Danzo knew that he was done the moment the clone popped, and his first thought was to immediately escape. As soon as Danzo's body started to move, it immediately stopped. A big shadow had appeared behind him.

'SHIKAKU… It's him. Hiruzen would have never made such a plan against me,' Danzo thought, and he immediately decided to use Izanagi to escape. However, at the same time, he was attacked. A huge number of strikes landed on his body, and he immediately became paralyzed.

'Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms! Hiashi! I need to push all my chakra to open my chakra points. This is my only chance,' Danzo thought in desperation. However, his tries were futile. Before being able to push his chakra, Jiraiya appeared in front of him and used multiple seals on his body.

"So, this is the end for me," Danzo said with resignation.

"This is just a new beginning for you, I'm afraid," the voice of his ex-friend said.

"Hiruzen, don't act like that in front of me. This is all Shikaku's plan. You would never be able to pull something like this alone," Danzo said without a care about his situation.

"And that is the difference between us, Danzo. I can count on my comrades, and you count only on yourself," Hiruzen said.

All the group came into Danzo's view with an extra addition, Inoichi Yamanaka. Danzo started laughing.

"Hiruzen, had I let you alone with your friendly philosophy, there wouldn't be Konoha now. And what now? You really believe that I have let my mind unprotected? I will die before I reveal anything to you," Danzo said.

Hiruzen didn't say anything but walked in front of Danzo while looking him in the eyes and started removing his bandages.

As soon as the Sharingan in his eye appeared, Hiashi started shouting,

"WE SHOULD EXECUTE HIM IMMEDIATELY."

Shikaku moved next to him and touched his shoulder to calm him down and said, "Believe me, Hiashi, the plan that I have for him is much worse."

'It's Shisui's eye as expected. That's why I didn't execute him after what he has done with the Uchihas. Shikaku was right,' Hiruzen thought.

Hiruzen continued and revealed Danzo's hand. The whole room was briefly silenced by the gruesome sight.

"DANZO. YOU PIECE OF SHIT, YOU DIDN'T EVEN RESPECT THE SHODAIME," Hiruzen said and slapped him.

"Hahahahaha. Do you really believe that I don't respect the Shodaime? I am using his DNA to protect the village. How is this disrespect?" Danzo said angrily.

The people in the room looked at each other, and finally, Jiraiya asked, "You really believe that, don't you?"

Danzo knew that these people would never understand him. He was no longer in a mood to reply to them. He was always alone after Tobirama’s death. Only his mission of protecting Konoha had kept him sane.

"Danzo, tell me honestly. What do you think that Tobirama would have said if he knew that you used his brother's DNA?" Danzo looked at him with fury but didn't reply.

"Danzo, you worked with Orochimaru to create this hand, didn't you? This is almost identical to some of his experiments," Jiraiya said.

Jiraiya's words also brought realization to Hiruzen's face. "Danzo, how much harm have you done to the village all these years? How could you have worked with him after what he has done?"

Danzo had enough. "HIRUZEN, YOU ARE A MORON. You turned the strongest asset in our village into a missing ninja.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

If you had supported him, the village would have the best scientist in the world, and there is no limit to what heights the village could have reached. And what did you do? Instead of giving him free access to bodies to experiment, you created a terrifying enemy to the village and you betrayed your student, the student who viewed you as a father figure.

And let me tell you something else, you moron. Orochimaru managed to steal Tobirama's research about resurrecting the dead. Now imagine what will happen to this village when he manages to make this technique viable.

Yes, I worked with him because it's a matter of time until he kills you, and somebody must be able to fix the relationship between him and the village."

The whole room was silenced.

‘Orochimaru is a time bomb, and this technique sounds completely ominous. I need to form a plan as soon as possible,' Shikaku thought and asked,

"What is this technique that resurrects the dead?"

Hiruzen was still shocked from the revelation and started explaining "The technique is called Edo Tensei. It's a jutsu that summons the soul of the dead with their DNA as an anchor and then reanimates a body for them. Its chakra consumption is terrifying, and even Tobirama-sensei could only keep it active for a few seconds. Also, the body is much weaker compared to the original. The strongest the resurrected target the hardest it is to control them.

However, Tobirama-sensei didn't have enough time to develop it further before his death. I am sure that if my student has focused on it, the technique would already be usable,"

"We are in deep trouble. We need a plan," Jiraiya said.

"Do you now see the problem that you have created, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked with satisfaction.

Hiruzen looked at Danzo and said, "My old friend, I am afraid that you won't take part in our future discussions. Thank you for the information about my student, you are really a useful asset of the village. Now get ready because your hand and your eye are going to be removed, and after, you will find out about the surprise that we have prepared just for you."

Danzo looked at him with a smile and said, "If I knew that my sacrifice would grant you a pair of balls, I would have sacrificed myself much sooner."

Hiruzen ignored him and pushed the button on his office. The door opened, and an ANBU entered, "Turtle, take Danzo and proceed with the plan."

---

"I thought that after dealing with Danzo, things would get easier, but it seems that now we need a plan to deal with Orochimaru," Hiruzen said.

"Orochimaru already has Hashirama's DNA in his possession. If he manages to summon him under his control, even at half strength, the village is done," Jiraiya said.

"I don't think that Hashirama is a man that can be controlled so easily. However, we are talking about Orochimaru. Even if he doesn't summon Hashirama, he must have the DNA of plenty S-rank ninjas in his possession." Hiruzen said

"Jiraiya, do you have a seal in your possession which can seal souls?" Shikaku asked.

Jiraiya looked at him strangely and asked, "Are you really going to propose that? Nowadays even the dead can't rest in peace…"

“Does that mean that you can do it?” Shikaku asked.

“If the body is controlled by this technique and there is no resistance, I believe that I can create a suitable seal in one or two months. Sensei you should also study this jutsu and improve it. You are the professor after all, aren’t you?” Jiraiya said with a smirk on his face.

Hiruzen looked at them thoughtfully and said, "This is completely unethical, but it's our only solution right now. Jiraiya, I will focus on improving the jutsu and you will focus on creating the soul seal. Moreover, I need to create a huge scale S-rank mission to collect DNA from the strongest deceased S-rank ninjas in all the nations, and this will take time."

"I have more classified information to report about my last mission which is related to this case. I didn’t get the chance to report after the fiasco with Danzo" Jiraiya said.

Hiruzen looked at Inoichi and Hiashi and the two of them nodded and went outside.

"I talked with Itachi. Orochimaru is also part of this organization. Their goal seems to be to hunt all the tailed beasts."

"Very troublesome. That complicates things a lot," Shikaku said.

Hiruzen opened a drawer and brought out an expensive old wine. He also put his hand into his pocket and brought out his pipe and his tobacco.

"I already knew that we would be working overtime today, but when you brought out the wine, the overtime extended to the whole week," Shikaku said with a sad smile on his face.

---

It was late evening when the bird ANBU appeared in the Nara compound.

"Uchiha Sasuke, the Hokage wants to talk with you. Please follow me."

Sasuke nodded but before following him he turned to his friend and said "Shikamaru, it was nice crushing you in your own game. Don't forget our deal. For each game you lost, it's 1 hour of training. You owe me 9 hours."

Shikamaru was completely lost in his thoughts. Not even his father had beaten him so effortlessly. Sasuke had completely destroyed his worldview, which was based on his superior intelligence. He couldn't reply back, and he just looked at Sasuke and nodded.

Sasuke just smiled at him and followed the ANBU.

However, neither the ANBU nor the Naras had realized that the Sasuke behind him was a clone, and the original Sasuke had escaped the compound hours before.