This Water Shadow is very strong, but overly cautious.

Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at Kakashi, who had a sad face.

Although Kakashi still looks like a child at this moment, in the eyes of Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The ninja of "Hatake Kakashi" is like a brand new, unsharpened blade, emitting a cold and shining light.

In the ninja world, "bloodline theory" is naturally prevalent.

After all, with the existence of "Bloodline Limit", the importance of bloodline to ninjas is naturally self-evident.

Even though Hatake is just a small ninja clan and has no blood talent.

However, as the son of the Kage-level powerful man Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi was born with the bloodline of this "Kage-level powerful man".

Thinking of this, a glimmer of satisfaction flashed in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes.

He just lost a knife, he can sharpen another one.

maybe

Is this knife better than the previous one?

Looking at the Hatake ninjas with sad faces, Sarutobi Hiruzen organized his words again and spoke, making a vague promise to the Hatake clan as Hokage.

"Sakumo is the village's hero."

"Don't worry, the village will not treat the Hatake clan unfairly."

As Sarutobi Hiruzen finished speaking, the Hatake ninjas looked at each other, but in the end they could only nod silently.

As the saying goes, death is like a lamp going out.

They are not fools.

Of course, the village could not treat the Hatake clan as well as it did when Hatake Sakumo was alive.

But there is nothing we can do about it after all.

After all, Hatake Sakumo was already dead, and the promise of a Hokage was all they could get.

"Sacrificing himself for the village, Sakumo died a worthy death."

"It's as I should. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

The leading Hatake ninja nodded and responded to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded silently, then walked out of the morgue.

Only a desolate back was left for the Hatake ninjas behind him.

Looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen's increasingly hunched figure, the Hatake ninjas looked at each other and couldn't help but have the same thought in their minds.

"As the Hokage's most valued right-hand man."

"Hokage-sama must be feeling bad about Sakumo's death."

After leaving the morgue, Sarutobi Hiruzen walked back to the Hokage's office slowly.

There, an "old friend" had been waiting for a long time.

"squeak"

Sarutobi Hiruzen pushed open the heavy and rotten door of the Hokage's office and walked in slowly.

It was getting late at night, and the bright lights outside the door pierced into the dim office.

A dark shadow was also stretched out by the light.

Sarutobi Hiruzen walked in without any hesitation, then closed the door with his backhand.

In an instant, the entire office was plunged into darkness again.

However, with their eyesight, this little bit of darkness was naturally insignificant.

"Snapped"

As Sarutobi Hiruzen pressed the switch on the desk, the dim light instantly illuminated the entire room.

"Has the threat from Hatake Sakumo been eliminated?"

The gloomy figure spoke directly, his voice sounding extremely hoarse.

Hearing the sound, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at him with a sharp gaze.

When he saw the other person's withered and yellowed old face, Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice returned to calm again.

That’s right, the person sitting in the Hokage’s office at this moment is none other than Danzo Shimura, who replaced Hatake Sakumo and served as the commander on the front line of the Sand Village battlefield!

As the commander on the front line, Danzo naturally cannot leave the battlefield without reason.

But for an old fox like Danzo, using a trick like a substitute is not difficult at all.

Chapter 578, Confusion of right and wrong

"pity"

In response to Danzo's question, Sarutobi Hiruzen simply uttered two words.

The two of them looked at each other, and although they didn't say anything, it seemed as if they had said everything.

it is more than words.

The interaction between the two has already said it all.

Why was Sakumo's mission information leaked?

Why do the enemies know Hatake Sakumo's moves so well?

Why would such a powerful Kage-level warrior die in battle silently?

There is only one answer to everything.

There is only one person behind White Fang's death, and that is the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen!!!

"It's a pity that Shumao died, but his death still has some value."

Danzo spoke again in a hoarse voice, and as he spoke, he looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen with somewhat gloomy eyes.

Hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression suddenly turned cold, and he said with a cold look in his eyes.

"Of course you don't need to tell me that."

"I have my own sense of proportion!"

After Sarutobi Hiruzen finished speaking, he looked at Danzo coldly, his eyes filled with indifference.

As the saying goes, when the birds are all gone, the bows are put away; when the rabbit is dead, the dogs are cooked.

