Shimura Danzō, the Perfect Scapegoat

The Canopy Screen cut off at that very moment, leaving everyone in the Shinobi World frantic to know what happened next. Protests erupted over the brutal cliffhanger.

But Mahito's abilities and the mysterious organization called Nine Nether sparked an even bigger storm of discussion.

In the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi kept puffing on his pipe. Smoke gradually veiled his aged face, but it could not hide the sharpness in his eyes.

"Danzo, I still hope you'll be honest with us. Where exactly did you come into contact with this organization called Nine Nether?"

Bandages covered Shimura Danzō's face, making his expression impossible to read, but inside, he was utterly speechless.

He had never even heard of Nine Nether or Mahito. The problem was that no one believed him, no matter how many times he explained. He had given up trying.

Danzo remained silent, his lone eye lowered to the floor as though he were studying his own shadow.

"That monster Mahito! This so-called Nine Nether!" Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his hand on the desk with a deafening bang. "Where did you meet these evil beings?! How many deals have you made behind my back, behind Konoha's back?!"

The air in the room seemed to freeze. Outside the door, the two ANBU captains silently rested their hands on their kunai.

At last, Danzo slowly raised his head. There was no panic in his lone eye, not even anger—only a stillness too deep to fathom.

Instead of answering, he leaned forward slightly. His voice dropped to a venomous hiss, yet every word reached Hiruzen Sarutobi's ears:

"Hiruzen, what you saw was merely a ripple on the surface. You have no idea what greatness sleeps beneath the water!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils contracted. "What do you mean?!"

Danzo's voice grew distant and strange, as though he were no longer speaking for himself but reciting some blasphemous scripture:

"The price of knowledge is always sacrifice. If Konoha's great tree wishes to touch the true sun, it must drive its roots into depths of darkness that ordinary people cannot even imagine."

"Bastard!" Hiruzen Sarutobi roared. "Don't fob me off with riddles! You colluded with Nine Nether, framed Minato, and nearly destroyed all of Konoha! Is this what you call 'doing it for Konoha'?!"

The corner of Danzo's mouth seemed to lift by a fraction. The hint of a smile held pity and superiority, as though he were mocking Hiruzen Sarutobi's shortsightedness.

"Light needs shadow to define it, just as order needs chaos to give it birth. Konoha, even the entire Shinobi World, is no more than a grain of sand in an endless desert!

"Nine Nether is like the wind that moves that sea of sand. It can guide us to a hidden oasis—or allow us to become part of one."

Shimura Danzō's words were disjointed and steeped in metaphor.

"As for Mahito..." Danzo narrowed his lone eye, as though savoring a memory. "He is a shortcut to 'evolution'!"

"Doesn't his power to touch souls bring him closer to the realm of 'gods' than the Forbidden Techniques we've spent so long studying?"

"Hiruzen, you fear power you cannot understand. I chose to embrace it."

He paused, then ended his chilling "explanation" with a whisper that sounded almost like sleep talk:

"We are all under 'Their' gaze. Konoha's fate, and that of the entire Shinobi World, was decided long ago!"

"I merely chose a better place for Konoha in that future."

With that, Shimura Danzō lowered his head and fell silent again, as though those deranged, cryptic words had never left his mouth.

In truth, his mind was in chaos. He had no idea what anything he had just said meant. The words had simply spilled out.

What happened? Did someone control me? But why didn't I feel anything? It was as if I'd wanted to say it myself.

Could it have been Kotoamatsukami?!

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood rooted to the spot, every hair on his body on end.

Danzo's words had given him no clear answer. Instead, they had given him something more frightening than his worst fears.

Danzo's heart had been consumed and twisted by a dark creed Hiruzen could not comprehend.

He no longer seemed merely a schemer obsessed with power. He seemed more like a cultist.

"Danzo!!!" Hiruzen Sarutobi lost his temper, a rare sight.

"Hiruzen, you're too weak. If Konoha is to grow strong, it must accept more sources of power. Are you really going to claim you knew nothing about what Orochimaru did back then?"

Shimura Danzō glared back at Hiruzen Sarutobi, dragging an old secret into the open.

"You!" Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his mouth, wanting to say he truly had known nothing.

But the words would not come. He was the Hokage; very little happened in Konoha without his knowledge.

"Enough, Danzo. I am the Hokage! I forbid you from contacting a dangerous organization like Nine Nether again!" Hiruzen Sarutobi finally invoked his authority as Hokage.

"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

Bang! Shimura Danzō slammed the door shut.

Shimura Danzō hurried back to Root, intending to have his body thoroughly examined.

Left facing the empty room and the sky beyond the window, which was gradually returning to normal, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt an unprecedented chill seize his heart.

Have I really grown old? I should settle on the next Hokage as soon as possible!

Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned the ANBU and ordered them to find Jiraiya and Tsunade outside the village and tell them to return to Konoha immediately.

Meanwhile, the man behind it all, Hyuga Xiu, was at home watching his points plummet on the system screen, his heart aching with every loss.

Yes, he had sacrificed a vast number of Belief Points to use the system's power and make Shimura Danzō utter that string of riddles.

The Sky Screen System worked almost like spoken words becoming reality. No matter what Hyuga Xiu said, if he had enough Belief Points, it would happen in the real world.

Its limits, however, were severe: the number of Belief Points consumed rose with the demands of Hyuga Xiu's request.

If his request was reasonable—for example, wishing for Tsunade Senju to become Konoha's Fifth Hokage—it would cost very few Belief Points.

His wish for Danzo to admit contact with the Ninefold Organization and then spout a riddle no one could understand was another matter.

That was plainly unreasonable. Danzo would never take the blame for no reason, so it had cost Hyuga Xiu a huge number of Belief Points.

Even so, it was the best way Hyuga Xiu currently had to convince everyone that the Ninefold Organization really existed.

Summoning Mahito out of thin air would have cost far more Belief Points.

That made pinning the blame on Danzo the most cost-effective option.

Danzo already had so much blame on his shoulders that a little more hardly mattered. The sooner his reputation hit rock bottom, the easier it would be for Hyuga Xiu to pin more on him later.