Promoting the Konoha threat theory, and talking about the Hidden Mist Belt!

“That settles it!” Hozuki Shingetsu nodded, smiling meaningfully. “How can there be real numbers in something fake? If you want to find fault, you can always find a reason!”

Chapter 10 Danzo, the King of the Black Pot

So, after Hozuki Shingetsu had a few novelists polish the article and "verified" a few touching short stories, the entire article finally spread throughout the ninja world at lightning speed.

Before the Land of Water closed its borders, as the island closest to the mainland, it was the economic and trade center of the entire eastern ninja world, with merchants and cargo ships coming and going all day long. Although trade has plummeted due to the current policy of isolation, those relationships still exist in the short term, and through these merchants, this public opinion is slowly spreading to the world.

At this juncture, it's crucial to understand that in this era, those who control public opinion are not commoners, but nobles. This is because only nobles and ninjas are literate, and ninjas, being largely detached from daily life, generally wouldn't consider manipulating public opinion. Therefore, controlling the nobility is usually sufficient to control public opinion in this world.

For these nobles who have always enjoyed indulging in melodramatic musings and romantic notions, this sudden bombshell news, delivered right to their doorsteps, undoubtedly added a splash of color to their otherwise barren lives. Moreover, it involved the Hidden Leaf Village and the Land of Fire, the strongest ninja duo in the world at the time; their gossip-loving nature ignited a torrent of criticism.

In particular, the core of this article can be summed up in just two words: "peace".

Since the dawn of history, war and turmoil have never ceased in the ninja world. Especially after Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha joined forces to establish the "one country, one village" system, it not only failed to bring peace, but the First Shinobi World War after their deaths actually escalated the conflict. Because of this, a considerable number of people are dissatisfied with Hashirama Senju.

Even though it's obvious to anyone with eyes that someone is targeting Konoha... who cares?

In this situation, with someone sounding the charge, the idle nobles naturally didn't hesitate to offer their support.

After all, no one has ever been punished for advocating peace since ancient times. Of course, the most important thing is that you can easily gain prestige just by talking, so why not?

And... damn, this kind of high-class, politically correct stuff is just too much to the taste of these aristocratic gentlemen.

Think about it: while you're still showing off how many beautiful maids you have, what level of clothes you wear, and what kind of food you eat, all other people are talking about is peace and the overall situation of the ninja world.

what is this?

Do you understand what it means to "talk and laugh with learned scholars, and have no uncultured people among your acquaintances"?

They flaunt their material possessions every day, showing no aristocratic refinement whatsoever. They can't even pretend to be sophisticated properly, they're a disgrace to us nobles!

Expel you from the citizenship immediately!

In the end, this trend even evolved into a situation where if you didn't criticize Konoha, you would immediately be labeled a "war maniac" or the "mastermind behind the turmoil in the ninja world." Eventually, these nobles began to spontaneously publish "editorials" based on materials fabricated by Hozuki Shingetsu.

As for Konoha's attitude...

In the eyes of the noble lords, ninjas were no different from commoners; they were both considered lowly people. The only difference was that one type of lowly people provided them with food, while the other fought for them. Other than that, there was no difference.

Some brave souls even rushed to the front of the Fire Country Daimyo's castle tower, trying to confirm whether the Daimyo was being controlled by the Hokage...

Well, all I can say is that even in the mighty Land of Fire, there are still loyal ministers!

If even the nobles of the Land of Fire are like this, then the nobles of other countries are even more so.

Therefore, they completely disregarded the reputation of Konoha and the Hokage, and began passionately expounding on the Konoha threat theory.

As the saying goes, "King Chu loved slender waists, and many starved to death in the palace." Following the example set by the nobles, the common people under their command also learned about this and began to discuss it.

Although they didn't know who the Hokage or Danzo were, or even which direction Konoha was in, it didn't stop them from making comments about it.

Moreover, it's a human flaw that we naturally enjoy seeing those who are doing better than us suffer.

From the common people's perspective, now that the Hokage and Danzo have fallen on hard times, they probably won't be able to use the golden hoe to farm anymore, right? That would be wonderful.

