Making a Move

"Hm?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly grew suspicious.

Frowning, he seemed to feel as though he had grasped something crucial—something that had always been overlooked.

That old bastard Danzo Shimura was no fool, either.

His conduct over so many years had long tempered his mental fortitude.

Hearing Mirai's soul-piercing question, Danzo immediately slammed the table and roared.

"Hmph, what does a brat like you know? Root is an important force hidden in Konoha's shadows. Do you think it can be deployed whenever someone feels like it?!"

"I have my own methods, and it is not your place, brat, to point fingers at me!"

Mirai sneered. "Hidden my ass! Konoha is practically finished, and you're still hiding some bullshit? Hiding what, exactly?!"

"Hmph, what does a brat like you know?! I was guarding against further unforeseen incidents. This is called a double safeguard! How could you possibly understand my painstaking intentions?!"

"Besides, even though I did not act, didn't Konoha overcome this crisis all the same?!"

Danzo Shimura knew he had fallen into Mirai's trap, but he still forced himself to explain.

But was anyone present an idiot?

No. Every last one of them was an old fox.

The way everyone looked at Danzo took on a strange undertone.

"Everyone, listen to him. Listen to whether this is even human language! This is Root's so-called reason, its so-called logic? Bah!"

Mirai sneered relentlessly. "I think you just wanted to preserve Root's strength!"

"Preserve our strength? Correct, you are correct! What is wrong with having Root preserve its strength?!"

Danzo swept his gaze over the crowd, then declared with righteous indignation, "Everything I have done was for Konoha!"

At those words, Mirai smiled.

He had dug such a huge pit just to wait for Danzo to jump in.

Now that Danzo had so cooperatively taken the leap, it was Mirai's turn.

"I never said you were wrong for preserving strength! But was your so-called preservation of strength really for Konoha—or for yourself personally?"

"And that so-called Root of yours... does it belong to Konoha, or does it belong to you, Danzo, alone?"

Every word Mirai spoke struck straight into their hearts.

Everyone's expressions abruptly changed, turning grim.

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado all fell deep into thought.

Seeing everyone lost in thought, Mirai gleefully dropped another bombshell.

"I think you old bastard had ulterior motives! You deliberately used this opportunity to weaken the Hokage's forces while keeping yourself completely unscathed!"

The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.

This was no longer the same as their earlier petty verbal clash. The meaning of this matter had changed.

Once it was confirmed, even Danzo would not get off lightly.

"Bastard! You are spouting slander and nonsense!"

Danzo pointed at Mirai, his finger trembling nonstop.

He was not only furious at Mirai, but frightened as well.

"Oh?" Mirai curled his lips into a smile.

"Since you claim I'm slandering you and talking nonsense, then I would like to ask you something."

"I heard that Konoha also suffered a great calamity thirteen years ago. The battle then was countless times more tragic than this one. Even the Fourth Hokage died in battle. Is that true or not?"

Everyone was stunned. What was Mirai doing?

How had he suddenly brought up such old matters while they were talking?

And matters from more than a decade ago, at that.

Danzo did not detect anything wrong with Mirai's words, so he admitted it. "Correct! Just as you said!"

Seeing Danzo cooperate once more, Mirai was immediately delighted.

He looked at Danzo with a beaming smile, then said something shocking.

"If that is the case, then under those circumstances, did you, old man, and your Root deploy?"

"Nani?"

Danzo was instantly shocked. So this was where Mirai had dug the pit and waited for him.

Everyone's gazes changed, turning icy.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had an even colder glint in his eyes.

Thinking back to the Nine-Tails incident, he truly had not seen Danzo or any members of Root.

It wasn't just this once. Every time Konoha had faced peril, neither Danzo nor his Root had been anywhere to be seen.

In other words, everything Mirai had just said was supported by evidence—solid, irrefutable evidence.

Even Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, who were often with Danzo, now looked at him with hostility in their eyes.

This was no longer merely a matter of interests.

It was a matter concerning Konoha Village itself.

"Why are all of you looking at me like that? Everything I did was for Konoha, for the village!"

Danzo was beginning to panic. He had never expected Mirai, this little brat, to keep leading him into one trap after another today.

And every one of them had left him in a miserable state.

"Danzo, you've changed. You've become corrupt! I can only blame myself for indulging you too much all these years!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was grave. Clearly, he had been deeply disappointed in Danzo.

Thinking of everything Danzo had done over the years, Hiruzen's heart grew heavy.

He had thought that, as fellow disciples of the Second Hokage, Danzo and he both devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the village.

Even if they differed in opinion on certain matters, it had still been for the village's sake.

Yet he had never imagined that Danzo had done all of this for himself.

In order to seize Konoha's power and take the position of Hokage for himself, he had actually done such things.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help but begin reflecting on whether he had truly been wrong all these years.

"Hiruzen, you..."

Danzo looked utterly flustered. He had never expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to treat him this way.

Mirai looked at Danzo and felt that the fire he had lit was not burning fiercely enough, so he added more fuel to it.

"Danzo really did do it for Konoha—just for his own Konoha!"

"Y-you bastard! All you do is spew bloody slander and nonsense!" Danzo was truly panicking now.

But faced with Danzo's rebuttal, how many people would still believe him?

The Third Hokage looked at Danzo and asked heavily, "What exactly did you come here for today?"

"If you came to stop Mirai from inheriting the position of Hokage, then you're too late. Before you arrived, he had already refused it!"

"What?"

Danzo was completely dumbfounded!

At the same time, he could not understand why Mirai would refuse such a powerful and prestigious position as Hokage.

Once one became Hokage, one would stand among the highest figures in the ninja world.

Even Madara Uchiha, the Asura of the ninja world, had once coveted the position of Hokage.

Yet Mirai had given it up. He had given up that lofty position.

But if you were going to refuse it, you should have said so earlier!

If you had said it earlier, would there have been any need for all this trouble?

And now, not only had he failed to do anything to anyone else, he had gotten himself covered in filth instead.

At that moment, Danzo truly wanted to slap himself across the face.