The midday sun blazed down overhead.
The newly renovated, spacious square in the center of Konoha was already packed with people.
Tens of thousands of Konoha, ninjas from various clans, and even foreign envoys who had not yet left the village gathered here.
The murmurs and clamor merged into a deafening wave.
Everyone is eagerly anticipating it.
Just half an hour ago, the Senju Clan and the new Hokage, Tsunade, jointly issued the highest-level announcement for the entire village:
At noon today, former Hokage's assistant and Root's supreme leader, Shimura Danzō, was publicly tried and executed!
Danzo attempted to escape through the third secret passage last night.
Before they could even leave the border of the Land of Fire, they were intercepted by Uchiha Fugaku and Hizashi Hyuga, who had already received intelligence from their undercover agents. They were tied up on the spot and sent back to the village!
In the center of the square, a temporary wooden courtroom, three meters high, rose from the ground.
Senju Kenya, wearing those swaying floral shorts and flip-flops, sat high on the central judge's chair.
He had a white jade pipe between his teeth, wisps of smoke rising from it, his expression cold and domineering.
Hokage, Tsunade in the Hokage's divine robes, sat to his right, arms crossed, her beautiful eyes filled with icy demeanor.
And right in the center of the execution platform.
Shimura Danzō, disheveled and bound by dozens of heavy black iron chains that suppressed Chakra, knelt on the stone slab in a sorry state.
His aged, sinister face was twisted and distorted, his eyes filled with the resentment and rage of a trapped beast.
"Quiet!"
Kato Yosuke in a black suit, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and steadily stepped forward, holding a large megaphone.
The noisy square fell silent in an instant.
All eyes were immediately focused on the chamber of commerce's chief steward.
Yosuke unfurled a long, jet-black scroll, its words sharp as knives, their sound reverberating in all directions:
"Today, we will hold a public trial for Konoha's greatest traitor— Shimura Danzō!"
"Criminal charge one: For forty years, he has privately established an illegal armed group called 'Root,' secretly embezzling and misappropriating village public funds and military budgets, totaling a staggering 3.25 billion taels!"
boom!
The moment this first charge was uttered, an uproar erupted from the crowd below!
Three billion?! My God!
"Half of our family's pension was withheld back then, and it turns out that the entire amount was embezzled by that old beast?!"
Countless civilians and the cruel perpetrators had tears in their eyes on the spot, and their breathing became heavy as a cow's.
Without pausing, Yosuke's voice grew even colder:
"Second charge: Establishing an underground human experimentation site, secretly abducting orphans from the village, selling the bodies of comrades, and colluding with the missing-nin Orochimaru!"
"Criminal charge three: During the chaos of the Chunin Ninja Exams, he plotted a coup, ordered assassins to kill the heads of various clans, and betrayed Konoha's defense deployment map!"
"The evidence is irrefutable; the ledgers and assassination files are here, to be announced to the Shinobi World!"
The words had barely left his mouth.
Thick, blood-red ledgers and secret scrolls were projected directly onto the enormous Ninjutsu light screen!
The entire place erupted in chaos!
"Beast! You're an absolute beast!"
"Kill him! Senju the Great, kill this bloodsucking worm of Konoha!"
"All the brothers who died on the battlefield back then were betrayed by him!"
Decades of pent-up anger erupted at this moment!
Rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, and pebbles rained down on Danzo on the execution platform.
It smashed his head and face, leaving him covered in filth.
The retired Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat upright on the edge of the stands, closed his eyes, two streams of turbid tears slid down his face, and he slumped his head helplessly.
He knew that Danzo's dirty deeds had been completely exposed today.
No one can save him.
"The victor is king, the loser is villain... What do you know?!"
Danzo was kneeling on the ground, suddenly raised his head, his head covered in rotten cabbage leaves, and roared wildly:
Everything I've done is for Konoha!
"Without me bearing your sins in the darkness, Konoha would have been crushed by the other four great nations long ago!"
" Senju Kenya! You're nothing but a brute who relies on brute force! You have no right to judge me!"
Even as death looms, this venomous snake clings desperately to its so-called righteous cause.
"Bearing the burden of sin?"
Kenya, sitting in the judge's seat, finally made a move.
He exhaled a puff of smoke and tapped his pipe lightly on the armrest of the chair.
Then, wearing flip-flops, Earth Flow to Danzo.
Kenya looked down at the old man with a ferocious face, his eyes devoid of any emotion, only filled with a chilling coldness.
"Taking the hard-earned money of the entire village to satisfy one's own selfish desires, and you call that doing it for Konoha?"
"To turn the sword against one's own geniuses and heroes, and make them bear the burden of darkness for everyone?"
Kenya chuckled and slowly raised his right hand:
"Old dog, the darkness of Konoha is not your get-out-of-jail-free card."
"Today, in front of the entire village, I'll use these fists to physically condemn your hypocritical half-life!"
Kenya turned his head and coldly uttered two words:
"Execute."
Zabuza Momochi, who was standing guard to one side, grinned, revealing a set of cruel, sharp teeth.
He gripped the heavy black iron sword weighing several tons tightly with both hands, stepped onto the high platform, his muscles bulging, and slowly raised the giant blade above his head!
The shadow of death, with an unprecedented sense of realism, suddenly loomed over Danzo's head.
Looking at the tens of thousands of cold, hateful eyes around him, and at the massive black blade descending from above.
Danzo Danzo's single remaining eye, all reason shattered in that instant!
Despair and resentment drove him to the depths of madness!
" Senju Kenya... Tsunade... Hiruzen! You forced me into this!"
A bloodcurdling, inhuman laugh suddenly burst from Danzo's throat!
"You want to kill me?! You mortals have no idea what kind of divine power I possess!"
Amidst the roaring...
Danzo a burst of violent Chakra, and his right side, which had been heavily sealed and locked, trembled violently!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The heavy iron lock binding his right arm was broken by a strange and unpredictable brute force!
Under the horrified gazes of all the ninjas present.
Danzo a frenzy, raised his strange right arm, which had been hidden for decades, and violently tore apart all the thick sealing bandages wrapped around it!