Because he no longer had hands, and his legs were crippled.
If he wasn't tied, he would slide off the wheelchair at any moment.
"If you had told me earlier that you possessed Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, perhaps things wouldn't have come to this point."
"My reputation wouldn't be ruined, my limbs wouldn't be crippled, my position as Hokage wouldn't be revoked, and you would still be a fine Hokage assistant!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was very resentful of Danzo's selfish act of concealment.
If Danzo hadn't hidden this information and had told him earlier...
He would have long since allowed Danzo to use it on Feng Xu, who hadn't yet become a threat!
Instead of sending people to painstakingly research some Personality Sealing Ninjutsu!
However, Danzo, who knew all of this, just watched with cold eyes.
He never even thought about sharing the Village's worries!
He only thought about his own interests!
"Hiruzen Sarutobi!"
"So you came here today just to push the blame for the failure onto me?"
Danzo, who was originally weak and listless, suddenly raised his voice.
Clearly, Hiruzen Sarutobi's words had made him furious.
Damn it, you're not even the Hokage anymore, and you're still coming to me to shift the blame?
The more he thought about it, the angrier Danzo got, and he forcefully pushed his head against the iron bars.
He glared fiercely into Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, and then his voice grew even louder.
"And you said I didn't tell you?"
"Have you forgotten what I told you after Feng Xu first appeared and killed Mizuki?"
"I said that the Jinchuriki had become dangerous, and I asked you to hand the Jinchuriki over to my Root for some restrictions."
"At that time, I wanted to use Kotoamatsukami to change the Jinchuriki's dangerous nature, so that he would always be loyal to the Village."
"But you were wary of me, only wanting to use the Jinchuriki to solidify your power, and you completely disagreed with my approach."
"Now, in the end, you're blaming me for not telling you?"
"Hiruzen Sarutobi! How can you possibly have the nerve to blame me?"
"Is it just because you are more hypocritical, more sanctimonious than I am?"
As Danzo finished speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face had become extremely ugly.
He had indeed come to Danzo this time to vent his emotions and shift some blame to make himself feel better.
But he hadn't expected Danzo's reaction to be so intense!
"I won't argue with you; we both made mistakes in the past."
Hiruzen Sarutobi suppressed his anger and said coldly,
"Then why did you involve over 1,400 Ninja from my Sarutobi Clan when you dealt with Feng Xu later?"
"And Homura and Koharu."
"Two large clans, and now only a few recently graduated Genin are left!"
"Aren't you going to give me an explanation?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi almost vomited blood when he heard yesterday that the clan Ninja who had been conscripted were completely wiped out due to Danzo's orders.
Coupled with those killed when Minato and his group ambushed the main residence.
The current strength of their Sarutobi Clan had shrunk by 60 percent!
"Hmph, what explanation do you want?"
"It's just about the victor being king and the loser being a bandit, do I still need to teach you that?"
Danzo was completely like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water; he didn't hold back at all when confronting Hiruzen Sarutobi!
Anyway, he was already a cripple, and the Shimura Clan was completely finished.
Even the Root, which he had managed for many years, had been so decimated by Feng Xu that only a few stragglers remained.
With only his worthless life left, he would not give Hiruzen Sarutobi any face now.
Not verbally insulting Hiruzen Sarutobi's family tree was already considered a courtesy to their past relationship!
"You, cough, cough, cough..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was choked by Danzo and almost couldn't catch his breath, coughing violently.
Just as Danzo thought Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to cough himself to death...
The Sarutobi Clan Ninja pushing his wheelchair behind him quickly stepped forward to pat his back, helping him calm down.
After a while, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally recovered and stopped coughing.
This time, he looked at Danzo without shifting blame or speaking superfluous words.
Instead, he directly got to the point, stating his intention for coming today.
"I want the intelligence and results from those Root bases outside Konoha."
"The Root's elites have all been buried by you within the Village; you can't hold onto the bases outside the Village, so you might as well compensate me."
Although most of the Root Ninja were dead, that intelligence and those experimental results were valuable assets.
They could just be used to compensate the greatly weakened Sarutobi Clan.
"Hehehe... You really are eyeing my Root!"
Danzo sneered, with an expression that said, "I knew it all along."
