Kidomaru and Tayuya sprinted frantically. Only after reaching the outskirts of the village did they finally run into Jirobo and Sakon and Ukon, who had been waiting for them for ages.
The waiting pair were about to tell Kidomaru and Tayuya what had happened to them, only to see the two fleeing toward them in terror like beaten dogs, then racing straight past them.
Jirobo hurriedly asked in a low voice.
"What happened? Did you deal with that arrogant villager?"
Before he had even finished, Kidomaru and Tayuya, too pale and frantic to explain, roared as they ran:
"Run!! Shut up and run!!"
"Otherwise, we won't be dealing with him-he'll be dealing with us!!"
Those simple words instantly sent chills crawling over Jirobo's and Sakon and Ukon's scalps.
There was no time to think. The sense of danger honed by years of fighting surged to its limit, and they turned and followed their teammates at full speed without looking back. No more questions. Whoever ran slowest would be the meat shield.
The four figures vanished into the depths of the forest in an instant.
By the time Miki Yūya chased them to the village entrance, there was no one left.
A clone had fooled him into taking a detour.
Miki Yūya stood at the entrance, trembling with rage.
"Fuck!! You think knowing ninjutsu makes you hot shit?!"
"How dare you fool me with a clone!!"
With nowhere to vent his fury, Miki Yūya whipped his head around. His gaze cut past Konoha's buildings and locked onto the towering Hokage Rock atop the mountain.
The four stone faces of the First Hokage, the Second, the Third Hokage, and the Fourth Hokage overlooked all of Konoha.
Miki Yūya's gaze landed on Hiruzen Sarutobi's stone face, and he exploded!
"You useless old Third Hokage!!"
"Fine, you killed yourself out of guilt. Fine, you couldn't handle Orochimaru. But you still left a shitty statue taking up space."
"I finally get it now!"
"With a useless bastard like you running Konoha, how is this village any different from a public toilet?!"
"Any random piece of trash can stroll in and take a shit!! You really think us villagers are dung beetles, huh?"
The more he thought, the angrier he grew. The more he looked, the more it disgusted him!
Miki Yūya turned and headed back into the village, grabbed a hammer and crowbar from a construction site, and charged all the way up to the summit of Hokage Rock.
"If you couldn't protect Konoha, your statue doesn't deserve to stand here either!"
Clang!!
The hammer slammed down!
Chunks of rock flew, and stone dust filled the air!
Dull hammer blows echoed across the mountaintop!
Before long, the once imposing and dignified stone face of the Third Hokage had been smashed into a pockmarked, unrecognizable ruin!
The next morning, at Konoha's Hokage Building.
Tsunade arrived at her office early. The moment she pushed open the door, she found the entire room steeped in an oppressive atmosphere.
Danzo sat with his cane, his expression grim.
The two elders, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, looked solemn. They had clearly been waiting for some time, specifically to corner her and launch their accusations.
Before Tsunade could sit down, Danzo spoke first, his voice cold and hoarse as he demanded an explanation.
"Lord Hokage."
"Last night, the Sound Four, rogue ninja from Otogakure, infiltrated Konoha without authorization and wreaked havoc. They've caused quite a problem."
"The village barrier might as well not exist. Orochimaru could come and go as he pleased before, and now his four subordinates have appeared in the village. The villagers are terrified!"
Utatane Koharu followed immediately, her tone icy.
"Tsunade, as the Fifth Hokage, you oversee all the village's affairs."
"Allowing enemies to infiltrate the village is a dereliction of your duty!"
Mitokado Homura spoke flatly.
"Tsunade!"
"Enemies infiltrated the village and caused trouble. The villagers were so furious that your teacher, the Third Hokage's statue, was maliciously smashed!"
"This is a disgrace to the Hokage!"
The three backed one another up, piling on the pressure.
Only then did Tsunade sit down and look at them.
"So the three of you are saying... this is all my fault?"
Danzo looked at Tsunade. Of course he wanted to say it was her fault, but he couldn't say so outright.
"Since you hold the Hokage position, you should bear all blame and responsibility yourself. If I were Hokage, I would naturally bear responsibility for these failings as well. That is the Hokage's duty."
