Shimura Danzō, the Human Tree

With a thud, Shimura Danzō dropped to both knees on the cold floor. Everyone nearby heard it clearly.

"Hiruzen! My old friend!" Shimura Danzō let out a heartrending wail. Tears streamed down his aged face, and his nose ran freely.

He bent over and pounded the floor with his fists. His grief seemed so raw, his emotion so fierce, that it moved those watching.

"Do you remember? We fought side by side, studied together under the Second Hokage, and protected Konoha together. It feels like yesterday!"

His voice choked as he recounted memories only their generation knew, painting a picture of the bond they had once shared.

"You said we'd watch Konoha prosper together. How could you leave first? What's the point of keeping these old bones of mine around?"

His lament proved infectious. Some villagers and Genin began wiping away tears, touched by such a deep brotherhood.

"Why... why was the Four Violet Flames Formation so strong? Why did help arrive a step too late? If I'd been... if I'd been just a little faster, would things have turned out differently? Hiruzen, I failed you!"

He beat his chest and stamped his feet. His words brimmed with regret and bewilderment over his failure to arrive in time, neatly casting himself as a man who had wanted to help but could not.

More than a few listeners sighed, and some even began to sympathize with the grief-stricken elder.

Shimura Danzō cried louder and harder, as if pouring out a lifetime of sorrow at that very moment.

At last, before the tearful eyes of the crowd, his sobs caught in his throat. His body went rigid, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted from grief, collapsing heavily before Hiruzen Sarutobi's memorial portrait!

"Elder Danzo!"

"Quick! Help him!"

The scene descended into