Sakura's expression changed abruptly.
"You—how do you know about the Divine Technique?!"
Danzo didn't answer her question. He merely raised a hand, signaling the remaining ROOT operatives to halt their attack.
He looked at Sakura—eyes blazing with vigilance and fury—and spoke in his trademark, judgment-like tone:
"Sakura Haruno. You attacked and killed an ANBU operative. The evidence is conclusive."
"Now, hand over the Divine Technique you possess in full. If you do, you may redeem yourself and be spared the charge of becoming a missing-nin. Otherwise…"
He paused. A cruel glint flashed through his single eye.
"You will be branded a traitor to Konoha—and hunted by the entire village, even the whole shinobi world."
Hearing Danzo twist the truth so brazenly and try to seize her power by force, Sakura was so furious her chest heaved violently, her fingers trembling. For a moment, she nearly couldn't speak.
She had never encountered someone so shameless.
His people attacked her first. She merely defended herself.
Yet in his mouth, it became her "assassinating an ANBU operative"?
And now he was using that as leverage to extort the Divine Technique?
"You… you're absolutely—"
Sakura searched desperately for the harshest words she knew, only to find that none of them were enough to capture the sheer outrage and absurdity of the moment.
She knew arguing with someone like this was pointless—and there was no way she would hand over the Divine Technique here.
Forcing her rage down, she shot Danzo a vicious glare, turned, and strode toward the exit.
"I'm going to see the Hokage. I'll tell him everything that happened today—exactly as it happened!"
Unexpectedly, Danzo didn't order anyone to stop her.
He remained where he was, watching her departing figure with his cold, single eye. His hoarse voice, filled with absolute certainty, echoed behind her:
"You will… hand it over obediently."
The words slithered into Sakura's heart like an icy serpent. Her steps faltered for a split second as a powerful sense of foreboding surged up—
But she didn't turn back.
Instead, she quickened her pace and left the suffocating underground facility as fast as she could.
Right now, she wanted nothing more than to see the Third Hokage and expose Danzo's true face.
She had no idea that after she left, Danzo calmly issued an order to his subordinate:
"Once Sakura Haruno has exhausted every other option, bring her parents to ROOT tomorrow—invite them as guests."
"Remember. Be polite."
Danzo knew this type all too well.
Against a shinobi who still cared about ordinary human bonds, there were countless methods.
Direct force might not work on someone who had mastered such a bizarre Divine Technique—
but emotional weaknesses often broke people in a single strike.
"Divine Technique…"
Danzo's lone eye gleamed with unhidden ambition.
"Such power should be under my control, to safeguard Konoha's Root. Only I am fit to lead Konoha."
Danzo's naked threats and brazen distortion of the truth, displayed on the Sky Screen, were like pouring cold water into boiling oil.
The entire shinobi world exploded.
"Shameless! Absolutely shameless!"
"What the hell—is he even human?!"
"Konoha's 'Root'? More like rotten to the core!"
"Threatening a village shinobi in public, even using her parents as leverage—this is the so-called most righteous Konoha?!"
Curses, condemnation, and fury swept through every corner like a tsunami.
Whether allies of Konoha, enemy villages, neutral wandering shinobi, or ordinary civilians—everyone was stunned by Danzo's complete lack of a moral bottom line.
They had long known Danzo was dirty.
But this level of depravity was unprecedented.
This had gone far beyond political struggle.
It was sheer corruption and evil.
"No wonder that Naruto in the Sky Screen wanted to destroy the world!" a hot-tempered shinobi roared.
"If I lived in a place this rotten, I'd want to burn it down too!"
"Danzo! That old bastard! So everything really was his doing!"
Inside Konoha, countless shinobi were livid—faces dark, fists clenched tight.
They felt profound shame and anger that such a figure existed among their leadership.
Especially the ordinary villagers and lower-ranking ninja—their faces burned with embarrassment.
In the past, simply saying "I'm a ninja from Konoha" earned respect and admiration on missions.
But now?
"Ugh, don't mention it. I went on a mission to the Land of Tea yesterday—once they heard I was from Konoha, their looks were… weird."
"Tell me about it. I'm embarrassed to even wear my forehead protector now."
"All because of what those top dogs did… Danzo, and…"
The speaker trailed off, not daring to name the Third Hokage outright—but the resentment was obvious.
Bang!!!
The solid wooden desk in front of Tsunade was smashed to pieces with a single palm strike, splinters flying.
"Bastards!"
Her chest rose and fell violently as she snarled through clenched teeth:
"My grand-uncle's eyes must've been completely blind—look at the disciples he took in!"
At that moment, Tsunade felt not only Konoha's honor, but even the Senju clan's reputation had been dragged through the mud.
Beside her, Jiraiya was just as grim, his fists clenched tight.
Though furious, he didn't dare criticize their teacher's teacher outright. Instead, all his rage was directed at Danzo:
"That old vulture Danzo! He's a cancer on Konoha! No bottom line, no restraint—just ambition!"
"He doesn't even deserve to be called a shinobi!"
At the Ninja Academy, the atmosphere was suffocating.
Naruto lowered his head like a child who'd done something terribly wrong. Hesitantly, he walked up to Sakura, his voice full of guilt and regret:
"Sakura… I'm sorry… I really didn't know… I didn't know things would turn out like this…"
Sakura was shaking with anger, her chest tight as if something was stuck there.
Looking at the utterly clueless idiot in front of her—someone who still didn't seem to grasp how disastrous a single careless sentence could be—she felt like punching him again.
But the worst part was—
All of this was still only a future that hadn't happened yet.
She had nowhere to vent her anger, and the pent-up frustration nearly made her explode.
In the end, all that rage and helplessness condensed into one perfectly aimed punch—
Thump!
"You absolute, ultra, mega IDIOT!" Sakura roared as her fist smashed into Naruto's head.
"From now on, anything about me—you don't tell anyone, got it?!"
Her eyes were slightly red—half from fury, half from fear.
Naruto clutched the rapidly swelling lump on his head, wincing in pain, not daring to complain. He nodded frantically.
"Got it, got it! I swear I won't say anything ever again!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood aside, his face lined with sorrow. He let out a long, heavy sigh, as though a few more years had been drained from him in an instant.
The embers in his pipe flickered on and off, casting light on eyes filled with conflict and exhaustion.
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