Chapter 266 Forcing the Palace 【Seeking Monthly Ticket】
Next.
Under Toneri's care, these temporarily imprisoned root ninjas actively cooperated with the ANBU's interrogation and investigation.
Because they really didn’t have much contact with Danzo, and they only acted according to orders, so no matter how the ANBU investigated, they couldn’t convict him and could only release him.
At the same time, under the orders of Hiruzen Sarutobi, a comprehensive investigation of the original root base was conducted.
It even uncovered many unacceptable crimes committed by Danzo.
The harder Danzo was whipped, the higher the reputation of Toneri who "risked" capturing him would be among the masses. At the same time, the greater the blow to the prestige of Konoha's management headed by Sarutobi Hiruzen would be.
big.
After knowing the news, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face became even more ugly.
He knew that Danzo had done a lot of things behind his back, but he didn't expect it to be so excessive, far beyond his imagination.
There are hundreds of mission scrolls related to secretly exchanging information with other countries and other Hidden Villages, as well as shady inside information, and even information transactions on individual ninjas in one's own village, which cannot be accommodated on a bookshelf.
And also found the mission scroll in which Danzo contacted the Third Raikage and leaked Toneri's information.
This almost completely cleared Toneri's suspicions.
In the eyes of the Konoha ninjas, the current Toneri is really too "clean", a little too clean.
At the same time, Toneri also asked the root ninjas who had just come under his control to spread public opinion and blame Danzo for the origin of his Sharingan.
It was said that Danzo forced him to do human experiments on the Sharingan and other reasons...
Of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't believe this. If it was really Danzo who did it, he wouldn't keep emphasizing to himself that there was something wrong with Toneri's eyes.
But just because he doesn't believe it doesn't mean that the majority of Konoha residents don't believe it.
Sometimes public opinion is so strong, three people become a tiger, and in the end, it becomes a fact.
At this point, while Toneri took over the root from Danzo, he also washed away all the stains on his body.
Anyway, as long as there is anything that cannot be easily explained, there is definitely no problem in blaming Danzo as the big blame.
Since he is the one blamed, of course he has to take the blame.
Sarutobi Hiruzen often asked him to do this kind of thing.
Danzo also had to take the blame again and again in exchange for his original position as the leader of the Roots, and the powers of the Roots independent of the ANBU.
In addition to Danzo's crimes being revealed bit by bit, Toneri's reputation in Konoha is getting more and more famous. From the original Konoha Aangmao to the current Wooden Release Toneri, there are calls for him to become the Fourth Hokage.
Already surpassed all competitors.
The interior of Konoha seems to have become a little calm, but in fact there is an undercurrent surging inside, but ordinary people cannot feel it.
After a period of rest, Sarutobi Hiruzen also recovered. Coupled with the fact that Koharu and Mito Kabuto fanned the flames on the sidelines, he, who was originally a little discouraged, was certain of something.
That is to prevent Toneri from becoming the Fourth Hokage.
The euphemistic claim is that he can't be allowed to harm Konoha, but in fact they are afraid.
They were afraid that if Toneri became Hokage, they would be sent to the battlefield.
Although it is not that they have never been on the battlefield, the problem is that they are old now, and who knows if Toneri will let them go to the front line.
Therefore, in order to fight, they must "help" Sarutobi Hiruzen keep his position as Hokage, or pass it to a more trustworthy person.
For example, Minato Namikaze, who has a good personality, would be good...
It's a pity that ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.
Konoha is very peaceful, but the ninja world is extremely noisy.
What Toneri attaches most importance to is the incident where the third generation Tsuchikage of the Land of Earth led tens of thousands of Iwa ninjas to surprise the Kumo ninja army of the Land of Thunder. Under his close attention...
here we go.
For this reason, he deliberately found an opportunity to leave Konoha and rush to the battlefield, just to see if he could get anything out of it.
The sneak attack of ten thousand rock ninjas caught the cloud ninjas off guard.
The Third Raikage probably didn't expect that Danzo not only contacted him, but also successfully contacted the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure Village.
Compared to the Third Raikage, Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, is more decisive in doing things.
He directly led the army to turn around and start attacking Kumo Ninja.
After all, during the Second Ninja War, Kumogakure took advantage of the lack of manpower in Iwagakure to launch a sneak attack on their rear and occupied the territory that originally belonged to them.
