The second robber cried as he crawled towards the third robber. He used his one remaining hand to help the third robber up, letting his brother's body, limp like a pile of mud, lean against his chest as he wept. At this moment, he no longer had any thought of revenge.
The third robber looked at his second brother and smiled bitterly. "Second Brother, don't cry. A real man shouldn't cry, or he'll turn into a block of tofu." He wanted to raise his arm to comfort his second brother but found he couldn't lift it at all.
In the end, he could only give up. He looked towards the sand wall. Unfortunately, he was just an ordinary person, neither a shinobi nor possessing the Byakugan, so he couldn't see clearly how his eldest brother was doing over there.
He could only pray inwardly that his eldest brother would be safe.
The eldest robber had once been a scholar. Now, he was scared out of his wits. Urine flowed from between his legs, making Shukaku frown.
"Hey, aren't you the big brother? Your two younger brothers are so tough, how come you're like this?"
It pinched its nose, looking disgusted. The eldest robber smiled bitterly. Who wouldn't be afraid? Danzo had just crippled his two younger brothers' arms without a second thought, and even his third brother's legs were crushed.
Danzo passed through the sand wall, frowned, and sniffed. What was that smell? Shukaku laughed, "Danzo, you're back. Quick, quick, step on his head with your foot. I can't stand it, this guy pissed himself."
Shukaku looked at the eldest robber with disgust, using its small hands to cover its nose. Seeing Danzo was like seeing a savior. Its eyes lit up.
Danzo looked at the eldest robber's pants. A puddle of yellow urine was particularly obvious on the prison floor. This guy must have high uric acid. He couldn't help but show a trace of disgust on his face.
"Dan, Danzo sir, please spare me. Please spare me. I have an eighty year old child above, and an eight year old mother below waiting to be fed. I beg you, show mercy, don't cripple my hands and feet." The eldest robber was talking nonsense. He didn't even know what he was saying.
But he had only one thought at this moment: to preserve his useful body, so that even if he got out later, he wouldn't be looked down upon.
Danzo's opinion of the eldest robber had plummeted to the extreme. The second and third robbers, in order to save him, fought desperately against Danzo despite the danger. Although it had no real effect on Danzo, at least they were loyal. This guy, groveling and begging for mercy, was simply worlds apart compared to those two.
It was said he had even studied?
Truly, loyalty is often found among butchers and dog-tanners, while heartlessness comes from scholars. Danzo looked at the eldest robber's state, his face expressionless, and crouched down. "If you knew today would come, why did you do it then? Even if that child wasn't my disciple, could you just bully him arbitrarily, even threaten his life?"
"I tell you, under the leadership of our great Hokage, Ryun Uchiha, Konoha cannot tolerate dark forces. Once they appear, not only will they be eradicated with thunderous means, but they will also be made to suffer immensely, to console the pain of the villagers who were harmed."
Danzo made a political statement, flawless. He knew that at this moment, Hizashi Hyūga was watching him, the Hokage's Anbu were watching him, including the eyes of the Senju, Uchiha, and Uzumaki were all on him now.
The fact that he hadn't been stopped yet indicated that although his actions were brutal, they were being carried out with everyone's tacit approval. It was considered acceptable. But he still needed to make a stance. Facing lawbreakers, he, Danzo, would not tolerate it, the great clans would not tolerate it, the Hokages would not tolerate it.
As soon as these words were spoken, the Hyūga Anbu on the prison roof, a smile in his eyes, left the prison and went to report the process and Danzo's words verbatim to Ryun Uchiha. Ryun also smiled. Danzo was still very clever, his political sensitivity was quite strong.
"You, go and report this matter and the process word for word to Hashirama, Tobirama, and Grandma Mito. Tell them I authorized it. Do not hold Danzo responsible." Ryun Uchiha said lightly, glanced at his watch. There were still thirty minutes left. He still needed to prepare his lesson.
The Hyūga Anbu nodded and immediately took action. It had to be said, the Fourth Hokage, Ryun Uchiha, had played this masterfully. Not only did he endorse and support Danzo, he directly stated that it was his own doing.
This not only gave Danzo legitimate cause, but also let his subordinates know that he was a politician who dared to take responsibility, who was flesh and blood, not one who made his subordinates take the blame and ruin their reputations. This kind of Hokage-sama was what they, as subordinates, truly sought.
Here, I must single out and criticize the Third Hokage's vile practice of making others take the blame.
He clearly wasn't a good person.
He always played the good guy, while Danzo was always the one taking the blame. He was always drawing big pies, explicitly and implicitly, but in reality, he was just using Danzo as his black glove to eliminate forces that disobeyed him and strangle factors stronger than him or hard to control.
In the end, he turned Danzo, this sunny brother, into Konoha's root buried underground, removing dissidents for him and maintaining his authority and rule. The most powerful thing was his mouth.
He fooled Danzo completely, until Danzo sank deeper and deeper, growing darker and darker. Under Danzo's ambition and desire, the villagers of Konoha lived in misery.
Only commoner families, the so-called ignorant masses, were endlessly grateful to him. Not a single shinobi clan thought well of him. For reference, see the final battle with Orochimaru within the Four Crimson Ray Formation.
Was it that Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy, Hiashi Hyūga, and the other shinobi were incompetent? No. It was because Konoha had suffered under Hiruzen Sarutobi for too long.
Even though everyone in Konoha threw dirty water on Danzo, was Kakashi stupid? No. Without the Hokage's support, could Danzo have framed his father?
Why did the Sannin defect or leave Konoha? Because they were too disappointed with this village. So disappointed that anyone could see that as long as Hiruzen Sarutobi was around for a day, Konoha would be on the decline.
Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi was an excellent politician, but he was not a qualified Hokage. He allowed Utatane and Mitokado to suck the village's blood. He allowed his own clan to swallow up the Uchiha and Uzumaki legacies, developing the three thousand Sarutobi corps.
His political nature was too strong, his personal motives too heavy, resulting in him ending up isolated and without aid.
The Uzumaki clan's legacy was a prosperous commercial street. The hero's son, Naruto Uzumaki, was reduced to drinking expired milk, villagers cursed him as a demon fox, and he suffered humiliation from childhood.
The Uchiha clan had all kinds of ninjutsu, A, B, C, D ranks, what didn't they have? What lack of family assets?
Yet Sasuke Uchiha lived merely clothed and fed, without any high-level ninjutsu, having to learn from Kakashi and Orochimaru to acquire skills.
For the sake of his own position and political goals, there was nothing Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't do. His personally trained disciple, Orochimaru, was declared a missing-nin just like that.
Did he not know about the research on Hashirama's cells? He knew. He just pretended not to know.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━