Chapter 110: Setting Out
"Wait!"
At this moment, an old voice called out to Asuka.
Seeing that Asuka ignored him and continued walking, the old man calmly asked,
"Do you know where Orochimaru is?"
???
Asuka's footsteps stumbled slightly.
He looked up at the smoke drifting from the rooftop, thought for a moment, then turned toward Danzō.
Through the swirling smoke, he looked at Danzō's cold, expressionless face.
"Lord Danzō, want to come with me?"
Danzō's cheek twitched.
That was definitely not the answer he had wanted.
He silently refused to answer the question. His gaze swept over Asuka before settling on everyone else, especially Hiruzen Sarutobi.
In his slightly hoarse voice, he asked,
"Do you believe those anonymous letters?"
"Yes!"
Asuka answered as he pushed open the door of the Hokage's office.
Standing outside was a long-haired man with pale-white eyes, but without any markings on his forehead.
"Lord Hiashi."
Seeing Hiashi Hyūga standing outside with a slightly nervous expression, clutching something tightly in his arms, Asuka immediately understood.
He was probably another person here to deliver an anonymous letter.
He reached out and pulled Hiashi closer, then gestured toward Minato Namikaze opposite them with his chin.
In a low voice, he asked,
"Lord Hiashi, are you here to submit an anonymous letter?"
Hiashi Hyūga was startled.
His thoughts had been exposed completely.
This matter was extremely serious.
Then, when he looked around the room, he noticed everyone had their heads lowered, not a trace of surprise on their faces.
It was as if they had already guessed his purpose.
Hiashi suddenly felt that he understood something.
Fortunately, I didn't try to hide it.
With that thought, Hiashi placed the anonymous letter on the Fourth Hokage's desk before walking over to the seat below Tsunade.
"Let's put Orochimaru's matter aside for now. My instincts tell me there must be a conspiracy behind this."
"What conspiracy?"
Seeing that everyone around him remained somewhat silent while only Asuka, sitting near the door, was speaking to him, Danzō's feelings became somewhat complicated.
"Precisely because I don't know what kind of conspiracy is involved, I feel that there must be one."
As he spoke, he tapped his fingers against the table, drawing everyone's attention before explaining his speculation.
[The first anonymous letter appeared at Minato's home. When Minato woke up the next morning, he found it lying on his table.]
[After that, Shikamaru woke up and found the same letter in his own home.]
[Then the heads of the various departments and the heads of the various clans received the same document.]
[Being able to deliver so many letters without anyone noticing...]
Danzō suddenly stopped speaking.
Everyone silently nodded.
No one said anything.
They could all imagine what kind of problem this might cause.
And it could be a very serious problem.
But the problem was that Orochimaru's situation might be even more serious.
Hearing this, Asuka also nodded in agreement.
"Listening to you is like listening to someone else."
"Elder Danzō, I suggest we go arrest him right now."
Danzō calmly waved his hand.
[He broke into my territory. He won't be able to escape.]
"What we need to discuss right now is the objective of this so-called 'mastermind.'"
"Go ahead."
At this point, Asuka stood up, pulled open the door of the Hokage's office, grabbed Kakashi, who was standing outside, and dragged him inside.
He then asked,
"Is it possible that the person who wrote these anonymous letters possesses the Will of Fire?"
"Perhaps he personally witnessed Orochimaru kidnapping villagers for human experiments, became consumed by righteous fury, and wrote this anonymous letter in anger?"
"Perhaps he was afraid that one anonymous letter wouldn't be taken seriously, so he decided to make the matter as big as possible?"
At this moment.
Inside the Uchiha compound.
Uchiha Madara sat on the bed, staring blankly at the sky outside the window.
He still couldn't understand when exactly the Uchiha clan had acquired such a resurrection technique.
And the person they had resurrected was an old man!
He had originally intended to kill himself.
But after seeing Asuka's Mangekyō Sharingan ability, his desire to die had diminished considerably.
Madara had never seen such a strange ability.
It could ignore the hardness of an object and cut it apart at will.
