The sky of Konoha...
Was still so clear, but...
Danzo's heart was filled with helplessness...
He originally thought that after Hiruzen retired, he would be able to dominate Konoha, bully the villagers, and succeed as the Fourth Hokage. But in the end, it was all messed up by a letter from Jiraiya.
That blonde youth became the current Fourth Hokage...
At this point, Danzo's heart was also filled with helplessness. He thought he had no hope, that he could never become the village leader, but he still never expected...
That Namikaze Minato was actually an heir to the Red ideology!
Immediately, his heart was filled with joy, after all, both he and Hiruzen were loyal guardians of the shinobi village!
Especially watching the Third Hokage and the Fourth Hokage bicker and dislike each other, Danzo's heart was so happy!
Now there was conflict within the Hokage line, so he would definitely have an opportunity later...
Just as he was fantasizing about himself saving Konoha, punching the Reds, stepping on the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and finally, putting on the Hokage's bamboo hat, sitting in the Hokage's office, looking at the utterly defeated Hiruzen with a sigh, and saying to him, "Hiruzen..."
"You are not good enough!"
Then, personally leading Konoha to glory!
But, these were ultimately just his fantasies...
Danzo sighed inwardly, a tear unconsciously flowing from the corner of his wrinkled eye...
During this period, he, he... he didn't even know how many pots he had to carry!!!
Burning any books related to the Red ideology in the village, arresting pro-Red shinobi, prohibiting tasks and goods from the Land of Whirlpools from flowing in... all these things were publicly said to be done by him!
As a result, the village's resentment soared, the villagers had great grievances against him, and now...
For no reason, rumors spread that he privately led troops to invade the Land of Rain...
Damn it!!
He had clearly been staying in the village plotting for the Fifth Hokage position the whole time, simply had no time to go out and fool around, so, who exactly was impersonating his name and publicly spreading it...
Danzo probably had a guess in his heart.
But...
So what?
Just like when he and Hiruzen decided back then, he would become Konoha's darkness, and Hiruzen would be Konoha's light...
So, all the dirty deeds, the bad deeds, could be casually thrown onto him, he could withstand it, but...
You can't just throw them like this!
Danzo let out a deep sigh.
He was already this old, why was it so difficult to achieve his dream?
And...
Hiruzen, you're not even Hokage anymore, why are you still throwing mud on him!
The more Danzo thought about it, the more he felt his own misery. He had dedicated most of his life to Konoha, his dream was to become the village leader and continue to shine for the village, why did someone always block him at the critical moment?
He originally thought that after Hiruzen retired and that blonde boy took office, he would have a chance to move from darkness to light, finally think of a way to... the Fourth, and then rightfully become the Fifth.
What a perfect plan!
But now...
It remained just a plan. The Fourth Hokage became a puppet. Although Hiruzen had retired, he was still active everywhere in Konoha...
And he...
Had still not changed, hiding in the darkness of Konoha...
"Lord Danzo, the Fourth Lord has arrived." A shinobi wearing an animal mask said respectfully. "We should depart."
"He is here?" Danzo wiped the corner of his eye, returning to his original fierce expression, sighed, and said, "Let's board the carriage!"
For example, right now...
He had to follow the Fourth to attend that so-called Five Kage Summit.
After all...
Since becoming Hokage, Hiruzen had rarely left the village...
Thinking of this, Danzo's heart was again filled with helplessness...
He, as the Darkness of the Shinobi, needed to run around everywhere, secretly contributing to Konoha in the shadows, while within the village...
No one understood him, it was all infamy!!
...
"Advisor Danzo." Namikaze Minato entered the carriage and looked at Shimura Danzo, who was already inside, leaning on his cane with his eyes closed, meditating. "I'll trouble you this time."
Although he really disliked this cold, ruthless old man who stirred up trouble everywhere and made Konoha seethe with resentment, no matter what...
He was a senior advisor of Konoha!!
"He is here?" Upon hearing Minato's words, Danzo opened his eyes calmly, looked at the Fourth, who always wore a gentle smile no matter when, and said flatly, "In that case, let us depart."
And Minato...
Did not say anything else, walking to the side and sitting down...
Since he became Hokage, he was only the Hokage in name.
He had no control over the village's internal affairs. He only had the right to propose foreign policy. He could only stamp new genin or assign missions regarding shinobi management. And the Hokage's exclusive force, the Anbu...
He had no right to intervene at all!
Now he only had a few followers around him.
Shiranui Genma, Tatami Iwashi, Yamashiro Aoba, and Mitarashi Anko...
Only these few recognized his ideals...
Thinking of this, a bitter smile unconsciously appeared on Minato's face.
He might be...
The most miserable Kage in Konoha.
"Young man, don't sigh unnecessarily." Just as Minato was lamenting, Danzo suddenly opened his eyes and said flatly, "As a Kage, you just need to maintain your smile. As for the rest..."
"Don't think about it too much!"
He, Shimura Danzo, no matter how much the villagers disliked him, no matter how much they cursed him, still lived just fine, didn't he?
Moreover...
You are the Hokage!
Thinking of this, Danzo felt a bit listless...
The Hokage was his lifelong dream, but in the end, it was snatched away by a young man.
"Konoha will always be Konoha, but..." Danzo looked meaningfully at Minato. "The Hokage changes from generation to generation."
So...
He absolutely had the qualification to become the Fifth Hokage!
When the time came, he would definitely sit in the Hokage's office, and say regretfully to Sarutobi Hiruzen...
Hiruzen, you are not good enough!!!
"But Konoha has changed." Minato was startled to hear Danzo actually speaking to him, sighed, and said, "The First Hokage created Konoha back then to achieve peace. Why has it become like this now?"
A better path had already appeared, so why were the Third Hokage and the others unwilling to see it?
This world doesn't just belong to shinobi, it belongs to all the people living in the shinobi world...
Whether they are poor, suffering, or ordinary people...
The shinobi world belongs to everyone!
"Heh." Danzo scoffed disdainfully. "Do you know why the First Hokage back then changed the method of giving away the Tailed Beasts for free to selling them, and why the other villages didn't dare to say anything and chose to accept it?"
"Hmm." Minato frowned and pondered for a moment, then said, "I remember it's written in Konoha's history books that the First Hokage decided to use the nine Tailed Beasts to balance the power among the shinobi villages, thereby maintaining peace in the shinobi world. But, in the end, the Second Hokage decided to change free to charge."
He sighed...
"Probably the Second Hokage thought that if it were free, they wouldn't cherish them either!"
"..."
To think there was still a shinobi of such pure and good quality in Konoha?!
Danzo looked speechlessly at Minato, remained silent for a moment, and said, "What you said is correct!"
It was just that back then, the reason for changing their minds and deciding to charge was simply because the village was very poor initially, had no income, and expenses were high. Also, the First Hokage felt that since he and Uchiha Madara had worked so hard to collect the Tailed Beasts, it was only right to sell them for some money to support the village. So, he agreed with the Second Hokage's opinion to charge...
"But..."
Squinting his eyes at Namikaze Minato...
"What I want to express is, only the strong can change their minds at will! And..."
"The shinobi world will always belong to the strong!!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━