Hiruzen fell silent.
He'd initially thought Danzō was fabricating evidence, but now that he heard there was proof, hope stirred within him. If evidence truly existed, they could openly move against Mizuki.
Why bother with assassination or poisoning when they could strike him down directly?
The Akatsuki's failure to kill Mizuki didn't mean Konoha would fail. With so many ninja in the village, they could wear him down through sheer attrition.
"Let's hear it!" the Daimyō urged.
Danzō addressed the orphanage director and Daisuke, "You two — tell them what you saw."
Daisuke tugged at the director's sleeve, his eyes pleading.
The director sighed, "Mizuki had something that looked like a bird with wings. The surface was covered entirely in explosive tags. It appeared out of thin air in his hand, though he quickly put it into his ninja tool pouch. The children and I all saw it. A few asked what it was, but Mizuki didn't explain."
Hiruzen was speechless.
What kind of evidence was this?
He turned to Danzō, "This is the evidence you came up with?"
Clearly, this alone wasn't enough to prove Mizuki attacked the Hokage building.
But Danzō wore a confident expression.
"It can only be Mizuki. First, the object he possessed at the orphanage is powerful enough to destroy the Hokage's office. Second, according to Inoichi Yamanaka, only three seconds passed from when the unidentified object entered the barrier to when it struck the Hokage building. No bird could achieve such speed — not even a Tailed Beast Ball. This makes the claim that Itachi Uchiha was responsible completely untenable. Mizuki knows space-time ninjutsu, so I suspect the object was imbued with it, which explains how it traveled from the barrier to the Hokage building in just three seconds."
Hiruzen and the two advisors nodded.
"Finally, the object entered the barrier from the direction of the village gate. At that time, the merchant convoy Mizuki was protecting had left the village less than two minutes earlier. One coincidence, perhaps. But when so many coincidences align, it's no longer coincidence. The culprit who attacked the Hokage building and caused the Daimyō's wife's death is definitely Mizuki."
Everyone lowered their heads in thought.
Shikaku spoke up, "The reasoning is sound, but it's circumstantial. We can't prove with certainty that Mizuki is the culprit — only that he's a suspect."
Danzō smiled, "As long as there's suspicion, we cannot ignore it. Finding out the truth is simple — send people to apprehend him and bring him to the interrogation unit. If he doesn't resist, he's not the culprit. If he resists, he has a guilty conscience."
The Daimyō looked at Hiruzen, "Third Hokage, what do you think?"
Hiruzen glanced at Danzō, "Let's do as Danzō suggests. However, Mizuki is both strong and exceptionally good at escaping. We must prepare thoroughly. Once he resists, we strike him down with overwhelming force."
He had finally made up his mind to move against Mizuki. With evidence this time, it was an excellent opportunity.
"Lord Daimyō, Mizuki is formidable. To prevent any accidents, please return to the Daimyō's residence first. Leave the rest to us."
The Daimyō nodded, "In that case, I'll leave it to you."
He left with his officials and attendants. The maid carrying the cat Kota followed behind.
Just outside Konoha Village, the Daimyō spoke from inside his palanquin, "It's all this cat's fault my wife is dead. But it was her favorite pet while she was alive, so I won't kill it. Throw it away and let it fend for itself."
The maid had no choice but to throw the cat away.
The moment it hit the ground, the cat ran off, darting into the roadside forest and disappearing. As a repeat offender, its wilderness survival skills were first-rate — no worse than a feral cat's.
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Back in that same office, Hiruzen formulated a plan to deal with Mizuki.
Meanwhile, Danzō left the conference room with the orphanage director and Daisuke.
"Lord Danzō, what you promised was…"
Danzō cut him off, "Don't worry. Since you testified against Mizuki, I'll have someone send those children back to the orphanage. However, this child has ninja potential. Root needs such talent, so he stays with me from now on."
The orphanage director's expression changed, his eyes full of reluctance. He knew what awaited someone who entered Root. Unfortunately, he had no right to refuse.
Inside the conference room, Hiruzen was listing Mizuki's abilities, especially his escape techniques.
"First is his substitution technique. According to our analysis, Mizuki needs to sense his target before he can swap positions with it. Besides visual perception, he also possesses another type of sensory ability.
