"Hiruzen, you're just looking for an excuse to come after me. Kakashi's disappearance was nothing but a convenient reason. I see it clearly now."
"You're terrified of losing the Hokage seat, aren't you? Your reputation took a beating from all those mistakes. People are questioning you. You can't hold on to power much longer, so you decided to crush me instead."
Hiruzen laughed coldly.
"Danzo, I always knew you were hungry for the hat. You made Kakashi vanish just to damage me, hoping it would open the door for you to take over. Well, forget it. You're not getting it."
"You're not fit to be Hokage. Tobirama-sensei didn't choose you back then, and I never will either."
"As long as I'm breathing, you will never touch that seat."
The two men screamed at each other until the argument ended in bitter silence. Every shinobi outside the office stayed far away, terrified of catching either man's wrath.
Using his authority as Hokage, Hiruzen delivered a devastating blow. He stripped Danzo of his elder status, disbanded Root completely, and confined him to the Shimura clan grounds — essentially a soft house arrest, the same treatment Fugaku and the other Uchiha elders had received.
Danzo was livid.
"Hiruzen, you're going to regret this!"
But Hiruzen was the Hokage. His orders were absolute. No matter how furious Danzo was, he couldn't disobey. He could only secretly keep a portion of Root's forces hidden while handing over the rest to be dismantled.
"Good thing I always kept a backup plan," Danzo muttered. "Otherwise this would have crippled me. Root may be gone on paper, but I still have plenty of loyal people."
Homura Mitokado was thrilled.
Ever since his falling-out with Danzo, their relationship had only grown worse. Seeing Danzo finally get knocked down a peg made Homura giddy. He rushed to publish the news in Konoha Weekly: Danzo was no longer an elder.
Danzo exploded.
A teacup shattered against the floor, shards flying everywhere.
"Homura Mitokado… how dare you humiliate me like this? I'll make you pay!"
Danzo had never respected Homura. Now, already in a terrible mood, he felt genuine killing intent toward the man.
In the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen let out a long sigh.
"Danzo… I never expected you to stab me in the back at a time like this. After decades of treating you with mercy. You've made so many mistakes and I still never punished you severely. In any other village you'd already be rotting in a cell. No other Kage would tolerate you."
"So what do I do now?"
Hiruzen understood the situation clearly.
The Uchiha Kagami rumor hadn't really hurt him. The Hyuga Byakugan rumor had been contained because the Hyuga clan knew how to behave. But the Minato Namikaze rumor had genuinely damaged his reputation. As the older generation, he hadn't sacrificed himself during the Nine-Tails crisis. Even if most people didn't believe he'd plotted Minato's death, plenty still felt he had failed to live up to the Will of Fire.
Reputation was like a protective shell. Once it cracked, breaking it further became much easier.
That was exactly why the White Fang rumor was hitting him so hard right now.
"I can't let this continue."
"Danzo made his move. Kakashi is most likely already dead. But only I know Danzo did it. If everyone else finds out Kakashi is dead, they'll blame me. Even if they know Danzo pulled the trigger, they'll assume I gave the order."
"Danzo played this ruthlessly."
A new idea formed in Hiruzen's mind.
"Kakashi can die… but not like this. Not right now."
"I need to find someone trustworthy in the Sarutobi clan."
The next day, Kakashi appeared.
He walked openly through the streets of Konoha.
"Is that Kakashi?"
"Yeah, that's him!"
"Kakashi wasn't missing — he was just recovering in the village!"
Some people immediately jumped to conclusions.
"He must've been injured. Probably healing this whole time."
"Sunagakure is disgusting, spreading all those lies. They're completely shameless!"
"Look, Kakashi's fine. Lord Hokage would never do something like that. It was all Sand's slander."
One man's eyes lit up as he started calculating how to claim the 300,000 ryō bounty from Sunagakure.
Hiruzen watched from his office window and nodded in satisfaction.
"Perfect. Now no one can accuse me of killing Kakashi. The White Fang rumor should lose some steam too."
"In a few days I'll have 'Kakashi' give a public statement. If Sunagakure can run interviews, so can we."
At that moment, a green blur shot toward the fake Kakashi at incredible speed.
"Kakashi! I knew you were okay!"
Might Guy skidded to a stop in front of him, grinning ear to ear, and clapped a hand on his shoulder with bone-crushing enthusiasm.
The fake Kakashi's face twitched. He clearly couldn't handle Guy's energy.
"I… have something to take care of. I'll see you later."
He hurried away.
Guy stared after him, confused.
"What's wrong with Kakashi? He's acting really weird…"
"Was the White Fang rumor hitting him that hard?"
News that Kakashi was alive spread across the ninja world like wildfire. For a moment, Hiruzen's image returned to its former glory.
Inside the Shimura compound, Danzo's face was dark.
"I knew it. Hiruzen was just using Kakashi's disappearance as an excuse to punish me. Now that Kakashi's back, what about me?"
"It looks like normal methods won't force Hiruzen to step down anymore."
"I need something… unconventional."
"I have to talk to Orochimaru."
Danzo turned to a young clan member.
"Go find Orochimaru. Now."
"Yes, Lord Danzo."