Furthermore, in order to ensure comprehensive and multi-faceted coverage of the ninja world in a short period of time, Hozuki Shingetsu specially arranged some dramas and anecdotes for troupes, storytellers, and poets to sing, so that even those who were illiterate could understand what they were talking about.

The key feature is the combination of highbrow and popular appeal, with comprehensive and thorough publicity.

Under Hozuki Shingetsu's propaganda, these commoners also recalled the hard times they had during the First Shinobi World War more than a decade ago. Thinking about the present, they unintentionally associated their own suffering under the oppression of nobles with Konoha Village.

Although the effects are not obvious now, there is still time, and the effects will eventually come with the accumulation of time.

As a despicable tactic never before seen in the ninja world, Konoha, lacking experience, naturally wouldn't take any precautions. Konoha's spies planted throughout the region were primarily focused on military and ninja intelligence from various villages; who would bother with trivial matters concerning nobles and commoners?

Besides, even if they wanted to glean intelligence about enemy forces' resource allocation from mundane daily information, their spies would only gather information about the daily lives of civilians in the various ninja villages. And as enemies... isn't it normal for them to hurl insults at each other?

Although the intensity and frequency are somewhat abnormal... when it comes to Lord Danzo, it's actually quite normal when you think about it carefully.

After all, no matter how outrageous something is, it suddenly seems reasonable once it's related to Lord Danzo.

"Lord Danzo must have carried out some plan again, which is why he's so hated!"

After the spies learned of the villagers' insults towards the Konoha leadership, they naturally thought of this.

"Truly worthy of being called Konoha's 'Darkest Ninja'! His move is so sharp right from the start. To be cursed by so many people, Lord Danzo must have caused serious damage to these ninja villages, right?"

Logically, such news would certainly not be reported to the village. After all, no intelligence officer would be so foolish as to include a rapper in the intelligence report, showing the enemy extending warm greetings to their leader's family.

So, a month later, when the envoy of the Fire Country Daimyo arrived in Konoha, he angrily told him about this in the Hokage Building and conveyed the Fire Country Daimyo's instructions.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's first thought wasn't that this was a conspiracy by another country, but rather... "Is that brat Danzo up to something behind my back again?"

Chapter 11 Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Progenitor of the Wood Clan

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha, served for over a decade. While he may not have been a model of diligence and dedication, he was certainly hardworking and conscientious.

When the Second Hokage died in the Hidden Cloud Village during the First Shinobi World War, he was appointed as the Third Hokage amidst the defeat of the enemy. His first act upon taking office was to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Hidden Cloud Village, and then he traveled to various battlefields, leading the heroes of Konoha to defeat the invading enemy.

In peacetime, he single-handedly carried forward the political system left by the Second Hokage, developing a village on the verge of collapse into the de facto number one ninja in the world today. He can be considered the restorer of Konoha Village.

Furthermore, he was the first Hokage of Konoha who was not from the Senju clan. If we follow the custom of his previous life, after his death, according to the rule of "ancestors with merits and lineages with virtues", the temple name "Konoha Ancestor" would be very appropriate.

After all, aside from his lecherous nature and his future blunders regarding Orochimaru, Naruto, and the Uchiha clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi truly deserves to be called a devoted servant of Konoha, even unto death.

During the Nine-Tails' attack, his wife died; during the turmoil, his son and daughter-in-law died; he became enemies with his only youngest son; and even his final death was on the road to protecting Konoha.

From Konoha's perspective, Hiruzen Sarutobi is undoubtedly a competent Hokage.

However, this usually good-natured Hokage is now in a rare state of bewilderment.

He woke up in the morning, eating hot pot and singing songs. Before he could even sit down and relax with his crystal ball, he suddenly discovered that he had become the public enemy of the ninja world!

Moreover, this information didn't even come from their own hands; they learned it from the daimyo's envoy!

Hiruzen Sarutobi's first thought was, "Oh no, has that old bastard Danzo gotten himself into trouble again?"

My second thought was, how am I supposed to clean up this guy's mess?

After all, as the Hokage's assistant, Danzo, the "Darkness of the Ninja" of Konoha, did a pretty good job.

