516 Chapter 510 : Ganging up on Danzo!
Without missing a beat or even looking at Homura, Fujin replied, "Just because you have contributed in the past doesn't give you a right to behave like a rogue ninja inside the village. If every ninja who contributed to previous wars acted this way, Konoha would collapse within a few hours.
Regardless of how much a ninja has contributed, if he begins targeting the Konoha ninjas for any reason, he should be eliminated or at least imprisoned. Don't forget that not too long ago one of the three Legendary Sannins did something similar and went rogue. Today, he is one of the main suspects behind the deaths of 20 Root ninjas and the destruction of Root Headquarters.
Even if Elder Danzo wasn't the one who gave those instructions, this event shows that he is incapable of leading the Root. His subordinates are willfully ignoring his commands and attacking a Council Member.
Not to mention, he has shown that he doesn't care much about the lives of Root ninjas. Instead of protecting the headquarters in time of crisis, he dispatched them away not caring that they might be targetted and leaving the Root headquarters with very low manpower! We cannot afford to keep losing excellent ninjas just because he is no longer capable of leading them properly."
Silence spread in the room once again. Rage was once again visible on Danzo's face. However, this time, it wasn't an act. Fujin had openly called him incompetent in front of everyone! Danzo was extremely tempted to use the eye but controlled himself as Hiruzen was in the room as well and staring at him.
Before he could explode in rage, Shikaku said, "He isn't wrong."
Danzo immediately looked towards Shikaku and said, "Instead of searching for the culprit, you want to blame me? This time Root was targetted. Who would you blame if he targets the Nara clan?"
Shikaku explained, "Dealing with the culprit would have been the best way. Unfortunately, we don't even know who the culprits are or what their motivation is. The only thing we know is that they are targeting the Root for some reason.
If their goal is just to seek revenge on something you or the Root have done, then the attacks should stop once Root ninjas are mixed in with the Anbu. If their enmity is too high and they still try to target Root ninjas, then they won't be able to cover up their traces as well as they have been.
So, it'll be best for the Root to disband entirely. It might be our only method of dealing with the culprit. Not to mention, the incident of spying on and attacking Fujin needs to be investigated properly as well. If even council members get attacked within the village, then no one will feel safe inside the village.
I suggest that we disband the Root entirely for the time being. We will continue looking for the culprit and investigate the attack on Fujin. Depending on our results on those two findings, we can decide whether Root should continue existing secretly or leave it in the past and move forward."
As the Jounin Commander and publicly accepted as the smartest ninja in Konoha, if not the world, Shikaku's words held a lot more sway than Fujin's. Danzo understood that. He immediately replied, "Whether Root continues to exist or not is not up to the Council."
Not too long ago, Danzo was hoping to use the Council to revive his Root. And now, the circumstances had forced him to do the complete opposite. He understood that saying it meant that he could never use the Council to force Hiruzen to revive the Root. However, he could only handle one situation at a time. As long as the Root continued existing, he could always come up with more schemes to increase its strength.
Shibi suddenly said, "I agree with Shikaku's analysis. While the Council can't interfere with Root normally, it's a different case if Root ninjas are targetting a Council Member. Not to mention, we have already lost 20 capable ninjas during peacetime in the last 3 days. It's better to disband the Root than see every Root ninja die because someone is too stubborn to see the situation."
Inoichi added, "I agree as well."
Immediately, every other clan leader agreed with Shikaku. After all, other than the Hyuga clan, all of them had several of their geniuses forcefully taken in by the Root. With Fujin taking the lead in targeting Danzo, they decided to add to the pressure on Danzo.
Several of them voiced their own thoughts about the situation. A few brought out their grievances against the Root mentioning how so many of their clan members had died during the training in the Root and how the families of the Root ninjas never saw them again among other things.
The room became more tense. Especially Danzo and the elders. The Elders might not treat Fujin or one clan leader that seriously. However, it was a different matter altogether if every single clan leader was on the same page! Even Hiruzen won't be able to dismiss them lightly. If he did, then the coup that the Uchihas were planning could look like a child's play.
