"Framing Kirigakure's ninja is one thing, but why did innocent Konoha shinobi have to die?"
As more and more discussions spread, they soon reached Danzo's ears.
"What nonsense is this?"
Danzo only felt baffled.
After listening for a while longer, he finally realized what had happened.
"Isn't this a rumor that already passed? Why is it being brought up again?"
"Kirigakure sent death warriors to attack Konoha?"
"They turned themselves into human bombs?"
"They would rather die than give up on taking revenge against Konoha?"
"And because of that, Kirigakure must have been framed by Konoha?"
"Bullshit! What utter bullshit!"
Danzo was furious.
"Where did these fools crawl out from? Because people from Kirigakure died, everything Kirigakure says must be true?"
"How can anything in this world be that simple?"
"Didn't Konoha also have casualties?"
"If dying makes every piece of nonsense true, then when so many members of my Shimura clan died during the Uchiha rebellion, does that mean everything the Shimura clan said back then was true?"
"This is nothing but Kirigakure's scheme!"
"Kirigakure refuses to admit what they did."
"They want to throw dirty water onto Konoha—onto me."
"And these people are Konoha shinobi, yet they refuse to believe me and choose to believe Kirigakure instead. They actually fall for it."
"Foolish."
"Hopelessly foolish."
Below him, a Root ninja spoke.
"Danzo-sama, there are also people in the village speaking up for you."
"Bring it here."
"Yes."
The Root ninja handed over the document.
Danzo took it and glanced through it. At first, he looked satisfied. A smile even appeared on his face.
But the more he read, the more his expression changed.
Soon, it looked even uglier than before.
"Danzo-sama did all of this for the village."
"At that time, Konoha had already repelled Iwagakure. If we remained bound by our alliance with Kirigakure, then we would have had to join Kirigakure in dealing with Sunagakure."
"But why should we?"
"Konoha had already done more than enough for Kirigakure."
"Kirigakure even stole Konoha's Byakugan."
"That was why Danzo-sama came up with such a method."
"It was all for the village!"
This was indeed defending Danzo.
It was indeed standing on Danzo's side.
But Danzo would rather not have such a pig teammate at all.
Those who accused him were only suspicious.
This supporter, however, made it sound as though the matter had already been confirmed.
"This was not done by me. I have never done such a thing!"
Blue veins throbbed across Danzo's forehead.
And just as Danzo expected, after that idiotic supporter expressed such an opinion, a large number of accusers immediately appeared.
"For the village. What a fine phrase."
"So as long as it is for the village, anything can be done?"
"This is framing someone."
"This is betrayal."
"What about trust?"
"What about integrity?"
"From now on, who will still form an alliance with Konoha? Who would dare form an alliance with Konoha?"
"And even if it was for the village, even if betraying Kirigakure was necessary—fine, let's not blame Danzo for that. But why did he have to make innocent Konoha shinobi die?"
"They could have survived."
"What were their lives worth to him?"
The supporter's voice weakened considerably.
"For the village, necessary sacrifices are inevitable."
"Only by doing that would it look real. Only then would Konoha have enough reason to sever its alliance with Kirigakure."
"Only then would Konoha's reputation remain unaffected."
The accuser snorted coldly.
"And what about now?"
"Does Konoha's reputation look good to you?"
A figure arrived at the Hokage Building.
The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Minato Namikaze, he already knew why he had come.
"Minato."
"Hokage-sama, I have a question I would like to confirm."
"Is it about Danzo?"
Minato nodded.
"Hokage-sama, was that plan arranged by Danzo-sama? Was he the one who controlled Kirigakure ANBU ninja and made them attack our Konoha shinobi?"
Hiruzen did not answer the question directly. Instead, he said,
"I have already heard about the discussions caused by Kirigakure's attack."
"A rumor like this broke out once before. Back then, Sunagakure recklessly published related content in their newspaper without verifying anything, bringing us quite a bit of trouble."
"That was why I had Homura create the Konoha Weekly."
"The influence of this thing is far too great."
"Konoha needs one as well."
"Unfortunately, the effect hasn't been ideal."
"Homura likely still needs more experience before he can run the Konoha Weekly properly."
On the matter of newspapers, Minato and Hiruzen held the same opinion.
"Koga Ninja Scrolls is a very good story. Many people read Sunagakure's Ninja Major Events Weekly because they want to see the continuation of that story."
"However, writing a story like that shouldn't be easy."
"I also read what was printed in the Konoha Weekly."
"Speaking of which, Hokage-sama, what do you think of Jiraiya-sensei's writing ability? Jiraiya-sensei likes reading novels and writing them too. If he could write in a proper direction, perhaps he could produce something quite good."
Hiruzen's face darkened, and he waved his hand repeatedly.
"Forget about Jiraiya."
"Alright."
Hiruzen looked at Minato. His expression grew serious.
"Minato, if I told you that the matter truly was done by Danzo for the sake of the village, what would you do?"
Minato fell silent for a moment.
"Hokage-sama, I know about Danzo-sama's friendship with you, and I also know about his contributions to the village. But even so, I would still believe such actions were wrong."
"If Danzo-sama truly did it, I would arrest him and have him judged according to the village's laws."
A smile appeared on Hiruzen's face.
"Minato, this is exactly why I place such high hopes in you."
"Even for the sake of the village, some principles cannot be lost."
"However, this matter truly was not done by Danzo. It was done by Kirigakure."
"No one knows why they did such a thing, but the facts are exactly that."
"No one in Konoha participated. We were only victims."
"Rin's death has nothing to do with Danzo."
When Minato brought those words to Kakashi, Kakashi was sitting in a reclining chair in the courtyard, basking in the sun.
His injuries had not fully recovered, and he had been given a period of rest.
But Kakashi did not know—
When he murmured those words to himself…
A figure was standing just beyond the courtyard wall.
"Rin's death has nothing to do with Danzo? Minato-sensei… you disappoint me too much!"
…
…
The moment Kirigakure's attack on Konoha came to an end, Rasa saw the points on the system panel surge violently.
In an instant, they shot past three thousand.
"Thirty-pull. Begin!"