Konoha: Sage Body

"Hiruzen, how is your injury? Is it serious?"

Momo sighed upon hearing Sandaime's words.

She did not feel any remorse for assisting Kirito in killing Danzo. If she had to do it all over again, she would still make the same choice in order to protect the future of the Senju clan.

She just never expected the situation to develop into what it is now.

Not only did the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse kill Danzo, but it also injured Sandaime in the process.

This incident had both good and bad effects on the Senju clan.

On the bright side, the Senju clan could use the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse to intimidate the various villains in Konoha who were eyeing the Senju clan.

There was nothing she could do about it. She invited the Konoha ninja clans to the Senju Clan territory today in the name of the Senju clan. Soon after, the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse happened to lead a group of jōnin to attack Konoha Prison, and in the end, he even killed the felon Danzo, who was also the leader of the Root.

The two events were too coincidental.

Moreover, because she invited the heads of the various ninja clans to the Senju clan, when the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse attacked Konoha Prison, many of the Konoha ninja were unable to provide timely support to Konoha Prison because their leaders happened to be absent from the clan, indirectly giving the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse a huge helping hand.

As long as the leaders of the various ninja clans are not stupid, they will be able to guess that the Senju clan's relationship with the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse is not simple.

In this way, it has become an established fact that the Senju clan is still backed by a Kage-Level powerhouse. In particular, this Kage-Level powerhouse is even more powerful than Sandaime. If anyone else wants to get their hands on the Senju clan again, they must seriously consider what happened to Danzo.

In the ninja world, in the end, everything is determined by strength.

It is no surprise that after today, the Senju clan's embarrassing situation after losing the Kage-Level powerhouse Mito Uzumaki will be greatly improved, and the many disputes over interests that have arisen between the Senju clan and various ninja clans in recent times will also be quickly resolved.

But there are also significant disadvantages.

The biggest disadvantage is undoubtedly greatly offending Sandaime, the current Hokage.

No matter how bad Danzo is, he is still Sandaime's dog, even if he is a dog that doesn't listen very well and may even turn on its owner.

As the saying goes, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their dog. The Senju clan used the power of a mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse to kill Danzo, the vicious dog, which was undoubtedly a severe slap in the face for Sandaime.

What is the current relationship between the Senju clan and Sandaime?

Momo doesn't know the answer, but it is definitely not as good as before.

Konoha is still ruled by Sandaime, and if Sandaime targets the Senju clan, then the Senju clan will definitely suffer.

After all, the Senju clan are not as keen on fighting as the Uchiha clan, and they cannot improve their strength quickly through fighting.

The Senju clan now have less than 300 people, of which just over 100 are combatants. If Sandaime is ruthless and uses his legitimate power to issue a draft order to the Senju clan, the clan will probably suffer a significant loss of manpower again.

Now that Konoha is at war with Sunagakure, the reason Sandaime rarely conscripts the Senju clan is because of the respect he has for the Second Hokage and Tsunade.

But after today's incident, it is hard to say whether Sandaime will issue a recruitment order to the Senju clan.

As one of the three major clans of Konoha, the Senju clan is already obligated to protect Konoha.

If the Senju clan does not obey the Hokage's order and send someone to fight in the war, it will definitely greatly damage the prestige of the Senju clan in Konoha, which will be very detrimental to Tsunade and Nawaki becoming Hokage in the future.

Therefore, although helping Kirito get rid of Danzo this time will certainly do the Senju clan a lot of good, the downside is also very great. If they are blindly arrogant, the Senju clan's situation in Konoha is afraid it will only get worse.

In order to prevent the Senju clan from being made to wear the short end of the stick by Sandaime in the future, it is necessary for her, as the head of the Senju clan, to communicate with Sandaime properly.

"It's not a big deal, just some superficial wounds. With Tsunade here, it will heal in a few days. But I was unable to catch the attacker. The other party killed Danzo. Although Danzo was a felon, he was, after all, a Konoha native and had made many contributions to Konoha. He didn't deserve to die.

Therefore, I will definitely severely punish the murderer, and Konoha will never compromise with the attacker or the forces behind him."

Hearing Momo's words, Sandaime was silent for a moment before speaking coldly:

"For whatever reason, the Senju clan has gone too far this time, and this is a serious provocation to him as the Hokage.