Though Fujin didn't show any change in his expression and seemed like he was hiding his anger, in truth, he was extremely pleased. He thought, 'Good. This is what I wanted. With all the clan leaders and I, who represent the civilian ninjas even if only in name, opposing Root, these 4 can't act willfully. Now, the rest depends on what Hiruzen wants. If he has been looking to deal Root a blow, then Root will be finished for good. Otherwise, it'll only be restricted.'
When Fujin realized that Danzo might still not leave him alone and continue pressuring him, he came up with a three step plan against Danzo after thinking for nearly a couple of days. As soon as he detected the 5 Root ninjas spying on his house, the conditions for setting the plan in motion were fulfilled.
The first step of the plan was doing something so big that it would attract the entire village's attention, forcing everyone to take the situation with utmost seriousness. Fujin decided to directly target the Root headquarters for this step.
It served several additional purposes. For one, it allowed Fujin to directly inflict more damage on the Root. The Root headquarters was underground and some distance away from where people lived. Fujin didn't need to be concerned about hitting an innocent here. As a bonus, it also showed that Danzo wasn't capable enough of even protecting his own base. And lastly, it would force the Root ninjas that were spying on him to show themselves.
The second step of the plan was arresting the Root ninjas spying on him. In terms of difficulty, it was the easiest to achieve. However, in terms of importance, this step was the most important as it gave Fujin a chance to accuse Danzo. Unlike the clan leaders who had gotten used to occasionally suffering at Danzo's hands and hence couldn't escalate small offenses, Fujin had never suffered a loss in Konoha. So Fujin escalating the situation wouldn't feel odd.
Fujin knew that it wasn't a huge offense. At the very least, it wasn't something that could make Hiruzen take Root away from Danzo. After all, they were only spying on Fujin as Danzo had some suspicions. Hiruzen himself always spied on the entire village with his crystal ball. Hiruzen would just give Danzo a slap on his wrist and let him off.
However, the third step of Fujin's plan came into action here. That was to let the clan leaders sense an opportunity to take out all their grievances against Danzo and Root while using Fujin as a front. Under normal circumstances, they might still be reluctant, but the attack 2 nights ago and Danzo and Root being weak and vulnerable due to Fujin's first step gave them an opportunity that they just couldn't miss!
The fact that Torune decided to attack Fujin instead of surrendering helped him even more. The case had changed from just spying to spying and an attempt to assassinate! As Fujin had expected, every clan leader decided to take advantage of the chance he had provided!
It was a strange plan as every successive step was less intense and destructive than the previous step. The first step was total annihilation, the second step was just retraining a few ninjas and the third step was diplomacy without any fighting involved. It went against the traditional way of slowly escalating the situation. However, it fitted perfectly in this scenario.
Seeing every clan leader speaking against Danzo, Koharu and Homura decided to go silent. Danzo, of course, wouldn't take everything lying down. He argued against everyone, but Fujin didn't even need to open his mouth.
In terms of politics, the clan leaders were far better than him. Even in terms of intelligence, no one was a slouch. If they were, then they wouldn't have been clan leaders. They couldn't do anything earlier as Danzo never gave them an opening.
Now that they had it, they immediately ganged up on Danzo and countered every single point he made while levelling more accusations against the Root.
The situation became intense in no time. With neither side backing off, it immediately became very ugly. Understanding the situation, Hiruzen sighed. He flared his chakra, silencing the room once again and gaining everyone's attention.
He looked at everyone and said, "Don't forget that we are the leaders of Konoha. Please maintain decorum. I had called everyone here to keep everyone informed about the attack on Root headquarters. I didn't think that the meeting would take such a turn. I'll think about what to do and we will have an official council meeting soon. For now, everyone except Danzo is dismissed."
[A/N : Next Chapter - Hiruzen's Decision]
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