"Danzō…"
Minato was the Fourth Hokage, and he knew full well what exactly was going on with Danzō.
Looking at the elderly and decrepit Third Hokage, he felt a wave of bleakness in his heart and suddenly lost the desire to keep speaking.
In that instant, he understood the choice made by the Sannin of Konohagakure.
He had first fought battle after battle, and then had used the Flying Thunder God Technique repeatedly while rushing along the way. Although his speed was indeed fast, the consumption had likewise greatly increased. Now that his morale had slumped, he simply could not be bothered to maintain it any longer.
However, he still went through all the detailed information he knew. After explaining everything, he took his leave from the Third Hokage.
"Third-sama, I do not have much time left. I plan to spend the time I have remaining staying with my child a little longer and having a proper talk."
"I see…" The Third Hokage had no objections to this; instead, his heart was filled with guilt toward Minato. "You truly have worked hard. Even though you already died, you still have to toil so much for the village."
"All is for the village." The Fourth Hokage's smile was still bright and sunny, but within it there was some dissatisfaction. "Well… Kushina asked me to pass a message to Lord Third. She said that if you dare bully her son and let Naruto be ostracized in the village, she will pluck off all your beard."
"Cough, cough…" The Third Hokage coughed a few times. "I am truly very sorry. I have not done well enough…"
But Minato did not listen to his apology. He directly withdrew back into Naruto's body, leaving Naruto's unconscious body to fall to the ground.
The Third Hokage hurried forward to catch him and told people to quickly take Naruto down to be properly cared for.
"Send word immediately and convene a jōnin meeting!"
A short time later, the various great clans all sent their people over one after another, and the jōnin meeting officially began.
The Third Hokage first briefly introduced the information and then said: "The Land of Rain and the Land of Fire are adjacent. It has always existed as a buffer zone between the two countries. And because of the existence of the demigod Hanzō of the Salamander, we were not able to press too hard, and we have not understood the information there deeply enough."
"If not for Minato bringing the information back this time, I fear we would have remained in the dark, not knowing that the situation there has already changed."
"This is information the elite shinobi of the Ino-Shika-Chō and the others exchanged for with their lives. Do not take it lightly. We must discuss and produce a countermeasure today."
"What is there left to discuss?" Danzō's face was full of excitement, a sinister gleam flickering in his single eye. "For a small country that does not know what is good for it like this, we should wipe it out completely and bring the Land of Rain under the rule of the Land of Fire!"
It was no wonder the daimyō of the Land of Fire liked Danzō even more than Sarutobi Hiruzen. A person like Danzō, who always wanted to open up new territory for his own lord—who would not like him?
The Third Hokage slammed the table in anger. "Danzō, this is a jōnin meeting. We are discussing countermeasures. Do not keep wanting to start a war at every turn!"
"How long has it been since the Third Great War?"
"How brutal the previous war was—have you still not learned your lesson?"
"An accident has just occurred within the village, and the village's strength has been greatly damaged. We cannot give the other countries a pretext to start a war!"
Danzō was even more agitated than the Third Hokage, and he was also pounding his cane against the floor with loud bangs.
"It is precisely because the village's strength has been greatly damaged now that we must show strength to the outside!"
"At a time like this, if we show even the slightest weakness, the other villages will think that the strength of Konohagakure has declined. They will seize the chance to pounce on us and swallow us whole!"
"It is indeed unwise to come into conflict with the other great nations, but the Land of Rain happens to be a small country. Even if it has a few powerful shinobi, they cannot possibly be stronger than Hanzō."
"We only need to destroy the Land of Rain with overwhelming thunderous force, and no one will dare to doubt us again!"
The Third Hokage raised his brows and shouted loudly: "Have you not taken to heart any of the information I just talked about?"
"Minato already said it. The one controlling Amegakure from behind the scenes is a powerful shinobi who possesses the legendary Rinnegan, the same as the Sage of Six Paths!"
"Moreover, it is not just one person, but two!"
"Once we start a war, the ones we will have to face will very likely not be a single Hanzō of the Salamander who has already grown old and is on the verge of death, but two demigods in their prime!"
"How could there be so many demigods in this world!" Danzō did not believe it at all. He touched the eye beneath his bandages and said with great confidence, "Didn't Minato already bring back the weakness of that Rinnegan's dōjutsu? We just need to design our tactics based on that, don't we?"
"If they really are as strong as you say, as strong as Hanzō of the Salamander, then all the more we have to eliminate them!"
"What they are doing now has already clearly expressed their hostility toward Konohagakure. If we do not wipe them out before they are ready, are we going to wait for them to grow stronger?"
"Hiruzen, you cannot be this soft if you are the Hokage!"
"If you are so worried about those so-called Rinnegan shinobi, then why not simply leave it to our Root to handle."
"I will make you understand that Root is the most important force supporting Konohagakure at the very top among the Five Great Nations!"
Seeing this situation develop, Danzō still did not forget to pick faults for his own benefit, and the Third Hokage trembled all over with anger.
"Is this a matter of who will deal with the enemy? This is an issue concerning the lives of countless people in the two villages!"
"So what?" Danzō shouted with his neck stretched forward. "Are we supposed to let so many shinobi in the village die in vain?"
"Nara Shikaku and the others died in battle in Amegakure. Do you not need to give the Ino-Shika-Chō three clans an explanation?"
These words instantly caused the Third Hokage's momentum to wilt. His gaze swept across the faces of those present, only to see them all stirred with emotion. Clearly, they were very indignant that a mere small shinobi village like Amegakure dared to provoke Konohagakure.
The next generation of the Ino-Shika-Chō three clans had not yet grown up, and those attending the meeting were the other clans' jōnin.
They were instead not that agitated. Although there was a bit of sorrow on their faces, they still maintained calmness and restraint.
Among these people, Akimichi Torifū had the highest seniority and experience, so he was the first to speak: "Hokage-sama, the matter of going to war carries great weight. Please act with caution and do not concern yourself with the attitude of our Ino-Shika-Chō three clans."
"No matter what choice Lord Hokage makes, our three clans will definitely support it without any objection."
But the more he said this, the more the Third Hokage could not ignore their sacrifice.
The Third Hokage sighed silently in his heart and said in a deep voice: "Amegakure dared to shelter a rogue shinobi within the village and attempted to abduct the Nine-Tails jinchūriki. This has already violated a taboo of the shinobi world."
"I am not opposed to retaliating against Amegakure, but we cannot rashly launch a war without thought. We must gather sufficient information, concentrate all our strength, and with the fastest speed, crush Amegakure completely."
"Pass down my order: send people to bring back Tsunade and Jiraiya, recall the jōnin who are carrying out missions outside, and then send people to infiltrate Amegakure to gather relevant information."
"Meeting adjourned!"
"Danzō, stay behind. I have something for you to do."
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