In fact, Iwagakure Village has always held a grudge against this.
It was only at the beginning of the Third Ninja War that the Third Raikage showed his sincerity, so Onoki temporarily put aside his prejudices and concentrated on dealing with Konoha, which was a greater threat to them.
However, the four hidden villages attacked Konoha at the same time, but were unable to capture it for a long time. This caused the Iwagakure Village and the Earth Country to face a major financial crisis.
Iwagakure is different from other hidden villages. With the support of Onoki and the Daimyo of the Earth Country, the army is vigorous and even violent, and the number of ninjas far exceeds that of the other four hidden villages.
This makes them have to bear greater costs and consume more materials when they continue to fight.
So after Danzo gave certain promises and benefits, Onoki decisively chose to betray his allies and stab him in the back in revenge for what Kumogakure did during the Second Ninja War.
Such an approach really surprised the Third Raikage.
Facts have proved that what Danzo said about letting Toneri snatch the Kumo-nin's ninja distribution map and resource distribution map was really just a game between him and Onoki.
Danzo wanted to kill Toneri, and Ohnoki wanted to see if Konoha Aangmao could kill a few strong Kumo ninjas, so that their sneak attacks would have a higher success rate.
Moreover, Konoha Cangmao is also a strong man in Konoha, and he would definitely be very happy to see him die.
Then there was a famous scene in the history of Kumogakure, where the Third Raikage single-handedly stopped 10,000 rock ninjas and persisted for three days and three nights before he was exhausted and died.
It further proves that the "Strongest Shield" and the "Strongest Spear" are two of the pinnacles of physical fitness in the history of the ninja world.
It took three days and three nights, which Onoki himself did not expect.
When they wanted to launch another attack after defeating the Third Raikage, they discovered that the Third Raikage's son Ai had been urgently appointed as the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure Village at this critical moment, and he wanted to counterattack with nearly 10,000 Kumo ninjas.
Iwa Ninja.
Ohnoki experienced what it means to steal a chicken but lose the rice.
Although they defeated the Third Raikage, a top Kage-level expert, they also lost countless Iwa Ninjas.
Ordinary Iwa ninjas had almost no ability to resist when faced with the attacks of the Third Raikage.
He just defeated the Third Raikage by overwhelming his numbers.
No one knows how much they lost in order to win against the Third Raikage, but Ohnoki was probably bleeding from inside.
Well, when Ai, who had just become the Fourth Raikage, led a group of Kumo ninjas to the battlefield, the Iwa ninjas had lost all intention of fighting again and retreated decisively in the face of the large number of Kumo ninjas.
However, Ai, the Fourth Raikage, who snatched his father's body from the hands of the Iwa Ninja, seemed to have grown up all of a sudden. Although his heart was full of anger, he did not have the enthusiasm to lead a group of Kumo Ninja to pursue the Iwa Ninja.
At this moment, the moment he held his father's body, Ai successfully grew from a boy to a man.
The responsibility that should have been shouldered by him was officially placed on his shoulders.
Seeing the Iwa ninja leaving quickly, he shed his last tears and stopped Kirabi and the other Kumo ninjas.
The third generation Raikage of Hidden Cloud Village went offline, and the fourth generation Raikage officially came online, almost achieving a perfect connection.
At the same time, he also guessed the role played by Konoha.
However, he did not let the Kumo ninjas on the Yuno Country battlefield launch an attack. Instead, he asked the Kumo ninjas on the Yuno Country battlefield to retreat to the border of Thunder Country to prevent the Iwa ninjas from attacking again, and at the same time, he did not let Konoha be like this.
I thought the Third Ninja War was over.
As long as their Yunyin Village does not withdraw their troops, then this third ninja war will not be over!
But Sheren stood on the distant mountain peak and watched from a distance.
He very much hoped that Ai Neng, who had just become the fourth generation Raikage, would be hot-headed and pursue the Iwa Ninja. In this way, unforeseen things might happen, and he might have the opportunity to intervene.
However, Ai's sudden improvement in his character was somewhat beyond his expectation.
"Since nothing unexpected happened here, Iwagakure Village has officially withdrawn from this Ninja World War.
There are still Kumogakure and Sunagakure villages left.
