"If I really wanted to kill you, you would have died with those Shimura Clan members just now."
This was because Feng Xu hadn't sensed any malice from the four in his Malice Perception.
That was why the four of them became the only four survivors of this massacre.
"So you discovered us early on and even showed us mercy!"
"Damn it, I actually believed Hayate's nonsense, thinking his See-Through Release protected us!"
Seeing that Feng Xu had no intention of killing, Genma breathed a sigh of relief.
He even lightened the mood with a joking tone.
"I, cough, cough, cough…" Gekkō Hayate, eager to explain, started coughing violently.
"Alright, all of you go back. What's about to happen isn't something you can participate in."
As for these four, who were ostensibly the Fourth Hokage's guards but were actually errand boys and half-disciples, Feng Xu had no intention of interacting with them, nor did he think highly of them.
"We…" Raido Namiashi still wanted to explain their purpose.
But he was stopped by the calmest Aoba Yamashiro, who then pulled the others away quickly.
Because in the Shimura Clan compound not far away, Hashirama, Tobirama, and Jiraiya, all with grim expressions, were rapidly moving through the buildings, filled with corpses and blood, heading this way.
Seeing the three getting closer, Feng Xu wiped his palm over the excavated Kotoamatsukami, covering it with the mark of the Flying Thunder God.
Then, upon inputting Chakra, Shisui's Mangekyo vanished with a whoosh.
Just as Kotoamatsukami was teleported away, the three, Hashirama, Tobirama, and Jiraiya, landed in front of Feng Xu.
Looking at Danzo, whom Feng Xu was holding, limbless and unconscious, Tobirama, his face extremely grim, suppressed his anger and roared, asking, "You killed Danzo, and he deserved it."
"But did you slaughter everyone in the Shimura Clan?"
"And those Four Clan Ninja I summoned, did you kill all of them too?!"
Feng Xu chuckled, throwing Danzo in front of Tobirama like trash.
"Don't accuse me, Second Hokage~"
"Your beloved disciple Danzo isn't dead. I just helped him activate the Hiruzen Sarutobi experience card."
"You bastard, I'm not asking about Danzo!" Tobirama didn't catch Danzo, who was in mid-air, but stared intently at Feng Xu.
"I'm asking about those innocent Shimura Clan members, and those Four Clan Ninja who were about to contribute to the Village!"
"Asking the obvious."
Feng Xu shrugged indifferently, not intending to make any excuses.
"You!!!"
Tobirama clenched his fist, suppressing the anger in his heart, and roared, "You must give me an explanation for an act of clan extermination that shakes the foundation of the Village!"
"Explanation?" The smile vanished from Feng Xu's face, his gaze becoming cold and sharp.
"The Shimura Clan, led by Danzo, colluded with Four Clan Ninja to ambush the Jinchuriki, releasing the Nine-Tailed to destroy the Village."
"Is this explanation satisfactory, Second Hokage!"
Whoosh!!!
As the word "satisfactory" landed, golden-red Nine-Tailed Chakra materialized and rapidly erupted from Feng Xu's body.
In just an instant, it formed a giant, ghostly face with only eyes, filled with killing intent, in the air behind Feng Xu!
The terrifying pressure even stirred up circles of white airwaves and wind pressure, causing howling gales to blow in all directions!
"Don't say it, Tobirama."
Hashirama, behind Tobirama, sighed.
Then, his body suddenly lit up with purple Chakra, and he took a step forward, shattering the ground and blocking Feng Xu's terrifying presence.
"I said before, we can't be the same…"
"Big Brother!" Seeing Hashirama about to say something he shouldn't, Tobirama immediately interrupted him.
Jiraiya, who saw the situation becoming delicate, also stepped forward at this moment to mediate.
"Calm down, everyone, calm down!"
"This time, Danzo was the one who broke the rules first, attacking Feng Xu with Root and the Shimura Clan members."
"And those Four Clan Ninja too, they disregarded the orders of Elephant and Lamp, obeying Danzo's orders, and deserved their deaths."
"Moreover, Danzo also had a hand in the previous Uchiha clan extermination. If we handle this the same way, the other Ninja clans won't have any objections!"
With the Uchiha clan extermination incident as a precedent, this Shimura Clan extermination could be considered karmic retribution, and they deserved their deaths.
Furthermore, Danzo had already caused extremely poor relations by luring Ninja from various clans, and the Shimura Clan was also affected.
So, this matter would not shake the foundation of the Village, only cause some unrest.
