[It was from that day onward that the word "sacrifice" became one of Danzo's obsessions, and he himself became a severe mental patient.]
[Of course, in the Shinobi World it is not strange to have mental illness; it is stranger not to have it. Mental illness, or rather obsession, is almost a standard trait for the strong.]
[And why is Danzo the "Scapegoat" of Konoha? Because doing the dirty and exhausting work satisfies his sacrifice obsession to the greatest extent. The Root, as the core of Danzo's power, requires everyone to be brainwashed and controlled by Cursed Seals. A very important aspect of this organisation is the erasure of their "self" to become an extension of Danzo "himself." And Danzo gained the satisfaction of sacrifice by abusing these extensions of himself.]
On a street in Konoha, a group of young shinobi stood together. One of them said quietly, "Root... my father mentioned it once. He said it was a place that only did dirty work, and once you went in, you never came out."
The one beside him lowered his voice even further. "I heard the people in there aren't even allowed names. Just codenames."
Another shinobi was silent for a moment. "So Danzo just uses living people as tools?"
No one answered him, but none of their faces looked good.
[His own mental state repeatedly jumped back and forth between "I can sacrifice everything for Konoha" and "This trivial matter is not worth my sacrifice."]
[This created Danzo's style of using the most shadowy means to handle small matters, because he wanted to demonstrate that "I can sacrifice everything for Konoha."]
[Meanwhile, the "This trivial matter is not worth my sacrifice" mindset appeared during major events like the Nine-Tails Incident and the Pain invasion.]
[The Nine-Tails Incident and the Pain invasion were major events, but for Danzo himself, if he were to die in such events, what difference would there be between him and the many ordinary people who sacrificed themselves?]
---
[Kumogakure, Raikage's Office]
A sat in his office chair, arms crossed, listening to the screen's analysis, and gave a cold snort, his voice full of disdain. "If one doesn't even have the resolve to sacrifice oneself for the village, how can one become the Kage of a village?"
He turned to look at Bee, his eyes clearly saying, 'Don't you think so?'
Bee thought for a few seconds: "Big bro, didn't Danzo choose to go down with the enemy in the end? It's just that Obito's space-time ability made it impossible..."
A raised an eyebrow: "He was just a cornered prey trying to bite the predator! If there had been any way to survive, he would have chosen to sacrifice others."
He then slammed his fist heavily on the desk, making the teacup jump. As an extreme admirer of his father, the Third Raikage, A held cowards like Danzo in utter contempt.
The Third Raikage, in order to cover his companions' retreat, fought alone against ten thousand of Iwagakure shinobis for three days and three nights, before dying from exhaustion.
That was what sacrifice meant. That was what dedicating everything to the village meant.
And Danzo?
Hiding in the shadows, using Curse Seals to control others, sending them to their deaths while he hid in a safe place. That was his "sacrifice"?
The contempt in A's eyes was practically overflowing.
As the Kage of a village, no matter what one did behind closed doors, one's actions had to be upright and honorable. A dark creature like Danzo, placed in Kumogakure, would never become Raikage in his lifetime!
The future Konoha really was trash, to actually let such a person become Hokage, albeit temporarily.
[Of course, another one of Danzo's obsessions was to become Hokage.]
[For the sake of the Hokage position, he built the Root and refused to obey the Third Hokage, with the goal of one day seizing political power in Konoha. Although he operated under the banner of protecting Konoha, he did many things that were self-serving at the expense of others, or even things that harmed others without even benefiting himself.]
[For example, Nagato and Kabuto, who should have been considered allies of Konoha, were both turned into hostile figures by him.]
[There's no need to elaborate on Nagato. And from the incident involving Kabuto and Nono, one can see that sometimes when he did things, he truly was mentally deranged, harming others without benefiting himself.]
The scene changed and shifted to a certain night.
A white-haired youth dressed in Iwagakure clothing was fleeing in panic, and it seemed someone was pursuing him from behind.
After the camera zoomed in, everyone recognized him as the young Kabuto.
Suddenly, on the cliff behind him, a woman with long blond hair, also wearing Iwagakure clothing, quickly leaped down and attacked Kabuto from behind.
But Kabuto reacted extremely quickly. The moment the enemy approached him, he countered with a scalpel, severely wounding the attacker.
Though after clearly seeing the face of the attacker, Kabuto instantly froze. He hadn't expected that the ambusher was actually the orphanage director he had thought of day and night, Yakushi Nono.
He quickly rushed forward, desperately using Medical Ninjutsu to stop her bleeding and treat her wounds. Nono also slightly opened her eyes, but didn't understand why this young man from Iwagakure was saving her.
