Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 384 Aokiji Kills Minato Namikaze

When this matter was mentioned, Danzo looked sorrowful and sighed, "It was an accident."

"What accident?"

Jiraiya pressed further, "And how did you know about Aokiji kidnapping the daimyo's son?"

"Strictly speaking, these two things are the same thing."

Jiraiya frowned.

Danzo, after making some edits, told Jiraiya what had happened back then: "I only wanted Aokiji's life, but I never imagined they were so vicious that they even wanted Tsunade's life."

At this point, Danzo shook his head, feigning remorse: "No, perhaps I had already anticipated this. It's just that we had no choice… I thought I was fully prepared, but I never expected this to happen."

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya felt a deep sense of despair. Why did he have to know such a thing? He couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly.

Standing to the side, Danzo narrowed his eyes slightly. It seemed that the plan had been successful, and now it was that guy's turn to take the stage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward, patted his disciple on the shoulder, and comforted him, "It's my fault. If I hadn't been hospitalized at the time..."

Jiraiya shook his head; he knew this wasn't his mentor's fault.

"Although it may seem cold-blooded at this moment, now is not the time to be despondent, Jiraiya..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi vaguely guessed what he was going to say and couldn't stand it any longer: "Stop, Danzo, this is too cruel to Jiraiya."

Danzo interrupted, "Now is not the time to act impulsively; all of this is for the sake of the village."

Emboldened by righteousness, he said to Jiraiya, "If you want to blame someone, blame me. After this matter is settled, I'll let you decide what to do with me."

That's what he said, but he knew Jiraiya's character well and wouldn't do anything to him.

In view of this, the slogans were naturally shouted as loudly as possible.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and exhaled: "What do you want to say?"

Danzo said earnestly, "I hope you can help the village overcome this crisis."

As expected... Hiruzen Sarutobi finally understood the true intention of that letter, and a self-deprecating smile appeared on his lips.

"The matter of Aokiji and Tsunade has been weighing on Hiruzen's mind for years, causing him great self-blame and making him feel extremely haggard. It was for this reason that after the Third Shinobi World War, he found a reason to abdicate in favor of the young Minato. He just never expected that such a thing would happen."

This reason perfectly explains why Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to pay reparations after the three battles, but Jiraiya knew that Danzo wouldn't have brought this up intentionally; there must have been another reason. That's why he brought up this passage.

His guess was quickly confirmed, and Danzo continued, "Jiraiya, I hope you will become the Fifth Hokage."

"Wh-what?"

Jiraiya was shocked.

"I know this is difficult for you, but I hope you can shoulder this responsibility."

"Is this in preparation for dealing with Aokiji?"

Jiraiya knew that Aokiji was a sentimental person, and if he were elected Hokage, Aokiji might have some reservations due to their feelings.

Danzo had anticipated Jiraiya's prediction, but he remained silent about it: "Hiruzen is very old and has been in office for a long time. It's about time the village elected a new Hokage."

By electing a new Hokage, the Uchiha clan can be provoked.

When the time comes, the defeated Uchiha will inevitably find it hard to accept and will experience a great deal of emotional distress.

Then, the village could use the excuse that the Uchiha were dissatisfied with the election results and launched a coup to execute the Uchiha.

Of course, he couldn't say this directly to Jiraiya; he had to embellish it appropriately.

"At the same time, this is also to help Aokiji realize his mistake and return to the right path."

The highest level of persuasion is to consider things from the other person's perspective.

Jiraiya was taken aback: "What do you mean...?"

Danzo said in a deep voice, "Have you ever seriously considered why Aokiji, who is clearly dead, can be resurrected? And in this form at that?"

Jiraiya remained silent, waiting for Danzo's response.

Seeing that Jiraiya was being led by the nose, Danzo couldn't help but feel secretly pleased, then gave a serious response:

"In Konoha, there is a forbidden technique called Impure World Reincarnation. This ninjutsu was invented by the Second Hokage, who is also our teacher. This ninjutsu can summon the dead back to reality to fight. If even such a ninjutsu exists, then it's not surprising that a ninjutsu that can directly revive people exists in the world."

Jiraiya was taken aback; he had indeed heard of the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

Suddenly, he realized, "You mean someone resurrected Aokiji?"

"I'm afraid so," Danzo sighed. "Someone resurrected Aokiji and made him believe that we killed Tsunade, thus achieving a huge conspiracy to cause internal strife between the Uchiha and the village."

Jiraiya: ...

"The Nine-Tails Night incident might have been orchestrated by that person behind the scenes. He used Aokiji's Mangekyou Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails."

If Aokiji were here right now, Kochi would probably say something like, "Danzo, it's such a shame you're not a screenwriter."

Danzo said, "I think you saw Aokiji's special eyes during the meeting just now, didn't you?"

Jiraiya's voice deepened as he thought of those eyes: "The Mangekyou Sharingan..."

"That's right. Although the Sharingan can control tailed beasts, ordinary Sharingan doesn't have the eye power to manipulate the Nine-Tails to this extent."

Jiraiya suddenly realized something and his eyes widened: "You mean, the one who controlled the Nine-Tails and then killed Minato and Kushina was Aokiji?"

At this point, he waved his hand and exclaimed, "That's impossible! Aokiji is definitely not that kind of person!"

"Why not? Aokiji is blinded by revenge right now," Danzo retorted. "Doing this would weaken Konoha's power and strengthen our own."

Danzo analyzed logically and with evidence: "Through this incident, the Uchiha clan will inevitably be implicated, and then Aokiji can take advantage of this emotion to lead the Uchiha to fight against the village."

"And isn't that exactly what Aokiji is doing now? He has already been elected as the new head of the Uchiha clan, and I think he will definitely make even bigger moves next."

Jiraiya really didn't want to believe it, but Danzo's words made so much sense that he had no choice but to believe them.

"Danzo, that's enough, stop talking."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "It would be too painful for Jiraiya to face Aokiji directly. How about this, I plan to nominate Dan Kato for the Hokage position. In terms of seniority and strength, I think everyone will accept it."

Danzo frowned and said, "Hiruzen, this is womanly compassion. As Hokage, you shouldn't do this."

"But I am also a teacher." Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice softened. "Your only task from now on is to support Dan Kato in becoming Hokage, is that alright?"

The phrase "Is that alright?" above refers to both Jiraiya and Danzo.

Danzo snorted coldly.

Damn Hiruzen, don't think I don't know what you're up to.

after all……

Kato Dan's wife's surname is Sarutobi...

However, for the sake of the bigger picture, he had no choice but to agree for the time being. Besides, he didn't have much right to veto it.

Jiraiya looked at his mentor with an apologetic expression: "I'm sorry, Sarutobi-sensei..."

At this point, he should take responsibility instead of hiding behind others.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him a reassuring smile: "You look a little tired. Go back and get some rest. Then, try to find out who's behind Aokiji and prevent him from making any more mistakes."

"I see……"

Jiraiya clenched his fist. He was determined to find the bastard behind Aokiji. He couldn't bear to see his best friend continue down the wrong path, harming the village and ultimately becoming a true rogue ninja like Orochimaru.

(End of this chapter)