Chapter 35 (Patreon)

“More importantly…”

Aburame Tatsuma hesitated before continuing.

“Even after the kikaichū consumed such a large amount of chakra, the barrier showed no sign of weakening. The chakra sustaining it recovered almost immediately, as though it were…”

“Like the chakra of a tailed beast,” Danzō finished coldly.

Although he had never controlled the Nine-Tails himself, he had witnessed its chakra before. The moment the barrier changed colour, he had recognised that something was wrong.

That was precisely the problem.

Neither while Minato was alive nor after his death had Kushina ever informed the village that she could control the Nine-Tails’ chakra.

Combined with everything else Danzō had observed recently, it only deepened his suspicion that Kushina had always remained wary of Konoha.

But considering her position and status within the village, why would she harbour such distrust?

To Danzō, there could only be one answer.

She had never truly considered herself part of Konoha.

Uzushiogakure had once been Konoha’s ally. Yet when the Land of Whirlpools faced destruction, Konoha had sent no forces to save it.

Perhaps Kushina blamed Konoha for the annihilation of her homeland and clan.

After arriving in the village, she had then been turned into the vessel of a monster—the Nine-Tails. If anything, that treatment would only have caused her resentment toward Konoha to deepen.

While Minato was alive, his love might have been enough to restrain those feelings.

But Minato was dead now.

The one bond capable of keeping Kushina’s hatred in check had disappeared.

Danzō would not have been surprised if she abandoned Konoha and became a missing-nin at any moment.

Looking at the situation from that perspective, it was impossible to say whether Kushina had gone to the front lines to help Konoha or to aid its enemies.

Hmph. Hiruzen, you still place far too much trust in a woman carrying the hatred of a destroyed homeland and slaughtered clan.

A faint sense of satisfaction rose within Danzō.

If Kushina truly was as dangerous as he suspected, it would prove that his judgment was superior to Hiruzen’s.

That, in turn, was further proof that Danzō was the one most qualified to become Hokage.

He almost wanted to summon Hiruzen immediately and force him to witness Kushina’s true nature for himself.

“Continue,” Danzō ordered. “Do not concern yourself with the cost. I refuse to believe that a single barrier can truly recover as quickly as a tailed beast.”

Tatsuma hesitated briefly before releasing another wave of kikaichū.

Although the number of insects living within an Aburame shinobi’s body was enormous, it was not limitless.

Once their population fell below a certain level, the host would need to provide chakra and nutrients from their own body so the colony could reproduce.

Under normal circumstances, that process was manageable.

Rapidly breeding such a vast number of kikaichū, however, was like allowing countless insects to devour his flesh from within.

The pain was unimaginable.

Danzō was not idle either.

Although his skill in fūinjutsu could not compare with Kushina’s, he had still studied the art extensively.

No matter how complex or advanced a sealing technique might become, it was ultimately constructed from simpler formulas.

The fundamental principles governing their operation remained the same.

As the chakra maintaining the barrier circulated at greater speed, the pathways through which it flowed became increasingly visible.

That made it easier to locate the barrier’s weakest points.

As expected, Danzō quickly identified several connecting nodes within the underlying sealing formula.

He prepared to concentrate his attack on a single point and destroy the entire barrier from there.

However, before he could act, Tatsuma’s kikaichū could no longer maintain the required rate of chakra absorption.

The Aburame shinobi looked as though he were on the verge of death.

He knelt on one knee, barely managing to support his body. Beneath his mask, his face had become as pale as paper.

Sweat soaked through his uniform, and his breathing came in broken, uneven gasps.

“Useless.”

Danzō dispelled the Wind Release chakra coating the shuriken in his hand.

Had he reacted even a moment slower and driven the weapon into the rapidly recovering barrier, the backlash might have injured him instead.

He had prepared himself to pierce something as fragile as paper, only to discover that he was striking a solid wall.

The consequences of such a miscalculation were obvious.

“Danzō Shimura, what are you plotting this time?”

Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice suddenly rang out behind him.

Danzō turned to find the Third Hokage standing there with a large group of ANBU, his men already surrounding Danzō and his guards.

