"I didn't expect that guy Danzo to actually make a move..."
In the office of the Hokage Building, Hiruzen put down all the work at hand and was reading a piece of information passed from the ANBU.
Rumors that were unfavorable to him as the Hokage began to spread on a small scale in the village.
——Wood Escape Experiment.
At least twenty or thirty years have passed since the initial wood escape experiment.
Although the executor of this experiment was the root led by Danzo, the person who issued the order was him, the Hokage.
Therefore, this rumor is not false in a strict sense.
But the wood escape experiment he initially led was not mandatory.
Instead, after signing the consent form, the injection of the first-generation Hokage cells began.
These documents, as well as the original consent form, were all well preserved. Therefore, Hiruzen couldn't be too flustered when Danzo took advantage of such things.
As long as the information from that year is made public, although there is no way to eliminate all the effects, it can at least make Danzo's plan go to waste.
The only tricky part is that it involves Orochimaru, who has defected from the village.
Rebellious ninjas will receive very serious hostility in the village.
If Orochimaru is involved in public opinion, the credibility of his testimony will obviously be reduced.
Because Orochimaru was also one of the participants, and he, the Hokage, was the important researcher who was personally assigned to assist Gen.
This is where Hiruzen finds himself most embarrassed.
Although he was troubled by Danzo's moves, Hiruzen was still able to remain calm.
Danzo would make a move, he had already expected it.
Danzo could not just watch the Hokage's position fall into the hands of others. He would definitely use this opportunity to compete with him as the Hokage.
"Kakashi, lead the ANBU to stop these rumors immediately and don't let these rumors expand in scale."
Hiruzen told Kakashi, who was standing in front of the table, to give him instructions.
He was not afraid of these slightly whitewashed rumors, but allowing these rumors to develop was not what Hiruzen wanted to see.
As long as Tsunade is allowed to return quickly and decide her position as the fifth Hokage as soon as possible, then the direction of these rumors will be a secondary problem.
"yes."
Kakashi nodded and used the teleportation technique to leave the office, making completing Hiruzen's order his first priority.
Shortly after Kakashi left, the door to the office was pushed open in a hurry.
"Hokage-sama, something serious has happened!"
"Don't panic, Shikaku, this is Danzo's move."
Seeing Shikaku, the Jonin squad leader, rush in hurriedly, even abandoning the usual etiquette of knocking on the door, it can be seen that he is currently in an uneasy state.
Compared to Shikaku's panic, Hiruzen was much calmer and comforted him.
"Has Kakashi gone over to stop the rumors?"
Shikaku also knew that he seemed to be overly eager, but his opponent was Danzo, the man known as the Dark Ninja, and he could not tolerate being nervous.
Different from the previous petty fights, Danzo was serious this time.
Therefore, after learning about the rumors in the village for the first time, Shikaku ran over directly.
Compared with the ANBU's well-informed information, the Nara clan's information channels are actually a step slower.
"I have sent Kakashi there. The influence caused by those rumors will be controlled soon."
Hiruzen smoked the pipe.
Shikaku felt a little relieved, and then said: "In this case, the subsequent deployment of defenses must be arranged in advance. Elder Danzo must have backup plans."
"you mean……"
"Let people from the security forces join in and assist the Anbu in their operations. I'm worried that the rumors will intensify, and the Anbu's manpower alone may not be enough."
Shikaku said with a serious expression.
Danzo possesses more than just the power of his roots.
He is the leader of the Konoha Fighting Faction.
The root is only the most representative organization of the Konoha fighting sect, but it is not the entire fighting sect.
If Danzo mobilizes all the strength of the martial arts faction, then the Anbu alone cannot stop it.
Even with the addition of security forces, Shikaku didn't feel very safe.
Hiruzen pondered for a moment, and after some consideration, he ordered into the surrounding air: "Tell Kakashi to ask the security team to join the action."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
The ANBU ninja lurking in the darkness left in an instant, chasing Kakashi with Hiruzen's orders.
After seeing the ANBU leave, Shikaku then asked: "Hokage-sama, I would like to ask, when will Tsunade-sama come back?"
Relying on rumors to influence the direction of public opinion in the village is, after all, only part of Danzo's plan, the so-called appetizer.
The real killer move is yet to come.
In this case, only by bringing Tsunade back to Konoha as soon as possible can people's hearts be stabilized.
The source of the conflict lies in the selection of the Fifth Hokage.
As long as Tsunade's identity is established as soon as possible, no matter how many plans Danzo has, they can only come to nothing.
"It's not clear yet. Jiraiya has already gone to look for it. I believe there will be news back soon."
Hiruzen said to Shikaku after being silent for a while.
"It's been so long and there's still no news?"
Shikaku said in surprise.