"The Uchiha are an inherently evil clan, and someone bore the blame…"
Tobirama, halfway through his sentence, finally sighed and picked up Danzo from the ground.
He had just been blinded by anger and realized that a conflict now would be pointless.
Instead of assigning blame, it was better to think about how to minimize the subsequent trouble.
Thinking this, Tobirama closed his eyes and calmed his emotions.
When he reopened his eyes, he had regained his composure and looked at Feng Xu.
"Danzo and the Shimura Clan colluded with external enemies, ambushing the Jinchuriki and causing the Nine-Tailed's power to go out of control."
"This resulted in the complete annihilation of the Shimura Clan and the Four Clan Ninja who came to support."
"Finally, with the help of the First Hokage's Wood Release, the Jinchuriki recovered."
"What do you think of this explanation?"
Hearing this, Feng Xu withdrew the Nine-Tailed Chakra, and a smile returned to his face.
"Everything according to the Second Hokage's arrangements."
Chapter 147: Reaching the Threshold of 79%
After concluding that the matter was Danzo's fault, Tobirama left first, carrying Danzo.
He intended to temporarily throw him into the Konoha Prison.
Hashirama, left behind, looked at Feng Xu with complex eyes, wanting to say something.
But Feng Xu didn't give him a chance, turning around and leaving immediately.
Jiraiya was about to follow Feng Xu, but Hashirama held him back.
As the confirmed next Hokage, even though he hadn't officially taken office, the formal work had to be taken over.
Danzo and the Shimura Clan were indeed finished.
But the matter wasn't over; there were troublesome follow-ups to resolve.
For example, explanations to the outside world, appeasing the public and the Ninja clans, distributing the Shimura Clan's remaining assets, and so on.
These tasks would also serve to hone and improve Jiraiya's administrative abilities.
On the other side, the departing Feng Xu did not, as usual, hand over control of his body.
Instead, he found a random open rooftop and sat down by the eaves.
Although the control of Kotoamatsukami had been released, Naruto hadn't taken back his body, nor was he as noisy as usual.
Feng Xu could probably guess that it was likely because during the fight with Danzo earlier, Naruto kept trying to snatch the body and hinder him, but didn't know he was being controlled, so he started his usual self-isolation.
Of course, Feng Xu also thought it possible that the previous body-snatching battle had scared Naruto.
After all, Feng Xu had never shown the ability to snatch the body before.
At most, he had resisted for a few more seconds when Naruto tried to take back his body.
"Forget it, let's do something important first."
Feng Xu didn't retreat as he used to after solving a crisis.
This was because he planned to update all his Shadow Clones that were out and about.
After all, he had previously spent over 60,000 Blackening Points, exchanging for a lot of Sage Body and Taijutsu.
Naturally, he also needed to enhance the strength of the Shadow Clones who were out performing tasks.
Especially the Shadow Clone with the Akatsuki Organization.
With the bonuses from these physiques and Taijutsu, enduring a couple more Shinra Tensei attacks shouldn't be a problem.
Thinking this, Feng Xu first dispelled the Shadow Clones that were out.
After receiving the memories brought back by the Shadow Clones, he quickly formed hand seals again.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Smoke flashed and vanished, and three Shadow Clones appeared on the rooftop.
Two of them were Shadow Clones with three-tailed Chakra, responsible for matters in Four Stars Village.
One was a Shadow Clone with eight-tailed Chakra, responsible for matters with the Akatsuki Organization.
After sending them to their respective locations with the Flying Thunder God, Feng Xu turned his gaze to the system panel in his mind.
[Current Blackening Points: 0]
[Current Trust and Dependence Value: 79% (75%)]
The Blackening Points not increasing didn't surprise Feng Xu.
After all, Naruto was controlled by Kotoamatsukami, and during his battle with Danzo, Naruto's emotions were on Danzo's side.
But the Trust and Dependence Value increasing by 1% and 5% was an unexpected result for Feng Xu!
"Could it be due to guilt over his actions after the control ended?"
With this guess, Feng Xu closed his eyes and submerged his consciousness into the sealing space.
As soon as he entered the sealing space, Feng Xu saw Naruto lying on the ground, curled up in a ball, hugging his legs.
And the Nine-Tailed, extending a claw with its index finger, was playfully rolling Naruto back and forth on the ground.
Seeing Feng Xu appear, the Nine-Tailed immediately retracted its claw.
Then, pointing at Naruto on the ground, it waved its claw at Feng Xu and shouted with a laugh, "Feng Xu, come here quickly! This little guy is self-isolating again because he was controlled by the Mangekyo Sharingan~"