Hearing Danzo's words, Tsunade's anger surged:
"Am I the one managing Konoha's barrier, gate security, patrols, and defenses?"
"You know perfectly well who's responsible for letting enemies infiltrate. Why should all of it fall on me?!"
"Why?"
Danzo gave a cold laugh.
"Because you're the Hokage, Tsunade!"
"If you refuse to acknowledge your dereliction of duty, then I will take responsibility in your place. If you won't even accept responsibility, why be Hokage at all?"
Danzo refused to let go of the accusation. He clearly intended to use this incident to force Tsunade to concede, reclaim her authority, and place her under the elders' control.
Just as the office reached a tense, hostile stalemate-
A sudden clamor of overlapping protests rose from downstairs.
The voices grew louder, merging into a wave.
Konoha's villagers had arrived.
Countless villagers gathered below the Hokage's office, their voices deafening and their anger boiling over.
Hearing the thunderous protests below, Danzo's lips quietly curled into a sinister smile of triumph.
Just as expected.
The villagers had been secretly incited. Having already endured Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan, they had fallen into a massive panic now that his forces had entered Konoha again.
Tsunade had only just taken office, yet this new Hokage had already lost the people's support and seen her authority collapse. She couldn't possibly hold onto the Fifth Hokage's seat!
In the end, Konoha would still be controlled by veteran leaders like them. This was also his best opportunity to become Hokage.
Danzo feigned composure, suppressing his secret delight.
"Do you hear that?"
"The villagers' anger."
"Lord Hokage, the villagers need an explanation. They need answers!"
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura both looked at Tsunade, waiting for her to bow her head and admit fault.
Tsunade's face was livid, her heart filled with anger and frustration.
She knew the leadership had joined forces to set her up and deliberately attack her.
But as Hokage, she couldn't avoid it. She had to explain these matters to all the villagers.
Left with no choice, Tsunade strode forward, pushed open the office's enormous floor-to-ceiling window, and faced the dense crowd below.
Gusts of wind poured into the office!
But the instant the window opened!
Whoosh-!!
A stone shot through the air toward her.
It was fast and packed with force!
Holy shit!!
Tsunade reacted instantly, twisting aside to dodge.
The stone skimmed past her shoulder. Behind her, Danzo also exclaimed, "Holy shit!" and hurriedly dodged.
Then, immediately afterward.
Smack!!
The stone struck Mitokado Homura square in the forehead.
Blood instantly spurted out.
Mitokado Homura grunted. Bleeding from his head, he grew dizzy and staggered backward, utterly disheveled.
Everything fell silent.
A second later, an outrageously brazen, vicious shout erupted from the front of the crowd, cutting through the silence.
"Useless Hokage!!"
"A whole pack of useless leaders!!"
Miki Yūya stood at the very front of the crowd, his head raised as he stared at the four behind the window and hurled thunderous abuse.
"When that useless old Third Hokage was around, Konoha was a public toilet. People from Kumogakure could come in, people from Sunagakure could come in, and rogue ninja like Orochimaru could come and go whenever they wanted. Then there was Uchiha Itachi, who murdered his own family... he even brought a shark into the village on a leash."
"Now an old woman like you, Tsunade, has taken over, and nothing's improved. The doors are still wide open!"
"If you're incompetent, get the hell out of office and crawl back to your casino!"
Those words instantly ignited the villagers' pent-up resentment.
Rotten vegetable leaves, stones, and all sorts of debris rained toward the second-floor window of the Hokage Building.
"Exactly! You haven't done a damn thing!!"
"You're not fit to be Hokage!!"
"The ninja leadership is full of freeloaders!!"
"Good thing Tsunade doesn't have a statue! We'd smash that too!!"
[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +10] [Ding! Conqueror's Haki +13]
Curses, accusations, and cries of contempt rose one after another.
Behind the window, Tsunade's face was livid with humiliation. These unruly villagers wouldn't even give her a chance to explain.
Seeing Tsunade like this, Danzo broke into a smug smile.
He stepped forward, ready to soothe the people, reap their respect, and seize power in the process.
"Fellow villagers, please remain calm..."
Before he could finish, Miki Yūya spotted the one-eyed, scheming old bastard from below. His fury instantly shifted targets, and he unleashed everything.
