The Second Choice

"Killing the Hokage?"

Shintaro wore a slightly surprised expression on his face.

Danzo sneered and said, "That's right."

"The Third Hokage is the backbone of Konoha." Shintaro said honestly, as if he were a loyal supporter of the Third Hokage.

Danzo replied with disdain: "Sarutobi has sat in the Hokage's position for too long. It's time for him to step down and make way for someone more deserving."

"The Fourth Hokage's death was his chance to retire, but he clung to power and continued to hold the Hokage's authority."

"Do you think he's a good person? If he were as great as he claimed, during the Kyuubi Rebellion, he should have been the first to charge forward and die with the Kyuubi, instead of waiting for other ninjas to attack and for the Fourth Hokage to come and save the day."

"I remember Yuhi Shinku's original wound was severe enough to be fatal. If you hadn't arrived in time, he would have died. I know he was very important to you, and you are engaged to his daughter."

"If Sarutobi wasn't a coward, how could Shinku have faced such a disaster? Moreover, your current situation as an Uchiha is also due to Sarutobi."

"Don't think I'm the bad guy. In fact, the treatment of the Uchiha Clan was entirely Sarutobi's decision. I was merely pushed to be the bad guy."

"It would be great if he gave you a cleared area as a training ground. It seems like a gift from him to you, the Uchiha Clan."

"The same goes for this time. It was clearly Kumogakure that provoked us first, but Sarutobi remained silent and tried to resolve the border conflict peacefully. It's incredibly foolish."

"That's all I wanted to say. Whether you agree or not won't affect my decision."

Danzo said this and looked calmly at Shintaro, waiting for his answer.

He spoke at length, but Shintaro only heard nonsense.

He did not consider Hiruzen to be the perfect Hokage. There was no filter, and no reaction that Danzo had hoped for.

However, Shintaro no longer pretended to be a fan of the Third Hokage. After all, what Danzo said made sense.

Ultimately, it was a matter of perspective.

Hiruzen was naturally not a perfect Hokage. His strength was not as good as the First Hokage, and his strategic courage was not as good as the Second Hokage.

But one thing Shintaro was sure of was that he would be a better Hokage than Danzo.

It was true that Hiruzen's performance during the Kyuubi Rebellion was not outstanding. As the Third Hokage, he was powerless to repel the Kyuubi. He also caused many casualties by ordering ninjas to fight the Kyuubi.

But Danzo stood still during the Kyuubi Rebellion.

Hiruzen was not good enough, lacked capability, and Danzo was unqualified to be Hokage.

However, Shintaro did not stand up and point this out, as there was no need to completely break with Danzo now.

"Danzo-sama, I won't participate."

Shintaro had no intention of getting involved in this matter.

Firstly, he believed that the success rate of Danzo killing the Third Hokage was not high, and even if he succeeded, he did not want to join Danzo, which would ruin his reputation.

Secondly, he did not want to use violence against Hiruzen.

It wasn't that Shintaro couldn't kill Hiruzen, but direct assassination was the lowest form of political struggle.

This wasn't a simple and crude assassination, but a real replacement.

As for Danzo, let him play his own game.

After Shintaro said that, he turned and left.

As he walked out, he noticed the layer of ambushes laid out in the root organization's headquarters.

Ninjas from the Root Organization were scattered up and down in this underground base.

Perhaps if he showed his loyalty to the Hokage now, he would definitely have fought with the Root Organization.

Shintaro paid special attention to the boy with the codename Tenzo.

'Experimental subject for Mokuton? Looks like I need to go to Orochimaru's place.'

He walked out of the Root Organization headquarters grandly under the watchful eyes of the Root Organization members.

"Hmph, there's no way to fool yourself!"

Danzo was very dissatisfied with Shintaro's attitude.

Although Shintaro said he would not interfere in this matter, the attitude was still unsatisfactory.

Danzo was a selfish person, and he wanted everyone to obey him.

"Uchiha Shintaro, Uchiha Clan, since you have no use, then you are just a threat."

"For threats, the village will spare no effort to deal with them."