He remembered that more than half a month had passed since Jiraiya was out, and two groups of ANBU were following him to assist him. How could it be possible that no news came back?
"I am also surprised by this matter, but now I can only believe that Jiraiya can handle the matter. At this time, our opponent is mainly Danzo to prevent his next actions."
"Having said that..."
Shikaku felt vaguely uneasy.
"What do you think Danzo will do next?"
Hiruzen looked at the jounin squad leader whom he trusted and asked for his opinion.
Danzo has already started to take action, so this 'battle' will not end so easily.
Rumors are only the first step, and there will definitely be second, third, and even more means to make them tired of dealing with it.
If both sides continue to consume in this way, it will completely disrupt Konoha's internal management.
But it is not that easy to bring down Danzo, at least it is impossible to do it with force.
The martial arts faction is no longer as powerful as before. After so many years of development, it has begun to occupy a certain voice in the village. Not to mention the root of the leader, it will not be easy to defeat them.
And once force is used, it will inevitably lead to very serious consequences, and even civil war may occur, allowing other countries to take advantage of the situation.
This was not what Hiruzen wanted to see.
Therefore, Hiruzen hopes to solve this problem in a peaceful way.
Even if an armed conflict occurs, try to avoid escalating the incident.
"Honestly, I don't know what Elder Danzo's next move will be, nor do I know what he relies on to do so..."
Just as Shikaku spoke, the office door was pushed open again.
And the action of pushing the door was quite rough.
The two newcomers entered the office almost at the same time.
Mito Menitis, I moved to Koharu.
Obviously, they knew exactly who was behind the rumors in the village, and Danzo's actions made them uneasy.
"Hiruzen, what's going on between you and Danzo?"
Faced with the questioning from the two men, Hiruzen frowned, then relaxed and answered: "You should ask Danzo about this kind of question, not me. I also want to know if Danzo spreads these rumors. What do you want to do?”
"Is it because of the position of Fifth Hokage?"
Mito Menyan said solemnly.
Hiruzen sighed, took a puff from the cigarette rod, and acquiesced.
"That guy Danzo..."
After going to bed, Koharu secretly gritted his teeth and was dissatisfied with Danzo's behavior.
Hiruzen felt bored when he saw this scene.
He didn't believe that these two old friends couldn't see that this was a dispute initiated by Danzo.
However, these two people came to him first to ask for justice. Obviously they knew that they could not find a breakthrough from Danzo, so they could only come to him to nag, hoping to make him calm down, take the initiative to negotiate with Danzo, and bring peace to the village. The rumors were put to rest.
Because if the rumors are allowed to ferment, no one knows whether more characters will be revealed and more people will get angry.
"Hiruzen, what are you going to do about this?"
Mito Kadenen asked, looking directly at Hiruzen.
"I have asked the ANBU and the security team to control the direction of the rumors. As for when it will end, it is not up to me."
"But you're Hokage!"
"I won't be anymore soon, and now I am unable to suppress Danzo's ambition."
Hiruzen's words surprised Mito Kadoyan, but he quickly calmed down.
"No matter what, you are all unique figures in the village, and you cannot let people in other villages laugh at you. I hope this farce ends as soon as possible, and we will also provide help to control the rumors in the village."
As advisors, the two of them also have many close associates who can assist the ANBU and the security team in their operations.
No matter how long this fight for the position of Hokage lasts, the issue of rumors must be controlled and cannot be left unchecked.
"If you had stood by me like this before, things wouldn't have reached this point."
Looking at the two people leaving in a hurry, Hiruzen blew out smoke rings with a complicated expression on his eyes.
"As a consultant, I may have my own difficulties."
Shikaku said from the side.
After all, there are many people watching that kind of high position, and it is human nature to want to firmly control the authority of the consultant.
"But the current situation does not allow them to be mere wallflowers anymore. The balance that Konoha has maintained for many years is about to be broken."
Hiruzen coughed. Although he was still struggling to hold on, his aura was no longer as strong as in his prime, and he was full of depressive twilight.
Suffering from the political struggle within the village and the pressure from the outside ghost country, his body has long been exhausted after these years of hardship.
"So, continuing the previous topic, how do you think Danzo can stop this incident? Or, how can we buy enough time before Tsunade comes back?"
Hiruzen looked up at Shikaku.
"It is impossible to completely control the rumors. The only way is to negotiate with Elder Danzo."
"I'm afraid this is also the situation Danzo hopes to see."
Hiruzen naturally knew that if he wanted to solve the rumor problem once and for all, he could only go to face-to-face negotiations with Danzo.
But this means that he has given up the initiative and will gradually increase Danzo's bargaining chip.
Hiruzen had no intention of doing this until the situation was unclear.
"I can't think of anything else to do."
Shikaku shook his head.
At this point, exploring the rumors itself is not the key to reversing the situation.
