Chapter 322 I Want to Live in the Sun

When the Fourth Kazekage was feeling recognized for his identity as a traitor, the Third Hokage, also one of the Five Kage, was staying in the Hokage Building, worrying about the war on the front line.

The war between Iwagakure and Konoha has been going on for three months.

Although there was no large-scale direct confrontation between the two sides in the past three months, small-scale fighting has never stopped, and the number of casualties continues to rise every day.

The Third Hokage was eager to change this situation, but he was helpless.

He wanted to summon the top ninja masters from all the major ninja clans to fight at the front line, but the major ninja villages always used various excuses to shirk their responsibilities, leaving him with no choice but to mobilize the Anbu ninjas to go to the front line, consuming the already limited strength of the Hokage faction.

The reason why such a problem arises is essentially that the ninja clan has lost trust in the Hokage Building.

After the Uchiha incident, the attitudes of the major ninja villages towards the Hokage Building became subtle, and the reason was very simple.

Of the two great families, the Senju and Uchiha, which founded Konoha, there are not many left in Konoha now.

Among them, the Senju clan was forced to integrate into the Konoha Village due to the consumption of the First and Second Ninja World Wars, and the Uchiha clan was attacked by Uchiha Itachi and disappeared from the Ninja World.

The major ninja clans in Konoha saw what happened to the two families and kept it in mind.

They didn't want to be the second Senju, nor did they want to be the second Uchiha. They refused to send too many jonin to the battlefield, and they also refused to get too much credit on the battlefield.

The Third Hokage could only tolerate the bad behavior of the major ninja clans, unless he wanted to offend all the clans.

After sighing softly, the Third Hokage looked at the two recently delivered intelligence scrolls, opened them, and began to read them carefully.

The first scroll was sent from the Sand Village and contained a lot of information.

The scroll records the information that the Fourth Kazekage sent people to assassinate the Jinchūriki, colluded with the S-rank rebel nin Orochimaru, and eventually defected.

When the Third Hokage saw this information, he was stunned.

The information about the Sand Village is more explosive than the other. How could Rasa, the Kazekage, send people to assassinate the Jinchuriki? And the One-Tail Jinchuriki should be Rasa's youngest son.

As for Rasa's collusion with Orochimaru, this should be a small matter for the Sand Village.

Orochimaru is a traitor of their Konoha, not a traitor of the Sand Village. Although the two countries are allies, the word "alliance" is just talk and few people really take it seriously.

Could it be that the Sand Village has really thought it through and wants to become a complete vassal of Konoha?

The Third Hokage expressed his doubts about this, but the most explosive thing was not the two pieces of information, but the news that the Fourth Kazekage attacked the Daimyo and then defected.

He simply couldn't imagine the Kazekage defecting; it sounded like a joke.

However, after reading all the information, the Third Hokage finally understood the actions of the Sand Village. The reason why the Kazekage defected was not because of the assassination of the Shinchūriki or collusion with Orochimaru, but because he was suspected of assassinating the Third Kazekage.

To be fair, if news spread in Konoha that he had assassinated Sensei Tobirama, his position as Hokage would be unstable.

Recovering his gradually scattered thoughts, the Third Hokage began to think about future diplomacy with the Sand Village.

With the Fourth Kazekage's defection, the Sand Village should be able to select an acting Kazekage quickly, who could be an elite jonin or their old friend Chiyo.

If it was Chiyo, it would be easy to say. The newly appointed elite jonin would be able to figure out the specific idea. After putting down the first scroll, the Third Hokage took out the second scroll. There was a toad mark on the scroll, which was sent by Jiraiya from the front line.

After opening the scroll and taking a few glances, the Third Hokage had a helpless smile on his face.

Jiraiya brought good news. When the front line encountered a major crisis, Tsunade appeared in the Konoha camp and became a medical ninja as a volunteer.

With the second of the three ninjas in charge, the situation on the front line has gradually stabilized.

I believe it won't be long before the Iwagakure Village comes over to negotiate. After all, with the information that both sides are evenly matched, the war cannot continue.

Unless Iwagakure is prepared to die together, but Oonoki is not that stupid person.

However, according to Jiraiya, Tsunade still refused to return to the village. Tsunade did not want to see him, nor did she want to return to the unrecognizable Konoha.

After writing the reply, the Third Hokage's face changed, as if he had thought of something, and ordered the Anbu beside him to summon Danzo.

After giving the order, the Third Hokage sighed softly.

Three months ago, he was the one who personally gave the order to disband the Root, with the goal of giving an explanation to all the major ninja clans in the village and putting the blame for the Uchiha clan genocide on Danzo.

And now, he wants to restart the roots.

If you want to quickly end the war with the Iwagakure Village, it is not enough to rely solely on the power of Tsunade and Jiraiya. You must rely on the power of Danzo and the Root.

Half an hour later, the Anbu returned to the office and said nervously: "Hokage-sama, Danzo-sama refused to come to the Hokage Building, and also told you that the Root has been disbanded and he has retired..."

"Danzo refused to come to the Hokage building and said the Root had been disbanded?"

The Third Hokage suspected that he had heard wrongly. Danzo had always been eyeing the position of Hokage, so how could he disband the Root? Even if he gave the order to disband the Root, Danzo would probably not obey.

The Anbu seemed to see what the Third Hokage was thinking, and continued, "Hokage-sama, Danzo-sama also asked me to tell you that he doesn't want to fight for the position of Hokage anymore, nor does he want to stay in the darkness anymore."

"In the remaining time, he wants to enjoy life in the sunshine."

Hearing this, the Third Hokage's face became gloomy. He didn't believe that Danzo would give up the position of Hokage. His rejection at this moment was just a threat to him so that he would offer more conditions.

But the Root already has most of the power of the Hokage. If they give up more power, the Root leader will be the real Shadow Hokage.

After a moment's silence, the Third Hokage said with a cold face:
"Tell Danzo that he has done a good job and carried out the orders I gave him. Even so, he must serve as the leader of the Root. From today on, he should stay in the village and enjoy his retirement."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

After receiving the order, the Anbu ninja immediately left the Hokage Building.

After the Anbu left, the Third Hokage's face turned extremely livid. Danzo was no longer willing to be his white glove, as there were many people willing to do so, and he also had many subordinates who wanted to improve their status.

Even without Danzo, he could still find suitable personnel, and they would do a better job and be more competent than Danzo, and they would not threaten him at critical moments.

His sons Sarutobi Shinnosuke and Kakashi are both good candidates.

(End of this chapter)