Chapter 119: I Will Stop at Nothing!
"Give him to me!"
After hearing Ritsu's words and seeing Shimura Danzo—the Hokage's advisor—held in Ritsu's grip, the muscles beneath Kakashi's mask visibly twitched.
"Hand him over."
He demanded, his voice unable to maintain composure, carrying several notes of urgency.
Hyuga Isamu didn't hesitate, tossing Danzo to Kakashi like a sack of potatoes.
"I've sealed Danzo's chakra pathways with Gentle Fist. You can safely wake him up, then use whatever methods you want to interrogate him. Remember to ask him for me why he tried to frame me."
"Also, Elder Isamu, Elder Karin and the others will assist you. I'll leave a shadow clone too, to ensure no one interferes with you."
Ritsu continued.
Whether Shimura Danzo was truly the Third Hokage's black glove was a matter of perspective—different people held different views. But one thing was certain: Danzo was famously ruthless in his methods. Not only toward outsiders, but he'd use any means necessary against his own people to achieve his goals.
In other words, Danzo definitely had plenty of dirt on him. His hands were far from clean. And as the Hokage's advisor appointed by the Third himself, all the terrible things Danzo had done over the years could legitimately be pinned on the Third Hokage.
As long as he could prove the Third Hokage himself was corrupt, then Ritsu's own excessive and illegal actions today would gain legitimacy and justification!
"So, Kakashi, go ahead without reservation! I look forward to the results of your investigation."
Ritsu gave Hatake Kakashi his full support and formed hand seals to release a shadow clone.
"I will."
Kakashi agreed immediately and began working.
He pulled out a coil of wire from his pouch and bound Danzo right there on the street, then placed him sitting on the ground. Looking at Danzo still unconscious, he used pain stimulus to forcibly wake him.
"Hyuga Ritsu, you bastard—"
The moment Danzo woke, his first words were curses directed at Ritsu. But seeing Kakashi before him made his cursing stop abruptly. His brain momentarily couldn't process the situation.
"Hatake Kakashi, what are you doing here? What's going on? You're Minato's student—have you also conspired with that Hyuga brat?"
Danzo saw Hyuga Karin and other Hyuga clan members staring coldly at him from behind Kakashi. He also felt the wire binding him so tightly his body ached.
This situation made it obvious Kakashi had joined forces with Ritsu.
But he didn't see Ritsu—after handing Danzo to Kakashi, Ritsu and Hiruko had immediately departed, leaving only a shadow clone to observe Kakashi's interrogation.
"Hokage Advisor Danzo, I'm here for one purpose only—to find out exactly how my father died."
Kakashi stared at Danzo, his voice cold as ice.
Danzo clearly froze, then the corners of his mouth lifted in a mocking smile. "Hatake Kakashi, you can't possibly think I killed Sakumo, can you? Hate to disappoint you, but your cowardly father committed suicide. That's an indisputable fact!"
Bang!
Kakashi delivered an unsparing punch, striking Danzo so hard that half his face swelled immediately. His entire body toppled to the ground.
"Hokage Advisor Danzo, I know my father committed suicide. But the question is—why did he choose suicide? Why was news of his failed mission leaked until everyone knew? Why did the village stand by and let uninformed villagers accuse my father?"
He lifted the fallen Danzo upright again, asking three consecutive "whys."
Danzo's eyes flickered with change, the light in them growing increasingly dangerous. He silently attempted to mobilize chakra to activate the Reverse Four Symbols Seal embedded in his body. But the chakra Ritsu had injected through Gentle Fist had completely blocked his chakra pathways. He couldn't mobilize even the slightest bit of chakra now.
"Won't answer? Then I'll find the answers myself!"
Kakashi straightened Danzo's body and roughly pried open Danzo's left eyelid. Then his own crimson eye met Danzo's violently trembling left eye. Two black tomoe rotated in the crimson pupil.
In the next instant, the genjutsu activated.
With his entire body's chakra sealed and unable to even disrupt his own chakra flow to break free from genjutsu, Danzo was dominated by Kakashi's genjutsu without any resistance.
Kakashi was a genius.
As a non-Uchiha, he'd mastered the Sharingan. Later he could even use Mangekyo Sharingan power. His exceptional talent was beyond question. Though he seemed to fight everyone to a fifty-fifty draw, being able to fight anyone to a stalemate was genuine skill.
Even without any instruction from the Uchiha clan, exploring the Sharingan's applications completely from scratch, he'd still successfully developed results—teaching himself hypnotic interrogation techniques.
Using his two-tomoe Sharingan, he hypnotized Danzo and began his interrogation.
At this moment, Konoha's ninja were continuously converging near the Hokage building. Of course, those arriving were mostly jonin, special jonin, and chunin.
Many Konoha ninja rushed over from different directions. Naturally, some noticed Danzo being interrogated by Kakashi on the street.
"That's Hokage Advisor Danzo!"
"Why is he tied up? What's going on?"
"That's Hatake Kakashi, isn't it? What's he doing to Hokage Advisor Danzo?"
Four jonin who'd met up on their way over noticed the situation. Their first instinct was to consider rescuing Danzo. Regardless of Danzo's reputation, that was all underground rumor. On the surface, Danzo was the Hokage's advisor, a village dignitary.
Encountering Danzo in distress, they'd naturally consider rescue.
But Hyuga Isamu stepped forward, blocking their path. "Please, the four of you—don't come any closer."
Behind him, three Hyuga clan jonin also stepped forward, their Byakugan activated, staring directly at the four. The invisible pressure made them actually stop.
However, jonin possessed firm wills, tempered through countless life-and-death struggles. They wouldn't retreat just from intimidation.