The alliance between Iwagakure and Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi, must give a reasonable explanation to many ninjas in Konoha, and this is also the best time for him to step down."
The figure slowly disappeared on the top of the mountain.
Although the Flying Thunder God is not practical in actual combat, it is still very good for traveling.
Return to Konoha.
Go directly to the Hokage's office.
Saw Shiren arriving.
Sitting in the office, the expressions on the faces of Koharu and Mito Kabuto, who had moved to another dormitory, suddenly became very ugly.
On the other hand, Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose castle was obviously much deeper, just lowered his head and silently read the information in the scroll on the table.
After a while after Toneri came in, he slowly raised his head and looked at him expressionlessly. His old eyes were filled with too many complex emotional fluctuations.
To be honest, the past few days have really hit him hard.
His emotions towards Shiren are also very complicated.
There is regret, regret for not stopping Danzo, and even a little regret for choosing to leave Toneri behind.
He is gratified, gratified by the current strength of Toneri. He has watched Toneri grow up little by little, and now he has a strength that surpasses his own. As an elder, he is very gratified.
After all, Toneri was the Konoha ninja he had once been very optimistic about.
There is also hostility. He sees everything Toneri does in the past few days. As a competitor of Hokage, hostility is inevitable and this is reasonable.
There was still a little bit of fear at the end.
He was afraid of Toneri having such a deep city and powerful methods, and he did not dare to think about what would happen to Konoha if such a person became the next Hokage of Konoha.
In his opinion, there are two most likely outcomes. Either Konoha will soar to the sky under his leadership and become the strongest in the ninja world. It may even be possible to unify the ninja world.
At least, destroying a few hidden villages is certain.
Either it will lead Konoha to destruction and be besieged by the entire ninja world because of provoking wars several times.
I don't know why, but Hiruzen Sarutobi feels this way.
Sheren is not a conservative person like him.
Therefore, after careful consideration today, his resistance to Shi Ren outweighed his acceptance of him.
only...
When he had just finished reading the contents of the scroll spread out on the table, a slightly bitter and helpless smile appeared on his face.
"You're here." Sarutobi Hiruzen said calmly.
Toneri nodded, ignoring the hostility of Kobuki and Mito Kaden who were sleeping in the dormitory. He only had Sarutobi Hiruzen in his eyes.
"It seems you know everything?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, but before Toneri could answer, he laughed to himself.
"Yes, you have already guessed it before, and you must have put a lot of attention there. Now you come to me because you are sure."
In response to Sarutobi Hiruzen's self-question and answer, Toneri shrugged without saying much.
It was all tacitly understood, and there wasn't much that could be said.
Toneri sighed softly, pulled up a chair next to him, and sat down under the glares of Mito Kado and Koharu.
"Sigh - Uncle Third Generation, actually we don't have to do this. Although I hide some things, you should know my personality and my character. We could have dealt with it in a more peaceful way.
But some things, you know, can't be avoided."
If Danzo hadn't forced him again and again, he would have been willing to compete for the position of Hokage in a more friendly way.
Just because of Sarutobi Hiruzen's repeated indulgence, his patience with Danzo reached its limit.
This is why they now have to meet and talk in this mood.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was also touched by his words, and his eyes calmed down a lot.
"Sacrifice yourself..."
"I am here."
"Can I...can I trust you again?" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked straight into Toneri's eyes.
Looking at his Sharingan and normal eyes, and the reason why he can use Wood Release...
Toneri didn't shy away and looked directly at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Actually, no matter what I say now, our gap already exists. If I say you can trust me, can you really trust me 100%?"
"I..." Sarutobi Hiruzen opened his mouth, but he was unable to give a definite answer.
At this moment, he asked himself.
Can it be done?
I'm afraid not.
Seeing his expression, Shiren knew it.
Smiling slightly sarcastically, this is human nature. Once you don't trust someone, it is almost impossible to trust someone 100% again.
"Don't try to convince yourself, because it is of no use at all. If you have this time, it is better to think carefully about how to give a reasonable explanation and explanation to the residents of Konoha."
With that said, Toneri stood up from his position and walked to the door.
Before opening the door and leaving, he half-turned around and looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen, "Uncle Thirdai, actually you should be able to feel that my heart for Konoha is genuine."
After saying that, he opened the door and walked out.
"Hiruzhan, what happened? Why does this kid look like he's winning? How dare he be so arrogant?
