Danzo arrived at the Hokage Building.
"Hiruzen, Rasa has gone too far! We must negotiate with him."
"How can a newspaper write whatever it wants? These things have not been verified at all, yet he published them directly. This is slander against me. It is completely irresponsible."
Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Danzo but did not answer his complaint.
Instead, he asked, "Danzo… did you really do those things?"
"No. Absolutely not!"
"But the ANBU told me that the Uchiha you killed really did lose both eyes."
"I merely did not want others to have the chance to scheme against Konoha. At the time, Kirigakure ninja and Sunagakure ninja were both nearby. I was worried they would take the Sharingan for research. That would have been harmful to Konoha."
"And the graveyard?"
"Even more impossible!"
Danzo's voice sharpened.
"I, Danzo, would never dig up Uchiha graves."
"This is pure slander! A false accusation!"
"I don't know who provided Sunagakure with that information, but I absolutely did not do such a thing."
Seeing Danzo give such a firm guarantee, Hiruzen nodded.
"As long as you didn't. Uchiha Yashiro and the others are indeed no longer people of Konoha, but inside Konoha, we still have Uchiha who belong to us."
"We must take them into consideration."
"As for negotiating with Rasa, I don't think there is any need."
Hiruzen said, "Since that content has already been printed in the newspaper, it means Rasa has already made his decision."
"If we negotiate with Rasa and make demands of him, will he listen?"
"Sunagakure today is no longer the Sunagakure of the past."
"With both Rasa and Pakura holding the village down, Sunagakure's strength is considerable."
"If we negotiate with Rasa, we will only give him a chance to make demands of us."
"And when that time comes, do we agree or not?"
"If we refuse, will Rasa retaliate?"
Danzo frowned.
"Then what do you think we should do, Hiruzen? Just let Rasa slander us? Today he slanders me. Tomorrow, who knows who he will slander next? Perhaps even you, Hiruzen."
"Are we supposed to do nothing?"
Hiruzen shook his head.
"Of course not."
"What I mean is that we cannot rely on others. The only ones we can rely on are ourselves. Rather than negotiating with Rasa, I think it would be better for Konoha to establish a newspaper of our own."
Hearing this, Danzo's eyes brightened slightly.
"How about leaving this matter to Root? The village provides the funds. Root provides the manpower."
Hiruzen refused.
"No need. I already have someone in mind. I will leave this matter to Homura. Danzo, you have more important matters to handle. There is no need for you to waste time on this."
Danzo's expression stiffened.
Between villages, there were conflicts, contradictions, and hatred.
But within a village, problems also existed between its own members.
In the past, Danzo's relationship with Homura Mitokado could not be called particularly good, but it was not bad either. After all, both had been disciples of Senju Tobirama. They had known each other for decades. There was still some bond between classmates.
But now, things were different.
Because of the issue of Root's ownership, he and Homura had fallen out badly.
Homura had a deep grudge against him.
If Homura was allowed to control Konoha's newspaper office, how could anything good come of it for Danzo?
Danzo gave Hiruzen a long, deep look.
"Hiruzen… this bastard did this on purpose, didn't he?"
Hiruzen had indeed done it on purpose.
Orochimaru already possessed the prestige of one of the Sannin, and this time, he had led Konoha's army to defeat Iwagakure's forces. This had once again reminded the people of Konoha of that famous ninja.
For a time, Orochimaru's reputation was no weaker than Minato Namikaze's.
This was the effect of accumulated prestige.
A single battle was enough to awaken the villagers' memories of Orochimaru.
Minato's battle against the Fourth Raikage and Killer B had indeed been astonishing.
But in his battle against Rasa, Minato had not gained much of an advantage.
That had undoubtedly disappointed many people in Konoha.
Back and forth, one rising and the other falling, Hiruzen could no longer guarantee that if he announced his intent to pass the Hokage position to the next person, Minato Namikaze would smoothly inherit it.
Hiruzen truly did not want to hand the Hokage position to Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru will destroy Konoha!"
Because of this, Hiruzen had been delaying the announcement of his retirement.
At the same time, he had begun suppressing Orochimaru's supporters.
And Danzo was Orochimaru's number-one supporter.
Hiruzen had already seen the effect of newspapers. Their influence was far greater than he had initially imagined.
Now that Konoha's war had also ended, Konoha had to possess its own newspaper.
Letting Homura Mitokado manage the newspaper office, especially when Homura was extremely dissatisfied with Danzo, would inevitably deal Danzo a blow.
At the same time, it would earn Homura's gratitude.
Two birds with one stone.
Hiruzen felt this arrangement could not be better.
Danzo left in anger.
He knew Hiruzen was targeting him, yet he could do nothing about it.
"Hiruzen, you will regret this!"
"I have given so much for the village, yet this is how you treat me."
Not long after, Homura Mitokado arrived at the Hokage Building.
Hiruzen told him his decision.
Immediately, Homura's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Hiruzen, is this true?"
"You're entrusting Konoha Weekly to me?"
Hiruzen nodded.
"That's right. The importance of Konoha Weekly goes without saying. Everyone has already experienced the influence of the Shinobi World Major Events Weekly. I have high hopes for Konoha Weekly."
"Homura, I'll leave it to you."
"You must do it well."
"Don't disappoint me."
Homura Mitokado straightened his chest and nodded heavily.
"Hiruzen, don't worry. I will definitely handle it properly and trample that Shinobi World Major Events Weekly underfoot. I'll find people in the village and have them write better, more attractive stories!"
"What is Kōga Ninja Scrolls supposed to be?"
Hiruzen smiled.
"Good. Then go and get busy, Homura. I want to see Konoha Weekly appear as soon as possible."
"No problem."
…
…
Sunagakure.
Rasa watched his Emotion Points rise rapidly. Before long, they had already reached the full value of two thousand, and a smile appeared on his face.
"As expected. When fighting someone head-on, I have to let Danzo know that I'm the one targeting him. Only then will he provide emotional feedback."
"The newspaper hasn't even been out for two days, and I already have two thousand Emotion Points."
"Adding that to the points Ebizo gained from spreading the Nohara Rin rumor…"
"If I exchange the Emotion Points into points, the total will already exceed three thousand."
"In other words, I can perform the first thirty consecutive draws for the third rumor."
Rasa's thoughts moved.
"Exchange!"