Chapter 29

A figure suddenly appeared. It was a very handsome man.

Half an hour later. "This place... what on earth happened here?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived at the scene with the Anbu.

Looking at the scene before him, his brain short-circuited on the spot.

On the ground were Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata...

Nine children in total, all tied up there.

And not just them.

There were also members of the Root Organization.

Not a single one missing. Every one of them had been tied to trees, their joints all dislocated. "Lord Hokage, we've checked the surroundings."

"Only one person made a move."

"To take down this many Root Organization members, they'd have to be at least Kage-level."

"And that person has very likely already slipped into the village."

The Third Hokage rubbed his temples, his head buzzing.

The Anbu stood beside him, equally dumbfounded. "Lord Hokage, should we first investigate what exactly is going on in the village right now?"

These Anbu had seen all kinds of situations on missions, but this was truly a first.

The most critical problem right now was that they had no idea what had happened here.

Ask those Root Organization guys? Forget it. Their mouths were tighter than clams, and they only listened to Danzo.

Then the answer could only be found from these children lying on the ground.

But as Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at this floor full of unconscious kids, his head hurt even more.

Because the moment he received the news, he had informed all the children's parents.

He had even made an exception and opened a loophole, allowing the parents to come out and take a look to see whether their children were all right.

The problem was, not a single one of the kids lying here was easy to deal with.

The vessel of the Nine-Tails—Naruto Uzumaki.

The rising star of the Uchiha Clan—Uchiha Sasuke.

The only son of the Nara clan head—Nara Shikamaru.

The precious darling of the Hyuga Clan's main family—Hyuga Hinata.

The little princess of the Yamanaka Clan—Yamanaka Ino.

The apple of the Akimichi Clan's eye—Akimichi Choji.

The young master of the Aburame Clan—Aburame Shino.

The son of the Inuzuka Clan—Inuzuka Kiba.

And one more... Sakura Haruno?

In any case, just looking at this lineup was enough to send anyone's blood pressure soaring. "Lord Hokage, I think this matter needs to be thoroughly investigated inside the village."

"No matter who planned it, they must be dealt with as guilty of betraying the village!"

At that moment, a man stepped forward.

It was the head of the Hyuga Clan, Hiashi Hyuga.

Hinata had only recently made a major breakthrough, and her relationship with Neji from the branch family had also eased quite a bit.

Then something like this happened. How could he not be furious?

"Clan Head Hyuga is right."

"This place is only a few hundred meters from Konoha Village."

"Also, we just discovered traces of Orochimaru's chakra, as well as signs that Manda appeared here."

"Lord Hokage, doesn't this need a proper investigation?"

Inoichi Yamanaka walked out steadily and dropped a heavy bomb **. "Orochimaru?"

"That guy got involved too?"

"If I remember correctly, the Police Force investigated him in the past. He seemed to be conducting human experiments."

"That was exactly why he defected, wasn't it?"

"If these children had been taken away by him, the consequences..."

Uchiha Fugaku was naturally present as well, and he threw out an even bigger piece of gossip. "What?"

"Minister Fugaku, is what you said true?"

"Lord Hokage, shouldn't you give us an explanation? Why did the Root Organization appear here?"

"Even if you indulge them, surely it hasn't reached this point?"

No one standing here was simple.

They were all clan heads of major clans!

Facing pressure from such a large group of clan heads, Hiruzen Sarutobi really was starting to buckle.

No matter how much authority he usually put on display, he did not dare brush this off casually now.

As for trying to fool them?

These clan heads had all crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood!

That trick might work on little brats, but...

"Everyone, take the children back for treatment first."

"When they wake up, ask them clearly what happened."

"Then we'll investigate accordingly."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke. "Fine."

"Clan heads, don't worry. The results will be out soon."

"If there are any clues, I can also lend a hand on my end."

"I've already scattered all my insects. As long as traces were left nearby, the information won't escape us."