With that thought, he looked calmly at Black Zetsu standing beside him.
"What did you just say?"
Black Zetsu scratched his head and grinned.
"Madara-sama, didn't our last attempt to anonymously report Orochimaru fail?"
"Later, because you were teaching Uchiha Asuka, you entrusted this matter entirely to me."
After saying this, Black Zetsu patted his chest, seeking praise.
"Over the past month, I've been supervising the White Zetsu and having them make countless copies of the same anonymous letter so we could gather new evidence."
"This time, there definitely won't be a problem."
Seeing Black Zetsu's excited expression, Uchiha Madara raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"How many copies do you need?"
Black Zetsu held up two fingers.
"Twenty?"
"Two hundred?"
"Two thousand?"
After guessing incorrectly three times in a row, Madara's voice suddenly rose slightly.
"Twenty thousand?"
"Madara-sama, you got it right!"
"We'll send out one thousand today. If that doesn't work, we'll send out the remaining nineteen thousand tomorrow."
Looking at the idiot Black Zetsu grinning at him, Uchiha Madara froze for a moment.
Then he subconsciously nodded.
[That's right. Konoha's dark forces shouldn't be able to suppress twenty thousand clones...]
As time passed.
The Hokage's office became increasingly crowded.
Putting aside those who didn't dare come or pretended not to know anything, Minato's desk could no longer hold all the anonymous letters.
At this moment.
The only voice roaring throughout the Hokage's office was Danzō's.
"I will never coexist peacefully with evil."
"If he really betrayed Konoha, I'll kill him right now."
Seeing Danzō suddenly become agitated, Asuka rested both hands on the back of a bench and spoke kindly.
"Lord Danzō, be careful. There may be a conspiracy behind this."
"Hmph!"
Danzō snorted coldly.
He looked around at the jōnin in the room before his gaze finally settled on Hiruzen Sarutobi.
His voice was sinister.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, wait here for a moment."
"Just watch through the crystal ball and you'll see how I twist Orochimaru's head off."
After saying this, he added another sentence to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding.
"He isn't one of my people. Orochimaru is merely staying temporarily in my territory."
"I knew nothing about this. Orochimaru did all of this behind my back."
[...]
"Hmph!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a mouthful of smoke.
Looking at the smoke swirling overhead, a trace of sadness flashed through his eyes.
Rip!
After taking one final drag from his pipe, Hiruzen tore off his clothes, revealing the black combat uniform underneath.
He firmly tied his forehead protector around his head before walking to the front of the group and turning to face everyone.
His gaze swept over Danzō, who stood frozen in place.
Then it swept over the various jōnin, each displaying a different expression.
Then over Minato Namikaze, whose eyes were filled with struggle.
Finally, it landed on Asuka, whose eyes were filled with curiosity.
Hiruzen's aged voice slowly rang out.
"When can a dark situation created by a group of people be completely blamed on a single person?"
"Wouldn't that make me look too incompetent?"
"During my time in office, there has never been any indication that I was marginalized."
"Danzō!"
Hearing Hiruzen call his name, Danzō also fell silent.
He slowly walked to the front of the group.
Looking at Hiruzen's serious expression, complicated emotions welled up inside him.
After a moment of silence, Danzō stared directly into Hiruzen's eyes and said solemnly,
"A weak and incompetent person could never have taken the position of Hokage away from me."
"And he took it twice."
"Hiruzen, how much do you know about Orochimaru's human experiments?"
"I don't know."
"But I can make a reasonable guess. He may be conducting human experiments."
"Hmm!"
Danzō nodded.
Then his voice suddenly became low.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, if I told you that I provided him with funding, would you believe me?"
Hiruzen shook his head.
"No."
"Hmph!"
Shimura Danzō abruptly waved his hand, opened the door, and walked straight out.
In reality, he had only provided a little money.
He had also conveniently captured quite a few people from outside the village for Orochimaru.
Even if you wanted to capture people from inside the village, you should have lured them out first.
Yet Orochimaru had actually barged into someone else's territory on his own.
Orochimaru really learned nothing from my caution.