The talks fell apart, without any surprise.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had indeed heard what he wanted to hear, but Danzo's words were so harsh that, amid his guilt, he also felt a little afraid.
He immediately used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished.
Danzo did not follow him. He sat back down in his recliner to rest.
He would not be like the original Danzo, wholeheartedly taking the blame for Sarutobi Hiruzen for Konoha's sake.
A home?
To be honest, Sarutobi Hiruzen's words had still moved Danzo quite a bit.
Since he had decided to live here peacefully from now on, it seemed he ought to do something for this home.
And he had no intention of being some silently self-sacrificing good man. He needed to step out of these shadows and let the people of Konoha, bathed in sunlight, know that he existed.
Lying there, Danzo watched as the sky gradually brightened. When the first ray of sunlight shone across his face, he could not help but form a gentle smile.
First, he would restore his reputation, then go teach at the Ninja School.
"Ryoma."
"Here."
"Arrange some men to deliver several letters in my name to the Feudal Lord's Mansions of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, as well as several other ninja villages."
"Yes."
After returning to the Hokage Building and lying down for less than two hours, Sarutobi Hiruzen got back up to prepare for the meeting.
Kumogakure's delegation was still in Konoha, waiting for an explanation.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Raikage had already assembled his army at the border, ready to cross from the Land of Lightning into the Land of Fire at any moment.
They were waiting for a pretext.
A pretext that would convince the feudal lord of the Land of Lightning to approve a war.
There was no more time to delay this matter.
The Clan Heads had all arrived at the Hokage Building early in the morning to wait. Sarutobi Hiruzen was the last to arrive.
Once seated at the head of the table, Sarutobi Hiruzen announced the start of the meeting.
"Where is Danzo?" Utatane Koharu asked with a frown as she looked at the empty seat beside Sarutobi.
"He is not coming. We can decide things ourselves," Sarutobi said helplessly. He realized he could no longer see through this old friend of his.
"That old man is getting more and more willful," Utatane Koharu said with a cold snort.
The various Clan Heads all had their own thoughts upon hearing Sarutobi's words.
Among them, Uchiha Fugaku frowned, disappointment in his eyes.
Shimura Danzō had inherited the Second Hokage's harsh beliefs and had always been dissatisfied with the Uchiha Clan.
Logically, Fugaku should have been happy that Danzo was not attending the meeting.
Yet Fugaku could not feel happy at all.
"Regarding Kumogakure's kidnapping of a member of the Hyuga Clan, you should all already know about it."
"Kumogakure now intends to start a war on the grounds that its delegation died in Konoha. We old folks discussed it and intend to seek peace, but we still need to hear your opinions," Sarutobi Hiruzen said calmly.
"I support seeking peace. Konoha needs time to recover," Nara Shikaku was the first to voice his opinion. The Akimichi Clan and Yamanaka Clan beside him also agreed.
With the Ino-Shika-Cho clans in agreement, the Inuzuka Clan and Sarutobi Clan quickly followed.
The other clans, large and small, in the village also responded in support of the decision.
The Aburame Clan, always an invisible and neutral faction within the village, abstained.
The Uchiha and Hyuga Clans, Konoha's two great clans, had not stated their positions, but the outcome already seemed clear.
"Since we have decided to seek peace, let me explain the other side's conditions," Sarutobi said calmly as he looked at the one-sided situation.
"Kumogakure demands that we hand over the murderer, namely the Hyuga Clan Head."
"Impossible!"
Hyuga Hiashi refused without hesitation, his expression ugly. "The Byakugan is the foundation of the Hyuga Clan. We cannot possibly hand it over to outsiders."
Moreover, as the Clan Head, if he were captured over this matter, the Hyuga Clan's standing in Konoha would plummet.
Sarutobi's expression also darkened. Kumogakure had proposed this condition that morning.
Their objective was undoubtedly the Byakugan.
"Kumogakure may only be after the Byakugan. The war itself may just be a pretext," Uchiha Fugaku said.
"But we cannot afford to gamble," Utatane Koharu said, looking at Hyuga Hiashi. "Konoha cannot withstand war right now, but there is no question that we cannot accept the humiliation of trading away a clan's head."
"We will find a way to negotiate with Kumogakure. If their goal is the Byakugan, then handing over one member of the Hyuga Clan should be enough."
"Hiashi, I recall that your younger brother Hizashi looks very much like you, doesn't he?" Utatane Koharu said, her meaning obvious.
When she received this news that morning, she had breathed a sigh of relief.
If they had come for the Byakugan, the price of the Peace Talks would be much lower.
The Caged Bird curse seal was a secret of the Hyuga Clan. Only a handful of people in the village knew about it, let alone people from other villages.
Once those people returned to their village with a Hyuga branch family member in tow, they would find that they could not obtain the Byakugan from him at all.
The thought made Utatane Koharu want to laugh.
If this was the price.
The people at the long table who had originally been dissatisfied with seeking peace gradually calmed down as well.
They could gain peace at such a small cost, and it was not one of their own people being chosen. Their resentment finally faded.
"Hiashi, the price of this decision is already very small. Consider the bigger picture," Mitokado Homura urged when he saw that Hyuga Hiashi was still hesitating.
Faced with the gazes cast at him from around the long table, Hyuga Hiashi sighed inwardly and finally nodded.
Bang!
At that moment, an Anbu wearing an animal mask suddenly appeared in the room.
"What is it?" Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up and asked with a frown. Unless something extraordinary had happened, the Anbu would not abruptly appear to interrupt a meeting.
"Lord Danzo sent people to kill every remaining member of the delegation still in Konoha," the Anbu immediately reported the information he had received.
"What?!"
Utatane Koharu slammed her hand onto the table and rose to her feet.
The others were equally shocked.
Hadn't that man said he would not attend the meeting?
Was he planning to cause trouble on his own?
"Everyone's here."
A somewhat gentle voice sounded by the window, interrupting everyone's surprise.
When they turned around, they found that a palanquin had somehow stopped outside the window.
Danzo lifted the curtain and stepped out of the palanquin, entering the Conference Room through the window.
"Perfect, everyone's here." Danzo smiled at the crowd. "Let me explain briefly. I accidentally killed all those Kumogakure people, so it seems there is no need to continue the meeting."
"Let's just go to war."
"What exactly are you doing?!" Sarutobi Hiruzen roared. Hadn't this man looked like he had seen through the mortal world this morning? Why was he making trouble again now?
And he had dropped a bomb all at once, flipping the entire table over.
"Th-This is Danzo?" Uchiha Fugaku stared at Danzo in surprise.
The other Clan Heads were the same.
They were all shocked by Danzo's now youthful face, and the fact that this man seemed to be smiling?
Danzo could smile?
Barening two rows of white teeth, Danzo looked at everyone before him and explained, "Perhaps because this monkey is too weak, the Second Hokage could no longer stand watching, so he made me younger to help him fight this war."
Since he had decided to regard Konoha as his home, Danzo naturally had to protect it properly.
And wasn't this the perfect chance for him to make an appearance before the people of Konoha?
Danzo could already imagine how many Skill Points he would gain once he won his first victory.
Before you continue