Chapter 178.1: Connecting The Dots, Sarutobi’s Fury
For several days after the incident, Uchiha Tonan spent his days in the welfare institution getting along with Maito Dai and Gui, as well as the elderly people. Faced with his careful pamper, the ‘empty nesters’ laid down their arms and surrendered in just a day.
The simple-minded Maito father and son were unable to escape as well. Tonan didn’t use any grand gestures. He only helped them financially. He also trained in taijutsu together with them and easily gained their acknowledgment.
It couldn’t be helped. Tonan’s soaring reputation in Konoha had already got half the work done. Whoever heard of his deeds would give a thumbs-up and speak highly of him.
The disparity of position and strength, coupled with an excellent reputation, made it easier to gain acknowledgment of the simple people. The Maito father and son pair could even be described as obtuse, making Tonan’s task even easier.
Every night, after he completed practicing Soft Physique Modification with Enkuu, he would go plant the seeds of hope in these rations.
In the past few days, ninja books in the Konoha Bookstore were almost sold out every day. Tonan’s new rations were buying these books for home studying. Much like him, when he had just acquired the system, they were yearning for power.
On this day, in the Hokage Meeting Room, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the main chair smoking. He tapped his finger on the table, “Danzo, why don’t you try explaining the situation to the Daimyo? I believe he’ll understand and agree.”
Shimura Danzo sat expressionlessly across Hiruzen and glanced at Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu who were sitting quietly on the left and right sides of the Hokage.
“I got it. Tonan’s strength is indeed not suitable to participate in the Honorary Chunin Contest. I’ll send someone to inform the Daimyo. So, who’ll participate in his place?”
Hiruzen smiled subtly and blew out a mouthful of smoke, “What about Kakashi? His strength is not bad. Although he is young, the younger the age, the more we can demonstrate our Konoha’s strength.”
Danzo thought for a while and then shook his head, “Kakashi is also not suitable.”
Hearing Danzo disagreeing with him, Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and coldly asked, “What do you mean?”. The atmosphere in the meeting room stiffened a little.
Danzo lowered his eyes and indifferently replied, “Don’t misunderstand, I don’t mean to argue with you about candidates. It’s just that Kakashi is White Fang’s only son. And according to the investigation, the lightning-style ninjutsu used by Abe Seimei is very similar to White Fang’s secret technique. I’m just worried that the Fire Capital may misunderstand the situation.”
Hiruzen frowned, “Is that so? How come I didn’t know about this? Have you been keeping things from me?”
“There was no need to tell you about it. After all, you seemed to have finally forgotten about what happened and I didn’t want to bring it up and trigger your grief again.”
In front of Hiruzen, who was currently gaining momentum, Danzo could only avoid the sharp edge and solemnly continued to explain, “In the past, the Daimyo Residence suspected that White Fang was Abe Seimei. They reasoned that White Fang probably had a grudge against Konoha. So, disguised as Seimei, he incited Shinnosuke to kill the Daimyo, provoking the relationship between the Daimyo Residence and Konoha.”
“Ryoma too had told me that he had seen White Fang use similar lightning-style ninjutsu during the Land of Rivers’ mission. At that time, I thought it was possible. But after I did some private investigation, I ruled out that possibility.”
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and his expression changed a little, “Did you dig up White Fang’s grave?”
Danzo folded his arms and replied with an innocent look on his face, “I just sought evidence. I collected some corpse samples to confirm that White Fang is truly dead. You can rest assured I won’t disrespect his grave by digging it up. After all, he was Konoha’s hero.”
Hiruzen looked at Danzo. Finally, he chose to keep the peace. He blew out a mouthful of smoke and asked, “Since it’s not White Fang, what’s the problem with letting Kakashi participate?”
Danzo smiled coldly and sinisterly said, “Kakashi is a good kid. I don’t want him to be the target of the Daimyo Residence’s anger. The Daimyo doesn’t look like the kind of person who cares about evidence. Hiruzen, when did you become so naïve? If you want to take this opportunity to get rid of Kakashi, I’ve no problem but make it clear.”
Hiruzen felt that despite the insinuation, Danzo’s argument was valid. He agreed, “Alright, I’ll select a member of the Sarutobi clan, and then you can report the candidate’s name.”
Once the discussion was completed, Danzo didn’t bother to continue looking at Hiruzen’s face. He immediately got up and left. Hiruzen too returned to his office after a while.
He leaned back on his chair, thinking about the information Danzo shared. “Where did White Fang obtain that lighting style secret technique? It must’ve been on the battlefield. No, he must’ve gone deep behind enemy lines to carry out a mission. Only like that, he would’ve obtained such a powerful secret technique. Where did he go in the second great ninja world war…”
Hiruzen pondered for a while and realized that White Fang had been to almost every hidden village during the war. This was not surprising because he was good at gathering intelligence and in assassination missions. Therefore, the missions he carried out were all behind enemy lines.
And the so-called lightning-style secret technique might have been a war spoil that White Fang snatched during his mission. Usually, all the village heads turned a blind eye toward such things and didn’t care about them.
“It must’ve been Kumo…”
