There were countless obstacles standing in the way of killing Danzo, but the greatest obstacle had always been the Third Hokage himself.
To put it simply, even if Danzo openly sent assassins after Hiruzen Sarutobi, as long as Hiruzen survived, Danzo would remain completely safe.
And if Hiruzen actually died?
Danzo's position would become even more secure. He might even ascend directly to the Hokage seat.
The cost of Danzo's actions had always been absurdly low, which was precisely why he acted without restraint.
The relationship between Hiruzen and Danzo had long surpassed ordinary friendship or comradeship.
To Hiruzen, Danzo was someone irreplaceable.
No matter what Danzo did, Hiruzen would always protect him in the end.
Of course, that was merely Hiruzen's own belief.
Danzo himself had long since buried whatever friendship remained beneath resentment and ambition.
Still, Hiruzen refused to acknowledge it.
As long as Danzo remained within Konoha, Hiruzen would continue shielding him from consequences.
Under such circumstances, killing Danzo was far from simple.
Anyone who moved against Danzo would inevitably stand against the Third Hokage as well.
On top of that, Danzo valued his own life immensely.
Most of the time, he hid within Root headquarters without showing himself. Even when he did appear outside, he traveled under heavy protection.
By the time someone forced their way into Root to kill him, Hiruzen would already arrive to suppress the matter.
Danzo's individual combat strength might not be overwhelming, but the difficulty of killing him was practically equal to confronting the Hokage himself.
Even so, Hayashi had already decided that Danzo had to die.
Objectively speaking, the two barely had any personal conflict.
Hayashi had never been dragged into Root as a child, nor had he suffered repeated assassination attempts from Danzo.
On the surface, the two even maintained a peaceful relationship.
But for Hayashi, the fact that Danzo possessed one of Kagami Uchiha's eyes was already enough reason.
That alone justified his death.
As for Orochimaru, his motivation was even more direct.
He wanted Root itself.
Over the past year, Orochimaru had spent enormous amounts of time inside Root's facilities.
Only then did he truly understand what absolute authority looked like.
Danzo merely needed to issue an order, and countless subordinates would immediately prepare everything he required, including rare experimental subjects like Shin.
Orochimaru had once worked under the Third Hokage and had also operated within the Anbu, but neither compared to Root's efficiency.
For someone obsessed with experimentation, Root was the perfect organization.
What Orochimaru lacked most was not intelligence or talent.
It was manpower.
He refused to use Konoha ninja for dangerous experiments, and cloned bodies still suffered from various flaws.
As a result, he constantly needed test subjects, materials, and disposable labor from outside the village.
Root fulfilled all those needs perfectly.
To put it bluntly, both Hayashi and Orochimaru had already set their sights on Danzo's assets.
They intended to take everything.
But before doing that, they needed justification.
Since neither of them wanted to become missing-nin, the solution was obvious.
Danzo himself would become the traitor first.
Danzo planned to transplant Hashirama's cells and implant numerous Sharingan into his body.
Fine.
Hayashi would simply expose everything to the entire village afterward.
Human experimentation, illegal transplantation, forbidden research.
Every accusation would be pinned directly onto Danzo.
Public opinion itself held little value, but whoever acted first controlled the narrative.
At that point, Hayashi and Orochimaru would become the righteous side while Danzo absorbed all the blame.
Yī, meanwhile, had already become Orochimaru's inside man within Root.
A genuine double agent.
The reason was simple.
Orochimaru offered him far more than Danzo ever could.
When two researchers worked together, they naturally understood one another far better than they understood a politician exploiting them for results.
In the end, Yī gradually drifted toward Orochimaru's side.
By mid-December, the long-awaited Chūnin Exams were finally about to begin.
Among the Five Great Nations, Sunagakure arrived first.
The Hidden Sand Village had not been doing well recently.
Rasa was still young, forcing Chiyo to personally handle many major affairs behind the scenes.
The reason Chiyo supported Rasa so strongly was fairly straightforward.
As long as Rasa remained Kazekage, Sunagakure could continue delaying the official announcement of Sasori becoming a missing-nin.
Both sides benefited from maintaining the arrangement.
Unfortunately, the Wind Daimyō was not easy to satisfy.
Sunagakure had already begun following a strict elite-focused policy, drastically reducing the overall number of ninja within the village.
