The Hokage Building.
After coming up from underground, Shimura Danzo strolled unhurriedly along Konoha's main street until he reached its end.
All along the way, he watched the vendors hawking their wares, the villagers bargaining, and the children constantly darting about.
The village in Konoha's twenty-sixth year was no longer like the one he remembered from his childhood!
It was bigger than before, and there were more people!
With civilian ninja among them, the villagers of Konoha were no longer as afraid of ninja as they had been!
As he walked, he even saw several ninja haggling with vendors.
The two sides were arguing so fiercely over a tiny discount that their faces had turned red!
"Konoha is getting better and better!"
After Danzo let out this sigh in his heart,
he was no longer afraid, nor did he regret what he had done.
Targeting the Senju had been for the sake of the village's strength!
Hiding in the dark underground, doing all those dirty things, even fighting countless battles over the past thirty-odd years-
it had all been for the sake of making the village better and better!
Wasn't the scene before him exactly what he had wanted?
Thinking of all this, he cast aside all the complicated emotions he had felt underground.
Once those negative emotions were gone,
Shimura Danzo also came to understand many things he had overlooked before.
Now, unlike that morning, he no longer clung to wishful thinking or pinned his hopes on Daiki!
The person who had been exposed while spying yesterday, Uka being detained afterward, and the Second Elder's unusual trip-
then the Senju's heightened guard today, and the operation targeting Uka again at dusk!
Taken individually, none of these things seemed unusual.
But put them together!
Hah, even an idiot could tell something was wrong.
"That old man must have started suspecting me yesterday, right?"
He asked himself, then nodded firmly, confirming his guess.
That old man had kept bringing up the four clans' sordid affairs in the Hokage's office. He had been testing him!
Once he had figured it out, Shimura Danzo looked at the door before him and, as usual, pushed it open without knocking.
He crossed the entryway and entered the living room.
There he saw his old friend, hurriedly trying to hide a crystal ball.
Watching him pretend to be calm, Danzo couldn't help smiling!
He had been enjoying the view when the sudden sound of the door opening startled him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi knew who it was without even thinking, and hurriedly hid his equipment.
He turned around and, sure enough!
Apart from Danzo, no one else would barge in like this!
He gave a light cough to cover his embarrassment.
Putting on a composed front, Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, "What's wrong with you...?"
He had barely gotten halfway through the sentence when Danzo's smile left him bewildered.
That face, which had been stern for nearly ten years, was actually smiling?
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at his old friend in surprise. His voice held both doubt and certainty as he asked, "Did something happen to you?"
Without answering, Shimura Danzo went straight to the side and took out the fine tea the daimyo had given him from beneath the tea table.
Then he took out his old friend's most treasured tea set and brewed himself a cup.
As he breathed in the drifting fragrance, the smile on Danzo's face slowly faded.
Looking at his puzzled old friend, he said slowly, "Hiruzen, I... I've made a terrible mess."
A mess?
Hiruzen Sarutobi's relaxed body tensed at once, and his brows drew tightly together!
They had known each other for decades, and Danzo had made plenty of messes!
But after making one, hadn't he always worn a stern face, outwardly refusing to admit defeat even if he accepted it inwardly?
Why was he like this now...? It looked serious.
"Just tell me what happened!" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked in a deep voice, without wasting time.
Danzo smiled, put down his teacup, and calmly recounted what he had done to the Senju over the past few years.
Who the Senju spy was, and what he and the spy had done.
What had happened yesterday, and what he had done today.
As well as his suspicions.
And the most crucial matter of all: Wood Release!
After hearing his old friend's account, Hiruzen Sarutobi's earlier tension had completely faded.
He leaned back quietly in his office chair, lost in thought for a moment!
He had known about everything concerning the Senju except for what had happened today, because he had always had someone assigned to keep an eye on Danzo.
Otherwise, how could he have felt comfortable handing Root, an armed force, over to someone who wanted to become Hokage?
Just because they were old friends?
Hah, not even an idiot would believe that excuse.
He had tacitly approved of everything that had happened to the Senju. At times, he had even given things a little push.
But the Wood Release today had been a huge surprise!
He casually picked up the pipe beside him and lit it, then took a deep drag.
As the nicotine reached his lungs, his thoughts cleared as well!
The first priority now was to deal with the aftermath.
Hand his old friend over and let the Senju vent their anger? Put all the blame on him?
But after what had happened, even if he did that, the Senju would no longer trust him.
He exhaled slowly. Through the white smoke, he seemed to see the blow that the Senju were about to deliver!
Was this really the time to cut off one of his own arms and kneel, gambling on that tiny, tiny chance of hope?