After the group of clan heads gave their instructions in a clamor of voices, Sasuke and the others were sent to the hospital.

Medical ninja examined and treated them, and that night, several of them woke up one after another.

[Naruto: A bunch of masked guys suddenly appeared at the time. Before I could react, I was knocked out. I don't remember anything after that.]

[Sasuke: Naruto was the first to go down. We wanted to drag him back, so we clashed with that group. Unfortunately, the gap in strength was too big. Sakura Haruno was the second to fall.]

[Shikamaru: Here's what happened. Teacher Mizuki suddenly attacked us, so we could only retreat toward the village first. Teachers Bai Wenduo and Yi Hexi were badly injured...]

[Sakura Haruno: Mm... mmph...]

The more Hiruzen Sarutobi read the intelligence, the darker his face became.

His old face swelled straight into that of a big-headed doll.

All the current clues pointed toward Danzo's Root Organization. Moreover, the Root members captured at the scene were identified one by one.

Although Naruto and the others had not seen their faces clearly, they remembered the styles of those masks very clearly.

Every single one matched. "Third, what did you call me here for?"

Danzo walked into the Hokage's office, his face showing no ripples. "What for?"

"Open your eyes and look for yourself!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was full of anger.

This bastard was getting more and more out of line.

In the past, when Danzo made arrangements in the dark and promoted his own people, Hiruzen had turned a blind eye.

But this time, Danzo actually dared do something like this behind his back.

If it had not been discovered, there would still be room to maneuver.

But now the evidence was almost complete, and there was no way he could cover it up. "One look at this intelligence tells me it's a frame-up."

"Our Root Organization members went to save people."

"The other side was too strong and knocked all of our people unconscious, then dumped them at the scene."

"As for the problem with those children's memories, nine times out of ten they were caught in a genjutsu, or that group was wearing masks when they made their move in the first place."

Danzo spoke in a steady tone, his expression not changing in the slightest.

For something like this, all he had to do was deny it to the end.

The moment he admitted anything, even he could forget about getting out unscathed. "Enemy?!"

"Then tell me, what enemy could know exactly how your Root Organization masks are assigned?"

"Those few people were all elites under your command!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi wished he could convict Danzo on the spot.

But when he thought of all the things Danzo had done for the village over the years, as well as the old friendship between the two of them, he forcibly pressed down his anger. "I truly knew nothing about this."

"Also, traces of Orochimaru were found this time."

"Third, the person who let Orochimaru go back then was you."

Danzo lowered his voice as he spoke. "You...!"

After hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression grew even gloomier.

For an instant, the thought of directly making a move flashed through his mind.

Danzo's words were clearly using leverage to threaten him.

Over the years, Danzo had done countless dirty jobs for him, as well as missions that could never see the light of day.

If he dealt with Danzo now, those people would sooner or later spill everything.

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a suffocating tightness in his chest. "I understand."

"I'll leave the aftermath of this matter to you."

The moment Danzo left, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood where he was for a long while before the evil fire in his chest finally subsided. He took a deep breath and threw out a low-voiced line: "Behave yourself during this period. Don't stir up any more trouble."

Danzo did not turn back. He only tossed out an "Understood," then vanished without a trace.

Only after everyone had left did Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze fall back onto the pile of documents on the desk, his expression so dark it seemed water could drip from it.

Given the current situation, trying to cleanly separate Danzo from that pile of rotten business was nothing but a dream.

The Root Organization's people had been caught red-handed on the spot, and the fact that they had attacked those children was already set in stone. If he casually turned the page on this, forget the clan heads of the major clans not believing it—even he could not fool himself.

It seemed he could only take that step.

In Konoha's meeting room, the Hokage sat in the main seat. All the decision-makers from the families connected to this matter, as well as the notable powerhouses in their clans, had arrived.

To put it bluntly, this had only been a student trial, yet it had been turned into such a mess.

This was the village they had risked their lives to protect.