Even the number of genin participating in this year's Chūnin Exams was noticeably smaller than before.
And the number would likely continue declining in future years.
Outsiders believed Rasa lived comfortably as the Kazekage.
In reality, he spent most of his time searching for gold dust to support the village financially.
Life was not easy for him at all.
The reason Sunagakure arrived in Konoha so early was because Ebizō hoped to negotiate deeper cooperation with the Third Hokage.
To put it bluntly, Sunagakure was preparing to align itself completely with Konoha.
Not long after Sunagakure arrived, Kirigakure's delegation finally reached the village as well.
Technically, they had departed earlier than everyone else.
Unfortunately, Kirigakure was located overseas, and their journey had been miserable.
Halfway through the trip, they were caught in a violent storm and delayed significantly.
The timing could not have been worse.
Even so, Kirigakure still rushed to arrive as quickly as possible.
After all, they had suffered catastrophic losses during the Third Shinobi World War.
The fear Konoha inspired still lingered deeply within the village.
Hatred existed too, naturally.
But no one dared display it openly.
As long as Konoha's Lightning Flash remained alive, few people had the courage to provoke Konoha directly.
Most Kirigakure ninja had witnessed Hayashi during the war or during the destruction he caused afterward.
This new generation, however, was different.
Most of them had still been academy students back then.
They had heard stories about Hayashi, but they had never personally experienced the terror he represented.
Except for one person.
Mei Terumī.
The small girl from years ago had now grown slightly older, though she still looked youthful for her age.
This time, she would personally participate in the Chūnin Exams.
"Konoha really isn't that impressive," Mei Terumī muttered while wandering through the streets after leaving their accommodations.
Despite the disdain in her voice, her eyes remained fixed on the surrounding stores.
The shopping district was dazzling.
Everywhere she looked, there were clothes, accessories, snacks, decorations, and ninja merchandise.
Especially one red dress decorated with tailed beast patterns.
She wanted it badly.
Very badly.
Still, Mei Terumī forced herself to look away before muttering bitterly:
"Konoha is still worse than Kirigakure."
Beside her, Zabuza looked confused.
"How exactly is it worse?"
From his perspective, Konoha was superior in almost every aspect.
Kirigakure was isolated, dangerous, and filled with internal bloodshed.
Konoha, meanwhile, stood at the center of the continent and dominated the ninja world.
Even their everyday civilian life was far more prosperous.
Mei Terumī thought seriously for several seconds before finally answering:
"There isn't any mist here."
Silence followed.
Zabuza gave up trying to argue.
"Forget it," he said. "I just saw a life-sized Kubikiribōchō replica. I'm going to buy it."
Kisame nodded in agreement.
"I saw a Samehada model too. If it isn't too expensive, I'll probably buy it."
Mei Terumī looked at both of them with complete disdain.
Men truly were simple creatures.
Still, if she had brought more money today, maybe she would have bought that dress after all.
Wait.
Her expression suddenly froze.
"...Where's my wallet?"
Mei Terumī quickly searched through her ninja pouch several times.
Nothing.
Her pink wallet had completely vanished.
It was even a birthday gift.
"Did either of you see it?" she asked anxiously.
At that moment, she finally found another reason to criticize Konoha.
The village's public security was terrible.
Zabuza thought back carefully before speaking.
"Wasn't there a Sunagakure ninja who bumped into you earlier? Maybe he took it."
Mei Terumī stared blankly.
Had Sunagakure become so poor that their ninja resorted to pickpocketing?
And why steal from her of all people?
She was not exactly wealthy herself.
"Should we report it to the Military Police Force?" Kisame suggested.
Earlier, he had noticed several patrols wearing armbands marked with the Military Police insignia.
Mei Terumī crossed her arms unhappily.
"They probably won't bother helping outsiders like us."
Then she clenched her fists angrily.
"I'm still furious. I've already thought of a way to vent my frustration."
Zabuza and Kisame both suddenly felt uneasy.
Mei Terumī narrowed her eyes.
"Let's go burn down that person's house."
The two boys instantly understood who she meant.
And that made the situation infinitely worse.
A Kirigakure ninja loses her wallet to a possible Sunagakure thief, then decides to retaliate by targeting Konoha's Lightning Flash.
What kind of insane logic was that?