Hiruzen had not known that Danzō had left Root’s underground headquarters.

However, once night fell, repeated flashes of red light began appearing from the direction of Minato’s home.

Anyone with functioning eyes could have noticed it.

Hiruzen had spotted the disturbance through the window of the Hokage’s office even before receiving a report from the ANBU.

At first, he had assumed the house was on fire.

Since Kushina had left Naruto behind when she departed for the front lines, Hiruzen had immediately become concerned for the child’s safety and rushed over with his men.

Instead of finding a fire, he found a scene that caused him an even greater headache.

Faced with Hiruzen’s questioning, Danzō showed no trace of unease.

If anything, he nearly laughed.

He formed a small amount of Wind Release chakra and struck the barrier, causing its orange-red light to flare once again.

“Hiruzen, do you see this? This barrier is being maintained with tailed beast chakra. That woman, Kushina, concealed the fact that she could control the Nine-Tails’ power from the village, and she—”

“Who told you she concealed it?”

Hiruzen’s cold interruption brought Danzō’s accusation to an abrupt halt.

“If Kushina had not learned to control the tailed beast’s power, do you believe I would have allowed her to go to the front lines?”

Hiruzen’s expression hardened.

“Danzō, you are questioning the village leadership without evidence. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you attempting to create division within Konoha?”

He had no choice but to stop Danzō before he could say anything further.

Although the ANBU surrounding them were loyal to the Hokage, they also had families of their own. Many of them had been recruited from Konoha’s major clans.

More importantly, the woman Danzō was accusing was the widow of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze—a man who had sacrificed his life for the village less than three months earlier.

If Danzō’s words reached the various clans, Hiruzen could already imagine the consequences.

The clans had accumulated countless grievances against Danzō over the years.

The recent rumours concerning him had yet to receive any official response from the village leadership.

Now Danzō was openly questioning the loyalty of the Fourth Hokage’s widow and implying that she harboured malicious intentions toward Konoha.

At this point, accusing Danzō of being an enemy spy sent to divide and destroy the village would not even sound unreasonable.

If the clans seized upon this incident as an excuse, would they continue to remain silent?

Would the person spreading the rumours take advantage of the situation and launch another attack against Danzō’s reputation?

Hiruzen was well aware that someone was deliberately driving the rumours forward.

Otherwise, they could never have spread through Konoha so quickly.

Yet even Danzō’s operatives had failed to uncover the person responsible.

That had led Hiruzen to suspect the involvement of a high-ranking spy trained by another hidden village.

He had considered the possibility that one of Konoha’s own shinobi clans was responsible—someone dissatisfied with Danzō who had deliberately exposed his past actions.

Naturally, the Uchiha clan had been his first suspect.

However, Hiruzen soon dismissed the idea.

Compared with orchestrating such a calculated campaign, the Uchiha were far more likely to announce a coup openly.

They possessed great strength, but they were also impulsive by nature.

Strategic restraint was valuable, but unfortunately, very few Uchiha seemed to possess it.

The Hyūga clan was even less likely to be involved.

They were rigid traditionalists who understood perfectly well that if Konoha fell, no one would remain to protect them from the countless forces coveting the Byakugan.

As long as Konoha did not move against them directly, the Hyūga would remain among the village’s strongest supporters of stability.

The smaller shinobi clans were also unlikely suspects.

Even if some of them possessed the motive, they lacked the strength and influence necessary to execute such an operation.

As for why one or two enemy spies might be more capable of carrying out the plan than an entire minor clan, the explanation was simple.

They were professionals.

In front of so many ANBU, Hiruzen needed to make his position unmistakably clear.

He looked directly at Danzō.

“Danzō Shimura, effective immediately, you are stripped of your position as an advisor to the Hokage.”

Danzō’s visible eye narrowed.

“You will return to the Shimura compound and remain under house arrest. You are forbidden from leaving without direct orders.”

Hiruzen’s voice carried through the courtyard.

“Root is hereby dissolved. Its underground headquarters and all personnel under its command will be placed under ANBU control.”