.

He was weighing not only the gains and losses, but life and death as well.

As the former Hokage.

He knew better than anyone.

Chiba's demand was not a negotiation with them, but a final ultimatum.

If they refused.

Chiba would absolutely act without hesitation.

That Wood Golem, hundreds of meters tall, was the clearest warning.

Since Chiba had dared to tear off Danzo's arm in public and have Fugaku Uchiha kill Danzo.

Wouldn't he dare to cut off the heads of a few of them?

What prestige of the Konoha High Command.

What stabilizing the situation.

Before absolute violence, all of it was utterly worthless.

Even if Chiba slaughtered them all today.

The clan heads outside probably would not even dare let out a peep; they might even applaud and cheer.

Because the Four Great Clans' greed had become truly unbearable these past years.