"It's fine if you want my Root's legacy, but you have to get me out first and let me join your Sarutobi Clan."
There weren't many remaining Ninja in the Root bases outside.
Only a few dozen Chunin and one or two Special Jonin.
With so few people, a casual attack from other Villages would wipe them all out.
It would be better to go with the flow and join the Sarutobi Clan, finding an opportunity to resurrect himself!
After all, he was quite skilled at infighting and vying for power with Hiruzen Sarutobi!
"No problem, I can get you out today."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was also confident that Danzo, who had lost everything, couldn't cause any trouble.
So he readily agreed.
On the other side.
Tobirama also quickly received Hiruzen Sarutobi's request.
Of course, he agreed without any objections.
After all, throwing Danzo into prison was just because there was nowhere to put the trash.
Now that Hiruzen Sarutobi was willing to recycle the trash, he naturally had no objections.
After this, he still had to continue conscripting Sarutobi Clan Ninja to fill the vacancies.
So there was no need to create a rift over the now useless Danzo.
Moreover, he now had more important matters to attend to.
Assisting Jiraiya in becoming a qualified Hokage, and researching Ninjutsu to seal or erase personalities.
Chapter 158: Today's expenses are all on Young Master Uzumaki!
Just as Tobirama went to review the Personality Sealing Ninjutsu that Hiruzen Sarutobi had half-researched during his tenure...
At Ichiraku Ramen.
Naruto, with a joyful expression, sat inside with Iruka, who was equally excited.
"Naruto, to celebrate you clearing your name and dispelling the rumors of being the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox disaster, eat whatever you want today, it's all on me, your teacher!"
Although four days had passed since Hiruzen Sarutobi was exposed and the Konoha F4 were dealt with.
The clarification of Naruto's identity as the hero's son was only thoroughly announced to the entire Village today.
After all, this matter was an unsavory scandal.
It certainly couldn't be revealed to the villagers all at once.
It had to be carefully considered how to explain it to minimize the negative impact on the Hokage.
If such a thing had happened when Tobirama and Hashirama were still alive...
They would have just apologized to the people involved, offered some compensation, and informed the Ninja clans and Jonin.
But alas, they were dead, and their strength was completely inferior to the current Feng Xu.
So there was no way to suppress it to maintain the Hokage's reputation; they could only come up with a pleasant-sounding announcement.
"Hahaha, Iruka, you can't treat him today!"
"Because we also want to celebrate Naruto, so we're not going to charge anything!"
Teuchi held a large ladle, his face also filled with relief and happiness.
"Ayame and I also saw that announcement in the newspaper this morning; I can't believe Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son!"
"No wonder when I first saw Naruto, I felt he looked familiar and kind!"
"Speaking of which, the Fourth Hokage and his wife also came here to eat ramen several times, hahaha..."
After seeing this news this morning, Teuchi and Ayame were both overjoyed.
They had watched Naruto grow up from a young age.
They knew very well how pitiful Naruto was back then.
The malice of the villagers in the Village was so suffocating and terrifying.
Despite being filled with pity and heartache for Naruto.
They couldn't change other people's minds.
They could only offer him a bowl of ramen and a few words of comfort when they saw Naruto feeling down.
"Hehehe..."
Seeing these people who were good to him so happy, Naruto also chuckled foolishly.
But as he laughed, his eyes became a little moist.
He couldn't help but lower his head and wipe the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, not wanting the tears to well up.
But the more he wiped, the more he couldn't stop, and a large amount of tears streamed down his cheeks and dripped onto the counter.
"Naruto..."
Iruka, seeing Naruto burst into tears, was also stunned for a moment.
Then he fumbled to pull out tissues from the counter to help Naruto wipe away his tears.
He understood Naruto's feelings perfectly right now; it was a release after enduring hardship.
To be honest, if the Third Hokage hadn't given him the task of looking after Naruto earlier, allowing him to truly understand Naruto...
Perhaps he, too, would have misunderstood and distanced himself from Naruto like most people.
However, thinking of Feng Xu within Naruto, Iruka couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
"I'm fine, Iruka Sensei."
"I'm just too happy..."
Naruto took the tissue from Iruka's hand and wiped away the snot bubble that had swelled up due to his emotional outburst.
"It's good to let it all out after holding it in and suppressing it for so long."