He could feel that many people from the surrounding clans were looking at them, and if he didn't show a strong attitude, it would be difficult for him to suppress the Senju clan and even the Uchiha clan in the future, so that the other clans would obediently listen to him. This would deal a major blow to the Hokage's authority.

Tsunade, who was treating Sandaime's wounds, heard this and her hands trembled slightly. Then she pursed her red lips and continued to carefully treat Sandaime's wounds without saying a word.

Tsunade was astute and could see for herself the various hidden messages behind today's events. Many of the messages indicated that the Senju clan was involved in today's events.

Although Sandaime's previous comment did not name the Senju clan, the resentment towards the clan was clear.

On one side was the family that had raised her, and on the other was the beloved teacher who had taught her.

Tsunade was caught in the middle, and her heart was now in turmoil, unsure of what to do.

Mito Homura and Utatane Koharu, on the other hand, were secretly delighted. The big move the Senju clan had pulled this time really scared them. They had assisted Sandaime and Danzo many times in the past for the sake of profit, damaging the interests of the Senju clan. They had long since greatly offended the Senju clan, and now they felt scared just thinking about it.

Although they are Hokage advisors and hold high positions in Konoha, their strength is far inferior to that of Danzo, not to mention the forces behind them.

Both of them are from the Little Shinobi clan. Over the years, they have used their positions to seek personal gain for their own clan, which has made their clan grow considerably. However, they are at most just the top echelon of the Little Shinobi clan, and they are no match for the Senju clan at all, not even comparable to the Ino, Shika, and Cho clans.

If the Senju clan is determined to move against them, they can only wait for death.

Sandaime has now taken the initiative to stand up to the Senju clan, so the two of them can hide behind Sandaime.

As long as they keep a low profile and stop causing trouble, the Senju clan will most likely not deal with the two of them again.

Killing the chicken to warn the monkey is enough once.

Coincidentally, Danzo has already become that chicken.

So, Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu glanced at each other, and both of them tacitly backed slowly behind Sandaime, to show their attitude.

Momo glanced at their little manoeuvres and didn't bother to continue watching.

These two old guys have always been incompetent and counterproductive. They usually drag their teammates down, but they happen to occupy two important positions. If they jump out at critical moments, they will still be quite disgusting.

What's most hateful is that the two are accomplices of Danzo.

She has privately investigated the two and discovered that they have abused their power for the private gain of their own family and have even stolen some important supplies to support the front line. The final destination of these important supplies is unknown. They are really two big rats.

She has already decided that after getting rid of Danzo, the next people to go will be these two old guys who are parasites.

Sandaime saw this and looked on with cold eyes, not saying anything, but his dissatisfaction with the two men rose again. What he needed now were younger brothers to charge forward for him, like Danzo, for example, but he didn't want to fight the Senju clan directly with real swords and spears.

Now that Danzo was gone, the best candidates were undoubtedly these two old guys.

Unfortunately, these two old guys didn't know anything about tact, and still thought they could hide in the background and take advantage of the situation as they had done before, without paying any price.

"It is indeed time to replace them,"

Sandaime thought to himself.

The next moment, he heard Momo's voice: "It is indeed necessary to severely punish the murderer. It is said that Danzo made great contributions to Konoha, and I admit it, but this person also made great mistakes, and the mistakes he committed have far exceeded his contributions. Otherwise, why would he become a felon? This person deserves to die, doesn't he?"

Focusing only on contributions and ignoring mistakes, Momo disagrees with Sandaime's comments about Danzo. This man plotted to harm the first-generation Hokage's own grandson, Nawaki, and that alone is enough to kill him a thousand times over.

She must use Danzo to establish her authority today, and it's not just about getting him killed. She also wants to make it clear to the rest of Konoha that the Senju clan was right to kill this evil man, and that Danzo deserved to die.

If Sandaime doesn't give in on this point, the Senju clan will never back down. That's the bottom line.

Sandaime saw that Momo was still holding on to the already dead Danzo and remained silent, not drawing any conclusions about further condemning Danzo.

"I heard that the felon Danzo had appeared in public before. I don't know if the news is true or not, but if it is true, then he must have made some kind of secret deal with someone. Someone who knows the law but breaks it, and is suspected of helping a felon escape the law of Konoha."

Momo saw that Sandaime was unwilling to compromise, so she immediately dropped a bombshell.