Seeing his old friend deep in thought, Shimura Danzo didn't interrupt him. Instead, he sipped his tea on his own.
The two men's silence left the office quiet!
In the glow of the setting sun, the room was dyed a warm yellow. Hiruzen Sarutobi stared out at the sun for a long time, weighing his options, until at last he had an answer.
He turned to look at his old friend across from him, who was calmly focused on his tea.
He couldn't help sighing inwardly. That attitude meant his old friend had come here to die!
He had even come to the Hokage Building.
It seemed he intended to be the only one to die, in exchange for a way out for the Shimura Clan!
Unfortunately, Danzo, you were too naive!
At this point, with only the Shimura Clan and you to your name,
would that be enough?
After a light cough, his long-unused voice found its strength again. Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, "Are you sure it was Uka?"
Shimura Danzo nodded in response.
In truth, this was only his guess. But once he learned there was Wood Release,
of the two children, he had felt that it was most likely Senju Uka.
He had no evidence. It was just instinct!
Because, in his memories of the journey there, that child had seemed very strange!
He was clearly a nine-year-old child, and what he did seemed childish.
But in the few times they had met, Danzo had always felt that he wasn't a child!
Hiruzen Sarutobi lightly tapped the tabletop, took a deep drag, and exhaled before saying in a heavy voice, "Go notify Koharu and Homura. Have our four clans and our subordinates make the necessary preparations!"
"Then go wash your face clean. Tomorrow, we'll go to them and let them beat us!"
"As long as they're willing to beat us, there's still a chance we'll live!"
Hearing the choice his old friend made in a hoarse, low voice,
Shimura Danzo set down his teacup and asked with a frown, "If we do that, you and all of us will become a laughingstock!"
"All our efforts over the past few years will be wasted. Why not just hand me over?"
As expected, he was still foolish.
If we only hand over you and the Shimura Clan, does that mean we won't have to kneel?
Looking at Danzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled the last of his smoke and shook his head as he explained, "Hand you over? Even adding the Shimura Clan wouldn't be enough!"
"We've already lost the Senju's trust. That means at least a third of Konoha's ninja clans won't obey us anymore, and another third will start staying neutral and watching!"
"So as long as they're willing to slap us in the face, what does it matter if we endure it for ten or twenty years?"
"At the rate we're training them now, will Konoha really be short on ninja? Besides, the Senju aren't the only great clan in Konoha. At worst, we can still fight them to a draw!"
Hearing his friend's plan, Danzo's calm expression began to change.
He understood!
Letting them come and beat him, as long as the Senju were willing to do it, would maintain peace on the surface.
His side's four clans, plus their other allies, made up a quarter of Konoha's ninja clans.
If they could bring the Red Eye clan on board, it would be one-third against one-third!
They would appear evenly matched, then endure for ten or twenty years.
They could train at least ten thousand civilian ninjas!
By then, no matter how strong the Senju were, it wouldn't matter. They could pile ten thousand civilian ninjas on top of them and wear them down.
Of course, all of this depended on the Senju being willing to slap them in the face.
If the Senju simply armed themselves and wiped out their faction-
Then all their plans would be for nothing!
However, his side wasn't completely defenseless. If the Senju tried to wipe them out in their current state, they could still knock a few of their teeth out.
After all, the Senju of today weren't the Senju of ten years ago!
"Fine. I'll wash my face several more times tonight. If they hit my right cheek, I'll offer them my left, too!" Danzo nodded after thinking it through.
He could steel himself to do this. It was only his pride!
As long as he was alive, there'd always be a chance to get it back. If he died, he'd have no chance at all!
With an initial solution in place, Shimura Danzō stopped sipping tea and waiting to die.
He rose and said to the old friend who hadn't chosen to give up on him, "I'm going to tell them to get ready. I'll wait for you in my office tomorrow morning!"
After saying this on his own, without waiting for Hiruzen to react, he headed for the door!
He left the living room and had just reached the entryway.
Danzo paused, then added, "None of this will make me think our teacher made the right choice!"
Hearing these words, which came out of nowhere, Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and smiled silently.
His old friend was still as straightforward as ever!
After Danzo left, Hiruzen tilted his chair back and watched the sun sink closer and closer to the horizon.
After a long while, he spoke to the empty room: "From now on, go to the Senju once every hour with my calling card."
"Don't do anything that might cause the Senju to misunderstand. Just say that I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, beg... to see Lady Mito, beg... to see the Second Elder!"
A figure suddenly appeared in the empty hall. Dressed as an Anbu, he knelt on one knee and acknowledged the order: "Yes!"