Chapter 12: Man-Made Disaster (Part 2)

"People are the foundation of Konoha! Sacrificing countless young people on the battlefield for the sake of empty face is just suffering for the sake of vanity!"

"Sarutobi!!"

Danzo sprang up from the sofa with a "Whoosh!", wishing he could smash the Third Hokage's head in with his cane and take his place.

"Danzo, calm down!"

At this moment, the two elders on the side could finally no longer sit still. Seeing that the Third Hokage and Danzo were truly furious with each other and about to come to blows, the two elders acting as peacemakers appeared in time to break up the fight—making it seem as if their only purpose was to break up fights, as they were truly of no use at all.

"This is the Hokage Building, don't embarrass yourselves in front of the juniors!"

"That's right, can't you both calmly discuss things?"

The more even-tempered Elder Koharu said: "Danzo, Sarutobi is the Third Hokage after all, you must mind the rules. And since Sarutobi has already acted, any problems that arise are his responsibility. We only offer suggestions before the Hokage makes a decision, but once the Hokage makes a decision, we must support him unconditionally. This is the meaning of the Hokage's existence, and he is the only person in Konoha who can issue orders."

This was both a consolation and a warning; although Elder Koharu appeared neutral, in reality, her essence leaned more toward Sarutobi's decisions.

"And don't forget, besides the fact that falling out with the Cloud Ninja Village brings no benefits to Konoha, there is still a ticking time bomb in the village!"

——Although Sarutobi's policies had problems, they were the best choice for Konoha, especially at a time when it had just experienced the Nine-Tails disaster, lost the Fourth Hokage and his wife in succession, and even had the Uchiha imprisoned and monitored on the edge of the village; any major external disturbance could trigger an internal... rupture.

Elder Koharu's worry was not groundless; in fact, her thoughts were already vaguely aligned with the Third Hokage, only the Third Hokage refused to explicitly state the threat of the Uchiha.

In reality, if the village really went to war externally again, would the Uchiha take the opportunity to rebel... who could guarantee that?!

Even Uchiha Fugaku dared not be 100% certain he could suppress the Hawks within the clan, and if it were Uchiha Nanshu in charge, he would be the first to raise the banner of rebellion!

Therefore, Konoha Village at this time was truly beset by internal and external troubles. It could be said that as long as the Uchiha problem was not solved, the current Konoha could never safely go to war externally.

Therefore, regarding today's matter, the Third Hokage decided to suppress it and not report it, and the Elder Council actually tacitly approved and supported this. "Pacify the interior before resisting the exterior" is a principle that has existed since ancient times; otherwise, while you are fighting for your life against the enemy on the front lines, your own people suddenly stab you in the back! Who could stand that?!

"You two!"

Danzo glared angrily at the two elders. He also realized that he seemed to have overlooked the Uchiha problem, but it was absolutely impossible for him to lower his head and admit defeat just like that!

Danzo lowered his head and stopped speaking, but his eyes became colder than ever before....

Knock, knock.

Just at this moment, an anxious knock sounded outside the conference room, and a voice full of anxiety and unease came in, breaking the awkward and oppressive atmosphere inside the conference room.

"Third Hokage, something terrible has happened!"

The voice was hurried and filled with panic, as if something incredible had occurred.

Upon hearing this, the Third Hokage immediately frowned, and an ominous premonition flashed through his heart....

The street in front of the Hokage Building was already jammed solid; looking at it, there were crowds of people everywhere, a sea of people, and the onlookers had almost completely blocked all surrounding passages. More than several thousand people had been attracted by the commotion here, and driven by the crowd effect, even more people were inexplicably drawn into it.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I only heard the Cloud Ninjas shouting something about murder."

"Eh? Why are those Cloud Ninjas carrying a wooden board toward the Hokage Building? It looks like someone is lying on it."

Suddenly, the surrounding public realized that something might be about to happen. Although they didn't know exactly what it was, the human nature of loving to watch the excitement drove them to crowd closer.

After getting closer, they only saw four Cloud Ninja envoys carrying a wooden board in front of the Hokage Building surrounded by the sea of people, followed by more than a dozen members of the mission. These people were full of grief, wailing, holding white soul-summoning banners, and walking with heavy steps through the street; every place they reached, the sound of crying would inevitably shake the sky.

They did not take the small paths but chose the main roads with many people, and the corpse was not covered with a white cloth, allowing everyone to clearly see the face of the dead.

"Konoha! Murderers!!"

One person walked at the head of the team, directly denouncing and cursing Konoha Village in front of countless people for being untrustworthy, claiming they had actually poisoned the leader of the Cloud Ninja Village during the peace talks.

The Cloud Ninja spoke with such deep emotion that he even fell to the ground and wept, howling and cursing, demanding that the Third Hokage come out and give them an explanation.

After hearing the Cloud Ninjas' tearful complaints, some of the surrounding public firmly did not believe it, some showed hesitation, and some even clenched their fists, with suppressed anger appearing on their faces.

In this situation where they completely did not know what had happened, the Cloud Ninja mission constantly promoted their status as "victims" among the crowd and pointed the finger at the Konoha leadership. As for whether the surrounding people believed it, that was not actually the most important thing; as long as hesitation and doubt existed in their hearts, the Cloud Ninjas had achieved their goal.

"Konoha Village! Treacherous and faithless! To actually assassinate the leader of a peace mission in broad daylight, you are simply heinous and unforgivable; this is an open provocation to the Cloud Ninja Village!"

"You accuse us of talking nonsense? Ridiculous! In this world, who would joke with the lives and corpses of their own mission leaders! You are welcome to send a coroner; our leader died on your Konoha territory and died in such a miserable state, it must have been caused by your secret poisonous hands!"

"Konoha Village, you must give us Cloud Ninjas an explanation!! Konoha Village! Hand over the murderer, give me justice!!"

The Cloud Ninja walking at the very front shouted with his arms raised, using chakra to amplify his volume so that all the crowds on the entire street could hear clearly.

And at the same time, the surrounding Cloud Ninjas also raised their arms and shouted one after another.

"Hand over the murderer! Give me justice!!"

"Hand over the murderer! Give me justice!!"

"Hand over the murderer! Give me justi..."

The Cloud Ninja mission walked around the block in front of the Hokage Building, and everywhere they went, they inevitably shouted the slogan "Give me justice." Although the surrounding Konoha public repeatedly expressed their refusal to believe this, the Cloud Ninja mission had both human and material evidence (the corpse), plus their full-hearted grief and hoarse voices made the sound have an inexplicable sense of tragic heroism, which for a time actually aroused the sympathy of quite a few people in Konoha Village.

"Konoha Village is treacherous and faithless, assassinating our mission leader! Konoha must hand over the murderer and give us Cloud Ninjas an explanation—otherwise, this is an open declaration of war!!"

"Declaration of war!!"

"Declaration of war!!"

The slogans shouted angrily by the Cloud Ninjas collectively using chakra echoed deafeningly under the clear blue sky.