Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 58: Reform
Eventhough Daimyo had agreed to accept the option for lower price market, but they still need to be in a range of where he will accept it.
At first, the Daimyo side demanded a greater price reduction, but Raiken refused to yield. After much back and forth, Raiken eventually agreed to lower the price by an additional five percent, but with strict conditions, payment had to be made in full before they could collect the scrolls and the purchase volume had to increase at least ten times the amount of a normal merchant. For example, if a regular merchant purchased around 200,000 scrolls in one batch, the Daimyo would now be required to buy two million.
Even though the price was only slightly lower, the larger volume allowed the scrolls to be sold more easily.
With that, the dispute with the Daimyo was finally settled, and the Hokage received an official report letter regarding the incident.
Meanwhile, another issue arose in Konoha concerning the disbandment of Root and the reformation of the Elder Council. The previous council positions had been freely given to Hiruzen friends which is Koharu, Homura and Danzo but after seeing how poorly they managed their authority, Hiruzen decided to restructure the system.
From then on, the Elder Council positions would be filled through elections. Each member would hold the position for three years, and while they could retain their seat, they would need to win the vote again.
The more serious problem, however, lay with Root. Though Hiruzen had long been aware of Danzo involvement in illegal experiments, the reports he now received still sent chills down his spine.
Danzo managed to destroy 65% of Root's records before the Anbu were able to stop him.
But the remaining 35% was enough to ignite Hiruzen's fury. If not for Danzo's status as both a student of the Second Hokage and his longtime comrade, Hiruzen would have placed him in prison without hesitation.
...
When the sealed reports of Root record were finally placed in his hands, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in silence for a long while, his hand carressed his beard. He had known, of course, that Danzo operated in shadows are sometimes illegal, his old comrade never hesitated to do what he called "necessary" for the village.
Hiruzen had turned a blind eye more than once, telling himself that Danzo ruthlessness balanced his own compassion. But as he began to read the surviving records that Anbu managed to salvage, his heart sank, and anger rose like fire in his chest.
Root was far worse than he imagined. The experiments detailed within were not the work of a man protecting Konoha but of someone who believed the village was his personal chessboard and shinobi merely pawns.
There were documents describing the forced experiment into captured shinobi and even orphans taken under Root care. Few had survived. Most had died in agony, their bodies unable to withstand the power. Danzo had signed off on every trial and what he really angry is Danzo just kidnapped orphan and did this disgusting experiment.
Other records spoke of children taken from clans without consent, orphans of shinobi, or those simply considered "unfit" to live freely. They had been stripped of identity, given numbers, and molded into emotionless tools. Their loyalty was to Root alone, not to the Hokage or the village.
The report also confirmed something Hiruzen long suspected but never had proof of. Danzo attempt to weaponize forbidden sealing techniques stolen from foreign shinobi. There were notes on fūinjutsu taken from many place.
There was also a twisted human experiment that turn them into grotesque experiments that turned living bodies into unstable storage vessels for chakra. The majority of these test subjects had perished, their deaths noted with cold, clinical detachment.
Hiruzen clenched the edge of the table until his knuckles turned white. He remembered the day he had visited those orphans in the orphanage, promising them safety under Konoha's banner. And now, to know that Danzo had stolen that promise from them, it was unforgivable.
Yet what infuriated him even more was that Danzo had succeeded in destroying sixty-five percent of Root archives before the Anbu closed in. That meant the true scale of the atrocities might never be known. What remained, thirty-five percent was only fragments, and even those fragments were enough to chill the Hokage to his core.
One report in particular described an operation involving Sharingan eyes taken from fallen Uchiha. Hiruzen chest tightened as he read the account. The Uchiha Clan had given their lives in becoming a police to defend the Land of Fire, and Danzo had desecrated their sacrifice by harvesting their eyes like spoils of war. It was sacrilege.
Another spoke of Danzo secret dealings with foreign mercenaries. Weapons and information exchanged in shadowy pacts, all hidden from Konoha's council. It painted a picture not of a loyal protector but of a warlord building his own power base within the village.
When Hiruzen finally set the papers down, his hands trembled, not with weakness but with fury. The office was heavy with silence, broken only by the slow rasp of his breathing.
If Danzo had been anyone else, any other shinobi in Konoha. Hiruzen would have signed an arrest warrant immediately, trial or not. No man could commit such crimes and walk free. But Danzo was not just anyone. He was a student of the Second Hokage, a war veteran, and Hiruzen comrade since youth. Their bond complicated everything.
For a moment, Hiruzen felt the crushing weight of Hokage position. To condemn Danzo publicly would shake the very foundations of the village. It would mean admitting to the people that, under his leadership, a monster had been allowed to grow unchecked in the shadows. The trust in Hokage office would fracture. Enemies abroad would seize upon the weakness. Allies might question Konoha's stability.
Yet to do nothing was equally dangerous. Danzo had gone too far. If left unchecked, he would rise again, building another Root in some hidden corner of the village, poisoning the future of Konoha with his ideology.
Hiruzen stood, walking toward the window of his office. The village stretched out before him, peaceful under the morning sun. Children laughed in the training grounds, merchants called out in the marketplace, shinobi patrolled the streets. This was what he had sworn to protect. And Danzo, with all his crimes, threatened to kidnap and experiment some of them in the name of "protection."
Sarutobi Hiruzen eyes hardened.
"Danzo…" he muttered under his breath. "You leave me no choice. For the sake of the village, I will act. Even if it breaks me."
He knew Danzo, he had feeling that Root would not merely be disbanded and Danzo will just follow his order. Danzo would left someway out for himself. It would be purged, its roots cut out from every hidden corner of Konoha. And as for Danzo Shimura, student of the Second Hokage, his old friend and rival,Hiruzen resolved that their paths could no longer run side by side.
P/S: I saw a comment in the earliest chapter, "author don't make hiruzen so stupid" because I made him too stupid by trusting Danzo so much.
Author Notes: To read advanced chapter you can go to my patreon.
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