If they could not even protect their own little brats, then the "protection" they shouted about all day was simply the biggest joke under heaven. "The investigation results have already been placed on the table. I'm sure all of you have read them." Seeing that the atmosphere in the meeting room was so stifling it was hard to breathe, Hiruzen Sarutobi simply took the initiative to speak. "If there is anything you still don't understand, ask now."

The corner of Inoichi Yamanaka's mouth twitched, and his expression was clearly not very good. "You mean those Root Organization people also rushed over to carry out a rescue? Then they were controlled by the enemy's genjutsu, which caused all this trouble afterward?"

Those words could not even fool a three-year-old child.

It was a wonder Hiruzen Sarutobi could put aside that old face of his and make up such nonsense for Danzo. "Those Root Organization members have already been handed over to the Interrogation Department." Hiruzen Sarutobi continued without changing expression. "The person in charge of the Root Organization, Danzo Shimura, has also accepted an investigation. The current conclusion was given by the Interrogation Department. Of course, at the end of the day, this became such a mess because Orochimaru suddenly launched a sneak attack."

Without another word, he dumped the blame entirely onto Orochimaru.

Then, a person wrapped head to toe in bandages was carried into the meeting room.

That was right. It was Mizuki, whom Kakashi and Might Guy had teamed up to beat down.

At the time, in order to forcibly activate the curse mark, this guy had taken so much ** that large areas of his body were ruined. After taking another brutal beating from Kakashi, he had collapsed on the ground unable to move, and was eventually dragged back by the Medical Department. Only with Konoha's top equipment had they barely managed to keep him alive. "This man is called Mizuki. He was originally an instructor at the Ninja Academy." Hiruzen Sarutobi briefly explained the situation. "He ambushed the two leading teachers, and before the trial began, he also drugged Iruka, using underhanded means to seize the qualification to lead the team. He has a curse mark left by Orochimaru on his body. The source of this entire matter lies here."

After hearing this, Inoichi Yamanaka's expression froze completely.

Shibi Aburame almost failed to suppress his anger as well, looking as though he was about to stand up and fire back.

Right at this critical moment, a voice suddenly cut in, interrupting everyone's thoughts. "Since this matter was caused by the rogue ninja Orochimaru, then I suggest we cannot place all our hopes for pursuing the rogue ninja on Lord Jiraiya's side alone." That person's tone was steady, but every word struck the ears of everyone present. "The Uchiha Clan requests permission to act and join the operation to pursue the rogue ninja."

"Orochimaru is far too familiar with Konoha. Back then, he was also very close to the Root Organization. For him to imitate the Root Organization's masks and provoke us into killing one another internally is child's play."

"The most urgent thing is to resolve this trouble first. I think that is the real issue."

"Besides, none of the children from the various families suffered anything serious. Treat it as a lesson for them."

Uchiha Fugaku's words instantly pulled everyone's gazes over.

Who among the people present did not know about the grudge between Root and the Uchiha? Over the past few months, the two sides had already fought several times. If it were other ninja or ordinary civilians, they might think the Uchiha clan head understood the bigger picture and considered the overall situation. But everyone here knew what was going on—Fugaku's stance was clearly to prop up Hiruzen Sarutobi.

In plain terms, wasn't this helping Danzo Shimura get off the hook?

"Right, there's still one witness who hasn't arrived."

As soon as the words fell, Iruka was helped inside. There was not a trace of color on his face, and he looked as though he had just crawled out of a sickbed. The injuries from the last attack clearly had not fully healed yet.

Iruka recounted Mizuki's matter from beginning to end.

After hearing his words, the people present no longer insisted that Danzo had done this, but they were all clear in their hearts—even if Danzo had not personally given the order, someone in that Root Organization had definitely gotten involved. "Lord Hokage!"

Someone from the Interrogation Department suddenly burst in, clutching a document. "This is our interrogation record of the Root Organization members."

"Among them, Carlo and Tianyu were bribed by Orochimaru with benefits, and he also placed curse marks on them to control them."

"They have already betrayed the village."