Rogue Ninja

"Damn Danzo!"

The Third Hokage, who had been watching the crystal ball with a pipe clenched between his teeth, shot to his feet as though his eyebrows were on fire. The stifling anger in his chest had nowhere to go.

I knew that bastard was always stirring up trouble. Sooner or later, he was bound to mess with someone he couldn’t handle!

But this was no time for complaints. The Third Hokage donned his Hokage Robe and immediately ordered the Anbu beneath him, "Notify Tsunade and Jiraiya. Tell them to get to the scene at once!"

The moment he finished speaking, the Third Hokage rushed out of the Hokage Building.

When he arrived, he saw Yota standing there with a cold expression. He glanced around. Other than the Root ninja who had attacked Yota and lost his head, the rest of the ninja were merely severely wounded and unconscious.

As for Shisui Uchiha, who lay on the ground, his eye sockets were a bloody mess. His Mangekyo Sharingan had already been removed by Yota.

Seeing that Yota had not gone on a killing spree, the Third Hokage let out a slight sigh of relief. That meant there was still room for discussion.

Yota was actually rather pleased right now. Though Shisui Uchiha had attacked him, he had gotten a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan for free, and they possessed such a convenient ability as Kotoamatsukami. Naturally, he had no reason to be angry.

He had inspected those ninja earlier and found the Tongue Severing Curse in their mouths. Yota instantly understood what had happened.

Danzo had done it. Worthy of being Konoha’s designated scapegoat of this world—whenever there was some scheme or conspiracy, nine times out of ten, he was behind it.

That guy loved taking gambles like this. Sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he failed. When he succeeded, he would smugly claim it as his own achievement. When he failed, he would dump the blame on Konoha.

Of course, Yota was only happy on the inside. On the surface, his expression remained stern. Behind him, Hizashi Hyuga also wore a wary look. Strictly speaking, Hizashi Hyuga still counted as a rogue ninja; Konoha simply had not expelled him yet.

"Third Hokage, please explain. What exactly is going on? Why did this Uchiha Anbu suddenly attack me?"

Yota spoke with a grim face and an icy tone.

A bitter smile appeared on the Third Hokage’s face. "Believe me, this was only an accident… Perhaps it had something to do with the Uchiha clan…"

Yota rolled his eyes. "Heh heh, this has nothing to do with the Uchiha clan, does it? I saw the Tongue Severing Curse on these ninja perfectly clearly."

The Third Hokage’s heart skipped a beat, and his mind went blank. How did this guy know about the Tongue Severing Curse?

But the main issue now was naturally not probing Yota’s intelligence. It was figuring out how to resolve this… or rather, how to shift the blame.

While the Third Hokage was still racking his brain, Yota spoke directly. "Danzo Shimura did this, didn’t he? I remember I was the one who wiped out his Root back then! It seems he still bears a grudge. That promise you made before to let bygones be bygones apparently didn’t have much effect?"

While Yota was speaking, Jiraiya and Tsunade arrived as well. Both frowned at the sight before them.

Yota perceptively noticed that Tsunade showed no signs of hemophobia. It seemed she had already emerged from her psychological shadow.

"Old man, what exactly happened?" Tsunade asked with a frown as she looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi wore a bitter smile. "Well… there was a minor misunderstanding."

"This doesn’t look like a minor misunderstanding," Jiraiya said solemnly.

"It’s very simple." Yota sneered. "An Uchiha from the Anbu tried to use Mangekyo-level genjutsu to control me."

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged glances. An ordinary Mangekyo trying to control a Rinnegan—was he really that bold? Wasn’t that just asking to die?

The Third Hokage said with a troubled expression, "This should have been their personal action…"

"Danzo Shimura’s personal action, right?" Yota interrupted the Third Hokage without hesitation. "How could Root ninja leave so easily without Danzo Shimura’s permission?"

The Third Hokage fell silent. Jiraiya spoke instead. "Why not just bring Danzo out and ask him?"

The Third Hokage thought, If Danzo comes out, he’ll probably be dead for sure. Yota isn’t someone easy to reason with.

But under these circumstances, the Third Hokage knew it was impossible not to summon Danzo. He immediately gave an order to an Anbu beside him. The Anbu flashed away and vanished at once.

Just as Yota was nearly bored enough to yawn, Danzo finally arrived from the distance, his face still gloomy.

Yota raised his head, shot him a glance, and sneered. "Do you really take me for a fool?"

Before his words had even faded, his entire body vanished in an instant. The Third Hokage and the others’ eyes narrowed slightly. Before they could make out his movements, they heard a scream, and Danzo’s head was already in Yota’s hand.

"You!" The Third Hokage was shocked and furious, mixed with a few strands of grief and indignation. But before he could react, Yota had already thrown the head over.

"He wasn’t even willing to come himself… It seems this Shinobi World’s Darkness really did do this!"

"What?" The Third Hokage was slightly stunned by those words. Tsunade, who was proficient in Medical Ninjutsu, stepped forward and prodded the head a few times. "It’s fake. It was surgically altered into this appearance through Medical Ninjutsu!"

Hearing this, the Third Hokage barely managed to calm down. Then came his endless resentment toward Danzo.

"Rest assured, we will give you an explanation for this!" he said through gritted teeth. "From today onward, Danzo will be stripped of all authority! He will be imprisoned in Konoha Prison!"

Yota sneered. "That’s just changing the soup without changing the medicine. Besides, you probably can’t even find where he is right now, can you?"

The Third Hokage’s old face reddened. As Hokage, being unable to locate even one of his own ninja was undoubtedly an enormous humiliation.

Especially since Danzo was the kind of ninja who oversaw intelligence and handled dirty work. His importance went without saying. The Third Hokage should have been aware even of how many times a day he went to the toilet.

"What do you want, then?" Tsunade asked, rolling her eyes. It sounded like she was giving the Third Hokage an out, but she was actually asking Yota to name his price.

"Disregarding the Hokage and directly launching an attack on the leader of another faction—this is practically provoking a war, isn’t it? And after doing such a thing, he fled out of fear of punishment… I think Danzo Shimura can absolutely be declared a rogue ninja!"

Yota looked at the Third Hokage and spoke calmly.