"Hiruzen, calm down! We're all watching—you can't just kill someone in broad daylight!" Danzo whispered, still clearly filled with fury.
It was hard to believe those words came from Danzo Shimura of all people.
But that was exactly what Danzo meant.
If no one had been watching, they would've eliminated Naraku already—using any means necessary. But to kill him in front of all the clan leaders?
They needed a solid justification.
Even a Hokage couldn't execute someone publicly without due cause.
That was why they had assembled over a hundred hidden shinobi to ambush and kill Naraku in secret.
But once the clan patriarchs arrived, they had to stop immediately and pretend it had nothing to do with them.
Now, they even had to act friendly toward Naraku.
In truth, if there were even the slightest piece of real evidence that Naraku was a "threat to the village," Danzo would be the first to kill him—openly and without hesitation.
But that was the problem.
Though they constantly claimed Naraku was a tumor in the village, someone who distorted the Will of Fire, they had no concrete evidence he had done anything that truly endangered the village.
Even someone like Danzo, who had no qualms about sacrificing allies for the so-called "greater good," had to stop the Hokage from acting rashly in front of so many witnesses.
The gathered patriarchs watched as Danzo and the advisors tried to restrain the Hokage, who was still seething with barely contained rage.
They exchanged uncertain glances.
What kind of man was this Naraku, to provoke such extremes?
"Here?" Naraku had activated his Byakugan and was surveying the devastated forest, his expression unusually grim.
The destruction stretched across kilometers of land—trees uprooted, ground scorched.
"Patriarch Hiashi, what do you see?" someone asked, seeing the stunned look on the Hyūga leader's face.
Hiashi Hyūga, usually composed, looked truly shaken.
"...Corpses," he muttered. "There are more than a hundred corpses scattered throughout the forest."
Gasps echoed among the assembled patriarchs.
Over a hundred?!
They had only seen four charred bodies in the immediate area.
Now they realized—Naraku's battle had destroyed a massive section of the forest, leaving behind devastation on the scale of a small war.
A battle against more than a hundred shinobi… right here, inside Konoha?
This was madness.
"Father!" a voice called out from the treeline.
Itachi and Shisui emerged, rushing toward the group.
Fugaku Uchiha blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected his son and Shisui—one of the clan's top jōnin—to be here.
"Itachi, Shisui—what happened?" Fugaku demanded.
Before Shisui could answer, Itachi stepped forward, his voice calm but serious.
"They attacked us."
He didn't say who.
But Naraku didn't miss a beat, stepping in smoothly.
"We were ambushed by a large number of unknown shinobi."
Fugaku's expression tightened.
"Unknown shinobi"?
It was the same excuse he had heard just yesterday.
A chill ran down his spine.
The same excuse, the same setup—only this time, the scope had grown.
Now his own son and Shisui had been dragged into it.
The realization hit him like a blade: the Third Hokage and Danzo had used Shinnosuke to mobilize forces and try to eliminate Naraku—and possibly his son as well.
Fugaku's face darkened instantly.
"Who attacked you?" someone else asked.
"I don't know," Naraku replied casually. "Could've been spies from another village."
The shinobi present looked at each other in awkward silence.
Spies?
That excuse was laughably bad.
Yesterday it was three attackers. Today, over a hundred?
Were they supposed to believe that Konoha had been infiltrated by entire platoons of enemy spies without anyone noticing?
If that were true, Konoha might as well relinquish its title as the strongest Hidden Village.
It would be better off calling itself a training ground for enemy shinobi.
Naraku turned toward Danzo, wearing a faint, knowing smile.
"Danzo-sama, wouldn't you agree? These attackers must be spies from other villages, right?"
Danzo was briefly stunned.
But after a short pause, he nodded and replied smoothly:
"In my opinion, yes. These were likely foreign agents."
The Third Hokage gave Danzo a deadly glare, fury flashing in his eyes.
But Danzo didn't flinch.
He wasn't about to contradict the lie now.
They had to stick to the story.
What was he supposed to say?
That Shinnosuke, commander of the Anbu, had led more than a hundred shinobi to assassinate a branch member of the Hyūga clan—and failed?
Only a fool would believe that was a standard mission.
With those numbers, it was practically a declaration of war.
Danzo was just relieved Naraku had incinerated all identifying traces from the corpses.
No one could recognize any of the bodies.
Naraku smirked slightly.
He had expected Danzo to go along with the lie.
Some people in the crowd might suspect the truth: that the Third Hokage was behind this, that this was a failed political assassination.
But without hard evidence, no one could say it out loud.
If Naraku had left behind any clear proof—like Shinnosuke's identity intact—then the Hokage's reputation would have collapsed immediately.
The village would have turned against him.
And perhaps even the clans might have risen up to remove him.
But that would've been too easy.
Naraku wasn't done with Hiruzen yet.
He wouldn't let the matter end here.
With a firm voice, he said:
"Hokage-sama, this situation is serious. There are clearly too many spies in the village. We must thoroughly investigate this matter."
The Third Hokage, finally starting to regain his composure, realized what Danzo had done.
He gave Naraku a long, venomous look and said coldly:
"I'll order Root to investigate."
"Hokage-sama!" Naraku interrupted urgently, feigning righteous concern.
"With so many infiltrators in Konoha, what were the Anbu doing? Who is responsible for village security? I suggest you question Shinnosuke-san—he may know where the breach occurred."
BOOM!
That was the sound of Hiruzen's rage reigniting.
He had just started to calm down—and Naraku dragged Shinnosuke's name back into the open.
Naraku's words were like salt in a fresh wound.
And everyone knew it.