"What!? Danzo actually—!?"
Inside the Hokage's office, the three people who had gathered here because of Minato Namikaze's urgent message listened to the news of Shimura Danzo's death.
On their aged faces, expressions of shock, disbelief, shaken emotions, collapse, and fear mixed together.
Seeing this, Minato lowered his head and spoke in a depressed voice.
"I am sorry, Lord Third, Lord Homura, Lady Koharu… I clearly reached the scene, but I still failed to stop Rei Kaguya from killing Lord Danzo. I could not even retrieve Lord Danzo's body…"
Minato Namikaze did not have a good impression of Shimura Danzo.
He had also always disliked Root, whose actions were unscrupulous and far too inhumane.
But that did not prevent him from acknowledging that Danzo and Root were comrades fighting to protect Konoha.
Seeing a comrade die before his eyes, yet being unable to even bring back the other party's body, was something that inevitably left Minato, who valued the village and his companions deeply, feeling downcast.
Not to mention, the person who had died was one of Konoha's currently very scarce top experts.
"This is not your fault, Minato…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose relationship with Danzo was the most complicated, took a deep breath from his pipe and sighed with a complex expression.
"Making you drag your unhealed body around outside was already a failure on our part as elders. If I were to blame you for something so unreasonable, I would no longer have the qualifications to be recognized by everyone as Hokage…"
"Hiruzen, rather than blaming yourself at a time like this, it is better to deal with the affairs Danzo left behind as soon as possible."
Homura Mitokado pushed up his glasses and spoke in a trembling voice.
"To the village, Root's shinobi are an indispensable combat force. At the same time, they are also a secret organization that controls a large amount of classified intelligence and channels. If we cannot select a suitable successor as soon as possible, they will cause serious problems because they have lost their leader."
"The war between us and Kirigakure is still far from over. If we reveal weakness from internal discord at this time, Kumogakure and Iwagakure, who just completed peace negotiations, will immediately make a comeback."
Koharu Utatane followed Homura Mitokado's words and emphasized the necessity of stabilizing Root as soon as possible.
Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered the pipe in his hand and looked at the two companions who had accompanied him since the era of the Second Hokage.
In a low mood, he asked,
"Then do the two of you already have a suitable candidate in mind?"
"Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru!"
The two advisors almost spoke the man's dark name in unison.
"Orochimaru himself once served in Root for a period of time, and he is one of the Legendary Sannin. Whether in terms of qualifications or strength, he is the most suitable person to take over Root.
"Although his desertion from the battlefield this time was one of the important reasons behind Danzo's death, this is wartime. If we do not use Orochimaru, we will no longer be able to find anyone capable of taking over Root smoothly."
"Hurry and give the order, Hiruzen. Danzo used the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal to control all members of Root. After his death, this seal on every Root member will be released. If we hesitate too long, many people may lose faith in Root and defect!"
Orochimaru…?
Sarutobi Hiruzen closed his eyes.
He recalled the extremism and dissatisfaction he had seen in Orochimaru's eyes when he had previously refused to recommend him as a Fourth Hokage candidate.
He also recalled Orochimaru growing closer and closer to Danzo afterward, and his increasingly extreme style of action.
Then he took a deep breath.
"No. It cannot be Orochimaru."
"Why!?"
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane questioned him sharply at the same time.
"Orochimaru's personality may not be suited to becoming Hokage, but as Root's successor, he is absolutely the most suitable person, isn't he, Hiruzen!?"
"Precisely because he is suitable, I cannot give it to him."
Sarutobi Hiruzen opened his eyes.
An incomparable firmness flickered within them.
"Root was born because of my incompetence and mistakes. It is an organization darker than Anbu. I cannot allow it to continue growing deeper into the darkness."
"Then how do you plan to solve the problem of Root possibly losing control, Hiruzen!?"
Homura Mitokado stood up and stepped in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
He stared fixedly into his eyes, using an almost interrogating, severe tone as he asked loudly.
"I will personally resolve the mistake I made."
Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a deep voice.
"Hiruzen!? Are you trying to…"
Then, before Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane could express surprise at his rare display of forcefulness, Sarutobi Hiruzen turned his head.
Imitating the tone Senju Tobirama had used when entrusting the village's future to him, he spoke to Minato Namikaze, who was equally surprised.
"Minato, prepare your resolve. Once the war ends, you will take over the position of Fourth Hokage and protect the village in my place."
…
"Hehehe. Danzo, that old bastard, really is worth a lot…"
"Even if I only accepted S-rank missions with payments of more than one million ryo from now on, completed each S-rank mission in only three days, and kept all the income for myself, I would have to work without sleep for ten years and complete over a thousand S-rank missions before I had a chance of earning this much money…"
Although Danzo's bounty on the black market was as high as more than thirty Asuma Sarutobis, almost no bounty station had the ability to pay such an enormous sum in cash.
But those who could run underground bounty stations were all foxes among foxes.
Seeing a ruthless person like Rei Kaguya come alone with the body of Root's leader to claim a reward, how could they dare let him return empty-handed?
Thus, after a series of emergency privilege operations, Rei Kaguya gained a brand-new account in the underground black market with a book balance that had broken through ten digits.
After happily admiring his account balance and going to a nearby town for a great meal because of it, Rei Kaguya found a spacious, deserted valley and began testing the Ryuchi Cave Summoning Technique he had farmed from Manda.
Logically speaking, the essence of the Summoning Jutsu's formula was the same.
Only because the creatures contracted with the caster were different did it summon all kinds of different summoned beasts.
But the summoning technique Rei had farmed through First Strike had specifically marked the words "Ryuchi Cave."
That made Rei Kaguya want to verify something.
Did it restrict the random summoning range of the Summoning Jutsu to the snakes of Ryuchi Cave?
Or when the skill was generated, had it directly stolen the summoning contract Orochimaru had signed with the giant snakes of Ryuchi Cave, allowing Rei himself to become a summoner contracted with Ryuchi Cave too?
Of course, no matter which result it was, it would not affect Rei's plan to use the summoned creature from Ryuchi Cave to lock onto the location of that sacred land of senjutsu.
"Summoning Jutsu."
Rei Kaguya bit his index finger and slammed his bloodstained palm hard against the ground, circulating his chakra according to the method used to activate the Summoning Jutsu.
A black summoning array swiftly spread beneath his hand and released a huge cloud of smoke.
Then, a shadow as massive as a small mountain appeared within the smoke.
At the same time, an extremely irritable, hoarse voice rang beside Rei Kaguya's ears.
"Damn it, Orochimaru, are you tired of living!? You randomly summoned me out to get beaten up for no reason. If you don't prepare three times the number of sacrifices for me this time, just wait for me to—"
"Oh? What are you going to do to Orochimaru? Can you tell me in detail, Manda?"
Looking at the purple horned giant snake hissing and cursing Orochimaru as the smoke dispersed, Rei Kaguya whistled and asked with a smiling face.
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