Don't worry, with the two of us here, we will never let him succeed."
Xiaochun went to bed and waited until Toneri really left, then started to talk nonsense.
"That's right!" Mito Monoyan on the side also agreed.
But Sarutobi Hiruzen paid no attention to their intentions, and just stared blankly in the direction of the door after Toneri left.
The eyes are complicated.
"For Konoha?"
Regarding Shiren's words, he could feel that he was not lying or talking nonsense.
He sighed secretly, looked at the content described in the scroll on the table, and slowly put it away.
"I wish I was overthinking it..."
After leaving the Hokage's office, Toneri went directly to the temporary gathering place for the root ninjas.
Now that the root base is still blocked, these root ninjas can only stay in the temporarily opened place.
"Lord Shiren."
Seeing Toneri's arrival, the root ninja immediately shouted respectfully.
"Ryoma, tell everyone to start taking action. At the same time, send someone to inform Uchiha Fugaku and Orochimaru that the plan has begun."
"yes!"
After giving the order, Toneri turned his head and looked at the Hokage Building in the distance, as well as the Hokage Rock behind the Hokage Building with the heads of the first three generations of Hokages carved on it.
The corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.
From this moment on.
A rumor has appeared in Konoha, and it is so well-founded that it is almost a fact.
That is, Konoha has signed an alliance contract with one of their most powerful enemies at the moment, Iwagakure Village, and the Iwa ninjas have turned their direction and started attacking the Kumo ninjas.
Originally, the faces of Konoha residents who knew the news subconsciously showed happiness and joy.
After forming an alliance with the Iwagakure Village and the Iwa Ninja attacking the Kumo Ninja, does that mean that Konoha has lost two powerful enemies at once and the Third Ninja World War is coming to an end?
But then, some people's expressions were different.
And these people were all those who had relatives, friends or close contacts who died on the battlefield of Taki Country. The people they valued died at the hands of the Iwa Ninja.
But before this revenge has been avenged, Konoha has formed an alliance with Iwagakure?
Will there be another chance for revenge in the future?
When hearing the news, many people burst into tears, especially some young people.
They work hard to practice and improve their strength, just so that one day they can have a chance to take revenge.
But now Konoha and Iwagakure are in alliance.
The pent-up energy suddenly dissipated, and many people were confused.
Immediately afterwards, another news came.
The decision to sign an alliance with Iwagakure Village was made by the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.
For a time, everyone was excited.
Peace, this is what they want, but it is not the peace they can get in this way.
What they need is the kind of peace that comes from a hearty victory. They want the kind of peace that comes after hatred is repaid, not the current kind of peace that seems to be somewhat compromised.
Driven by public opinion, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly became the target of public criticism.
Just like Hatake Sakumo in the past, no matter how great your achievements are or how high your status is, you can't stop everyone from talking.
After two days of public opinion fermentation, the time has come.
Toneri came to Sarutobi Hiruzen's office with Uchiha Fugaku, Orochimaru, and Aburame Ryoma who helped him take charge of the roots.
Even in the Hokage's office, you can vaguely hear some not-so-good comments coming from outside.
Especially regarding the powerful Hiruzen Sarutobi, these seemingly deliberately lowered discussions could not escape his ears.
Although he knew it would be such a result, he did not expect that the reaction of the Konoha villagers would be so strong.
Originally, he could have delayed it until the end of the Third Ninja War, made all personnel arrangements, ensured that he would retain enough power when he left office, and could calmly step down to appease everyone's emotions.
Unfortunately, there was someone behind the scenes, and things reached a climax too quickly, leaving him unable to react. Many personnel arrangements were not implemented.
As Hokage, he was at the center of public opinion for the first time.
Push the door open again and enter the Hokage's office.
Looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi who was sitting in his seat smoking a cigarette with a haggard look on his face, Toneri no longer evaded or covered up this time.
Staring at him with burning eyes, he said bluntly: "The Third Hokage, given the situation in Konoha at this time and the reaction level of Konoha residents, I suggest...
You can step down as Hokage!
We will definitely be grateful for your contribution to Konoha over the years, remember your noble teachings, and continue the "Will of Fire".
So...please give everyone an explanation!"
This is a formal forced uterus. This is not a drill. Again, this is not a drill!