Shuo Mao's death was certainly related to his achievements surpassing his master's.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen was not in such a hurry to deal with Hatake Sakumo.

After all, Hatake Sakumo had just made a great contribution. Dealing with it so hastily, even if it was done perfectly, would inevitably hurt Konoha's morale.

Sarutobi Hiruzen could have waited until the Second Shinobi World War came to an end and everything was calm before he could free up his hands to deal with Hatake Sakumo.

Just like what Sarutobi Hiruzen did in the original work.

Because of a mistake made by Danzo, Sarutobi Hiruzen had to eliminate Hatake Sakumo in advance.

"That's good, that's good"

Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen say this, Danzo finally felt relieved.

Although Sarutobi Hiruzen's face was cold at the moment, his attitude undoubtedly showed that he would protect Danzo at his death.

The reason why Danzo was so anxious and rushed back to Konoha at all costs.

It was also because he received news through the Root that Sarutobi Hiruzen planned to eliminate Hatake Sakumo, so he temporarily put aside the affairs on the front line and returned to Konoha.

The purpose was to persuade Sarutobi Hiruzen to use Hatake Sakumo's death to clean up the mistakes he had made before.

But I can only say that.

Not a family, do not enter the door.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's ruthlessness is no less than Danzo's.

What he could think of, Sarutobi Hiruzen had already thought of.

"Sakumo will be responsible for the matter in Frost Country."

"I don't need to teach you the rest."

Sarutobi Hiruzen first looked at Hatake Sakumo coldly, and then said meaningfully.

Hearing this, a smile finally appeared on Danzo's sallow face.

He has done many similar things.

But before that, he had always obeyed Sarutobi Hiruzen's orders and cleaned up the mess for him.

But this time, he was just cleaning up the mess for himself.

"No problem, I'll take care of the rest."

Danzo said in a cheerful tone.

"Frost Kingdom" incident.

It was exactly what happened when Danzo failed to capture the Five-Tails Jinchuriki in the Frost Country, and was eventually exposed and defeated.

Although this matter has not yet been launched.

But sooner or later someone will have to take the blame.

Obviously, Sarutobi Hiruzen now intends to put all the responsibility for this matter on Hatake Sakumo in order to protect Danzo.

Again.

Not as a last resort.

There was no way Sarutobi Hiruzen would bear the pain of abandoning Danzo.

Because Danzo knew too much.

If not handled properly, it might damage Sarutobi Hiruzen's glorious image.

In this situation, Sakumo, who was "too successful to be a threat to his master", became a poor victim.

Not a few days passed.

Some discordant voices began to appear in Konoha Village.

The main target of these discordant voices was the Konoha hero, Hatake Sakumo, who had recently died heroically in a mission.

At first, it was among the ninjas in the Anbu.

It is said that when Hatake Sakumo was the head of the Anbu, he made many inappropriate operations and mistakes when handling certain tasks.

Gradually, the rumor spread more and more widely.

Some "disgraceful" anecdotes from Hatake Sakumo's early years were also unearthed.

Compared to 975^632=410; for example:

Rumors such as not helping an old lady when she crosses the street and liking to eavesdrop on widows at night also spread like wildfire and intensified.

Even if there were a few ninjas who knew Sakumo well and came to his defense occasionally, in the face of the general trend, these voices were like an inconspicuous splash of water in a river.

In just a few days, Hatake Sakumo went from being a revered hero of Konoha to a rogue ninja with no reputation.

And at this moment, a mission file that had been "sealed" in the dark was suddenly made public.

It was the "Frost Country Incident".

However, in this mission, Danzo Shimura's role was completely reversed with Sakumo Hatake's.

All of Danzo's outrageous actions were attributed to Hatake Sakumo.

As soon as this file was released, Hatake Sakumo instantly turned from a "hero" who ended the war to a "villain" who instigated the war.

As a result, even his contributions on the Sand Village battlefield were discounted.

Then, the Third Hokage appeared and brought out some "ironclad evidence" investigated by the Root leader Danzo.

It expresses a painful criticism of the shameful history of "Konoha White Fang".

In the end, everything comes down to "when a person dies, the light goes out" and "dust returns to dust, dust returns to dust."