Shikaku would not consider the authenticity of those rumors.
If this source is not cut off, public opinion in the village will continue.
Rumors are not terrible. What is terrible is that Danzo wants to use this rumor to achieve some unknown purpose.
This was what Shikaku was worried about.
◎
The process of controlling rumors was not smooth.
Because of the sparse manpower, Kakashi only controlled the rumors in the downtown area. As for the rumors in some remote corners, they should still be spread secretly, and the content of the rumors became more and more outrageous and divorced from reality.
For example, at the beginning we were still talking about the wood escape experiment, and the third Hokage desecrated the remains of his ancestors. Later, the finger was pointed at the Third Hokage for using the Hokage's power to secretly steal children in the village, conspire with Orochimaru, conduct taboo research, and gain stronger power to control Konoha.
Afterwards, he was investigated by an unknown elder named "Danzo" and exposed Orochimaru's ugly behavior. However, because there was still the third generation of Hokage as a protector, Orochimaru calmly escaped from Konoha even if the matter was exposed.
Even after leaving the village, he still had a close relationship with his mentor, the Third Hokage.
This is also the reason why Orochimaru has been able to get away with it for so many years.
An unknown elder rebuked him many times to no avail.
In short, many things cannot be confirmed to be true or false, but they are spread in a certain way.
Even insiders like Kakashi heard this and had to sigh that Genbu was really good at spreading rumors.
Although these voices are still very weak at present, the influence of such content will continue to accumulate.
When it accumulates to a certain level, it doesn’t matter whether the content is true or false. What’s important is that this is a fact that people recognize.
At that point, everything is lost.
Therefore, such voices must be suppressed and cannot be allowed to gain momentum.
…
"They are talking nonsense, Grandpa Hokage is not that kind of person!"
Hearing the rumors on the street, Naruto couldn't restrain his inner anger. He clenched his fists and wanted to go up and argue with those people.
"Don't mess around, Naruto. Those are just ordinary people. If you hit them, you will be arrested by the security team immediately."
Unlike Naruto, although Sasuke was also very angry about these rumors, he also knew that these civilians who spread the rumors were just a group of followers. The real hateful thing was the people behind the scenes.
He had always had a good impression of the Third Hokage and did not believe that he would collude with a dangerous person like Orochimaru.
"But, their words are too..."
Naruto was so angry that he was speechless.
"Sasuke is right. If we go up to this kind of thing, it will only be a waste of time. Let's let the ANBU and the security team handle it."
Sakura also came to stop Naruto and told him not to act rashly at this time.
Although the rumors continue, not everyone is blindly following them.
Those who had at least benefited from the Third Hokage were arguing with their arguments and starting to fight against those who spread rumors.
Genin like Team 7, who had a great impression of the Third Hokage, naturally stood on the Hokage's side and were at odds with the rumormongers.
"The most important thing now is to do your job well. If we hit them now, it will only put the Hokage in a more disadvantageous situation."
Sasuke was very calm.
As chuunin and genin, they could only wait and see what happens.
In such a struggle, they are honestly just dispensable pawns and cannot play any key role.
"Get up, where is Mr. Pervert?"
Naruto asked as he didn't see Ebisu's figure.
"With such a big thing happening, Ebisu-sensei can't sit still. I guess all the Jonin have been mobilized now."
Sakura said helplessly.
"Damn it! Don't let me know who did it!"
Naruto could only retract his fist unwillingly and endure the bad words spoken to Naruto by the people around him.
"Go back. It seems that all missions will be stopped these days. If something happens, don't use force."
Sasuke shook his head, and after reminding Naruto and Sakura, he was not in the mood to stay outside and left directly.
After something like this happened, Class 7 no longer even had the mood to practice.
◎
"It seems that the situation is not going well."
His father, who left in a hurry, came back in a hurry. Shikamaru, who was sitting on the corridor at home, turned around and said.
Shikaku nodded without concealing it with a heavy heart.
"I didn't expect that even you knew about it."
"It's hard to figure out this kind of thing after walking around outside. So, how is the situation over there, Hokage-sama?"
The village has long been filled with all kinds of rumors that are not good for the Hokage. Even if they are suppressed by ANBU and security forces, it will take time to be effective.
If the Hokage does nothing during this period, it will definitely make this matter worse and cause panic within Konoha.
"With the current level of rumors, it is impossible to shake Hokage-sama's position. But the worst part is this."
"It's just like a warm-up exercise before the official game, that's what you think."
Shikamaru spoke with a very vivid metaphor.
He didn't know Danzo and Genbe, but that didn't prevent him from making such speculations about the people behind the scenes.
In fact, in the chess and card games he is good at, this is also a very classic and commonly used tactic by both sides.
