Chapter 670

Chapter 670: Konoha’s Response

Hokage Building.

Kuroto calmly sat on his seat and glanced at all the people attending this meeting.

The former Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, Elder Utatane Koharu, Tsunade-hime, Sannin Jiraiya, the Patriarchs of major Shinobi clans such as Uchiha, Hyuga, Ino-Shika-Cho, the captains and leaders of various important departments such as Anbu, Intelligence, Medical, and so on were also present at the meeting.

As for Kuroto? He participated in this meeting as the Principal of Konoha Ninja Academy.

Oh, and the meeting? It was organized by Elder Hiruzen as soon as he returned to the village after the expedition.

As everyone observed the solemn expression on the face of Elder Hiruzen, everyone felt that something bad has happen.

Elder Utatane was the one who broke the silence and questioned him, “Sarutobi, what happened?”

At Elder Utatane’s inquiry, Elder Hiruzen took a deep breath, then told the details of what transpired at the Volcano.

As everyone present at the meeting became aware of what actually happened at the Volcano, their expressions turned solemn, and a silence dawned in the meeting room.

The most angered person was obviously Elder Hiruzen himself, followed by Elder Utatane, both of them were burning with rage.

As for the others? Some were shocked, some were stupefied while others were calculating the impact of this incident on them and their clans.

After a while, Hiruzen broke the silence of the meeting room, and questioned, “What are your opinions on this matter?”

Hizashi hesitated, then asked, “Sandaime-sama… is this news really true? Did Danzo-sama really do such a thing?”

Hiruzen nodded with a helpless expression, “Unfortunate as it may, what I have told everyone here is indeed true!”

As soon as Hiruzen received information sent by Kakashi, he immediately summoned a few hundred Konoha Shinobi and led the army towards that particular Volcano.

Unfortunately, by the time he arrived there, whatever was happening there was already completed, and the Volcano had already collapsed after erupting.

He and other Konoha Shinobi saw only death and destruction there.

Seeing the corpses of hundreds of Konoha Shinobi, and no sign of Kakashi or Danzo, Hiruzen was worried, especially because he had no idea of what actually happened there.

After that, he did what he had to and led the shinobi squads in search of Danzo and Kakashi.

After a while of the search operation, they finally found the unconscious Kakashi and nearly a thousand unconscious but alive Konoha Shinobi with him, although he wasn’t sure why everyone was unconscious, the fact that they were all alive greatly relieved him… But there was still one problem, there were no signs of Danzo!

The search operation continued for the next few hours until the search unit was able to capture a few Root shinobis.

The Root Shinobis were mercilessly tortured until they finally confessed the details of what actually transpired at the volcano.

After collecting all the information piece by piece, the entire story became clear to Hiruzen… The former Hokage was shocked to learn that Shimura Danzo actually held a Kekkei Genkai Absorption Ritual inside the Volcano, and he had gathered those fifteen hundred Konoha Shinobi outside the volcano to use them as Chakra sources.

And none of those fifteen hundred Konoha Shinobi would have survived if it wasn’t for Kakashi to rescue them.

Learning all this, Sandaime was already in disbelief, but the news that he received next made his mind blank…

Danzo who successfully completed the ceremony actually defected and left the Land of Fire!

Shimura Danzo, the Hokage Agent, and the former leader of the Root division of the Anbu defected! Such a ridiculous thing actually happened!

Although Danzo was only Hokage Agent, neither was he officially coronated as the Godaime Hokage, nor was his face engraved on the Hokage Rock, however, he was the highest political authority in Konoha… so he was practically the village’s unofficial Hokage!

And he actually defected?

The faces of everyone in the meeting were in disbelief upon learning this news.

No one ever imagined that such a thing would actually happen, especially considering Danzo’s character and his loyalty towards Konoha.

Sandaime who has been a childhood friend of Danzo never imagined that one day Danzo would actually defect from Konoha!

Uchiha Patriarch was the first one to recover from shock, and inquired, “Sandaime-sama, do we have any information as to where has Danzo escaped after his defection?”

Jiraiya nodded with a sigh, “Kumogakure!”

According to the information Jiraiya has received from his information network, Danzo met up with the Yondaime Raikage and his entourage around the borders of the Land of Fire, and together both of them left in the direction of the Land of Lightning.

Smash…

Tsunade smashed the table in anger, “Raikage dared to take Danzo to the Land of Lightening… does he want to start a war?”

Elder Koharu echoed from the side, “I am not sure about war… but they must at least give us an explanation.”

At this time, Nara Shikaku said with a solemn expression, “Our current priority is not to discuss the actions of Raikage and Kumogakure, we have to focus on the most important matter before us, and that is the leadership of Konoha… The village can’t function without a leader… Since Danzo has defected, he can no longer be called the leader of the village… this means we must choose a new Hokage, or someone to fill up the role of the leader.”

Everyone agreed with Nara Shikaku’s words, and after a while of thinking, all of them, without any difference looked in the direction of Elder Hiruzen.

While Konoha is facing such a complex situation the best and safest choice would be to let Hiruzen, the most experienced person here hold the power in his hands.

With that, voting began.

And without any twists and turns, Elder Hiruzen was reinstated as Konoha’s Hokage.

After reassuming the Hokage’s position, the first order he issued was to propose negotiation with Kumogakure. The negotiation team was led by Elder Koharu and immediately planned to depart for the Land of Lightning.

After that, some further instructions were issued, and then the meeting was concluded.

One thing to note is that there was no mention of Amatsukami or Orochimaru whatsoever in the meeting, this means that anyone who was aware of their involvement died except Danzo and the two people in question.

And unless Danzo makes this news public, the involvement of Amatsukami and Orochimaru is going to remain buried underneath the ashes of that Volcano.

While thinking these things, Kuroto made left the Hokage Building and made his way toward the Konoha Hospital.