Hyuga Kazushi glanced at Tanzo Shimura, who was shouting and making a fuss. His eyes flickered, and he bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Hokage-sama, it's true that Hyuga Satsu's injuries were caused by Wood Release. You should know best."
Hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned solemn. He grabbed Hyuga Satsu's arm.
The God of the Shinobi World, Hashirama Senju, has been gone for a long time. There were only a few people still alive who had seen Wood Release, and he was one of them.
He observed carefully for a moment, and his expression instantly became embarrassed. Although the intensity was far less than that of Hashirama Senju's, it was indeed the mark of Wood Release.
"Hokage-sama, apart from Lord Hashirama Senju, only those who participated in the experiment back then might possess the cells."
As the head of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Kazushi also knew this secret.
His words dealt a heavy blow to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
In Konoha today, there were only a handful of people who could obtain Hashirama Senju's cells.
Coincidentally, Tanzo Shimura was one of them.
Moreover, a few months ago, when that mysterious Wood Release powerhouse appeared, Tanzo Shimura had even revealed that he was conducting research.
Although he said he had stopped the experiment, who knew what the truth was?
Since Root had grown in strength, Hiruzen Sarutobi himself had lost control over some things.
However, he thought he could keep Tanzo in check, so he let him do as he pleased.
But now it seemed that Tanzo still hadn't given up.
No, that wasn't right. Since Tanzo had abducted forty members of the Hyuga clan, perhaps the mysterious Wood Release powerhouse was actually his subordinate.
They had joined forces and kidnapped the branch family ninjas all at once.
Even better, after that, the main family of the Hyuga clan suddenly announced the lifting of the Cage Bird jutsu.
It meant that Tanzo Shimura had obtained forty pairs of Byakugan that could be used at any time.
The more Hiruzen Sarutobi thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
He had always said that when the Senju clan joined Konoha in the past, he had all the lists.
It was impossible for a powerhouse with Wood Release to suddenly emerge out of nowhere.
The most likely scenario was that Tanzo Shimura's Wood Release experiment had succeeded.
He looked at Hyuga Kazushi in front of him.
As the Hyuga clan had joined Konoha since the village was founded, they were a powerful clan and didn't need to bow to him, the Hokage.
Moreover, doing so clearly showed that he had a deep - seated hatred for Tanzo and wanted him dead.
But he really didn't know what kind of feud existed between the two, unless it was that Tanzo Shimura had used the forty branch - family ninjas to stir up public opinion and force him to abandon the Cage Bird jutsu.
At the same time, there was another suspicious point.
The bodies of the branch - family members they had seen back then were fake. But both Hyuga Kazushi and Tanzo Shimura were elite Jonin, they hadn't noticed?
"Hokage-sama," Hyuga Satsu stepped forward and bowed. "Please send Anbu members with me to Konoha's maximum - security prison. It'll be clear whether my clan leader is lying."
"Alright."
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath. Things had reached this point, and he couldn't resolve them privately anymore. The gazes of the nearly ten thousand people in front of him made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Seimei, you lead the team and go with him."
"Yes." A kunoichi wearing a frog mask appeared.
"Tanzo, do you have anything else to explain?"
After seeing the two leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Tanzo Shimura, who had regained his composure.
"I didn't do all these things."
Tanzo Shimura clenched his fists. He had sent people to destroy the evidence. Logically, nothing should have been detected.
But Kazushi Hyuga clearly came prepared.
Was he trying to frame him?
It should be impossible.
He still had full trust in Tatsuma Aburame's abilities.
The ubiquitous bugs were enough to make any evidence vanish.
For over ten minutes, no one left.
Cold sweat gradually broke out on Tanzo Shimura's forehead.
The anxiety in his heart, combined with the numerous scrutinizing gazes, made him have the illusion that he was on the execution ground.
Just then, waves of Chakra fluctuations emerged out of thin air.
Forty Hyuga clan Ninjas appeared.
Moreover, each of them was holding a baby.
Tanzo Shimura felt a chill in his heart.
These were the babies he had captured from various places at Orochimaru's request.
Orochimaru!!
At this moment, he finally understood that Orochimaru was involved in this matter.
So, when he agreed to his offer a few days ago, was he actually setting a trap?
He even thought Orochimaru was attracted by the generous conditions.
Right, Satsu Hyuga's arm was exactly the symptom of rejection from his experiment, just more mild.
But besides Orochimaru, who else could adjust the concentration of Hashirama Senju's cells?
However, he suddenly realized a very serious problem. No one would believe his words.
Not even Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Just because he had done too many evil deeds on a daily basis. Now, bringing up Orochimaru's name seemed more like a last - ditch struggle before death.
After all, Orochimaru was a hero in the Second Great Ninja War.
"What's going on with these babies?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had anticipated the forty Hyuga clan Ninjas. Although shocked, he could still accept it. But the sudden appearance of the babies, did it mean...
He suddenly thought of a possibility and felt dizzy.
Before Satsu Hyuga could answer, a heart - wrenching scream came from the onlookers.
"Aoao! This is my child who went missing last night!"
A woman in her thirties rushed towards one of the babies, picked her up, and wept for joy.
"Hokage - sama, these are the children that Tanzo collected for human experiments."
Satsu Hyuga bowed and delivered the final blow.
His voice was completely unmasked.
The woman holding the baby summoned the courage of a mother and scolded Tanzo Shimura: "You demon!"
Oh!
After her, the crowd became restless.
All sorts of curses poured out.
Even his ancestors up to the eighteenth generation were cursed.
Tanzo Shimura trembled with anger, his face turning ashen, and there were faint Chakra fluctuations on his body.
However, the next second, an even more terrifying aura erupted from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Before he could react, he was smashed to the ground.
"Ah!"
Tanzo Shimura let out a heart - rending scream.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's ruthless Chakra was like a peak weighing down on him.
His internal bones were fractured.
His face was smashed beyond recognition.
"From today on, suspend all activities of Root and remove Tanzo Shimura from his position as Hokage's assistant!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Tanzo Shimura, his voice icy cold.
"Hiruzen, what are you doing!"
"This is the most I can tolerate."
"..."
Tanzo Shimura fell silent. He understood what Hiruzen Sarutobi meant—don't push him too far. The current handling was already the limit.
Indeed, given what he had done, it wouldn't be an over - reaction to execute him on the spot.
...
Haruki raised an eyebrow. As expected, they were good buddies.
Even in this situation, Hiruzen Sarutobi still couldn't bring himself to kill Tanzo Shimura.
In the original story, after The Fourth Great Ninja War, Root was disbanded, but its remaining forces were still active in the shadows.
In other words, Root might have truly become the Hokage's hidden force, lurking in the darkness.
However, after this incident, Tanzo Shimura and Root had suffered A Fatal Blow and would be hard to regain influence in the future.
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