บท 104: The Roots of Chaos in the Remnants of the Old Era

Scenes after scenes of memories appeared in Aoba's mind, digging deep into the things that Danzo had done over the years.

Unknowingly.

Time passes by.

Soon, the night has passed.

Aoba slowly opened his eyes. He stopped reading the memory of Tatsuma. He changed into Anbu's ninja clothes, put on the cat face mask, and walked in the direction of his compartment.

Not long after, Aoba arrived at the Konohagakure Intelligence Division compartment.

After he got there, a suspect was sent over to be interrogated.

"Think about what you have done."

Aoba casually glanced at the person tied to the wooden pillar. Then, he took out a small stool and sat on it. He slowly closed his eyes and began to look back at Tatsuma's memories.

Tatsuma had too many memories. Even if he looked at it with ten times speed. It would take a year to finish reading the content.

Aoba had to find the critical points extremely fast and skip unimportant matters.

"Eh?"

The man tied to the wooden pillar was dumbfounded.

Was this an interrogation?

He didn't even ask any questions?

He didn't even look at him!

"You... are you sleeping at work time?"

The man was stunned. He was already prepared to be interrogated, but he did not expect to meet a lazy ninja from Konohagakure Intelligence Division.

He actually slept before the interrogation!

Was he so unambitious?

The man looked deeply at Aoba and found that the latter really had no intention of interrogating him. He couldn't help but feel bored and closed his eyes.

...

As time passed.

Half a day passed.

"Phew..."

Aoba slowly opened his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

He had discovered many of Danzo's secrets in Tatsuma's memories.

These secrets...

It was reasonable and unexpected.

According to the assassination list given to Tatsuma, Danzo's main target was those who had a slight chance of winning the Hokage position.

Only...

This list could be said to be written with blood.

Some of the things...

It made Aoba truly realize how ruthless Danzo was!

That feeling was not like when he watched anime.

Of course, compared to these dark and gloomy things, Aoba discovered a very extraordinary thing.

"You're finally awake!"

The man tied to the wooden pillar shouted loudly when he saw the eyes of the masked ninja moving.

"Don't interrogate me. I will tell you everything. Let's end this quickly!"

This man could no longer withstand this silent pressure. He just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

Every second here made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

It could be said that the seconds were like years.

He stared at Aoba, who was wearing a cat face mask. He could not understand why someone would work in this damned place and sleep so peacefully.

"Shut up."

Aoba glared at the man fiercely. The momentum that burst out instantly stunned the man.

Then, Aoba closed his eyes again.

To confirm his discovery, he began to flip through Tetsu and Yuta's memories again.

Scenes after scenes played in Aoba's mind. This time, what he was looking at was not the recent events.

It was a long, long time ago. It gradually traced back to the time when the second generation of the Hokage Senju Tobirama.

The vast memory was like a magnificent epic, writing historical fragments that belonged to Konohagakure.

...

After a long time, Aoba opened his eyes again. The expression behind the mask had become serious, and his eyes were particularly complicated.

He did not get up, did not do anything else, and did not interrogate the man tied to the wooden pillar. Instead, he was immersed in his thoughts about these memories.

From a different perspective, Aoba confirmed something that even he did not expect.

How were the remnants of the old era born?

It was when the second generation of the Hokage, Tobirama, was in position. The five big countries began to stir soon after the First Hokage Senju Hashirama died. All the major forces once again desired to fight for supremacy, and the fragile peace agreement was almost unable to achieve any restraint.

After a short period of peace, the Ninja World again showed war signs. Shortly afterward, the First Ninja World War broke out after establishing the Ninja Village.

The Second Hokage stepped into the battlefield with six students.

Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Shimura Danzo.

Mitokado Homura.

Utatane Koharu.

Akimichi Torifu.

And... Uchiha Kagami

Through the memories, Aoba suddenly realized that Kagami was the fundamental reason the remnants of the old era decided to rebel against the Third Hokage.

In the memories of Tetsu and Yuta, Aoba found that the two of them had a very good relationship with Torifu.

Although they were not under the same Ninja Instructor, they had a tacit understanding of each other like any Ino-Shika-Cho team. Because of this, Tetsu and Yuta also had a very good relationship with Kagami.

For them, this was a very rare bond.

These three existences that had the cooperation of an Ino-Shika-Cho treated Kagami as their boss!

In their hearts, Kagami was the most suitable person to become the Third Hokage's candidate.

After all, Kagami was the only member of the Uchiha clan recognized by Tobirama, who had the deepest prejudice against the Uchiha Clan.

He was someone who possessed the will of fire!

But...

Right after Hiruzen took over as the Third Hokage. Kagami disappeared as if he had vanished into thin air.

There was no more news of Kagami in the world.

Torifu, who was always standing on Kagami's side, had been sent to Konohagakure's sidewall to take charge of the village's defense, far away from the center of politics.

At that point...

The Ino-Shoka-Cho of that era withdrew from the stage of Konoha's history.

The Nara Clan, Yamanaka Clan, and Akamichi Clan all changed their heads.

The new heads of the three families were all supporters of Hiruzen. This caused Tetsu and Yuta to be extremely dissatisfied.

...

If it were just this, Aoba would not be so shocked.

In the memory of Tatsuma that he had just read. Aoba was surprised that Kagami's death was Danzo's doings.

As a close friend of Danzo, Kagami used his Sharingan to help Danzo get out of trouble many times when they were on missions.

From that time onwards, Danzo had started to covet the Sharingan. It could be said that he loved and feared the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan.

Finally, after the Root was established. When Kagami was carrying out a mission, Danzo led his subordinates to carry out an assassination. After killing Kagami, he seized Kagami's right eye and placed it in his own eye socket.

In order to cover up the fact that he had the Sharingan, Danzo claimed that he was seriously injured and had bandages wrapped around his right eye.

"Phew..."

Aoba once again breathed a sigh of relief, increasingly feeling that Danzo was too ruthless.

He could even make a move against his close friend, who had saved his life many times. Not only to prevent Kagami from becoming a Hokage, but he also couldn't restrain his desire for the Sharingan.

Aoba combined the memories of both sides and discovered that there was a misunderstanding.

This misunderstanding left him at a loss of whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know what to say.

Danzo was the one who killed Kagami.

However, according to Tetsu and Yuta's guesses...

The Third Hokage was afraid of Kagami's ability, so he removed him.

Danzo, who had carried the pot for the Third Hokage for so long, finally let the Third Hokage carry the pot for him once!

"It won't be long before Danzo knows that Tatsuma is dead. I wonder who will he blame it on?"

Aoba pinched his chin, thinking in his heart.

"Could it be Tsunade?"

"Or..."

"The Uchiha Clan"

Aoba slowly got up. He finally knew why Danzo could look for Uchiha unconditionally after something happened.

Danzo wanted to get rid of the Uchiha clan. The will of the Second Hokage was just a pretense. The real reason was the greed and fear in Danzo's heart.