From undercover in Konoha, to I am the Hokage!

Chapter 43 The Elephant in the Room
"Secondly, the Inuzuka clan leader, who is the source of the breakthrough, will 'confess' many 'evidences' that are only in the hands of the Root and others under the pretext of confidentiality of the archives without even knowing it."

"At the same time, the ninja leaders who feel threatened will take action."

"However, when the situation is unclear, they will never intervene on either side first. Instead, they will express their dissatisfaction with the 'Inuzuka Case' to the Sandaime-sama through channels such as the Jonin Conference and the High-level Meeting."

"Then the Sandaime will throw the conflict back onto you, Lady Tsunade."

Recalling what the young man said a few days ago, Tsunade clasped her hands together, sat in one of the first seats at the long table, and looked indifferently and silently at the ninja clan leaders who were arguing in the conference room.

“If you haven’t done something before, you haven’t done it before!”

"How can you put the head of a clan in jail without any investigation?"

"If rumors spread in the village again next time, will the Uchiha clan leader and the Hyuga clan leader also be arrested by you, the Third-Kami, with just one word?"

"That's right! This incident is really too much!"

All the clan leaders of the Ninja clan were shouting and cursing in indignation at this moment.

Tsunade watched the scene with cold eyes.

Although everyone present knew that what was happening was nothing more than a conflict transfer initiated by the advisory elders.

But they seemed to be unaware of anything and all shouted at her beloved teacher Sarutobi Hiruzen to take responsibility and clear Inuzuka Motoyasu's name to the village.

No one tried to direct blame at any specific name.

There is no other reason.

The only difference is that the current Hokage advisory group is extremely powerful.

If we must make a comparison, the Advisory Elders Council is called elders, but in reality it is the cabinet.

Even if Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to make some decisions, he had to vote on them within this small cabinet.

Although the Konoha's ninja clan is a powerful family, they can only be considered a local force. They are scattered and chaotic, and cannot form a joint force except on issues such as bloodline and secret techniques.

Even the strongest Uchiha clan among them are just slightly larger prey in front of the Hokage clan, and pose no threat at all.

The only one who can confront him head-on is Tsunade, who holds the title of "righteousness".

Because of this, although the behavior of these ninja clan leaders at this time seems aggressive, in fact they dare not stick to the pot at all.

Even these current complaints, aren't they a manifestation of her neutral position between her and the advisory elders, returning the most important "power of decision" to the hands of the third generation?
By then, wouldn't it be possible for Sarutobi-sensei to just say "public opinion is overwhelming" to easily and with sufficient reason force her to cancel the proposal?
"Don't look at what they say, look at what they do."

Tsunade lowered her head, looked at the vertical tea stem floating in the teacup on the table and the melancholy expression reflected on the water, and suddenly she felt like laughing.

It's really boring to stay in such a damn place.

If, that little devil wasn't there.

Just as the noise was in full swing and everyone was asking the Sandaime to give an explanation.

Shimura Danzo's one eye suddenly swept towards Tsunade who was standing across the long table, and he spoke in a cold voice:

"Tsunade-kun, as the originator of the Special Wartime Investigation Regulations."

"Now, don't you have anything to say?"

It was clearly him who ordered the arrests, it was him who released the regulations to distort public opinion in advance, and it was him who took a ninja clan leader into the interrogation room without any reason.

But at this moment, Danzo Shimura seemed to be just a professional "Hokage consultant". He couldn't stand Tsunade's "irresponsible" behavior and expressed his opinions with confidence.

Almost at the moment he opened his mouth, the noise that had just filled the entire conference room suddenly disappeared.

Everyone was quietly looking at the two people sitting opposite each other at the long table.

"Opinions? What opinions?"

Tsunade sneered, "Are you talking about my proposal to launch an economic inquiry into the 'Advisory Group'?"

She deliberately put emphasis on those three words.

However, everyone present seemed to be deaf for a second at the same time and heard nothing.

Tsunade ignored them and turned to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen who was sitting in the center.

"Sandaime-sama, the investigation of corruption cases concerns the entire village."

"If no one dares to set an example, who can dig deep into those unclean things?"

The corner of Shimura Danzo's eye twitched slightly.

After all, he was the dirtiest one among all the people present.

But
Tsunade, this stupid woman, still doesn't understand Hiruzen well enough.

"I think that in the face of war, all matters in the rear should be put on hold." Sarutobi Hiruzen met the gaze of his disciple without any hesitation in his voice, his expression heavy.

"Tsunade, there's a lot of pressure ahead."

"." His chest rose and fell, and he took a deep breath.

