Chapter 353: Making His Move!

That night, in the Hokage Tower, inside the Hokage’s office—

By the time Sarutobi Hiruzen, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane arrived at the Hokage’s office, Namikaze Minato, Hyūga Hiashi, and Shikaku Nara had already been waiting for some time.

“Please, have a seat. We were just waiting for the three of you.”

Namikaze Minato’s expression was calm, and there wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion in his voice as he gestured toward the three elders.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other two elders all felt their hearts tighten.

They knew that this sudden meeting was probably a trap.

Namikaze Minato was mild-mannered by nature. If even a smile had disappeared from his face, that meant he was already extremely angry.

But what was coming could not be avoided.

The three of them each found a seat and sat down.

“I believe everyone already knows about the disturbance that occurred in the village earlier. I called you all here because of that incident.”

Minato immediately and directly stated the purpose of the meeting.

Shikaku Nara glanced at Hiruzen and the two elders before speaking.

“Hokage-sama, I heard that the disturbance was caused by the remnants of Root. If that’s really the case, then the disturbance was probably nothing more than a smokescreen. They must have had another objective, right?”

Minato nodded.

“That’s correct. When the disturbance broke out in the village, the prison holding Shimura Danzō was attacked as well.”

“Hmph. Those Root remnants are truly audacious!”

A flicker passed through Homura Mitokado’s eyes as he spoke.

“They actually dared to pull something like this inside the village. Do they even have the village in their eyes anymore? Do they have any respect for the Hokage?”

Koharu Utatane also chimed in at the appropriate moment.

“Yondaime, Shimura Danzō wasn’t taken away, was he?”

“No.”

Minato gave Koharu a meaningful look.

“The Military Police Force and ANBU were already prepared for this. Not only did we stop them from rescuing Shimura Danzō, we also captured most of them alive.”

“Captured alive?!”

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were both stunned and couldn’t help exclaiming in surprise.

“That’s right. Captured alive.”

Minato gave them an amused smile.

“Elder Mitokado, Elder Utatane, is there a problem?”

“Uh… no, no…”

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane both gave awkward smiles and hurriedly denied it, but their eyes instinctively turned toward Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose face had become as dark as the bottom of a cooking pot.

Seeing this, Minato stopped beating around the bush.

“Originally, the disturbance in the village has been quelled, Shimura Danzō wasn’t rescued, and the attackers were either killed or captured alive. Everything has already been resolved. Under normal circumstances, I shouldn’t have summoned everyone here at this hour and disturbed your rest.”

“But during the battle with those people, a small accident occurred. I discovered that those people might not actually be the so-called remnants of Root.”

The moment he said this, the entire meeting room fell silent.

Everyone present was essentially already aware of the truth.

The only person who had not been directly involved was Shikaku Nara, but he was an exceptionally intelligent man. Based on the clues alone, he had already pieced together most of what had happened.

The reason everyone remained silent was simply that they didn’t know how to respond.

Minato, however, had no intention of allowing the silence to continue.

He looked directly at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

“Third Hokage, don’t you have anything to say about this?”

Hiruzen frowned slightly but continued to remain silent.

Until he knew exactly how much evidence Minato had obtained, he had to be extremely careful with every word and every action.

Homura Mitokado naturally understood this as well and stepped in to defuse the situation.

“Yondaime, what exactly are you implying?

“Could it be that those people were sent by the Third Hokage?”

“You can’t just make accusations like that!”

Koharu Utatane also joined in.

“Yes. I don’t know what you mean by that, Yondaime. If this is merely based on the attackers’ testimony, then their words are hardly trustworthy.”

Minato spoke in a deep voice.

“The words of those criminals are indeed not trustworthy. Moreover, they are suicide operatives and would never willingly reveal anything.”

“But their memories cannot lie.”

Hiruzen’s brow furrowed deeply.

“Yondaime, have you already extracted their memories?”

Minato shook his head.

“Not yet. However, Captain Inoichi Yamanaka of the Military Police Force’s Analysis Division is already working on it. I believe we’ll have the results very soon.”

Homura Mitokado immediately challenged him.

“Yondaime, if those criminals haven’t said anything and you haven’t extracted their memories yet, then on what basis do you suspect that they aren’t Root remnants? And on what basis are you directing your suspicions toward Hiruzen?”

“Yondaime, I know you’ve only recently taken the position of Hokage and are young and full of vigor. Perhaps you don’t like hearing the opinions of us old men, but you don’t need to be in such a hurry to eliminate your political opponents!”

Homura Mitokado had deliberately turned the accusation back on Minato, attempting to shift the focus while creating trouble for him.

“Cough, cough.”

Hyūga Hiashi cleared his throat and spoke.

“Elder Mitokado, where exactly did that come from? Yondaime’s character is universally respected throughout the village. You haven’t even finished listening to what he has to say, yet you’re already rushing to question him. What exactly are your intentions?”

“How do you know Yondaime doesn’t have grounds for his suspicions?”

Homura Mitokado replied coldly.

“Yondaime himself just admitted that he hasn’t obtained any information from those people yet. So where exactly is this supposed evidence supposed to come from?”

“Heh.”

Minato smiled and interrupted the argument between Homura Mitokado and Hyūga Hiashi.

“Elder Mitokado, I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I really do have grounds for my suspicions.”

Homura Mitokado’s heart jumped.

Although he had a bad feeling about this, he still forced himself to remain composed.

“Then I would ask you to enlighten this old man, Yondaime.”

Minato smiled and uttered a single name.

“Shimura Danzō.”

“Shimura Danzō?!”

Homura Mitokado, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Koharu Utatane were all stunned.

“That’s right.”

Minato began explaining.

“Third Hokage, Elders, there’s something you don’t know. After suffering such a crushing defeat, Shimura Danzō may not have achieved complete enlightenment, but he has certainly come to regret some of his past actions.”

“For the past three days, he has already been cooperating with us in dealing with those Root remnants…”

“Oh, no—Root shinobi.”

“Although they belong to Root, they are still shinobi of our Konoha. As long as they haven’t committed any grave offenses, they remain our comrades!”

Homura Mitokado: “???”

Koharu Utatane: “!!!”

Sarutobi Hiruzen: “?!?!?!”

Minato’s words left the three of them completely dumbfounded.

Was he really talking about Shimura Danzō?

How could Shimura Danzō possibly do something like that?!

Minato paid no attention to their thoughts and continued.

“And Shimura Danzō personally told us that the people who came to rescue him weren’t his Root shinobi at all.”

“They were people sent by you, Third Hokage.”