"What do you mean by that, Danzō?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he looked at Shimura Danzō, a faint sense of unease rising in his heart.
Had Danzō done something that worsened relations between the two sides?
Danzō's gaze flickered slightly before he explained,
"Among those three children, one of them is… very special."
"If he's allowed to grow without interference, it will definitely not be a good thing for Konoha."
"Special?" Hiruzen considered for a moment before asking, "Does he possess some powerful kekkei genkai?"
"You could say that."
Danzō paused briefly, then spoke in a heavy voice.
"That boy named Nagato possesses the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths—"
"The Rinnegan."
"…!!!"
The moment those words were spoken, Hiruzen, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado all inhaled sharply.
Homura couldn't help but speak.
"Danzō… you're not joking, are you?"
Danzō glanced at him coldly.
"I don't have time to joke with you."
"I can confirm it with absolute certainty. The eyes of that boy Nagato are indeed the Rinnegan."
"And I've personally witnessed the power of those eyes."
"If that boy is allowed to mature, he may very well become a shinobi comparable to the First Hokage."
"The next leader of the Land of Rain possessing the power of Hashirama Senju…"
"Do you really think that would be good news for Konoha?"
Originally, Danzō had no intention of revealing the existence of the Rinnegan to Hiruzen and the others.
After all, he wanted that power for himself.
Once Hiruzen learned about it, even if Konoha managed to obtain those eyes, they would almost certainly never end up in his hands.
But circumstances had changed.
First, Nagato was now under Hanzo's protection. With Danzō's current strength alone, seizing the Rinnegan was nearly impossible.
More importantly—
Nagato had already aligned himself with Hanzo of the Salamander.
For Konoha, that was an enormous potential threat.
That was why Danzō ultimately decided to reveal the truth.
Before the others could respond, Danzō continued speaking.
"When I first discovered those eyes, my plan was to drive a wedge between the Akatsuki and Amegakure."
"Even if we couldn't obtain the Rinnegan ourselves, we at least couldn't allow it to serve the Hidden Rain Village."
"But what I didn't expect…"
"…was that the Akatsuki and Hanzo were already working together."
"Instead, they used the situation to set a trap for me."
"That's the real reason why Root suffered such devastating losses this time."
Hiruzen suddenly slapped the table.
"Danzō, you've gone too far!"
"You should have informed us immediately after discovering such information! You had no right to act on your own!"
"Your actions may have pushed a future powerhouse—one who originally held goodwill toward Konoha—into becoming our enemy!"
"You may have created a powerful adversary for our village!"
Danzō snorted with disdain.
"Wake up, Hiruzen."
"Someone who can be accepted as a personal disciple by an ambitious man like Hanzo could never possibly hold goodwill toward Konoha."
"The correct course of action is to eliminate every potential threat to Konoha while it's still in the cradle."
Hiruzen frowned.
"Your thinking is too extreme."
"That child was taught by Jiraiya for several years. That alone creates a bond between him and Konoha."
"I trust Jiraiya's judgment. He wouldn't raise a disciple who would threaten our village."
"Heh."
Danzō let out a mocking laugh.
"Speaking of that…"
"I'd like to ask something."
"Jiraiya trained Nagato for years. There's no way he didn't notice that boy's special nature."
"Yet Jiraiya neither brought Nagato back to Konoha nor informed us about the existence of the Rinnegan."
"So what exactly was his intention?"
"Can he still be considered a Konoha shinobi?"
Danzō's relentless questioning left Hiruzen momentarily silent.
From that perspective…
Jiraiya's actions were indeed somewhat difficult to defend.
If Jiraiya had brought Nagato back to Konoha once he discovered the boy's extraordinary talent, perhaps none of these problems would exist today.
Hiruzen knew that ever since Jiraiya formed his summoning contract with Mount Myōboku, he had been obsessed with finding the Child of Prophecy—the one destined to bring great change to the shinobi world.
Jiraiya believed in that prophecy deeply.
Almost obsessively.
In some ways, it sometimes felt as though Jiraiya was less a shinobi of Konoha and more a representative of Mount Myōboku.
After a long silence, Hiruzen finally spoke.
"I will speak with Jiraiya about this matter."
"And Danzō—this issue is no longer yours to handle."
"I will deal with Amegakure and the matter of the Rinnegan personally."
Danzō immediately understood Hiruzen's intentions.
"Hiruzen… are you still hoping to resolve this through peaceful means?"
"That's impossible."
"What we should do right now is take the Land of Rain by force."
"Even if we don't attack directly, we should at least deploy our army to its borders and force Hanzo to hand over Nagato."
"We absolutely cannot give that boy time to grow!"
"The situation hasn't escalated that far yet."
Hiruzen calmly exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"We'll make a decision after I speak with Jiraiya."
"The Land of Rain is a battlefield contested by many forces."
"Multiple factions are entangled there, restraining one another. Touching one thread can move the entire web."
"Neither Sunagakure nor Iwagakure would sit by and watch us invade the Land of Rain."
"And Konoha…"
"…can no longer endure another war."
The Third Great Ninja War had dragged on for years.
Konoha's enemies had changed again and again.
Now that peace was finally within reach, Hiruzen had no intention of throwing the village back into the flames of war over uncertain possibilities.
"Hiruzen, you can't—"
"Danzō."
Hiruzen's voice suddenly hardened.
"I am the Hokage."
"…!"
Danzō froze.
His face turned ashen.
Once again, Hiruzen had used the authority of the Hokage to crush him.
It was always like this.
Whenever Hiruzen could no longer win the argument, he would simply rely on the power of his position.
And each time it happened, the obsession in Danzō's heart grew stronger.
His desire for the Hokage's seat deepened once more.
"You'll regret this, Hiruzen."
Danzō's voice was cold.
"You will regret it."
"Alright, Danzō," Koharu Utatane stepped in to smooth things over. "Let's wait until Hiruzen has spoken with Jiraiya before discussing this further."
She then shifted the topic.
"Actually, aside from asking about your situation, we summoned you here for another matter."
"Minato Namikaze has achieved a major victory on the battlefield against Kumogakure."
"He captured the son of the Third Raikage, A, along with the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki."
"The Kumogakure diplomatic delegation has already arrived in the village."
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