The Third Hokage Was Furious!

Wait, that wasn't the fucking point. The point was that Shimura Danzō had leaked village intelligence and made a deal with Hanzo of the Salamander, hoping he would kill Jingyi.

Hissss...

This was a big deal.

"Is everything you said true, sir?"

Hanzo of the Salamander stared coldly at Little Honda.

"This old man disdains lying. This man offended me in the village, which was why he was captured. The interrogation intelligence is here as well. Deliver it all to the Hokage."

"Tell him that if he wants to respond to Sunagakure's provocations, he should not drag Amegakure into it. This old man does not wish to become Konoha's enemy, but I am not made of clay either."

So you took this old man for a Monkey, did you?

Then don't blame this old man for smearing your name!

After all, you, Shimura Danzō, really did leak plenty of Konoha's intelligence. This old man was merely adding a little water to it. You had no choice but to carry this blame.

Something huge had happened!!!

Leaving the corpse behind after saying what he wanted to say, Hanzo of the Salamander withdrew decisively.

Little Honda paced about anxiously.

"Why would Lord Danzo want to assassinate Jingyi?"

"I don't know. Did Jingyi offend him?"

"Whether they had a conflict or not, he shouldn't have done something like this. Worse still, he leaked the village's intelligence and asked someone else to act."

No matter what conflicts or grudges Jingyi had with Shimura Danzō, it was wrong for Shimura Danzō to target him and arrange an assassination. Using village intelligence as payment to hire outsiders was even worse in nature.

Little Honda rushed into the Medical Department, explained what had happened, and asked anxiously, "What do we do? What should we do now?"

What could they do? They were screwed, of course.

Sarutobi Mishima covered his face in misery. Danzo, Danzo... how could you dare?!

Hiring someone to conduct an assassination was one thing, but he had handled it so sloppily. Now someone had directly sold him out. He was finished!

Sarutobi Mishima was certain that as long as this news reached the village, Shimura Danzō was finished.

Mm... the demigod was quite the character too. Danzo, you hadn't expected this, had you?

Hahaha...

If Little Honda and Sarutobi Mishima had not been there, Jingyi would have wanted to laugh for a while first.

"I'll make the trip myself."

This matter was too serious for Little Honda and Sarutobi Mishima to handle. They could only return to the village as quickly as possible and let the Third Hokage decide.

Hopefully, Lord Hokage would not be angered to death.

"Hahaha..."

After Little Honda and Sarutobi Mishima left, a burst of laughter rang out from the infirmary.

The ninjas in the camp looked at one another. They could understand Jingyi's feelings, but wasn't laughing so openly a little inappropriate?

Shimura Danzō had truly dropped a rock on his own foot this time. Even if he would not receive an overly severe punishment in consideration of his past merits, the Third Hokage would not let him off easily.

For the foreseeable future, Shimura Danzō had completely lost the ability to make trouble.

By the time he could start causing trouble again, Jingyi would be able to crush him easily, like squashing a tiny pest.

Given the gravity of the matter, Sarutobi Mishima first used the ninja hawk specially assigned to transmit intelligence in the camp to send the news back and prepare the Third Hokage. He himself carried the corpse and hurried toward the village.

Running from the border camp back to the village, with the thick winter snow slowing travel, would take Sarutobi Mishima at least two days.

The ninja hawk flying directly through the sky, on the other hand, could reach Konoha in merely three or four hours.

"Lord Hokage, this is a scroll sent by the Intelligence Department. It came from the border camp in the Land of Rain."

Hanzo of the Salamander had arrived at the camp early in the morning, and Sarutobi Mishima had promptly sent out the news. Thus, when the intelligence scroll arrived in Konoha, the Third Hokage had only just finished lunch.

"Put it on the desk."

Without even raising his head from the documents he was reviewing, the Third Hokage replied and continued reading. The scroll could wait.

After carefully reading the document in his hand, pondering it for a moment, writing his approval, and stamping it with the Hokage's seal, the Third Hokage finally set it aside and picked up the scroll beside him.

Using the designated code to open the scroll, the Third Hokage scanned it while expertly picking up the smoking pipe from his desk, placing it between his lips, and lighting it.

"Pfft—cough, cough!!!"

The tobacco had only just been lit, and after taking one puff, the Third Hokage's eyes widened. He shot to his feet in shock, knocking over the chair beneath him, and was badly choked by the smoke he had inhaled.

"How could this be?!"

"This is impossible."

At that moment, the Third Hokage had no mind to smoke. He threw the pipe aside as quickly as possible, grabbed the scroll, and held it so close to his face that it nearly touched.

Was this scroll serious?

Danzo had actually leaked village intelligence to make a deal with Hanzo of the Salamander and ask him to assassinate Jingyi?

And in the end, he had been sold out by the other party.

After reading it once, the Third Hokage thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. After the second time, he still could not believe it. By the third reading, fury had spread across his entire face.

"Danzo!!!"

The Third Hokage trembled with rage.

He slammed the scroll down on the desk.

Startling the Anbu ninja standing guard outside the door.

He could tacitly allow Shimura Danzō to make a move against Jingyi. So long as Shimura Danzō did not use the village's resources or drag him into it, he would pretend not to see.

After all, Shimura Danzō had taken the blame for him many times and made many contributions. Even if not for the monk's sake, then for the Buddha's, he still had uses for Shimura Danzō.

So he had to give him a little leeway.

But the Third Hokage had never imagined, even in his dreams, that Shimura Danzō would be so brazen as to use the village's intelligence in a deal. How was that any different from betrayal?

The village had just held an important meeting, and right afterward, you, Shimura Danzō, took that intelligence to make a deal?

Where was your shame?!

"Go bring Danzo to me immediately. Oh, and Koharu and the others too. Bring that fat man Torifu Akimichi as well! Get them here quickly!!"

Hanzo of the Salamander had personally gone to the camp to negotiate and announced the matter in public. There was no way to keep it hidden.

Once the news started spreading, the impact would be explosive.

If it was not handled properly, their entire leadership group would be affected.

The Hokage was furious!

The Anbu personnel did not know what had happened either. Knowing the Third Hokage was in a rage, they could only obediently go fetch the others.

"Monkey, why did you call me over again? Didn't I say—"

Having been summoned in confusion, Torifu Akimichi had planned to make a joke. Before he could finish, however, he saw the Third Hokage's face, so dark it seemed ready to drip water. He decisively shut up and sat on the floor to wait for the others.

Though Torifu Akimichi wore a solemn expression on the surface, inwardly, he was wondering what could have angered the Third Hokage to such an extent.

It seemed this was no simple matter.

Before long, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura arrived as well.

When the two entered the Hokage Office and noticed the Third Hokage's expression, they looked toward Torifu Akimichi.

Torifu Akimichi gave them a look that said he did not know either, then settled down calmly. He had decided that he should stay out of this matter as much as possible today.