Tsunade herself didn't know how much willpower she had to suppress the anger and disappointment that came from the bottom of her heart.

"Yeah."

She stood up under everyone's gaze and looked deeply at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Before leaving, Tsunade's voice suddenly turned cold and she said calmly:
"Sandaime-sama, you will regret this."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was stunned when he heard this. He felt as if he had heard this familiar line somewhere before, and felt an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.

Shimura Danzo couldn't help but smile.

Bah, loser.

"boom."

The door is closed.

Tsunade strode out of the office, still thinking about what Sawara Kiri had said at that time.

"If Lady Tsunade continues to act like she did before, then Shimura Danzo and the Sandaime-sama will take turns using the same trick they used last time to stabilize the war on the front lines."

"Until the ninja clan could no longer bear it, and under the constant pressure, they gradually sided with the advisory elders, expressed their attitude at the Jonin Conference, put pressure on you, and finally abolished your proposal in a fair and open manner with an absolute advantage in the voting process."

“This is the simplest and most effective method.”

"But now, because of my appearance, the situation has become different."

Until now, Tsunade still remembers the cunning and intelligent smile on Sahara Kiri's face when he said this, like a little fox.

"You know, the elephant in the room?"

"In this already narrow room, there is clearly a problem that is too huge to ignore, but for various reasons, everyone has formed an abnormal tacit understanding and chooses to deliberately avoid and turn a blind eye to this phenomenon."

At that time, Sawara Kiri's voice was like the whisper of the devil.

"If you are still the high and mighty Princess Tsunade of Konoha, then you can continue to follow this 'tacit understanding'."

"But if you want to break the current stalemate and rush out of this room, then this 'elephant' curled up in the room, quietly and aggrieved, will become the most powerful helper in your hands."

As if sensing the thoughts coming from afar, Sawara Kiri subconsciously turned his head towards the Hokage Building.

However, before he could come to his senses, he heard the aunt from the orphanage next to him greet him enthusiastically: "Sawara-kun, the last show has ended, it's your turn."

He then turned around, thanked the aunt gently and politely, and then strode towards the stage.

On this crudely built stage, there was a chorus of orphans, a manzai duet invited from the theater, an acrobatic troupe invited from outside, and a dance performance by several little girls who were rehearsing on the spot.

However, the applause from the audience was always sparse, and it seemed that no one was interested.

Sawara Kiri stood on the stage and looked at the audience below.

Most of them were missing an arm or two legs and could only move around using wheelchairs or crutches. Some of them were wrapped in bandages because their faces were disfigured in the war.

Apparently, they were all ninjas disabled by the war.

Because Konoha's many disabled foster homes and orphanages were notified three days in advance, today this open space located at the foot of the Hokage Rock, at the edge of the village, has gathered nearly half of Konoha's injured and orphans, as many as several thousand people. With such a large number of people gathered, if it weren't for Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo's guarantee, I'm afraid it wouldn't even be able to open.

However, even when they arrived, these people still looked cold and moved with difficulty.

They were suffering incomparable pain both physically and mentally. There was a huge difference between their strong physiques when they were ninjas and their current miserable predicament.

The tight funding and limited manpower in Konoha Village meant that most of them had to go hungry even after giving everything for the village.

Some of them even parted ways with their own properties and relatives for various reasons - in those already difficult times, few people were willing to take on a heavy family burden for nothing, this was a human choice.

Under this heavy pain, it seemed that nothing could arouse the interest of these once most passionate people.

Sawara Kiri took it all in silently.

Slowly, with just the right amount of solemnity on his face, he walked solemnly onto the stage.

When his performance began, Tsunade, who came out of the Hokage Building, just arrived at the edge of the venue.

From a distance, I could already hear Sawara Kiri's solemn, steady, yet emotional voice, echoing from afar:
"Forty years ago, a great Konoha ninja signed the Konoha Founding Agreement. Today we are gathering under his witness at the Hokage Rock."

"That great ninja once said that he hoped that after the establishment of Konoha, there would not be so many sacrifices and so many children would not die."

"This solemn declaration was like the light of a beacon, bringing hope to the millions of people of the Warring States period who were suffering in the fire of injustice that destroyed their lives. Its arrival was like the dawn of joy, ending the long night of fighting in the Warring States period and bringing more than a decade of peace to Konoha Village."

"But today, forty years later, we must face the tragic fact that the people and children of Konoha are still fighting the enemy on the battlefield."

　Happy Mid-autumn Festival!
　　Today is a holiday, so we stayed up a little late after dinner and drinking. The next chapter will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)