"Fuck you, you old dog Danzo!!"
"You're the biggest traitor of all!!"
"You're a one-eyed bastard, yet you still dare sit among the leadership when you're half-blind!!"
"You can't even guard the village gates. You're the one letting all these enemies in, aren't you?!"
"You kept company with that useless old Third Hokage. No wonder you're cut from the same cloth-birds of a rotten feather."
"Blind, useless trash doesn't deserve power!!"
"The Third Hokage already killed himself out of guilt. Why haven't you killed yourself to atone yet, you old bastard?!"
"That one eye you've got left is just for show. You can't even keep watch over Konoha's gate."
Boom!!
The villagers' fury instantly shifted entirely onto him!
Fucking hell, the Hokage didn't dare step forward, but this useless old bastard did.
"Danzo, step down!!"
"All the elders should kill themselves to atone!!"
"What a blind fool! How did Konoha end up with an old bastard like this as its watchdog? If your eyesight's bad, stop coming out here to bark."
"Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to step forward?"
[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +11] [Ding! Conqueror's Haki +12]
A torrent of abuse targeted Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura.
Their smug expressions instantly turned livid, then darkened with fury.
Especially Danzo.
He had painstakingly incited unrest to bring Tsunade down.
Instead, he had played with fire and burned himself.
Fuck, why are these people so bitter? Can't I even show my face?
He wanted to explain, but the curses below were deafening. No one listened to his defense.
Everyone was cursing him.
At that moment, behind the floor-to-ceiling window, Tsunade, Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu were all publicly besieged by the villagers' furious abuse.
No one escaped!
Not a single member of the leadership could stay above the fray.
The villagers' anger spiraled completely out of control.
Countless villagers roared at the tops of their lungs:
"Konoha High Command is rotten to the core!!"
"Ninja in power only bring disaster to the village!!"
"Drive every ninja out of the village! Throw them all out! Expel every last one from Konoha!!"
"Konoha doesn't need ninja! Throw them all out!"
Holy crap. Miki Yūya stood stunned in the crowd. Seriously? Throw every ninja out of Konoha? You people can actually say that?
All right, badass! I'm joining in too.
Miki Yūya started hollering along with the crowd.
Below the Hokage's office, the situation spiraled completely out of control.
Leading members of the village's prominent clans and families all rushed over after hearing the news. Seeing the chaos before them, they stepped forward to apply pressure!
They demanded that Tsunade, Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu come out and apologize immediately.
Danzo gripped his cane tightly, his eyes brimming with resentment.
He had taken things too far!
He had meant to use the villagers to bring down Tsunade and seize power again!
Instead, these unruly villagers were so furious that they had dragged every member of the High Command into the mess.
If they didn't apologize now, it would shake Konoha to its very foundations.
Left with no other choice.
The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, the two senior Elders, and Root's leader, Danzo.
The four most powerful figures in Konoha.
Could only stand side by side before the floor-to-ceiling windows, facing the tens of thousands of furious villagers below.
And bow before them all!
And offer a solemn apology!
Of course, the enraged villagers still pelted them with all sorts of objects. Only after the villagers had vented nearly all their anger did the incident finally come to an end.
And everyone laid the blame for the incident on the Konoha High Command.
By that afternoon, Tsunade was still raging in her office.
"Danzo!!! That old bastard!!"
"Aaargh!!"
Anyone with eyes could tell that Root must have had a hand in this.
But Danzo also thought something was off. The villagers of Konoha had gone out of control; one of Konoha's ninja clans must have intervened.
Late into the night, Danzo was still wondering which ninja clan had incited the villagers when a Root intelligence ninja appeared before him.
"Lord Danzo!! Every member of the Uchiha Clan has defected!"
The name Uchiha snapped Danzo out of his thoughts, and he immediately stood up. What happened today must have been the Uchiha Clan's doing. Those inherently evil Uchiha-they deserve to die.
"Wait... every member of the Uchiha Clan has defected? Isn't Sasuke the only one left in the Uchiha Clan?"
Danzo looked at the Root ninja who had delivered the report, utterly baffled.
"That's right, Lord Danzo! Sasuke Uchiha has defected, which means every member of the Uchiha Clan has defected!!"
Before you continue