Outside Konoha Village.
Underground, root headquarters.
Two ANBU brought a blindfolded ninja to the bottom.
"Danzo-sama, bring Kouta Sakamoto here." The ANBU ninja said respectfully to the room.
"Um."
Danzo's deep voice came from within the room.
The two ANBU removed the black cloth strip from Sakamoto Kouta's head and opened the wooden door.
Sakamoto Kouta looked at Danzo sitting in the room and asked doubtfully: "Danzo-sama, I wonder why you asked the ANBU to bring me here?"
"You must have heard of the recent rumors in the village, right?"
Danzo said calmly.
"Yes!" Sakamoto Kouta looked a little excited: "Sakumo gave up the mission to save me. The failure of the mission is not his fault. You should not treat him like this. I am willing to take full responsibility!"
"You only see the surface of the problem, you are so naive!"
"What?!"
"How do you think the information about the failure of such a top-secret mission was leaked?"
"Could it be that someone deliberately..."
"Yes, I was the one who spread the information."
Danzo said solemnly.
Sakamoto Kouta looked in disbelief: "Danzo-sama, why would you do such a thing?!"
Danzo: "I'm saving him."
"Save Sakumo?" Sakamoto Kouta was too confused. In order to save Sakumo, he leaked information and exaggerated the facts so that everyone could denounce him?
"Sakumo's reputation in the village is very high, surpassing that of the Sannin. He is the best candidate for the Fourth Hokage. I have always been very optimistic about him." Danzo explained.
"Can......"
Danzo waved his hand: "You don't understand, Sakumo has no intention of competing for Hokage, but both the Uchiha and Hyuga clans hope that he can become the fourth generation, and many jounin also support him.
Even if he doesn't want to go up, everyone will lift him high and push him upward.
And do you know who is the most preferred candidate for the fourth generation among the three generations?
It's Orochimaru! "
"You mean..." Sakamoto Kouta's eyes widened: "Impossible, the Third Generation is not such a person!"
"Three days have passed since the information was leaked. Many ninjas in the village are criticizing Sakumo, and public opinion has gradually gotten out of control.
Now as long as the third generation stands up and expresses his position publicly, even if Sakumo is severely punished later, public opinion will be quickly controlled.
But the third generation chose to remain silent... You don’t understand what this means, right? "
"No! How could this happen? Sakumo is a ninja who has truly inherited the will of fire. How could he be treated like this?" Sakamoto Kouta felt that the image of the third generation who had always been majestic and tall in his heart was cracked and on the verge of collapse.
"This is also a good thing for Sakumo. In order to prevent him from becoming a victim of the political struggle between Uchiha, Hinata and the Third Generation, it is better to take this opportunity to suppress his reputation and let him completely withdraw from the competition of the Fourth Hokage. With Sakumo's Ability, it is only a matter of time to clear away the stigma and regain the reputation.”
Danzo continued.
"..." Sakamoto Kouta fell into silence.
"I came to you to ask you to stand up and express your opinion, to let Sakumo know that his behavior of abandoning the mission was wrong. In this way, the third generation will also take this opportunity to give him a certain punishment. Even if this matter is like this Once it has passed, public opinion will dissipate immediately. Otherwise, if things continue to develop like this, no one knows what will happen."
"But Sakumo..." Sakamoto Kouta struggled in his heart. If he stood up and accused Sakumo, would he still be a human being?
Abandoning an 'important mission' that only Sakumo knew about the mission content, what losses did it bring to the village?
Danzo asked: "You just said you would take full responsibility! In addition to Uchiha Munehito, your other two teammates in Sakumo's team have already agreed. Why are you still hesitating?"
"Please give me some time to think about it." Sakamoto Kouta was confused.
"You can go directly to Sandaime and see if he is willing to stand up and speak for Sakumo. It is not impossible to even tell him what I told you."
Danzo said with a determined expression.
He has been teammates with Sandai for decades and knows Sandai better than anyone else.
Since Sandai did not stand up and express his position at the first moment of public opinion fermentation, he will definitely remain silent later.
This is the consistent style of the third generation. Many times he turns a blind eye.
After all, he was paving the way for his beloved disciple Orochimaru.
The current third generation must be caught in the struggle of hypocrisy in his heart, and feels that he is sorry for Sakumo by doing this.
But as long as Sakamoto Kouta dared to go to the third generation, Danzo could predict the third generation's expression and words.
"Someone is coming."
Danzo said expressionlessly, and two ANBU ninjas quickly appeared outside the room.
"Send him out."
The ANBU ninja blindfolded Sakamoto Kota again and took him out of the headquarters.
...
In the elegant courtyard paved with stones, Sakumo sat on the porch, carefully wiping the chakra dagger in his hand, as if it was not a weapon, but a cherished companion.
"Father, we have a guest." Kakashi came to the yard and looked at the calm Sakumo, and the anxiety and uneasiness in his heart were diluted a lot.
Obviously, there was a lot of momentum outside, everyone was denounced by his father and made him responsible for the failure of the mission. Many of the words were unpleasant to listen to, but my father remained as steady as a mountain as usual, as if he was not affected at all.
Sakumo nodded, put the chakra knife back into its sheath, and handed it to Kakashi: "Kakashi, go make tea."
"Yeah!" Kakashi sent the chakra knife back to Sakumo's room, and then ran towards the kitchen, his footsteps much lighter than when he came.
Shiroha and Orochimaru came to the living room and met Sakumo.
"You are here, sit down."
Sakumo smiled slightly.
Bai Yu and Orochimaru were both stunned and knelt down on the mat.
Soon, Kakashi walked in with a tray, put tea for the three of them, and then left.
"Sakumo, regarding this matter, I..." Orochimaru looked hesitant.
Sakumo raised his hand to interrupt him: "I know that you don't know about this matter. Although I am your biggest obstacle to becoming the Fourth Hokage, you are definitely not that kind of person."
Seeing that Shuomao had understood the problem so thoroughly, Bai Yu stopped pretending and went straight to the point:
"I'm afraid someone deliberately leaked information in order to suppress your reputation."
Sakumo nodded, with a look of disappointment on his face: "Actually, this is completely unnecessary. I never thought about becoming Hokage. I just want to be a sword in Konoha."
"What mission did you give up? Why are the rumors outside denouncing it, but when I ask about the content of the mission, I know nothing about it." Bai Yu then asked.
Sakumo frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "We were ordered to ambush the Third Kazekage."
"What?!" Bai Yu looked shocked and lowered his voice subconsciously. Is the senior management's brain broken?
Orochimaru also looked in disbelief.