Once the bomb was dropped, Sandaime's emotions were unsettled. The private release of Danzo was indeed his fault as the Hokage. He didn't expect Momo to know about it.

Damn Danzo, he was so sloppy, and even in death he would continue to drag him down.

He didn't know if Momo had concrete evidence, but if she did, if he continued to protect Danzo, then the certain someone Momo just mentioned would become him, the Hokage.

If the Hokage leads by breaking the law, this is definitely a serious mistake. Once this news becomes clear to the villagers, his authority will definitely be seriously undermined.

By that time, I'm afraid he will inevitably be forced to step down.

However, he absolutely cannot admit defeat in front of Momo now. If he does, he will be admitting his guilt.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke up, "This is absolutely a rumor. Danzo has been imprisoned in prison since the beginning, and I personally planted a curse mark on him that can be used to kill him from afar in case he tries to escape, so there is absolutely no way he can escape from prison."

"Planted a curse mark on Danzo? I didn't realize this guy was so ruthless."

Momo was shocked when she heard Sandaime's explanation.

The others were also shocked. They really didn't expect that the usually gentle Sandaime had such a ruthless side.

You have to understand that Danzo and Sandaime grew up together and studied under the same master. They were good brothers who had been through thick and thin together for many years. Later, after Sandaime became Hokage, Danzo was also Sandaime's right-hand man, giving Sandaime a huge helping hand.

As a result, after Danzo committed a major mistake and was imprisoned, Sandaime actually used a vicious seal technique to place a curse mark on Danzo.

For a moment, the way everyone looked at Sandaime after hearing those words of his changed.

Sandaime could feel the change in the way others looked at him, and he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh. But there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't bear the great crime of secretly releasing Danzo, at least not yet.

For the sake of Konoha, and for the sake of the Sarutobi clan, he had to continue to firmly hold onto the position of Hokage, and absolutely could not let the enemy have this huge leverage of secretly releasing Danzo.

There was only one compromise and countless times of countless compromises.

If he compromises with Momo this time, and Momo uses this to threaten him in the future, can he continue to be the Hokage?

In short, it is better to reveal himself than to be caught with a fatal advantage.

The effect of his self-reveal was very good. The curse mark he placed on Danzo undoubtedly shows that their relationship has broken down.

Under these circumstances, no normal person would think that he would release Danzo privately, because this would likely give Danzo the opportunity to remove the curse mark on his body and escape control.

Even if Momo brings out the evidence, he can simply insist that it was fabricated using transformation techniques. Since Danzo is already dead, no one can prove that he intentionally released Danzo unless they can bring him back from hell.

In this world, the only people who knew about the secret deal between him and Danzo were him, Danzo, and Hatake Sakumo.

There was no way he would talk about it, and since Hatake Sakumo was currently not in Konoha, that meant no one could confirm it.

As for the argument that the story about him placing a curse mark on Danzo was false and that he was just saying it to get off the hook, he wasn't afraid of it because he had evidence to show that it was true. Several ninja from the Sarutobi clan had secretly seen the vajra curse on Danzo's body, and it could withstand investigation.

He had done his best to cover up the fact that he had secretly released Danzo's shadow clone.

For example, whenever Danzo released his shadow clone, only his son Sarutobi Takashi was present to personally inspect it and secretly escort it out.

Momo, a veteran of the Konoha, knew that once Sandaime had revealed that he had himself placed a curse mark on Danzo, there was no point in continuing to hold Sandaime responsible for releasing the felon Danzo. Sandaime must have already cleaned up all the evidence.

The evidence she had was just some photos, not even any recordings of conversations. In the world of the ninja, due to the transformation technique, this evidence was basically useless, and the only way to get the most powerful evidence was to use illusion to read the mind of the person in question.

However, Momo did not panic. She said coldly, "Bring him here."

The next moment, a jōnin of the Senju clan immediately appeared in front of Momo and handed her a storage-type Summoning Scroll.

Momo took the Summoning Scroll, opened it, and then used seals to take out the contents.

"Boom~" A sound was heard.

A white smoke appeared, and the heads of five people immersed in five glass containers with green liquid inside appeared before everyone's eyes.

"What do you mean by this? Momo,"

Sandaime looked at the five heads and instantly realized that something was amiss. Frowning, he said,

"I remember all five of these heads. They are the ninjas of the Ino-Shika-Cho, Aburame, and Shimura clans, and they are all elite jōnin, except that they have long been listed as dead in Konoha's files. Three of them are even rogue ninjas.

