In just an instant, Danzo's originally ghastly pale right arm had vanished, replaced by trees bursting forth violently from the right side of his body. Before long, they formed a towering great tree.
If Yamato saw this tree-planting and forest-creating ability, he would probably be green with envy.
"It seems this is the end. At least it saves some effort."
After finishing the treatment, Furina looked at Danzo, whose body was now connected to the trees as he panted nonstop, and could not help but feel a sense of mockery. He had chosen to implant Hashirama's cells for the sake of power, only to ultimately be devoured by that very power in return. How could this not be ironic?
"Hmph. I never expected it to end like this. You can kill me if you want, but I advise you to think carefully about the consequences after killing me. No matter what, I have made many contributions to the village, and the people in the village all know it."
Watching Furina and the others gradually approach, Danzo—who clearly understood his own condition—knew he had no chance to escape. But he had not yet become Hokage and did not want to die, so he could only pin his hopes on words to buy himself a slim chance at survival.
The threat he expressed through explaining the pros and cons of killing him might hold some truth, but this set of arguments did not work on everyone—and Furina happened to despise threats the most.
"I never expected Elder Danzo to be so humorous. Even in this situation, you can still say things that make people laugh. Your contributions to the village? Undeniably, there might be some.
But those things you did—which I do not even want to repeat—were they really for the village, or for yourself? Or perhaps you have said the slogans so many times that you have successfully brainwashed even yourself."
Facing Furina's undisguised sarcasm, Danzo's face showed little anger. Instead, he let out a light chuckle. Did he not know what Furina was saying? Of course he did, but...
"This is merely a misunderstanding you have toward me due to our hostile relationship. Moreover, as you said, it cannot be denied that some of what I did contributed to the village."
One had to admit that while Danzo might lack other skills, his thick skin was truly unrivaled in the world. Even after Furina had spoken to this extent, he still had words to say.
"You seem to have misunderstood something—or are you just pretending to be ignorant for fun? The contributions I mentioned refer to the times during previous wars when you fought as a Konoha shinobi for Konoha—not the things you did later for your own selfish desires.
Let me just mention one casually: the suicide of Konoha's White Fang. He was a hero of Konoha and one of its top experts at the time. But why did he commit suicide? It's really hard to guess.
If not for the inaction of certain people—or rather, their tacit approval, or even their active encouragement—how could Konoha's White Fang have committed suicide? Because he abandoned a mission to save his comrades and caused huge losses to the village.
Do you not feel like laughing when you say such words yourself? Just because his strength and prestige made him a strong contender for the Hokage position, giving you a sense of threat,
a shinobi whose name alone made other ninja villages tremble in fear ended up dead like that. I would like to ask Elder Danzo—who is wholeheartedly devoted to making contributions to Konoha—how much loss did the death of such a powerful shinobi like White Fang cause to the village?"
"I also regret what happened to White Fang, but his death had nothing to do with me. I did not want him to die."
Watching another figure approaching from the distance, Danzo's expression changed repeatedly. He strongly suspected Furina had done this on purpose, but since she had already exposed almost all of his dirty secrets, even he could not come up with any strong rebuttals.
"Yo, Kakashi-sensei, you've come too. Right now I'm discussing with Elder Danzo the contributions he made to Konoha in the past. Do you want to join in?"