Chapter 023 Rumours about Danzo

-Borders-

Menma attacked more than 60 cloud teams in the fire border. He weakened them in the last few days. He left a few people alive to spread the news too. The support cannot come from Cloud's hidden base as he killed all of them. And Konoha or Leaf Village cannot attack them suddenly out of nowhere. So third hokage used this opportunity and took the borders captured by Cloud village with few anbus squads. They didn't kill them as a peace treaty was signed between their men a few days ago.

Earlier Cloud Village had no intention of giving it back but now they lost their grip. So Leaf anbu took it back after threatening them under the peace treaty.

Menma disappeared but his tracks are traced to a sea route. Which will later be discovered by Cloud.

Right now Ai and Elder looked at the handy work of their base. They came one day earlier as they received news about Menma killing their teams in fire and Cloud borders alone.

Hidden cloud base-

Raikage looked at the corpses which are rotting in front of him in a small hill formation. He also looked at the words left by Menma or his clone.

Ai's son A, and Killer B are with him. previously they were the ones who fought and captured some fire borders and the Konoha base on the other side. Many shinobi came with them.

And to make matters worse Ai's friend the first elder passed away in his sleep. He died due to old age and a heart attack.

Raikage sighed and said, " Take their corpses back after you can identify them."

Raikage Ai said the previous words with a heavy heart. He lost a thousand cloud shinobi in this place.

The cloud anbu who went to report Raikage about Menma's capture looked around with disbelief. He said, " How they get killed by him. They sealed his chakra in front of me. One small chunin cannot kill a thousand shinobi of all ranks alone."

Raikage also heard the same reports but then reports of Menma's appearance to kill many teams caught their ears. And he did it alone. There is no contact between Konoha and Menma. Raikage knows about that.

Raikage sighed and said, " It looks like he has gone rogue after being traded by Konoha for other Konoha shinobi."

The men around him started to collect the corpses for autopsy and identification.

His son A said at that time, "Father I will go and hunt him for this audacity. We can ask Konoha for an explanation. " A is hot-headed like any youth. B remained silent and only watched silently from behind.

The Raikage shook his head and said, "This boy played his card well. He resigned from the Konoha shinobi force. His actions are his own after he retired. Have you ever heard of a retired shinobi being held accountable for anything? We were even at a disadvantage even when we traded him for other Konoha captives. And the Third Hokage knew that. A retired shinobi who is not in any force and left his village is like a rogue shinobi. We led him out of Konoha and failed to keep him or kill him."

The Raikage's words are very accurate. The shinobi around him have to agree with him.

Another Anbu who inspected the base returned and reported, "Lord Raikage, we discovered that only one set of footsteps leads out of this location. We also found that there is a poison mixed into the leftover food. It causes severe pain and weakness. Everyone who consumed it died as a result. The small footsteps were present from the prison to the kitchen and near the bodies of the victims. Additionally, the same footprints led from the prison to the kitchen and the corpses. Finally, those footsteps continued outside the forest. Therefore, Menma Satoshi murdered them all alone. He stole money, scrolls, weapons, and anything else he could take from this location before leaving."

The Raikage told Anbu, "Raise the bounty on Menma Satoshi to 30 million and list him as a rogue ninja in the bounty book. For Konoha, he may not be considered a rogue, but for other villages, they'll use the bounty book as an excuse to collect it. Mercenary ninjas or other rogues will also attempt to hunt him down."

The Anbu immediately left that place to execute the orders of the Raikage.

The news of Menma being retired and used as a trading tool has already reached other big and small ninja villages. However, they have also heard a piece of new news that Menma managed to escape and kill everyone who was holding him captive. The news of Menma killing thousands of shinobi from the Cloud village spreads just as quickly. Additionally, it's reported that Menma has killed or dismantled over sixty smaller teams of Cloud shinobi from the captured area as an act of revenge against them. The news has spread so quickly that even Oniki has raised Menma's bounty in the bounty book at the Rock village.

The current Hokages heard about this in a few days, but they have no power over him right now. He is a retired shinobi, and they cannot interfere with his actions. Additionally, he made a promise to the Third Hokage that he would return to being an active shinobi if he was nominated for the candidate position of Sixth Hokage.

...

-Konoha -

The meeting is taking place again but not an emergency meeting like earlier in Konoha. But it is a normal meeting among clan leaders, village officials, higher-ups, konoha elders, and Hokage. Danzo is quite vocal about this time.

