Once Uchiha Ren and Hyūga Hiashi had taken their seats, the entire conference room suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
The atmosphere was extremely strange.
After all, seeing members of the Uchiha and Hyūga clans sitting in the seats at the head of Konoha's conference table was deeply unusual.
It was the first time in Konoha's history that anything like this had happened.
"Ahem."
Namikaze Minato once again broke the awkward silence.
"All right. Let's begin the first item on today's jōnin meeting agenda: the disposition of former Konoha Elder Shimura Danzō."
After a brief pause, Minato looked toward Uchiha Ren.
"Next, Elder Uchiha will brief us on the details."
Everyone had already anticipated that Danzō's fate would be discussed, and a preliminary consensus had already been reached.
At this point, they simply needed to enumerate Danzō's crimes and determine an appropriate punishment.
Therefore, no one in the conference room objected. Everyone turned their attention to Ren, waiting for him to speak.
Ren cleared his throat and said,
"My fellow shinobi, after an entire day and night of investigation by the Konoha Military Police Force, we have thoroughly searched the Root headquarters and collected a substantial amount of evidence concerning Shimura Danzō's crimes."
"Now, I will enumerate his crimes one by one. If anyone has questions, please wait until I have finished. I will then provide detailed explanations and supporting evidence."
After confirming that no one objected, Ren continued.
"Shimura Danzō's first crime is attempting to launch an armed coup, attacking the village's elders and the former Hokage, and causing enormous losses to the village!"
"Shimura Danzō's second crime is disregarding human life and committing inhumane acts by secretly conducting human experimentation within the village!"
"Shimura Danzō's third crime is murder for profit, human trafficking, using his authority to oppress the village's various shinobi clans, and attempting to seize their inherited secret techniques and talented young clan members!"
"Shimura Danzō's fourth crime is colluding with enemy villages and selling out the village's interests!"
"Shimura Danzō's fifth crime is suppressing political opponents and murdering his fellow shinobi within the village!"
"Shimura Danzō's sixth crime is provoking war and causing the village to suffer the consequences!"
"Shimura Danzō's seventh crime is abusing his authority and influence to undermine peace throughout the shinobi world!"
As Ren listed each charge, the expressions of everyone in the conference room changed one after another.
The first three accusations against Danzō were nothing particularly surprising. Everyone already knew about them.
But the subsequent charges became increasingly outrageous.
By the time Ren had accused Danzō of even undermining world peace, everyone was left completely dumbfounded.
After Ren finished listing the charges, Shikaku Nara spoke in a solemn voice.
"Elder Uchiha... are you certain you have concrete evidence for all of these accusations?"
"Remember, this evidence will eventually be made public. The first three charges alone are enough to ensure that Shimura Danzō will never escape punishment. So if there isn't substantive evidence for the later charges, we could simply leave them out."
Shikaku was concerned that Ren was deliberately trying to completely ruin Danzō's reputation and had therefore embellished or fabricated some of the accusations.
Danzō was already doomed.
There was no need to go overboard.
Ren naturally understood what Shikaku meant.
He calmly replied,
"Commander Nara, there's no need to worry. The Konoha Military Police Force has always conducted its investigations fairly, impartially, and openly. We have concrete evidence for every one of Shimura Danzō's crimes."
After a pause, Ren pulled several documents from a stack he had prepared beforehand and handed them to Shikaku.
"Take the fourth charge, for example. In Root's archives, the Konoha Military Police Force discovered numerous agreements between Shimura Danzō and the leaders of various countries, including the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Hot Water."
"Danzō would typically use Konoha's name to promise these leaders various benefits in exchange for having them carry out tasks on his behalf."
"Is that not colluding with foreign powers and selling out the village's interests?"
Shikaku Nara accepted the documents and carefully examined them.
His expression grew increasingly solemn.
Ren continued,
"There are also several other charges I'd like you to pay particular attention to. Look at the Root mission records from the Land of Rain from some time ago."
"With Konoha and Iwagakure on the verge of peace negotiations, Shimura Danzō nevertheless led Root shinobi into the Land of Rain and indiscriminately carried out killings while disguising themselves as Konoha shinobi, Iwagakure shinobi, and Amegakure shinobi."
"He was attempting to inflame tensions among the three sides and reignite the war!"
"Furthermore, Shimura Danzō interfered in the internal affairs of the Land of Rain. He manipulated its leader, Hanzo of the Salamander, into attacking the emerging peace organization known as the 'Akatsuki,' resulting in heavy casualties among Root's own forces..."
"Wait. What did you say?!"
Jiraiya suddenly caught one particular keyword in Ren's statement and urgently interrupted him.
"You said Shimura Danzō and Hanzo of the Salamander attacked the Akatsuki?!"
Although Jiraiya had not visited the Land of Rain for quite some time, he had continued to keep an eye on Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.
He naturally knew that the three of them had founded an organization called the Akatsuki, which operated in the war-torn region while advocating peace.
However, Konoha had been dealing with far too many matters recently.
Jiraiya had also only just withdrawn from the battlefield, leaving him with no time to investigate what was happening in the Land of Rain.
Thus, he had no idea that Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan had just experienced a near-death ordeal.
Seeing Jiraiya's anxious expression, Minato smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Jiraiya-sensei. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan are all fine. Otherwise, Root wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses."
Jiraiya relaxed slightly upon hearing this.
He immediately looked toward Ren.
"What exactly happened?"
Ren shrugged.
"I don't know the exact details either. But according to the information in Root's archives, Danzō was taking Root shinobi around the Land of Rain, deliberately stirring up trouble and escalating tensions. They happened to encounter the Akatsuki while the organization was active."
"Then Danzō noticed those special eyes within the Akatsuki and became greedy."
"However, when Danzō invited Hanzo of the Salamander to join him in plotting against the Akatsuki, Hanzo betrayed him from behind, causing Root to suffer devastating losses."
"According to subsequent investigation reports, the Akatsuki has now officially taken control of the Land of Rain. Several of the organization's leaders have even been taken in by Hanzo and are being groomed as his successors."
Jiraiya finally relaxed completely.
As long as Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were safe, that was all that mattered to him.
Ren paid no further attention to Jiraiya and looked toward Shikaku Nara.
"Commander Nara, you've seen the documents. Do you still acknowledge the charges against Shimura Danzō brought forward by the Konoha Military Police Force?"
Shikaku's expression was extremely solemn.
After hesitating for a moment, he nodded.
"Broadly speaking, I acknowledge them."
The moment those words were spoken, another uproar swept through the conference room.
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