Dismissal

The Root elders burned with anger at Danzo's excuses. "He won't admit a thing. He's just muddying the waters."

"The evidence is right in front of him, and he's still making excuses."

Koharu, Homura, and several other elders examined the dead men's memories in turn. They were indeed Root members.

No one believed Danzo. Both Advisors and the elders knew what kind of man he was, but they could not simply remove a member of the Konoha leadership.

"Examine everyone else's memories," Koharu said. "We might find something different."

They examined the bodies one by one. The memories of Elder Ito's men revealed their clash with Root.

The mysterious figure Fugaku had impersonated did not appear in their memories. Those ninja were already dead when he intervened, and Elder Ito had likewise said nothing about receiving help from a mysterious ninja.

Elder Ito had not explained how the Root ninja died, either. Bringing a mysterious figure into the matter would only complicate things and might give Danzo an opening to turn the accusation back on him.

Several members of the Konoha leadership doubted Elder Ito could have killed twelve Root ninja, but none raised the question. The way they looked at him showed they were reassessing him.

"We've examined the memories. What happened is plain to see," Ito said coldly. "You are all members of the Konoha leadership. If you fail to provide a satisfactory answer today, people will lose faith, and distrust will take root among many ninja. I'm not the only victim here.

"Many of the victims were ordinary Konoha ninja. It would be a terrible thing if the rank and file began to distrust the leadership."

"Danzo has a point as well. We cannot remove a member of the leadership based solely on the dead men's memories.