Playing with Danzo Shimura

Having been toyed with by Mirai, Danzō immediately flew into a rage. "Brat, it's been many years since anyone dared speak to me like that!"

"Even Jiraiya, who's a generation older than you, wouldn't dare speak to me this way. You're being far too presumptuous!"

Jiraiya merely gave a soft snort at that.

Although Danzō was his master's junior, the two of them rarely had dealings with each other.

Besides, over the years, Jiraiya had taken plenty of Danzō's crap himself.

If not for his concern for Konoha and for his teacher, he would have wanted to confront him long ago.

Now that he saw Mirai directly going head-to-head with him, Jiraiya was naturally delighted to watch.

"He's him, and I'm me. What the hell does whether he dares or not have to do with me? Don't think dragging him out here makes you impressive!"

Mirai sneered disdainfully.

Jiraiya was dumbfounded. What the fuck!

I was just sitting here quietly. How did this end up involving me again...

"Bastard!" Danzō slammed the table and roared, "Do you even know who I am, to dare speak such wild nonsense?!"

"What the hell does who you are have to do with me? Do I need to know the names of every stray cat and dog?"

Mirai dug some earwax out of his ear and turned his head away.

He looked like he could not be bothered to deal with Danzō at all.

Seeing Mirai's attitude, Danzō was so furious he nearly dropped dead on the spot.

He had originally intended to give Mirai a show of force and dampen his arrogance.

Yet this guy simply refused to follow the usual script.

How was this supposed to continue? How was he supposed to play this game?

Seeing Danzō get so enraged by Mirai that he was practically ascending to heaven, Koharu Utatane could no longer sit still.

Although Mirai had just left her speechless with his retorts, she still had to speak up when her comrade was being put on the spot.

"Mirai, this is the Hokage's office. Show some respect when you speak!"

Mirai looked at Koharu Utatane and smiled faintly. "What, weren't you scolded enough just now? You want to keep going?"

"You..."

Koharu Utatane glared at Mirai resentfully, then fell silent.

Danzō sensed that the situation was not looking good and turned to look at Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, was calmly puffing on his pipe and drinking tea, as though nothing had happened.

The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Danzō storm in earlier, he understood.

Danzō had deliberately come looking for trouble today, so when he saw Mirai trading barbs with him, he did not interfere.

At his age, Hiruzen Sarutobi was shrewd enough to see through anything. He had just watched Mirai verbally crush his two old friends.

That sharp tongue of his was just right for putting Danzō in his place as well.

The only thing giving Hiruzen Sarutobi a slight headache was that Mirai really was a troublesome hothead.

"Enough! Listen carefully!"

Danzō shouted at Mirai, "I am the master of Root! Did you hear me?!"

"Did you eat garlic before coming out this morning?" Mirai covered his nose and looked at Danzō in disgust.

"Root? What kind of thing is that? Tree roots? Garlic roots? Never heard of it. Is it famous?"

Mirai wore an expression of complete confusion, as though asking what on earth Danzō was talking about.

Couldn't he say something Mirai actually knew? Why was he saying such incomprehensible nonsense?

"You..."

Looking at Mirai's blank expression, coupled with those soul-searching questions from earlier, Danzō's old face immediately reddened. Even the finger he pointed at Mirai with was trembling, showing just how badly he had been angered.

What could he say? How could he answer?

Could he really tell everyone present outright that his Root was fucking amazing?

Could he directly tell them that every shady thing Konoha could not expose to the light was handled by Root?

How could Danzō possibly say something like that aloud?

Before Danzō could lash out again, Mirai began his counterattack.

"Me, me, me—what about you? You can't even speak properly. Looks like you're about done for..."

Mirai looked at Danzō and began tearing into him. "Do you know who I am? Do you know my title?"

Danzō had just opened his mouth when Mirai cut him off and continued, "I'm a hero of Konoha, you know that? And you want a Konoha hero like me to give up his seat for you!"

"I just want to ask, can you have even a little shame? Don't you feel even the slightest embarrassment or guilt?!"

Jiraiya's face twitched, clearly stunned by Mirai's move.

As for Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, they turned their faces in other directions.

As though they knew nothing about what had just happened.

Yet judging by the twitching expressions on their faces, they had clearly been shocked senseless by Mirai as well.

Everyone silently thought to themselves: You really are a hero, but no one's ever seen a hero like you.

What kind of hero goes around constantly calling himself a hero?!

Obviously none existed before, but now Konoha had one.

Though he had been stunned, Jiraiya had only one word in his heart: Awesome!

Even the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, seated behind the Hokage's desk, kept a straight face, but had only one word in his heart as well: Awesome!

After being snapped at by Mirai like that, Danzō's whole body began trembling.

Mirai was like a hedgehog.

No matter where one tried to bite him, getting pricked was unavoidable.

Turning back around, Danzō could only suppress his trembling as he asked Hiruzen Sarutobi behind the Hokage's desk, "Hiruzen, this is the Hokage you chose?"

"That's right!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded firmly.

Danzō was instantly dumbfounded.

Thinking perhaps he had phrased the question wrong, he changed his approach. "You think he can really lead Konoha?"

"He can!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not say much, but every word was filled with certainty.

Seeing how resolute the Third Hokage was, Danzō immediately lost his composure.

"Hiruzen, have you gone mad? You're letting a mere brat become Hokage? Have you gone senile?!"

Though Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were somewhat timid by nature, they were still Konoha's advisors.

Everything they did was for Konoha.

Now, seeing Danzō speak so irrationally, they angrily rebuked him. "Danzō, this is the Hokage's office!"

"Do you even realize what you just said?!"

"You..."

Danzō's expression immediately darkened as he looked at Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, who had suddenly begun confronting him.

Perhaps realizing that he had misspoken, he could only shut his mouth.

Originally, Danzō had nothing left to say, so under normal circumstances, the matter would have ended there.

But who was Mirai? He was a hedgehog.

He pricked anyone he caught, and while Danzō wanted to leave it at that, Mirai had no such intention.

Thus, his thorn-filled counterattack began.

Mirai chuckled and looked at Danzō. "Come to think of it, during the unrest, I should have been running back and forth across the entire battlefield, right? Yet I don't recall seeing an old man like you anywhere!"

"Not even that whatever-it-was you mentioned just now—Root, was it? I don't think I saw a single Root ninja. Don't tell me you were hiding somewhere and watching the show?"