Danzo was furious.
This clearly wasn't something he had done, yet the blame was being pinned on him anyway.
Rumors were one thing.
But Yagura Karatachi, as Mizukage of Kirigakure, had gone and issued an official announcement directly targeting him.
"Yagura!"
"You target this old man like this and I swear we're done. I'll make you regret it!"
The Sand Village's quiet promotion of the rumors, combined with Kirigakure's public statement, sent the theory that Konoha had staged the whole thing themselves spreading even faster across the ninja world.
Onoki thought the possibility was high.
"Danzo that guy… he's capable of anything."
"Konoha doing something like this makes perfect sense."
"They just drove back my Rock army. Now they're desperate to end the war but don't want to look like they abandoned their allies. So they set this whole mess up."
"They get to ditch Kirigakure and keep their precious reputation clean."
Kurotsuchi hesitated.
"But Father, Konoha's reputation is still taking damage, isn't it?"
Onoki glanced at his son, disappointment flashing in his eyes.
To be honest, he had once held high hopes for this boy.
He wanted Kurotsuchi to inherit the Tsuchikage seat.
But time had proven otherwise. Kurotsuchi's growth fell far short of Onoki's expectations.
In raw strength he was only decent with Earth Style. He never inherited Dust Release, nor any other kekkei genkai.
As for governance and leading troops—those skills were nowhere near what Onoki demanded.
In Onoki's mind, Kurotsuchi simply couldn't take the Tsuchikage position.
The thought made Onoki feel a twinge of envy toward the other villages.
Konoha, for starters.
They had the White Fang back in the day, the Sannin, and now the Yellow Flash.
Konoha had talent to spare. Any one of them could be a top-tier Hokage candidate.
Even the Cloud Village—his rivals—Onoki had to admit the Fourth Raikage was solid.
"The Third Raikage wasn't my match, but his son is stronger than me."
"Rasa of Sunagakure stands at the front of the younger generation."
"His personal strength is no weaker than Minato Namikaze's."
"And his leadership? Rasa has already proven it. Minato still hasn't fully shown what he's made of."
"Yagura Karatachi kept the Mist army from collapsing even after four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen died, Fuguki Suikazan and Jinin Akebino defected, and everything was falling apart."
"Even though Kirigakure lost in the end, you can't deny his performance was outstanding."
"Only my Hidden Rock Village has no worthy successors."
"This old body… I don't know how many more years I'll have to hold this seat."
Onoki sighed.
"A rumor hurts Konoha far less than openly abandoning an ally."
"Konoha can just deny everything and dodge all the blame."
Uchiha Yashiro and Takechi Ta looked a little less tense.
The two clans had briefly gone their separate ways before.
One group struck at Konoha, killed a bunch of Leaf ninja, then got hunted down by Danzo.
The other attacked Kirigakure but failed to break through and returned in defeat.
To be honest, Takechi Ta still held resentment toward the Uchiha.
He believed that if the Uchiha had joined forces with the Takechi clan back then, they might have actually taken Kirigakure.
Then the village would belong to the Takechi, and both clans would be in a much better position now.
But since the Takechi needed the Uchiha alliance at the moment, Takechi Ta kept his dissatisfaction buried.
Uchiha Yashiro noticed Takechi Ta's mood.
He simply pretended not to see it.
Just as the Takechi clan needed the Uchiha, the Uchiha needed the Takechi.
The war was over.
The ninja world had entered a time of peace.
That meant if Konoha wanted to move against the Uchiha, they could pull out a massive number of ninja to target them however they pleased.
The Uchiha and Takechi clans could only huddle together for warmth.
"We need to come up with something. We can't just sit here waiting to die."
Minato Namikaze's brow was tightly furrowed.
A figure approached from behind him, her belly gently rounded.
"Minato."
Hearing Kushina's voice finally pulled him back to the present.
He turned to his wife and gave her a gentle smile.
"Minato, did something happen?"
"You look really worried."
Minato was indeed irritated, his head pounding.
At first he had believed the one who killed Rin was Kirigakure, so he hated them with everything he had.
But now the situation felt off.
Across the ninja world, the theory that Konoha had staged Rin's death themselves was becoming the dominant narrative.
It wasn't like that inside the village, but Minato had still heard plenty of those voices.
"Was Rin's death really planned by Elder Danzo from start to finish?"
"Why?"
"Just to get rid of Kirigakure as an ally?"
"And without damaging Konoha's reputation?"
"But why Rin?"
"Out of so many people, why her?"
"I've already lost Obito as a student."
"Kakashi only survived by luck."
"If it really was Elder Danzo—"
Minato thought of a possibility.
"Could it be because I was late to rescue him last time and he lost an arm because of it? So Elder Danzo is angry at me and deliberately took it out on Rin?"
"Was it me who got Rin killed?"
Minato couldn't help showing a guilty expression.
"But if it really was Elder Danzo… what am I supposed to do?"
He could take revenge on anyone else.
But Danzo was different. Danzo was a Konoha elder.
He had an extraordinary relationship with Hiruzen Sarutobi—both disciples of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
On one side stood his student.
On the other stood a Konoha elder.
What was he supposed to do?
Unlike Minato, Obito Uchiha had no such conflict.
"So the one who really got Rin killed… was Danzo?"
The moment Obito heard the news, he immediately went to White Zetsu to confirm it.
He wanted to verify the exact timing of when Danzo and Orochimaru had gone to the Sand army's camp.
White Zetsu had plenty of clones and gathered good intelligence.
But they couldn't get precise information on everything 100% of the time.
For example, the exact moment Danzo and Orochimaru arrived at the Sand camp.
White Zetsu could only confirm the day.
And that day was the same day Rin died.
They couldn't tell which event happened first.
"So… it's actually possible?"
Obito's eyes filled with intense hatred.
"Danzo!"
"Very well."
"I will make you pay for Rin's death.
"I will make you regret it!"
"I'll give you ten times the pain!"