"Orochimaru, your chance has come."
Danzo stood before Orochimaru.
"Minato is gone. Now Hiruzen can no longer waver between you and Minato. In the end, the seat of Hokage will still fall into your hands. When that time comes, we can govern Konoha in our own way."
"That man Hiruzen is too conservative. Too incompetent."
"Under his leadership, Konoha will never move forward."
A delighted smile appeared on Danzo's face.
Minato Namikaze's death was indeed a massive blow to Konoha, but Danzo saw something else in it.
Hope.
Hope that he could finally truly involve himself in the direction of Konoha's decisions.
That was something Danzo had desired for decades.
"I understand."
Orochimaru watched Danzo leave, then shook his head slightly.
"Danzo, you keep claiming you have no selfish motives and that everything you do is for Konoha. But your current behavior doesn't look much like the person you describe yourself as."
"And even if I inherit the position of Hokage, that will be me."
"Not us."
"There is only one Hokage."
Orochimaru could cooperate with Danzo, but that did not mean he thought highly of him.
Konoha had fallen into fierce arguments over who the true culprit was.
Most people believed the Uchiha had done it.
As for whether it had been the rebel faction led by Uchiha Yashiro or the conservative faction led by Uchiha Fugaku, that had yet to be confirmed.
This made the situation of Fugaku and the others inside Konoha even worse.
Before, Shisui Uchiha had still been able to move around relatively freely.
After all, Shisui had always had a decent image in the village. Despite his young age, he had already gained a reputation as a genius and had received recognition from the Hokage and others.
On top of that, Uchiha Gen had once compared Shisui Uchiha to Uchiha Kagami in front of the Hokage Building.
Uchiha Kagami had been recognized by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, and accepted as his disciple.
But now, Shisui could clearly feel it.
Even he had become unwelcome in the village.
Many people looked at him strangely.
Behind his back, they whispered bad things about him.
"Shisui Uchiha deliberately approached Minato-sama. He definitely had some kind of scheme."
"Maybe he was the one who did it."
"Does Shisui Uchiha even have that kind of strength?"
"Who knows? Shisui Uchiha is a genius, isn't he? Even if he didn't have the strength himself, he must have been following orders from other Uchiha."
Those discussions made Shisui clench his fists and lower his head.
"I didn't do it."
"It had nothing to do with me."
"I'm also saddened by Minato-sama's death… maybe even more than all of you."
"Because I had placed the hope of saving the Uchiha on Minato-sama."
"Now, I have completely lost any hope of becoming Hokage."
"I can no longer save the Uchiha."
"Why say things like this?"
"Why force something I never did onto me?"
"This isn't right."
Suddenly, Shisui realized something.
The way he looked right now felt strangely familiar.
As if he had seen it somewhere before.
Then Shisui remembered.
He looked just like countless Uchiha had looked before the rebellion.
Shisui froze.
"Could it be that before that happened, many Uchiha were already treated this way in the village?"
"Did I fail to notice simply because that treatment had never fallen on me?"
"Could it be…"
"That Senior Yashiro and the others weren't the ones who were wrong?"
"Could Konoha be the one at fault?"
Shisui's expression became deeply conflicted.
On one hand, he felt that his current thought might very well be true.
But on the other hand, Shisui still held an extremely deep affection for Konoha.
He did not want to oppose Konoha.
He did not want to become Konoha's enemy.
"What… should I do?"
Shisui lifted his head and looked toward the Hokage Building, his eyes filled with confusion.
Inside the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi listed several names.
The first was naturally the Uchiha.
More than one person had seen the Sharingan pattern in the Nine-Tails' eyes.
"But within the Uchiha clan, who could it be?"
"Who has that ability?"
"And who knew Kushina's delivery date so accurately?"
The second possibility Hiruzen thought of was Orochimaru and Danzo.
One was Minato Namikaze's direct competitor.
Who benefited the most from Minato's death?
Orochimaru.
As for Danzo, he had previously hunted Uchiha and must have collected many Sharingan. With Orochimaru's ability, it was not impossible for him to use those Sharingan to trigger the Nine-Tails' outbreak.
But no matter which possibility it was, there was no direct evidence.
"The incident has already happened…"
"The most important thing now is not finding the culprit. It is stabilizing the village."
"Once news of the Nine-Tails' rampage spreads, the other ninja villages will certainly begin eyeing Konoha."
"Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Sunagakure… none of them can be ignored."
"We cannot give them an opening."
"Fortunately, Minato had not yet inherited the position of Hokage."
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a breath of relief.
"If something like this had happened after Minato officially became Hokage, it would have been even more troublesome."
"As things stand now, I can still stabilize the village."
"As for Orochimaru… I need to find a chance to speak with him properly."
"If only Jiraiya were willing to return to the village and inherit the Hokage position."
…
Suddenly, an ANBU ninja rushed into the Hokage's office at high speed.
"Hokage-sama, this is bad!"
"What has you so panicked?"
"A shameless rumor has begun spreading within the borders of the Land of Fire."
"What rumor?"
Hiruzen frowned, faintly sensing that something was wrong.
"It concerns you, Hokage-sama."
"Speak."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Only then did the ANBU ninja say, "This rumor claims that during the Nine-Tails' rampage, you were the true mastermind behind the scenes. It says you did not want to step down from the Hokage position, so you designed everything to kill Minato Namikaze."
"It says you are greedy for the Hokage's authority and want the position of Hokage to remain forever in the Sarutobi clan's hands."
Hiruzen abruptly stood up.
"What?"
"Who said that?"
Hiruzen's expression became incomparably ugly.
This rumor was far too damaging to him.
Once it spread widely, his reputation would be completely destroyed.
The reputation he had accumulated for decades would be ruined in an instant.
It would become unbearably foul.
"We have not yet found out where the rumor came from, but it has already spread in many places within the Land of Fire."
"Even inside Konoha, some people have already heard of it."
Blue veins bulged on Hiruzen's forehead.
A ball of fury burned wildly inside him.
Hiruzen was furious.
So furious that his lungs almost felt ready to explode.
"Shameless!"
"Utterly shameless!"
"How dare they slander this old man like this?"
"Despicable!"
"Absolutely despicable!"