At this time, Danzo was still young and vigorous, and his covetousness for the Hokage position was not so serious. His disagreements with Hiruzen Sarutobi were not very serious either. Apart from frequently suppressing the Uchiha, intercepting funds to build his own small team, and occasionally contradicting Hiruzen Sarutobi, he did not have any major problems.

On the contrary, as the leader of Root, he truly made ninjas from other villages tremble with fear.

The current Danzo is far from the madman who later implanted a dozen pairs of eyes in his arm and fused with Wood Release cells. In fact, coupled with his handsome face, he enjoys surprisingly good popularity among the common people, and there has been a constant chorus of calls for him to be the next Hokage.

Therefore, during this period, Hiruzen Sarutobi's first reaction was how to protect his old buddy.

Danzo Shimura, who had been summoned over, was also completely bewildered.

Holy crap, what did I do?

After the two stared at each other for a while and carefully learned the details of what had happened, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally confirmed that Danzo was indeed not behind it.

"How rare! In this ninja world, besides you, there is actually someone else who can use such a vicious technique..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but marvel at this, looking as if his eyes had been opened.

Having never experienced the impact of public opinion before, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't react much to this. To him, the matter seemed serious, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that the information was fabricated.

Especially things like Konoha's military budget of 50 billion yen, its standing ninja force of 50,000, and its Jonin force of 5,000, etc. If Konoha had that kind of strength, it wouldn't need anyone to tell it; it would have immediately sent troops to wipe out Kumogakure.

Do you really think he doesn't hold grudges?

Not to mention that he secretly hypnotized the daimyo of the Land of Fire and manipulated the political situation of the Land of Fire. It's just too ridiculous. What could he possibly gain after doing that?

And then there's that last title, "Fire Emperor"... Ugh, what's with this inexplicable flutter in my heart?

Suppressing his turbulent emotions for the time being, Hiruzen Sarutobi, after making some adjustments, completely disregarded the thing and even had time to tease his old buddy.

Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, who had been underground for a long time, had a furrowed brow and smelled a conspiracy emanating from his body.

That's the taste of our kind.

Although he had not yet manipulated public opinion to kill Sakumo Hatake at this time, his innate schemer instincts made him sense the danger behind these remarks.

"Hiruzen, that's a joke, that's true, but things have developed to the point where this statement has caused a huge uproar in the ninja world. If other ninja villages respond, especially if the other four great ninja villages use this as an excuse to unite and put pressure on us, it will indeed be a big problem for us."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was taken aback; he hadn't considered that possibility. Then he realized that Danzo's words weren't entirely unfounded.

Not to mention the Hidden Cloud Village, which has been eyeing Konoha's backside and is always looking to poke at it, even Onoki from the Hidden Stone Village, that restless fellow, probably wouldn't easily let go of this perfect opportunity.

The monks of Sunagakure are alright; they're not the type to cause trouble. As for Kirigakure, they just announced their isolation, so we can ignore them for now...

"Furthermore, according to my intelligence, this rumor originated in the Land of Water, so the mastermind behind it is very likely Kirigakure!"

As expected of Konoha's intelligence chief, Danzo found the source of the rumors in such a short time.

Speaking of Kirigakure, Danzo subconsciously recalled a piece of intelligence.

"A month ago, that genius from Kirigakure became the Foreign Affairs Officer, and a month later Kirigakure made a big move. If it were someone else's idea, it would probably have been implemented long ago. Judging from this timeline, this rumor should have been personally orchestrated by that 'Timely Rain' from Kirigakure."

"At twelve years old, he defeated a ninja squad led by a Jonin from the Hyuga branch family in a head-on battle, and he still has this kind of intelligence. Hozuki Shingetsu is truly a force to be reckoned with!"

Recalling the information about the young patriarch of the Hozuki clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but sigh.

Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was lamenting Hozuki Shingetsu's strength, Danzo Shimura was amazed that Hozuki Shingetsu could come up with such a ruthless scheme at such a young age.

Just like him when he was young.

This insidious scheme, this swift execution, this ruthlessness that disregards the consequences of the plan—could there really be someone in this world so similar to him?

"So, how should we respond?"