"This...how did Danzo do all this behind our backs?" - Homura looked at the reports in front of him.

After they got the news that Eiji killed Danzo, he and Koharu felt a mixture of all kinds of emotions.

Even though they were never on good terms with Danzo, over the years they acknowledged him as being one of Konoha's strongest shinobis and occasionally sided with his views when Hiruzen was too naive.

So hearing of his death they weren't really happy.

Especially since he just didn't die in an accident or an unknown cause, but was killed by the "Hokage".

Just thinking about it gave them a strong headache..a Kage killing his council member?

Calling it problematic would be really a huge understatement.

This isn't something which can be allowed!

Why?

Because it would open up the path into tyranny.

Even if killing a council-member was done with a good reason, the right procedure would be to tell the other council members and the Daimyo and provide some proof.

Just what would happen if one day a Kage would suddenly decide to kill the Daimyo as well and claim with a good reason?

It would be pure chaos.

And that's why they had to punish Eiji, or else who knows how the other Daimyos and villages would react.

So they started to interrogate Eiji.

Eiji didn't tell them much, just that Danzo was threatening him with killing his parents and that he decided to kill him for that reason alone.

It was pretty straightforward and with Gemna providing evidence, it was clear that this was the truth.

But then something big happened.

With Danzo being dead, the seal on the Root members disappeared and since losing their only leader, they went out from hiding because they could only serve Konoha from now on.

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Of course, since Root was supposed to be disbanded more than a decade ago, it raised some questions, and quickly everyone was interrogated.

And oh boy, what a rabbit hole it turned out to be.

Reports after reports were sent to Koharu, Homura, and Tsunade.

They weren't sure which was worse, the situation Eiji made, or dealing with all this sensitive information about Danzo's nefarious deeds.

After reading all these reports, they wouldn't even be surprised if Danzo would have tried to kill them in the future as well.

"All this information should be classified....really what a disaster..." - Koharu

"Koff...I agree...it's really hard to not think that the 5th did us enormous service after learning all that..." - Homura

"Danzo actually tried to kill Hiruzen-sensei and even colluded with Orochimaru..." - after a short pause Tsuande suddenly erupted with anger and smashed into the wall, leaving a giant hole there.

"Please calm down Lady Tsunade! Now is the time where we need to make sensible decisions with a clear head." - Koharu

Tsunade didn't say anything but sat down with her arms crossed and eyes closed.

"So, what do we do about the Fith Hokage?" - Homura

"Hmph, what is there to think about. Just withdraw his title as a punishment, this will calm all the Kage down and with that there, shouldn't be any problems. Wasn't he just a puppet anyway?" - Tsunade

"I don't think it's enough...this is an unprecedented case after all..." - Koharu

"But considering he was forced by Danzo and he even didn't want to become Hokage, we should make a punishment which isn't too severe..." - Homura

"What do you mean?" - Tsunade looked at him questioningly.

"Are you serious? I don't care about having the Hokage title withdrawn, I would have resigned on my own anyway, but isn't the other thing a "bit" unfair considering I was forced into this shit?" - Eiji hid his anger with a mocking smile.

"Unfair? You should have told us instead of just killing him!" - Koharu

"Oh really? And if I would have told you, would you have helped me? Even if it meant that an internal war could break out? Wouldn't you just have said I should accept it and think for the village?" - it got harder for Eiji to hid his frustration.

"You!" - Koharu and Homura didn't like to be talked back by an impudent child and got offended, but Tsunade was shocked by a sudden realization.

From what she could tell, Eiji's plan on how he dealt with Danzo wasn't anything grandiose or something.

But it was a risky one, which required everyone to move exactly like how he planned.

The uneasiness she felt since the first time she met him, she could finally put it into words.

It was like when he first saw her, his eyes showed like he knew everything about her: her past, future, thoughts, everything.

This was an uncanny feeling.

Either he has some sort of secret, or his ability to read people was terrifying.

If Eiji didn't know how Koharu and Homura would have reacted, Danzo would have won "this fight of minds".

But most in his position would have chosen to ask for help instead.

The same was the case for Danzo, Eiji completely read him like a book.

She underestimated him, but to be fair she saw many geniuses in her life and Eiji didn't fit quite the category, instead, he was something else.

He was like an outside observer, using knowledge to overcome challenges instead of talent and power.