Severing Danzō's Arm

They brought up defecting from the village again and again.

As the old saying went, even a clay figurine had some temper, let alone Mirai, who was a living person.

Mirai immediately looked arrogantly at Konoha's two advisors and said, "Defecting from the village, defecting from the village, defecting from the village! It's always defecting from the village. So what if I defected? What could you do to me?!"

The moment those words left his mouth, everyone was startled.

Jiraiya's face twitched. Holy shit, why did you go and pick up that thread?

"Mirai, don't talk nonsense!" the Third Hokage barked in a low voice.

"Good, good! Hiruzen, look! Look at this Hokage you chose!"

"Look at the kind of thoughts he has! And you still dare hand the village over to him!"

As the saying went, if you didn't court death, you wouldn't die—but once you did, death was inevitable.

Those two old fools started stirring things up again.

"Enough! Shut up!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed the table, his chest heaving.

Everyone except Mirai was startled.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was truly furious. He suddenly wondered how his two old comrades-in-arms could be so brainless.

Mirai had never caused trouble in Konoha and had always kept a low profile.

Yet whenever the village faced a crisis, he stepped forward and saved it from disaster.

Would someone like that defect from the village? What would he even gain from it?

Since there was nothing to gain, why the hell would he defect? It was something that did not even need consideration.

Besides, even if Mirai did defect, what could they possibly do about it with his strength?

Given his combat power, there really was probably no one in the entire village who could do anything to him.

Intimidated by Hiruzen Sarutobi's authority as the Third Hokage, everyone fell silent.

But that did not include Mirai.

At that moment, Mirai suddenly spoke. "Konoha is wonderful, and the people in the village are wonderful too. I like Konoha, and I also like the people of Konoha!"

When Mirai suddenly said this, everyone relaxed a little.

Only Jiraiya felt a trace of unease. From the beginning, this guy had not seemed like the sort to bow his head.

The way he was acting now looked strange. Don't tell me he has something else up his sleeve?

Just as Jiraiya finished muttering to himself, Mirai's next words suddenly took a turn.

"But there will always be some powerful idiots in the village who want to destroy all of this!"

"You..."

Koharu Utatane pointed at Mirai furiously. She knew Mirai was talking about them.

Her chest aching with rage, Koharu Utatane turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi and said, "Look! This is the new generation of Hokage you chose! Tell me, what part of him looks like a Hokage?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi glared at the enraged Koharu Utatane.

In a low voice, he said, "Even if Mirai doesn't look like a Hokage, does Danzō?"

Danzō was instantly dumbfounded. Why me again?

You can fight all you want, but why do I get dragged into it every time?

Danzō had been happily watching Mirai and the two advisors tear into each other.

He had been secretly delighted, thinking Mirai's chances of becoming Hokage were finished.

Who would have thought it would be him again? Am I really that easy to pick on?

"This old man... this old man..." Danzō had just begun to speak when he felt a chill at his neck.

Mirai was smiling at him, while the hand blade in his hand casually swept across again.

Feeling another wound appear on his neck, Danzō immediately fell silent.

Speak? Speak my ass!

Hearing Danzō mumble, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned his head toward him as well.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at his former old comrade, his eyes filled with complex emotions that eventually became complete disappointment.

After taking a breath, he said solemnly, "Danzō, stop thinking about the Hokage position. You will never have that position in this lifetime!"

"What?!"

Danzō's expression changed drastically when he saw Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly become so resolute.

He had never imagined that Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had always been kind and easy to talk to, would be so decisive today.

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane both agreed with Hiruzen Sarutobi's decision.

But they also felt that Hiruzen Sarutobi did not need to say it so directly. It was simply too cruel...

The Third coldly watched Danzō and said in a disappointed, deep voice, "Because you're unworthy!"

"Because I've finally realized that you've truly changed! You'll stop at nothing to satisfy your selfish desires!"

"Root started as Konoha's force, but it gradually became your personal force. The current Root can no longer be considered Konoha's force!"

"Danzō, you've truly disappointed me!"

Every word from Hiruzen Sarutobi struck at Danzō's heart, and his expression changed again and again.

Seeing the grave look on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, Danzō hurriedly argued, "No, that's not true! Root has always been Konoha's force, and everything I've done has been for Konoha!"

At those words, a cold smile appeared on the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's face.

"Since you claim Root is Konoha's force, then from this moment onward, Root's establishment will be reduced to two squads! All dismissed shinobi will be transferred into the Hokage's direct Anbu!"

"What?" Danzō flew into a rage.

"Hiruzen, you've gone too far! I am the master of Root. What right do you have to reduce my Root!"

"Because I am the Hokage. I am Konoha's highest commander!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi abandoned his usual gentleness and became exceptionally firm.

"Ah..."

Ignoring Mirai's lightning hand blade at his neck, Danzō let out an enraged roar!

Root had been built by his own hands. He had poured so much effort into it before it became what it was today.

It didn't matter if he failed to obtain the position of Hokage. He still had Root, and he was still a high-ranking member of Konoha's leadership.

But now that Hiruzen Sarutobi had reduced it like this, what could Danzō do in the future?

Leaving him two squads? What were two squads supposed to do for him?

Were they meant to humiliate him, or pity him?

Or were they specifically being left behind to serve as his guards in his old age?

A miserable look appeared on Danzō's face as he gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a bitter smile. "Monkey, for Mirai's sake, you're going to treat me like this?"

When Hiruzen Sarutobi heard Danzō call him "Monkey," his heart inexplicably softened.

But when he saw Mirai beside him, he suppressed that softness.

He said in a deep voice, "Danzō, it seems you still don't understand! Everything turned out this way because of your own actions. Your heart has changed—it has become different from ours..."

"Enough, enough, enough!"

With a twisted expression, Danzō roared furiously, "Hiruzen, enough! I don't care what you say about me. You can condemn me however you want, but there is one thing you cannot say!"

"That is, you cannot say that I am disloyal to Konoha! I will never allow that!"

Mirai looked at the Danzō who had already lost his reason and shook his head.

You still think you did it all for Konoha? Just look at the things you've done over the years.

Every single one of them was for yourself.

"How pathetic."

Mirai said it lightly.

Yet Danzō took it as Mirai mocking him.