Danzo looked at Hiruzen and said, " We should declare Menma as a rogue ninja. He didn't come back to Konoha after he escaped from the Cloud Ninja base. Otherwise, you should cancel all the promises you made to him."

His words meet with a brief look from everyone present in the meeting at that time.

Hiruzen puffed a smoke and said to Danzo, "What are you talking about? A hokage taking back his promises is no small matter. And the promises are made in front of everyone. You take hokage words as a joke to retract it back on your words. And what obligation should Menma have to Konoha right now? He is a retired ninja of Konoha now. Even if the other four ninja villages called him a rogue ninja we cannot declare him a rogue ninja. Have you forgotten, that you are the one who came and pressured everyone here to trade him for more time? Now that pressure is gone but he is in retired state but you want to declare him as a rogue ninja."

Hiruzen puffed another smoke and continued his words, "You cannot be a Hokage candidate with this kind of attitude. The words of a Hokage cannot be taken as a joke. We followed Lord Hashirama and Tobirama as Hokage. And you should know that. Even your Hokage candidate status is completely canceled because of this behavior. Even if you had a chance before, now you stand no chance for that seat. And Menma retired from an active shinobi service in front of everyone. So whatever he does will never affect us from the moment he put down his leaf headband and chunin jacket in front of me and everyone else."

Even Hamura spoke, " You just want to make him a rogue ninja on this matter alone. You almost lost your mind after losing your chance to become Hokage. You want revenge against a retired kid. Everyone can see your problematic behavior on this matter."

Koharu spoke at that time, "Don't mind both Lord Third and Hamura. But Danzo, your reputation in the village has been down for quite some time now. We didn't have the heart to tell you before, but no one supports you as a Hokage candidate or even as a member of Konoha Elder. This happened before Menma took his promises from Hokage. And after you pulled that move of sending him as a captive to the Cloud Village, it went even further down. You lost the support of every Genin, Chunin, Special Jounin, Jounin, and ANBU of Konoha. We don't send our children as captives to enemy villages. But you made us break that rule too. If Menma doesn't agree to this, we won't send him away."

Koharu looked at Danzo and the other officials and continued, "All the promises were made by Lord Hiruzen in front of everyone. We never meant for him to die. Now, even if he escaped, that is the problem of the Cloud Shinobi who couldn't keep him. He even gave us a lot of advantages after he retired. So, you shouldn't cross any lines. Even as a retired ninja from Konoha, he made a huge merit for Konoha. And let's see it that way. Retired ninjas from Konoha are free to do as they wish. And they don't answer to the Hokage as a retired ninja."

At that time, Fugaku stood up and said, "Lord Hokage, we shouldn't give more power to Danzo, even as an elder. And the Root Foundation should also be kept in check by you. There have been many rumors about them recently. I hope you have heard about it."

Recently, Danzo wanted to increase his power, so he invited many civilian ninjas to join the Root Foundation. However, due to previous rumors, it became a scandal, and some children who had disappeared were directly linked to Danzo. The story was true, but it became a nasty rumor.

After Fugaku finished his sentence, many other clan leaders voiced their support for this measure. Even Shikaku Nara agreed with Fugaku and the others.

Hiruzen looked at everyone and said, "Recently, Danzo has been disobeying orders and frequently crossing lines. He has also been operating Root foundation, and hoarding power for it secretly in recent days, which goes against the rules of Konoha. His behavior during recent meetings shows he has crossed the Hokage's authority. Therefore, not only has his name been removed from the Hokage candidate list, but the Root will now operate under the watchful eye of Anbu and Jonin Commander Shikaku Nara. Danzo can continue to lead the Root Foundation, but his Konoha elder status has been revoked. Only Koharu and Hamura will remain as Konoha elders, acting as advisors to me or the next Hokage."

Danzo grinded his teeth as his power was reduced even more in the leaf village. He cursed Fugaku for this matter in his heart.

Danzo was about to leave the meeting room in anger, but suddenly Hiruzen stopped him and said, "You should return the kids to the orphanage. The people of Konoha are complaining about your rash actions. And you should also know that some bad rumors about you have come back with full force."

The rumor of Danzo being a pedophile went full swing again. This time it was out of control. Even Menma would never know that he became a bane in the life of Danzo. And this rumor he started as a 2 or 3-year-old kid.

Now everyone in Konoha thinks that Danzo is a pedophile. Even small children and newlyweds have heard it from their grandmother or other older married couples.

Meanwhile, the originator of this whole incident is meditating in some cave. And thinking of a way to increase his power.