Danzo had sentenced the Uchiha Clan to death in his heart.

"But the Uchiha Sharingan is a good thing. I can get more in the future."

He leaned back in his chair and touched his bandaged right eye with his hand. This eye was none other than Sharingan, the eye of his late teammate, Uchiha Kagami.

Uchiha Kagami had once been a member of the Second Hokage's guard team along with Danzo.

Later, Uchiha Kagami died on a mission, and when Danzo saw Kagami dying in front of him, what he wanted was not to avenge his teammate, but to covet Kagami's eye, so he privately hid the eye and transplanted it into his own.

This eye was the Three Tomoe Sharingan that Danzo used as his trump card.

But now, he was again interested in Shintaro's blue eyes.

"There seems to be something unusual about Uchiha Shintaro's eyes, and they seem worth taking. But that must wait until I become Hokage before I can make plans..."

Danzo closed his eyes and envisioned the position of Hokage.

His character had its flaws, and now his desire for power had changed his thinking.

A few minutes later, he woke from his daydream.

"Since the Uchiha child can't be relied upon, I can only choose to use the second candidate."

"Hatake Kakashi."

❀❀❀

As the sun set, Kakashi came to the Konoha cemetery as usual.

He had just returned to the village after completing an ANBU mission. He was still wearing the gray ANBU vest, displaying the ANBU symbol tattoo on his left arm.

It was clear he had come to the graveyard directly without even changing clothes.

Because his two friends, Obito and Rin, were buried there.

"Obito, Rin, I'm back in the village."

"This mission was somewhat delayed because the enemy's strength was a bit complicated."

"Fortunately, I defeated the enemy with [Raikiri]. I think if I had such power at that time, maybe you wouldn't..."

"Sorry, Obito, I didn't protect Rin well. But don't worry, I will definitely find Rin's killer and avenge her."

Kakashi placed the bouquet in front of Obito's grave and, after a moment of silence, stood up and prepared to leave.

"Hatake Kakashi, do you want revenge?"

A voice came from behind him, but Kakashi hadn't noticed it earlier, indicating that the person's strength was unusual. He turned around suddenly and saw that the person was actually Danzo, the assistant Hokage and leader of the Root Organization.

"Danzo-sama."

"Let me ask, do you want revenge?"

Danzo did not acknowledge Kakashi's respectful tone, as an assistant Hokage beneath one person and above ten thousand, he should have had enough of such flattery.

What he wanted now was to go a step further and surpass that person.

Kakashi choked for a moment, then gathered his emotions and said: "I want to avenge my friends, but Obito died on the battlefield against Iwagakure. The killer should be me, and I also know that this was just a fight between opposing ninjas, even if I killed the enemy, it wouldn't really solve anything."

"And I still don't know the identity and motive of Rin's killer, so there's no way to avenge her."

Danzo said: "I can tell you who your enemy is."

"Who?!" Kakashi suddenly became excited, thinking that Danzo was about to reveal Rin's killer.

Danzo's answer stunned Kakashi.

"It's Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage."

"That's impossible! How could the Hokage-sama kill Rin?" Kakashi rejected this answer.

Danzo smiled and said, "You misunderstand, I don't mean Sarutobi personally killed Nohara Rin."

"But you must know that both Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin died in Konoha's foreign wars, and the person who planned the wars and sent you teenagers to the battlefield was the Third Hokage."

"Even so..." Kakashi still wanted to defend Hiruzen, but Danzo interrupted his words and continued speaking on his own.

"Besides your two friends, the person you cared most about was your teacher, Minato Namikaze, and his wife."

"During the Kyuubi Rebellion, Minato didn't have to die, but Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't step up to fight the Kyuubi, forcing Minato to sacrifice himself to seal the Kyuubi."

"It can be said that Hiruzen is the indirect killer of your mentor. Furthermore, he planned the war and sent young ninjas to the battlefield, which resulted in the death of your two friends."

"It's not an exaggeration for me to call him your enemy, right?"

Danzo looked at Kakashi, who remained silent and unresponsive.