"What are you doing to Hokage Advisor Danzo?"
One jonin spoke up.
They didn't attack rashly—not because they wanted to hear different perspectives or listen to Isamu's explanation, but because the four of them weren't confident they could rescue Hokage Advisor Danzo.
So for now, they could only stall for time, waiting for more reinforcements.
At this moment, Ritsu's shadow clone stepped forward. Looking at the four jonin, he smiled and said, "Kakashi is investigating how Shimura Danzo caused his father, lord Hatake Sakumo's death!"
This answer contained quite a bit of information.
It instantly stunned the questioning jonin.
"Lord Sakumo was killed by Danzo? Didn't he commit suicide?"
One jonin even blurted out. From his form of address, he clearly admired Hatake Sakumo.
"Having the killer investigate how the victim died—aside from suicide, could it possibly be murder?"
"That—that's impossible!"
"What's impossible? Let me ask you—do any of you have a hundred percent mission success rate? Lord Sakumo only failed a single mission, yet he was condemned by everyone, denounced universally. Don't you find that suspicious? Use those rotting brains of yours and think about it properly."
Ritsu's shadow clone spoke without the slightest courtesy, verbally tearing into these four unfamiliar civilian-born jonin.
The four jonin all frowned, exchanging glances.
One frowned deeply, clearly displeased. "Now isn't the time to discuss such things. And don't forget Lord Hokage's orders—Hyuga Ritsu committed rebellion and betrayed the village. What we should be doing isn't listening to his nonsense, but capturing or killing him."
However, the others didn't immediately respond to his call.
And the one who was clearly a Hatake Sakumo admirer directly rebutted, "Why isn't this the time? I really want to know what happened back then. Recently, many people in the village have been saying Lord Sakumo was forced to commit suicide. I want to know if that's true!"
The other two also frowned but showed no intention of attacking.
No matter what, standing before them weren't Mist, Rock, Sand, or Cloud ninja enemies, but comrades wearing the same Konoha forehead protectors. Asking them to strike without hesitation was truly difficult.
And along their way here, they'd seen clearly—though the village had entered wartime lockdown, most areas remained peaceful as usual. No fighting had occurred at all.
In other words, even if Ritsu had truly launched a coup, he hadn't chosen to set the entire village ablaze with war. The fighting was limited to the upper echelons.
This being the case, though many jonin rushed toward the Hokage building, what they'd seen along the way left their fighting spirit less than fervent. None immediately began shouting for blood.
Moreover, as personnel left to guard the village, they'd all been in the village these past days. They'd naturally heard the village's recent rumors. It was impossible for them to feel no impact.
At this moment, more people arrived—among them jonin and chunin, over ten people rushing over together. They were also stunned by the scene before them.
The situation grew increasingly chaotic.
Then—
"Everyone, please hear me out."
Ritsu's shadow clone spoke again, stopping the chaos and drawing everyone's attention. He said solemnly, "The commotion I've caused today isn't for power or profit. I've never had thoughts of betraying the village. Not in the past, not now, and never in the future. Everything I've done today is simply to demand justice—justice the village leadership owes me!"
"What justice?"
Someone asked.
"While I fought Mist ninja at the frontlines, someone sold my intelligence to the enemy. After I captured one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Suikazan Fuguki, and interrogated him, I learned it was Root who sold my information. When I reported this to the village, the Third Hokage chose to cover for Shimura Danzo. To this day, he hasn't given any answer. He even believed the Mist ninja's lies, thinking the war declaration was my fault, and demanded I give an explanation..."
Ritsu's shadow clone paused, giving these twenty-plus Konoha ninja time to digest and absorb the information before continuing, "I absolutely will not accept such slander. I absolutely will not accept such unjust treatment. I judge that the Third Hokage has grown senile and become a parasite clinging to power. He no longer has the ability or qualifications to continue as Hokage. Everything I've done today is to make him step down and leave, so that Orochimaru, Jiraiya and others can succeed him as Fourth Hokage!"
These words were like throwing a depth charge into a pond, truly stunning everyone into speechless shock.
They suspected Ritsu was spouting nonsense, but Ritsu spoke so convincingly. Things like capturing Suikazan Fuguki alive definitely weren't lies, so... could what Ritsu said actually be true? The thought involuntarily surfaced in their minds.
At this moment, Ritsu's shadow clone spoke again.
"Of course, these are only my side of the story. You can believe them or not—that's your freedom and your right. I'm saying this only to tell you that today, I am absolutely determined to force Sarutobi Hiruzen—this Third Hokage who has become corrupt and fallen—down from his position. To achieve this goal, I will stop at nothing!"
As he spoke, Ritsu's shadow clone activated his Byakugan. Pure white eyes revealed unshakeable determination.
No one spoke.
Though they appeared numerous, they were scattered in groups of twos and threes, not a truly close-knit, unified collective. If facing external enemies, they'd naturally unite their strength. But now they faced village comrades, Hyuga clan allies.
They seemed to have superior numbers but were genuinely scattered sand.
Seeing this, Ritsu's shadow clone said nothing more.
Just then, someone spoke up.
"The Hyuga Clan Head is absolutely right. Shimura Danzo, that bastard, not only tried to harm the Hyuga Clan Head but also caused the deaths of four of our Uchiha clan comrades. This was personally confessed by Suikazan Fuguki. How detestable—they fought desperately for the village against the Mist ninja, yet were betrayed by their own people!"
Uchiha Izumo stepped forward from the crowd, loudly denouncing Danzo's evil deeds, openly expressing support for Ritsu.
He looked around at the unfamiliar village comrades surrounding him, his expression serious. "I dare swear on my surname that I speak not a single false word!"
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