Danzo was furious.
Something he had clearly not done had now been forced onto his head.
If it were only a rumor, that would have been one thing.
But Karatachi Yagura, the Mizukage of Kirigakure, had publicly issued an announcement targeting him.
"Yagura!"
"You dare target me like this? Then you and I are irreconcilable!"
With Sunagakure secretly pushing the rumor forward and Kirigakure adding its public announcement on top of it, the idea that Konoha had staged the entire affair quickly gained even more ground throughout the shinobi world.
Onoki thought the possibility was very high.
"That fellow Danzo is capable of anything."
"It would make perfect sense for Konoha to do something like that."
"They repelled our Iwagakure forces, and Konoha was desperate to end the war. But they did not want to bear the infamy of abandoning an ally, so they designed this whole affair."
"That way, they could cast aside Kirigakure without staining their own name."
Huang Tu hesitated.
"But Father, hasn't Konoha's reputation still been damaged now?"
Onoki glanced at Huang Tu, disappointment surfacing in his eyes.
To be honest, he had once held high hopes for this son.
He had wanted Huang Tu to inherit the Tsuchikage's position.
But as the years passed, Huang Tu's growth had not met Onoki's expectations.
In terms of personal strength, Huang Tu was merely proficient in Earth Release.
He had inherited neither Dust Release nor any other bloodline ability.
And in matters of government, command, and leadership… he still fell short of what Onoki required.
In Onoki's eyes, Huang Tu could not inherit the Tsuchikage's seat.
Thinking of this, Onoki could not help envying the other hidden villages.
First was Konoha.
There had been the White Fang of Konoha.
Then the Sannin.
And now the Yellow Flash.
Konoha had far too many talents.
Pick any one of them, and they would be an excellent candidate for Hokage.
And even Kumogakure—as an enemy village, Onoki still had to admit that the Fourth Raikage was quite formidable.
"The Third Raikage was not my match, yet his son has surpassed my own."
"Sunagakure's Rasa ranks among the very best of the younger generation."
"In terms of personal strength, he is no weaker than Namikaze Minato."
"And in terms of leadership, Rasa has already proven himself, while Minato has not yet done so completely."
"Karatachi Yagura managed to stabilize the situation even after four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were killed, Fuguki and that fool defected, and Kirigakure's army was already on the verge of collapse."
"Even though Kirigakure ultimately still lost, that does not erase his outstanding performance."
"And only Iwagakure…"
"We have no worthy successor."
"This old body of mine still doesn't know how many more years it will have to remain in this position."
Onoki let out a sigh.
"At the end of the day, it's only a rumor. The damage to Konoha is far less than openly abandoning Kirigakure would have been."
"As long as Konoha refuses to admit it, it can deny every accusation."
Uchiha Yashiro and Kaguya Den's expressions eased somewhat.
The two clans had separated for a brief time before.
One side had gone to Konoha, taken revenge, killed quite a few Konoha ninja, and then been hunted down by Danzo.
The other had gone to Kirigakure, failed to break through, and returned in defeat.
To be honest, Kaguya Den resented the Uchiha.
He felt that if the Uchiha had gone together with the Kaguya clan back then, they might have broken Kirigakure.
If that had happened, the current Kirigakure would already belong to the Kaguya clan.
Whether for the Kaguya or the Uchiha, their circumstances would have been far better than they were now.
But because the Kaguya clan still needed the Uchiha as allies, Kaguya Den could only bury that dissatisfaction inside.
Uchiha Yashiro noticed Kaguya Den's mood.
But he pretended not to.
Just as the Kaguya clan needed the Uchiha clan, the Uchiha clan needed the Kaguya clan as well.
The war was over.
The shinobi world had entered an era of peace.
And that meant that if Konoha wanted to move against the Uchiha now, it could free up large numbers of ninja and use them to target the Uchiha in all sorts of ways.
The Uchiha and the Kaguya could only cling to each other for warmth.
"We need to think of something. We can't just sit here and wait."
Namikaze Minato frowned deeply.
A figure approached from behind him, her lower belly swollen.
"Minato."
Only when he heard Kushina's voice did Minato finally come back to himself.
He turned to look at his wife and forced a gentle smile.
"Minato, did something happen?"
"You look troubled."
Minato truly was irritated and full of headaches.
At first, he had believed that the one truly responsible for Rin's death was Kirigakure, and because of that, he had hated Kirigakure bitterly.
But now the situation had begun to feel increasingly wrong.
Throughout the shinobi world, the theory that Nohara Rin's death had been staged by Konoha itself was becoming the mainstream view.
That was not the atmosphere inside Konoha, but even so, Minato had heard quite a few such voices.
"Was Rin's death really arranged entirely by Danzo-sama?"
"But why?"
"Just to get rid of Kirigakure as an ally?"
"And do it without harming Konoha's reputation?"
"But why Rin?"
"Out of so many people, why did it have to be Rin?"
"I've already lost Obito, that disciple of mine."
"Kakashi only managed to survive by luck."
"If it really was Danzo-sama…"
A possibility surfaced in Minato's mind.
"Could it be because I arrived too late that time, causing Danzo-sama to lose an arm, and because of that he resented me enough to take revenge by targeting Rin?"
"Was it me… who killed Rin?"
A look of guilt appeared on Minato's face.
"But if it really was Danzo-sama, then what am I supposed to do?"
If it were anyone else, Minato could take revenge.
But Danzo was different.
Danzo was one of Konoha's elders.
His relationship with Hiruzen Sarutobi was extraordinary, and he was one of the Second Hokage's disciples.
On one side was Minato's disciple.
On the other was one of Konoha's elders.
What was he supposed to do?
Unlike Minato, Uchiha Obito had no such hesitation.
"So the one who really caused Rin's death… was Danzo?"
The moment Obito received that information, he immediately found White Zetsu and made him confirm it.
He wanted to verify the timing of Danzo and Orochimaru's visit to the Sunagakure army camp.
White Zetsu were indeed numerous, and excellent at collecting intelligence.
But that did not mean they could obtain perfectly precise information about everything.
Take Danzo and Orochimaru's visit to the Sunagakure camp, for example.
White Zetsu could only confirm the day.
And that day was the same day Rin died.
When two things happened on the same day, White Zetsu could not determine which came first and which came later.
"Then that means… it really is possible?"
A fierce hatred surfaced in Obito's eyes.
"Danzo!"
"Good."
"I will make you pay for Rin's death."
"I will make you regret it."
"I'll make you suffer ten times over!"