If Shimura Danzō's human experimentation, attempted armed coup, child trafficking, and other crimes could still be attributed to his excessively extreme and radical personality—if one could argue that, deep down, Danzō had genuinely believed he was acting for Konoha's sake—then the charge of treason and betraying the village left him with absolutely no room for defense or redemption.
It was said that no matter how many mistakes a person had committed in life, dying for one's country would lessen their guilt by one degree.
But Danzō's current situation was different.
He was already guilty of countless heinous crimes, and now he had added the crime of betraying the village on top of them.
Even saying that his punishment should be increased severalfold would not be an exaggeration.
It was foreseeable that from this day onward, Shimura Danzō would become the greatest criminal in Konoha's history, condemned and cursed by the villagers for generations to come.
In fact, there was no need to wait until after today.
The moment the shinobi in the conference room confirmed the truth of Danzō's crimes, they were already furious, cursing him one after another.
Even the members of the Shimura clan in the conference room suffered collateral damage, receiving hostile looks from everyone because of Danzō.
"Everyone, everyone, please hear me out!"
The current head of the Shimura clan, Shimura Yoshio, realized that things were going badly.
He understood that if he couldn't completely distance the clan from Danzō today, the entire Shimura clan would no longer have a place in Konoha.
He hurriedly stood up and explained,
"Our Shimura clan is also a victim! We severed ties with Shimura Danzō a long time ago!"
"Ever since our clan produced someone like Shimura Danzō, we've suffered nothing but misfortune! When Danzō wanted people from your clans, he still had to rely on his influence to pressure you. But when it came to our Shimura clan, he simply took whatever he wanted!"
"That ungrateful bastard has no family and no father in his eyes—only himself! He treated the entire Shimura clan as fertilizer for Root!"
"If it weren't for the support of some of our fellow villagers, our Shimura clan would have been wiped out long ago!"
"So our Shimura clan absolutely stands opposed to Shimura Danzō! We stand together with everyone here!"
Shimura Yoshio delivered his speech with such emotion that tears practically streamed down his face.
The Konoha shinobi who had been preparing to vent their anger on the Shimura clan were left somewhat at a loss.
Seeing this, Shikaku Nara also spoke up.
"Everyone, what the Shimura clan head said is basically true. Over the years, the Shimura clan has not enjoyed any special privileges because of Danzō's position. On the contrary, in some respects, they were actually among those most severely persecuted by him."
As the foremost figure beneath Konoha's former F4, Shikaku Nara was familiar with most of what went on within the village, so he spoke a few words in defense of the Shimura clan.
The people in the conference room no longer looked at the Shimura clan with the same hostility as before, but their expressions had become somewhat strange.
Having a clansman like Shimura Danzō really had been disastrous for the Shimura clan.
After thinking for a moment, Shikaku looked toward Uchiha Ren and changed the subject.
"Elder Uchiha, I have basically no objections to Danzō's other charges. But regarding the charge of suppressing political opponents and persecuting his fellow shinobi, do we have concrete evidence?"
"Of course."
Ren answered without hesitation.
"Everyone should have seen Danzō's right arm covered in Sharingan. However, to avoid any suspicion of bias, I won't discuss how Danzō persecuted members of my Uchiha clan."
"Instead, I'll give everyone several other examples."
"First, the death of the Konoha White Fang, Sakumo Hatake."
The moment those words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent.
Kakashi Hatake abruptly stood up.
His normally dull eye suddenly became sharp as he stared fixedly at Ren.
Ren calmly took out a document and handed it to Shikaku Nara.
At the same time, he said,
"The name of the Konoha White Fang shook the entire shinobi world, so I won't waste time elaborating on his achievements."
"However, there were many hidden circumstances surrounding Senior Sakumo Hatake's suicide."
"Senior Sakumo Hatake was immensely renowned at the time. He had rendered outstanding service to Konoha and achieved countless victories. His prestige had reached unprecedented heights."
"But precisely because of this, Senior Sakumo Hatake—who had already risen as high as a shinobi could—began to make the Third Hokage and the Konoha elders feel threatened."
"Threatened? What kind of threat? Are you saying Senior Sakumo would have attacked the Third Hokage and the others?"
Some of the slower-witted shinobi asked in confusion.
"Idiot! Elder Uchiha means that Senior Sakumo's existence had begun to threaten the position of the Third Hokage and the elders!"
"After all, Senior Sakumo's status had already reached its peak. If he advanced any further, he would either become the Fourth Hokage or a Konoha Elder."
"But regardless of which path he took, some of the authority held by the Third Hokage and the elders would inevitably be redistributed."
"Do you understand now?"
Someone who had grasped Ren's meaning quietly explained it to the others.
Ignoring the discussion spreading throughout the conference room, Ren continued.
"Therefore, with the Third Hokage's tacit approval, Shimura Danzō began suppressing Senior Sakumo Hatake's reputation."
"And the mission Senior Sakumo undertook at the time was where Danzō's plan began."
"When faced with the dilemma of abandoning a mission or abandoning your comrades, which would you choose?"
"Would you abandon the mission, or abandon your comrades?"
"Senior Sakumo was faced with precisely this choice."
"Yet no matter what choice he made, he was destined to be wrong."
"If he abandoned his comrades, Danzō would accuse him of lacking the Will of Fire, of being cold-blooded and heartless, and of not being a qualified leader."
"If he abandoned the mission, Danzō would accuse him of causing even greater losses to the village and of not being a qualified shinobi."
"At the time, Senior Sakumo chose to abandon the mission and save his comrades."
"But not long after he returned to the village, details of what should have been a classified mission were somehow leaked, triggering a storm of rumors throughout Konoha."
"Perhaps Danzō originally intended only to use this incident to suppress Senior Sakumo's prestige."
"But to Senior Sakumo, this was a conflict of principles, beliefs, and ideals."
"With the entire village condemning him and no way to defend himself, Senior Sakumo had only one way left to protect the beliefs he held."
"His own life."
"Senior Sakumo's death deprived Konoha of one of its pillars and caused the village to suffer enormous losses in the wars that followed."
"All of this was the result of Shimura Danzō's crimes!"
Ren's main target remained Shimura Danzō.
He merely mentioned Hiruzen Sarutobi in passing, gradually chipping away at the Third Hokage's righteous and benevolent image.
The people in the conference room were all visibly affected by Ren's words, their hearts heavy.
Many of them had experienced those events firsthand.
Some had even participated in them.
At the time, they had all been swept along by the prevailing atmosphere and had never thought too deeply about what was happening.
They had never imagined that there had been such hidden circumstances behind the incident.
Looking back on it now, there was truly much to say.
Many others began thinking along the same lines, imagining what they themselves would have done if they had been placed in Sakumo's position.
The mission...
Or their comrades?
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