They're promoting the "Konoha threat" theory, and spouting nonsense about the Hidden

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. Through these merchants, this public opinion is slowly spreading to the whole 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 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.

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

In this situation, with someone sounding the charge, these 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 one 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 even know 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 your 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 commenting on 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 skits 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 effort.

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 country 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 associated with Lord Danzo.

"Lord Danzo must have carried out some plan again, that's 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 attack 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?"

(End of this chapter)