According to intelligence from Kakashi, under Mizuki's instruction, Sasuke can distinguish his surroundings through hearing even with his eyes closed. He can even accurately strike down shuriken flying past him with kunai. From this, we can deduce that his other sensory ability is hearing. As long as we block his vision and hearing — preventing him from sensing objects around him — his substitution technique cannot be used.
Next, Mizuki can switch positions with his clones…"
Hiruzen had already learned a great deal about Mizuki's abilities. The plan he formulated was specifically tailored to counter him.
❊❊❊❊❊
At the Hokage building, Mizuki waited for quite a while, but Hiruzen still hadn't returned. He decided not to wait any longer.
"It's already noon. Let me get some lunch first, then check on Daisuke at the orphanage."
He grabbed a quick bite on the street, then bought a bunch of snacks and headed to the orphanage. When he arrived, he found it completely empty.
"Did they go on a field trip? But why is the door open?" He narrowed his eyes and walked inside, looking around.
The more he looked, the more something felt off. Half-washed dishes in the sink, half-washed clothes soaking in a bucket, a broom thrown on the ground — all of it indicated that the people here hadn't planned to go out. They had left suddenly, or even been forcibly taken away.
"Who did this?"
Mizuki's first thought was Danzō. Other than that beast, no one would do such a thing.
He immediately went outside to search the area. Soon he found the children's footprints on the ground. Following them for nearly half an hour, Mizuki arrived at the foot of a mountain. Ahead was a cave.
Just as he was about to enter the cave to investigate, he suddenly heard voices behind him.
Danzō's voice.
Mizuki immediately hid behind a rock.
Before long, two people appeared in his field of vision. One was indeed Danzō. The other was someone Mizuki hadn't expected — his student, Daisuke.
'Danzō wants Daisuke to join Root?' From the boy's expression, Mizuki could tell he was being coerced.
He observed from hiding, wanting to hear what Danzō would say.
But once they arrived, Danzō stopped talking and simply pulled Daisuke along, preparing to enter the cave.
'This is a perfect opportunity!' Mizuki's malicious intent stirred.
Danzō had Izanagi, but its activation wasn't instantaneous — it required hand seals.
'Danzō would never expect me here. A sneak attack will definitely succeed.'
Mizuki hadn't forgotten the grudge from when Danzō tried to control him with Kotoamatsukami. He'd let him escape last time, but not this time.
Still, better play it safe!
His storage ring flashed. A kunai appeared in his right hand while a Rasengan formed in his left.
The next moment, Mizuki appeared behind Danzō.
A cold light flashed!
"Aaah!"
Accompanied by a scream, Danzō's right arm was severed at the root. At the same time, the Rasengan slammed into his back. The terrifying force pierced straight through his chest, shattering his heart.
Danzō had no time to react. He died on the spot.
He never imagined he would be ambushed on his own turf. The only one to blame was Hiruzen for taking all his subordinates away. Otherwise, this place would have been guarded at all times.
"Old dog, you finally got what you deserved!" Mizuki mocked the corpse, then picked up Danzō's severed arm and stored it in his storage ring.
Daisuke stood frozen, completely shocked. He'd never seen such a bloody scene before.
"Daisuke, snap out of it!"
After a moment, Daisuke came to his senses. He looked at Mizuki with fear and couldn't meet his eyes.
"What, never seen someone killed before?"
"I… I have. My parents… bandits killed them…"
"Then do you want to avenge your parents?"
"Yes!"
"If you do, then don't be afraid of killing. If you can't even do that, how will you get revenge?"
Most of the fear in Daisuke's heart dissipated.
Mizuki walked toward the corpse, preparing to take Danzō's right eye, "Why were you with Danzō?"
"Mizuki-sensei, the Daimyō and the Hokage want to kill you."
"What?" Mizuki whipped around to face him, "Tell me everything that happened."
From Daisuke's account, Mizuki realized he couldn't stay in Konoha any longer.
Not resist? How could he possibly not resist?
"Well done, Third Hokage. You finally found your opportunity!"
Mizuki felt fortunate that, through a twist of fate, he'd learned of this in advance. If he'd remained in the dark, the consequences would have been disastrous.
Don't underestimate Konoha. Don't underestimate the Hokage. If he walked into their trap, he might actually fall — after all, that old man now knew all his abilities.
'Damn it. Now I really have no choice but to defect. But if I leave Konoha, how can I rely on the system's returns to increase my strength?'
Mizuki thought it over and made his decision.
He would take Naruto and Sasuke with him.
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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