This approach naturally displeased Danzo, who felt that Konoha could have won, yet he had taken the initiative to call a truce.
Wouldn't all the previous sacrifices have been in vain?
Some people who didn't know the situation even thought that Konoha had been defeated and had to sue for peace with Iwagakure.
In a fit of rage, Danzo Shimura, together with his two advisors, demanded that Hiruzen Sarutobi be held accountable.
Ultimately, Hiruzen Sarutobi was forced to step down as Hokage under pressure, allowing Minato Namikaze to succeed him as the Fourth Hokage.
"Danzo, I had no choice but to sign the peace treaty with Onoki in order to reduce casualties," Hiruzen said.
"If we continue fighting, the casualties in Konoha will only increase."
Seeing Danzo bring up the old matter again, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression also turned somewhat unpleasant.
It's been so long, why are you still bringing up old grievances with me?
"Hiruzen, don't make excuses for your indecisiveness and cowardice," Danzo replied.
"If I were the Hokage, even if I wouldn't dare say I'd wipe out Iwagakure, I'd at least demand a large sum of compensation from them. But you..."
Danzo Shimura continued to criticize Hiruzen Sarutobi, as he had always disliked the latter's womanly compassion.
To be the Kage of a village, one must not only possess great strength, but also keen judgment and decisive execution, qualities that Hiruzen Sarutobi lacked.
"Enough, Danzo! I am Hokage!"
After being verbally abused by Danzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt he had lost face and immediately revealed his identity as the Hokage.
"You...you'll regret this!"
Danzo glared at Hiruzen Sarutobi with hatred. This indecisive personality would get him killed sooner or later.
With these thoughts in mind, Danzo once again turned and left.
Watching Shimura Danzo's departing figure, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag on his pipe.
Immediately, he let out a long breath, only to feel an immense pressure pressing down on him.
"Never mind, let's go check on Naruto first!"
"I wonder how that little guy is doing now."
After pausing for a moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and walked towards the Hokage Building.
...
Inside the Hokage Building, because Naruto Uzumaki was still a baby and looked very strange, and because secrecy measures had to be taken, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to ask the ANBU to look after him.
"Naruto, Grandpa is back," Hiruzen said as he pushed open the door to the Hokage's office, but the smile on his face instantly froze.
Two corpses of ANBU ninjas lay scattered on the ground, while Naruto Uzumaki lay on the ground wailing, his red Nine-Tails chakra extremely conspicuous.
It even overshadowed Black Zetsu.
"Not good!"
Startled, Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly took out a Sealing Tag with the character "seal" written on it and stuck it on Naruto Uzumaki's head.
"How can the power of the Nine-Tails be erupting so frequently?"
"Minato's seal is clearly fine!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned solemn as he examined the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style on Naruto Uzumaki's body once more, confirming that the seal was intact.
"Unexpected, isn't it? Unexpected, isn't it?"
"No matter how cunning you are, you can only be a pawn of my Black Zetsu."
Black Zetsu was very pleased with himself; the deaths of the two ANBU were, of course, his doing.
Normally, even if Black Zetsu could extract some of the Nine-Tails' chakra to allow Naruto to enter the Tailed Beast Cloak mode, however, Naruto Uzumaki, who was just an infant, still couldn't possibly kill two ANBU members.
So, Black Zetsu first let Naruto Uzumaki cry and make a fuss, and then, when the two ANBU came to comfort him, he caught them off guard.
Black Zetsu used Yin-Yang Release: Spirit Possession to control the two people.
Just like before, he briefly controlled Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, who had obtained the power of the Six Paths.
In his previous life, when he controlled the two, Black Zetsu used the connection between their chakra to peer into their hearts and learn many things he didn't know before.
Now, with the double buff of the Nine-Tails' power and Black Zetsu, the still-infant Naruto Uzumaki achieved his first double kill.
"The Nine-Tails is indeed not to be underestimated. Just to be on the safe side, I'll add another seal!"
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't see anything unusual about the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, he dared not underestimate Naruto Uzumaki any longer.
"Five Elements Seal!"
To prevent the Nine-Tails' chakra from leaking out again, Hiruzen Sarutobi emitted blue chakra flames from his five fingers and then directly imprinted them on Naruto Uzumaki's abdomen.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's seal once again caused Naruto Uzumaki to burst into tears.
"Hehehe—"
"Go ahead and seal it. Anyway, I, Black Zetsu, can unseal it for him again."
Black Zetsu was unconcerned. He thought that even minor characters like the Sannin of Konoha knew how to break the Five Elements Seal, let alone himself, the mastermind behind it all.
"That should solve the problem, right?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who knew nothing about Black Zetsu, looked at the Five Elements Seal that had appeared on Naruto Uzumaki's body and muttered to himself.
...
Time flies, and three years had passed in the blink of an eye.
During these three years, Hiruzen Sarutobi kept a close watch on Naruto Uzumaki, fearing that the Nine-Tails inside him would go berserk again.
This also prevented Black Zetsu from finding an opportunity to cause trouble.
However, due to Naruto's strange appearance, coupled with the fact that someone who coveted the Hokage position was secretly spreading rumors and fueling the flames, the situation was complicated.
This led everyone in Konoha to know that Naruto Uzumaki was the incarnation of the demon fox who destroyed the village and killed the Fourth Hokage.
Thus, from the time Naruto Uzumaki could remember, all he saw were the cold stares and mockery of those around him.
Those people pointed fingers at him, and would either hit or curse him. If it weren't for the Third Hokage protecting him, they might have killed him.
As a result, Hiruzen Sarutobi became the first ray of light in the heart of young Naruto Uzumaki, warming his life.
Furthermore, since Black Zetsu didn't cause any trouble and Kurama didn't go berserk, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been on guard, was finally able to relax.
They gradually relaxed their control over Naruto Uzumaki, and even generously provided him with a house, and dispatched ANBU members to secretly 'protect' him 24 hours a day to prevent the Nine-Tails from going berserk.
However, although Black Zetsu didn't cause any trouble, a major event did occur during those three years.
That was Orochimaru secretly conducting human experiments, which was discovered by Hiruzen Sarutobi. He then defected from Konoha and became an S-rank rogue ninja.
Konoha's strength had been weakened once again.
...
"No, we can't go on like this."
"I'm going to do something to make Naruto Uzumaki suffer."
After lying low for three years, Black Zetsu was plotting something.
He wasn't originally an impatient person, but that Hiruzen Sarutobi was just too insidious.
If he didn't stir up trouble soon, Naruto Uzumaki would really be warmed by him and become that hot-blooded idiot who aimed to become Hokage.
This was the last thing Black Zetsu wanted to see.
Naruto Uzumaki had already planned his own script, so how could he let Hiruzen Sarutobi ruin it?
As for those two secret agents outside, would they dare to kill him?
With this thought in mind, Black Zetsu controlled Naruto Uzumaki to stand up…
...
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