The person behind the scenes wanted to take advantage of this to test and find out the cards held by the Hokage.
And Naruto had to respond to that.
Shikaku glanced at Shikamaru.
"What's wrong, dad, you won't let me get involved, right?"
When Shikamaru saw Shikaku looking at him strangely, his heart suddenly tightened.
Although he has a good mind, he does not think that with his current ability, he can enter this level of political struggle.
"How is that possible? Although I am very optimistic about your future, this kind of thing is not something you can intervene in right now."
"Then you are..."
"Don't go out for a walk recently. Even if you go out, you should take the family guards with you."
Shikaku looked serious.
"so serious?"
Shikamaru was shocked.
"You don't know how dangerous this person is. When I first met Elder Danzo, I thought he was a very dangerous ninja. In order to achieve his goal, he will do whatever it takes. I don't think his next actions are limited to Rumors, it’s uncertain when the time comes…”
Shikaku didn't go down, but with Shikamaru's mind, he quickly understood what it meant.
——Use force to force the Hokage to submit.
If things evolve to that extent, it is likely to cause a civil war in Konoha.
"is it so serious?"
Shikamaru felt that this consideration was too unrealistic.
"When you sit in my position, you will understand how terrifying this person is. As a planner, you must take all circumstances into consideration to ensure nothing goes wrong. Moreover, force is also a way to demonstrate political influence."
But once force is used, it means that things have reached an irreconcilable point.
From the perspective of a Konoha ninja, Shikaku hoped that Danzo would not go to that point.
However, he could not place his hope on Danzo's kindness.
"Next, I will stay at the Hokage's side and bring some of my clan members over to help. Remember to tell your mother later that I won't be eating at home these days. In addition, no matter what happens, there is no need to send anyone. Find me."
After Lu Jiu finished saying this, he walked towards the end of the corridor and disappeared.
"Do you want this side to have a choice to protect itself?"
Shikamaru looked at Shikaku's disappearing back and thought of the last sentence, 'No matter what happens, there is no need to send anyone to find me'... In essence, he was already considering the worst possibility.
For example, when the Hokage lost the political battle, the elder named Danzo became the Hokage.
The Nara clan's support for the Third Hokage is limited to those people that Shikaku will bring over next.
However, once something happens to the Hokage, the Nara clan must take refuge in Danzo to ensure that the family will not be liquidated by the new Hokage afterwards.
The contract with the Sarutobi clan has existed since the Warring States Period, I'm afraid...
"It's such a troublesome adult game. Can't we just open it up? We have to make things so complicated..."
Shikamaru scratched his head and stood up. After Shikaku mentioned this, he was no longer in the mood to spend time leisurely here.
◎
"how is the progress?"
In the root base, Danzo looked at his subordinates standing in front of him and asked.
"It is proceeding according to the plan. The Anbu and the security forces are active. Not only that, the advisors also seem to be leaning towards the Hokage's side."
The root ninja replied.
"Don't pay attention to those two old guys. Our main opponent is the Third Hokage."
Although Danzo's face was very cold when he spoke, when he heard the word 'advisor', he could vaguely feel the deep disdain in his tone.
To him, the advisor's position at this time was no longer important. No matter who they supported, they could not change the current situation.
In fact, he hoped that these two old consultant friends would be less disrespectful, so that he would have an excuse to get rid of the consultants as well.
It's a pity that those two people are very good at protecting themselves. It's a bit unrealistic to take this opportunity to kill them.
Moreover, the two of them will be needed later to help stabilize the situation.
Therefore, Danzo decided to let these two go.
The premise is that the two consultants know how to advance and retreat, and do not touch his bottom line.
Even with his colleagues, he didn't want to do anything wrong.
For the future of Konoha, he can kill even the descendants of the mirror and seize the opponent's Mangekyō Sharingan. Now he doesn't have to sacrifice these people.
On the contrary, if sacrificing these people can make Konoha a better place, he will not be stingy with the butcher knife in his hand.
"Then over the Pig, Deer, and Butterfly tribes..."
"They will make arrangements for themselves when it comes to trade-offs, and the same goes for other ninjas. Their family has a big business, and they often don't put their eggs in one basket. Ninjas who don't understand this principle have disappeared from the history of Konoha ”
A smile appeared on Danzo's gloomy face, giving people an extremely terrifying feeling.
"It's obvious, Lord Danzo."
The root ninja lowered his head and said.
"Now, let's move on to the next step. It's time to end this boring farce."
"yes!"
The root ninja retreats.
Danzo was left standing alone, and then he turned around and walked towards the huge iron door that was originally open behind him.
"Next, it's my time..."
Only I can lead Konoha to be the strongest! Danzo's face was firm and his eyes were as sharp as a knife.
Passing through the huge dark iron gate, the figure quickly disappeared.
7017k