He continued: "What I want to do is change everything and help you face this enemy of yours."

"And you just need to help me a little."

"What kind of help?" Kakashi raised his head and asked, following Danzo's words.

The corners of Danzo's mouth curved, sensing something intriguing, "As long as you use your position to bring me the latest travel information about the Third Hokage..."

He had two candidates to use for killing the Hokage.

One of them was Shintaro. His front-line combat power could be said to be the best in Konoha at the moment, so he was capable of killing the Third Hokage.

But since Shintaro didn't want to wade through these muddy waters, Danzo considered the second option.

Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi and Shintaro were once noted as the two geniuses of Konoha. Although Kakashi's power had now been surpassed by Shintaro, one of Kakashi's advantages was his identity.

Kakashi was an ANBU ninja directly under the Hokage of Konoha, and he was also the son of the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo, and the student of the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato.

This identity could gain the Hokage's trust more than Shintaro.

Hiruzen would never imagine that Kakashi would choose to betray him and side with Danzo.

As for Kakashi's lack of strength, it didn't matter at all.

Of course, Danzo had well-trained ninjas within his organization to choose from, like Tenzo, whom he had carefully developed.

Tenzo was the only surviving infant who participated in the Hashirama cell transplantation experiment. Danzo found and hid him, and he had now been trained to be very strong.

Moreover, the wood-style ninjutsu Mokuton he mastered would definitely surprise Hiruzen and reveal his shortcomings.

After all, Wood-Style Ninjutsu had been associated with the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi.

All of this made Danzo feel confident that he could successfully kill Hiruzen.

"Well? What is your decision?"

Danzo stared into Kakashi's eyes.

Kakashi lowered his head and could not see clearly.

"Just... information?" Kakashi hesitated with his words.

Danzo immediately felt that the matter was settled and the advantage was in his hands.

"That's right."

"I'll try." This was Kakashi's answer.

"Very good, those who know the current situation are heroes. You made the right choice. When the big matter succeeds, I can make you the captain of ANBU." Danzo boasted, having learned how to draw pancakes before he became Hokage.

Kakashi did not respond, and Danzo felt the matter was settled and left.

Kakashi stood in place for a long time before taking any action.

Back home, Kakashi was struggling.

Although he promised Danzo, it was just a formal compromise.

However, Danzo's words did affect Kakashi's thoughts.

While Kakashi was hesitating, he thought of someone.

"Maybe I should ask Shintaro first..."

He walked towards his door but stopped, his palm hanging over the doorknob for a moment before he retreated and walked back to his room.

"I can't go there openly; I'm afraid Danzo's men are already watching me now."

Kakashi's guess was correct.

Danzo had arranged for Root Organization ninjas to follow Kakashi to his house for surveillance.

As soon as Kakashi made any changes, they would immediately report to Danzo.

Kakashi waited until late at night.

Under the moonlight, he used the [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] to create a clone and let the clone stay at home to pretend while he quietly climbed out the window and left.

Kakashi's operation successfully deceived the Root Organization ninjas' surveillance and came to Shintaro's door quietly.

Kakashi was at the door, hesitating to arrange his words when the door opened on its own.

"Please come in."

Shintaro let Kakashi into the house without asking anything.

Kakashi was already used to Shintaro's sharpness. He was about to explain his purpose, but Shintaro beat him to it.

"I guess Danzo also came to you."

"What?! How did you know?" Kakashi was very surprised, "Wait, you said... also?"

Shintaro nodded calmly and said: "Danzo approached me and asked me to help him kill the Hokage."

"What did he say to you?"

Kakashi replied: "Danzo told me that the Third Hokage is my enemy. He planned the war that killed Obito and Rin and indirectly killed Minato-sensei during the Kyuubi Rebellion."

"What do you think?" Shintaro asked.

"I think... what Danzo said is not impossible, but I can't accept it, so I came to ask you."

Kakashi revealed his dilemma.

Shintaro nodded and looked at Kakashi, "You made the right choice, otherwise, I'm afraid you would have been deceived by Danzo into becoming his tool."