Having long been blinded by false intelligence, she looked at Kabuto's face, which was completely different from the forged photograph in her hand, and there was only confusion in her eyes.
With her last bit of strength, she weakly uttered the question that pushed Kabuto completely into the abyss:
"...Who are you?"
At first, Kabuto thought she simply couldn't see clearly without her glasses, and hurriedly took off his own glasses and put them on her. However, even after putting on the glasses, Nono still stared at Kabuto, who was right in front of her, and coldly repeated:
"...Who are you?"
That single "Who are you?" was like a sharp blade that instantly pierced through the last remaining warmth in Kabuto's heart. His attempt to continue the treatment suddenly stopped, his blood-stained hand hanging in mid-air, unable to descend any further.
[As a Shinobi under Danzo, Yakushi Nono was known as the "Walking Miko" and was first-class at assassination and intelligence gathering. She was also skilled in Medical Ninjutsu and had once served as the captain of the Medical Department in Konoha. Later, tired of life in the darkness, she became the director of the Konoha Orphanage, where she adopted Yakushi Kabuto.]
[Unexpectedly, she didn't have many peaceful days before she was found by Danzo again. Using Kabuto's life as a threat, he forced Nono to obey him again and go elsewhere to carry out missions. Later, because Danzo gave fake photos of Kabuto to Nono, she ultimately died tragically at the hands of Kabuto.]
[In this matter, I completely fail to understand Danzo's thought process. Nono and Kabuto were doing just fine, yet he had a mental breakdown and insisted on making them kill each other. It is truly hard to imagine what benefit he could have gained from this!]
[Therefore, there is a reason why Danzo was so unpopular and met such a miserable end.]
---
[An underground base somewhere in the Shinobi World]
In the dimly lit laboratory, Kabuto stood in front of a culture tank with his hands behind his back, his white lab coat gleaming coldly under the lights.
He looked at the young man kneeling in a pool of blood on the screen, his eyes devoid of any ripples, as if the screen wasn't talking about him.
The present him didn't need emotions. He only wanted to complete Orochimaru-sama's dream and assist him in achieving eternal life.
As for Nono? That was merely a name that no longer existed, a photograph already burned.
The corner of Kabuto's mouth curled slightly, then returned to an expressionless state.
---
[Konoha, Year 60. Shimura Clan Compound]
Danzo sat on the wooden porch, listening to the Sky Screen, his face ashen.
What was there to talk about in this?
Nono held too much of the village's intelligence, and after becoming the orphanage director she'd lost all her former ruthlessness. A situation like that was bound to go wrong. What if Konoha's intelligence was leaked?
He had simply dealt with a bomb before it exploded!
As for that brat Kabuto. If he hadn't allowed it, how could that kid ever have ended up with Orochimaru?
---
[Hokage Office]
Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest, her face full of disdain. "Old man, I really don't know what kind of judgment you had. To actually let this kind of guy hold power for decades and commit countless crimes within the village."
Hiruzen's expression became increasingly bitter. "...Danzo was not like this before. It's the obsession with the position of Hokage that ruined him."
Even he didn't sound entirely convinced, because in his heart he was wavering too.
Had the man ever really been "not like this"?
Jiraiya leaned by the window, his eyes on the screen.
"Old man, you say Danzo wasn't like this before. But has he ever actually done anything good?"
Hiruzen opened his mouth, trying to list something, but found that everything he could remember was the same figure standing in the shadows, brow furrowed, Kunai and schemes in hand. He had never truly seen Danzo standing in the light.
All he could manage was a sigh: "Danzo did make a lot of contributions to the village against outside threats."
Tsunade was quiet for a moment, then turned to Hiruzen. "Merit is one thing but it can't be lumped together with his faults. Just imagine how much the village's resentment toward him will grow once this broadcast ends!"
"Old man, what do you plan to do with Danzo?"
Tsunade once again asked the question she had asked before.
Honestly, if not for Hiruzen's feelings, she would have preferred to publicly trial Danzo and deal with him openly to calm the villagers' anger.
Hiruzen took a deep drag on his pipe, smoke spilling from the corner of his mouth. He didn't answer right away. His gaze rested on the scene of Kabuto kneeling in the pool of blood, and his voice was almost pleading:
"Danzo... has already been stripped of all his authority. Root has been disbanded. The Sharingan he held and the Kotoamatsukami have been taken back. As long as he does nothing more to endanger the village, let him live."
Tsunade snorted coldly: "Hmph, keep protecting him then!"
*****
Upto 20 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister