"He actually committed suicide?"
Seeing the Kumogakure ninja commit suicide, Tenzō was momentarily stunned.
You must understand, this was a ninja from Kumogakure, and now he was dying right in front of him. If he didn't handle this properly, it could very well reignite the war between the two villages.
At that time, he would be a sinner against Konoha.
"Tenzō, what's going on?"
While Tenzō was in a daze, Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice rang out from afar, which immediately gave him a sense of security.
"Lord Hokage, I originally..."
Tenzō was about to speak, but upon seeing Naruto Uzumaki beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, he immediately reorganized his thoughts.
"I accidentally discovered that this ninja from Kumogakure was trying to harm Naruto, so I intervened to stop him."
"After a fierce battle, I successfully captured him, but as soon as I caught him, he bit off his tongue and committed suicide."
Tenzō reported succinctly to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi also keenly grasped the key points.
It was true that someone wanted to take down Naruto, but it wasn't Danzō, whom he had been thinking of.
Instead, it was the people from Kumogakure who had come under the guise of peace to sign an alliance agreement with Konoha.
"Kumogakure, as expected, still harbors treacherous intentions!" A cold glint flashed in Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes.
If it were anything else, he would have tolerated it for the sake of peace, but the other party actually had designs on the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
This was digging up the roots of Konoha. Once the Jinchūriki was lost, Konoha would be in danger of being destroyed.
"Take the corpse and go to the people of Kumogakure to demand an explanation!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was unusually assertive, but as soon as he turned around, he found that the entire Kumogakure delegation had arrived.
Furthermore, all of these people had expressions of anger on their faces.
"Lord Hokage, you actually condoned your subordinates' cruelty towards the ninjas of my Kumogakure! You must give us an explanation for this! Otherwise, my Kumogakure will never allow this, and Lord Raikage will not let it go!"
The leader of the delegation looked at Yukai, who was bound by the Wood Release and had completely lost his life force, and his face darkened as he preemptively questioned him.
However, although he spoke with great bravado, he was terrified inside, and his calves were cramping.
It was because he saw the wood extending from Tenzō's arm.
Wood Release!
It was Wood Release!
As the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju possessed a unique (publicly known) bloodline limit, and the fame of his Wood Release was beyond question.
Almost every ninja knew that Wood Release was synonymous with power, a technique that could end the chaos of the world.
Now that Konoha had once again possessed a Wood Release ninja, it remained to be seen whether the Raikage's reputation could still deter them.
"Give us an explanation?"
Even with Hiruzen Sarutobi's strong will, he was quite angry at this moment.
He was shameless enough, but the people of Kumogakure were even more shameless than him.
They were the ones who coveted the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki but failed and were killed by Tenzō, yet they still had the audacity to demand an explanation from him.
What explanation did they want?
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a few puffs of his pipe. Although he spoke calmly, he could no longer suppress the anger in his heart.
If he hadn't wanted to maintain peace, he would have already ordered his men to capture these arrogant and ignorant Kumogakure ninjas.
"Hand over the murderer so we can take him back to Kumogakure for punishment. Furthermore, Konoha must publicly apologize to Kumogakure for this incident, and..."
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's weak performance, the leader of the delegation gradually relaxed, and at the same time, put forward a lot of harsh conditions.
If he brought this Wood Release ninja back to Kumogakure, he was sure he would gain the Raikage's favor.
Perhaps, the village could even learn the legendary Wood Release technique as a result.
At that time, who in the entire ninja world could rival Kumogakure?
"Wishful thinking!"
"Your Kumogakure coveted my Konoha's Nine... Naruto Uzumaki, and sent someone to secretly harm a child. After being discovered and killed by my village's ninjas, you showed no remorse whatsoever, and instead turned around and accused me."
"In my opinion, your Kumogakure has absolutely no sincerity in wanting to negotiate. In that case, you may stay in Konoha!"
No sooner had the head of the delegation finished speaking than a cold voice came from behind him.
Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw Shimura Danzō walking slowly towards them, leaning on his cane.
His eyes were gloomy as he stared intently at the Kumogakure ninja. The invisible pressure emanating from him caused the ninja to unconsciously retreat.
"Lord Hokage, you should think this through carefully. You don't want this matter to cause war between the two countries, do you?"
The leader of the mission dared not look directly at Shimura Danzō, and could only achieve his goal by putting pressure on Sarutobi Hiruzen.
In fact, after Naruto Uzumaki released the Tailed Beast Ball into the Hokage Building, Danzō Shimura had arranged for Root members to monitor Naruto.
Therefore, he received the news at the very beginning of the battle between Tenzō and Yukai.
He was well aware of the cause and effect of the matter, and Danzō himself did not agree with Hiruzen Sarutobi's style of begging for peace from the enemy, which was why he stood up.
"War?"
"Do you think Konoha is afraid of Kumogakure?"
As Shimura Danzō spoke, he slammed his cane into the ground, and instantly, dozens of masked Root ninjas sprang out from both sides of the street and from the rooftops.
This scene stunned young Naruto Uzumaki; he simply thought this seemingly fierce-looking uncle was incredibly handsome.
With just one sentence, he could summon so many people, scaring those bad guys into trembling with fear.
I wish I could be like that.
"Danzō, don't act rashly."
Just as tensions were running high and Danzō Shimura was about to kill the Kumogakure ninja, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
"Hiruzen, I can leave everything else aside, but you must listen to me on this matter."
Danzō Shimura knew Hiruzen Sarutobi's personality well; he was sure Hiruzen had fallen into his indecisive trap again.
These Kumogakure ninjas had come to Konoha with ill intentions. If they just let them leave, wouldn't it make Konoha look weak and vulnerable?
"Things haven't gotten to that point yet," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, shaking his head.
"No, they even dare to covet Naruto Uzumaki, I absolutely cannot tolerate them."
"Let's do it!"
Danzō Shimura was truly enraged this time. Whatever had happened before, it was an internal matter between the two of them.
But now they were facing external enemies, how could they be lenient with these people?
"Stop! This will surely provoke a war between the two countries."
"Danzō, you can't kill them..."
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi also felt that the Kumogakure ninja deserved to die, Konoha couldn't afford to fight them now.
The Fourth Hokage had been dead for three years, and all three Sannin had left the village. Apart from the Uchiha clan, Konoha had very few strong individuals to speak of.
"Enough, Hiruzen!"
"I am the leader of the Roots!"
"Move! Leave no one alive!"
Danzō Shimura ignored Hiruzen Sarutobi and directly ordered the Root members to take action.
"Danzō, you'll regret this!"
Seeing that the Root members had disregarded his orders and killed the Kumogakure delegation, Hiruzen Sarutobi gritted his teeth and said.
...
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