"The owners of these five heads are all Root ninjas. They belong to a ninja squad called the Skull Squad. According to their memories, they have done many things for Danzo that cannot be seen in the light, including killing their comrades in the village. If Sandaime doesn't believe them, he can have the Yamanaka clan ninjas confirm the brains of these heads."

Momo stared at Sandaime with cold eyes as she told him the origin of these heads and the hidden information.

The five severed heads were naturally some of the incriminating evidence that Kirito had given her regarding Danzo. With them, she had enough evidence to show that Danzo deserved to die.

Hearing this, Sandaime's heart sank.

He knew that Danzo's crimes could no longer be covered up this time, and even if he died, his reputation would be infamous. It was no longer possible to use the fact that Danzo had made great contributions to Konoha to offset the mistakes he had made before.

Killing a fellow ninja is a heinous crime in Konoha that can never be forgiven.

"I see. I will send someone to confirm this later. If Danzo really did commit the crime of killing a fellow villager, I will definitely punish him severely."

Sandaime took a deep breath and sighed after a moment of silence.

"I think we can..."

Momo was the last person who wanted to accept Sandaime's proposal to confirm it later, and she was about to voice her objection.

But at this time, Tsunade interrupted her: "Momo-dono, Sandaime-dono is currently injured and needs to receive treatment and rest. Examining evidence can wait. What do you think?"

Sandaime was about to succumb and admit in front of everyone that Danzo was the criminal who deserved to die. Momo was one step away from her goal, so how could she give up?

She wanted to scold Tsunade for getting in the way, but when she saw Tsunade's pleading expression and eyes at this moment, she finally relented. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she chose to remain silent, and looked at Tsunade with a look of hatred.

"Teacher, the special chakra in your wound has been cleaned up, but just in case there is still something missing, I still need to conduct a comprehensive examination of your body. Please come with me to the hospital now."

When she saw that Momo was no longer speaking, Tsunade immediately said to Sandaime,

"Sandaime, I know that Tsunade is helping you now and giving you a way out." He was instantly touched and decided to go with the flow. He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say."

After that, he quickly left, accompanied by Tsunade.

Due to Tsunade's intervention, this tit-for-tat exchange between Sandaime and Momo ended hastily.

"Alas, my good sister is good at everything, except that she is sometimes too soft-hearted. No wonder she suffered so much in the original plot. Faced with her mentor Sandaime, she could not bring herself to be ruthless after all."

On the other side, Kirito, who had used the White Zetsu clone to return after leaving, disguised himself as an ordinary ninja. He looked at the departing figure of Tsunade and sighed.

If Momo had succeeded in making Sandaime admit to Danzo's crimes and personally declare that Danzo deserved to die, then the negative impact of the Senju clan's collusion with the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse to kill Danzo would have been much less, and Sandaime's prestige could have been further damaged.

Unfortunately, it was still a step away, and Tsunade, thinking of their master-disciple relationship, let Sandaime escape unscathed.

However, there are still some benefits. At least the Senju clan has not completely broken with Sandaime yet.

Because of Tsunade's presence, there is still a possibility of reconciliation between the two.

Sandaime will target the Senju clan next, and he will also consider Tsunade's feelings.

However, if the Senju clan is at a disadvantage in this competition, will Sandaime let the Senju clan off the hook for Tsunade's sake?

Kirito deeply doubted this.

"Forget it, right now Konoha still needs Sandaime to continue to hold it up, and it's obvious that Tsunade-nee is not suitable to be the Hokage right now, it's not time to turn your back on her completely..."

Kirito pondered for a while, and finally suppressed the thought in his heart to continue to attack Sandaime.

Seeing this, the others around them all put away their thoughts of watching the fun, and very tactfully left, keeping their mouths tightly shut to prevent any leaks of information.

However, there is no such thing as airtight, and the news of today's mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse attacking Konoha, as well as the fact that Sandaime was at odds with the Senju clan, was still spreading within Konoha in various covert ways, and even spreading outside.

Konoha is undoubtedly the center of the ninja world at the moment, and what happens here will inevitably attract the attention of various forces in the ninja world.

As a result, both within Konoha and outside, a huge storm and undercurrent is rapidly forming.