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"This rumor-monger is truly abominable!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi hated rumor-mongers to the extreme.
Especially since this rumor was about himself.
The last rumor about the Uchiha had already made Hiruzen Sarutobi very angry.
Clearly, he hadn't done anything, yet a huge black pot was directly buckled onto his forehead.
The Uchiha clan rebelled, and many people said he forced them to.
What did he force the Uchiha to do?
Let's not talk about Kagami Uchiha's matter.
Dou Uchiha died; who killed him? Danzo killed him.
Gen Uchiha died; who killed him? It might also have been Danzo.
This made a guess involuntarily arise in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart: was Danzo deliberately pushing the Uchiha rebellion in the dark to damage his popularity?
So he could replace him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi knew very well that Danzo wanted to be Hokage very much.
Now it was like this again.
Clearly, he hadn't done anything to the Hyuga clan, yet he became the one who sold out the Hyuga clan.
Selling out the Hyuga clan, giving the Mist Village a Byakugan, just to reach a truce agreement with the Mist Village.
Even if Konoha's situation wasn't good at that time, it wasn't bad to that extent.
And to give the Mist Village a Byakugan for a truce—he absolutely wouldn't do such a thing.
"Who could it be?"
Multiple names flashed through Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind.
The Hidden Rock Village, the Sand Village, and the Kaguya clan were all on Hiruzen Sarutobi's suspect list.
Even the Uchiha clan.
"What is the reaction of the Hyuga clan?"
The ninja below answered.
"Reporting to Lord Hokage, within the Hyuga clan, some ninja have already been affected by the rumors, but they haven't taken any drastic actions, unlike the Uchiha back then."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, his expression softening a bit.
"This Hyuga clan is more sensible than the Uchiha clan."
Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned an ANBU ninja.
"Ask Homura Mitokado to come over."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
Before long, Homura Mitokado arrived.
"Hiruzen."
"Homura, regarding the rumors about the Hyuga clan, you must have heard about it."
Homura Mitokado nodded.
"I've heard. I don't know which shameless person is spreading rumors about our Konoha again. The morals of the ninja world are truly corrupted; such despicable means appear one after another."
"The ninja world wasn't like this before."
Homura Mitokado was very disdainful of the rumor-monger.
Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted Homura Mitokado.
"There's no need to say such things; it's meaningless. They target our Konoha, and what we can do is respond."
"Root is in your hands. This organization has been managed by Danzo for decades. I know its capabilities. Homura, you must investigate the source of the rumors as soon as possible."
Homura Mitokado revealed a difficult expression.
"Hiruzen, I'm afraid that won't work well."
"Won't work well? Why?"
Homura Mitokado said, "Hiruzen, you don't know. The situation of Root is actually very poor. With just this few ninja, it's basically useless."
"Danzo managed it for so many years, and the result is at this level. To be honest, I'm very disappointed in him."
"This isn't the level a disciple of Teacher Tobirama should have."
"Hiruzen, how about you give me some ninja? I will definitely build Root properly. At that time, investigating rumors and such will be a piece of cake."
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "————"
A look of disappointment surfaced in Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes.
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't know the situation of Root very well, but he knew a little.
It was absolutely impossible to be as Homura Mitokado described.
If Homura Mitokado felt Root wasn't good, there was only one possibility.
Danzo had only handed over a fake Root to Homura Mitokado, and Homura Mitokado actually believed it.
"The village can't spare any extra ninja. Homura, work hard on your own. Regarding the investigation of the rumors, I will arrange for ANBU ninja to go. Let your Root do something else."
"What thing?"
"Keep an eye on the Hyuga clan. I don't want to see things similar to Dou Uchiha and Gen Uchiha happen again. The Hyuga clan cannot have people die easily, especially dying inexplicably."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "If they are to die, they can only die at the hands of the Hidden Rock Village or the Sand Village."
Homura Mitokado nodded.
"Hiruzen, don't worry. I won't let the Hyuga clan members act recklessly, nor will I let them die inexplicably."
"Good, go."
Watching Homura Mitokado leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened again.
"Danzo, good job, Danzo. complying in public but opposing in private to my orders as Hokage, right? What is your purpose in secretly controlling the real Root?"
"Homura is also too incompetent."
"Couldn't even detect the situation of the real Root."
"And thinks Danzo is incompetent."
"Truly speechless."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was too disappointed in Homura Mitokado.
He hadn't felt it before because Homura Mitokado hadn't done anything truly important or critical. Now, with this one incident, it was directly tested out—his ability was truly lacking.
Not to say he was lacking compared to ordinary ninja.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that compared to himself and Danzo, Homura Mitokado was far inferior.
"Let the Hyuga Clan Head come over."
Before long, the Hyuga Clan Head arrived.
"Lord Hokage."
Facing Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hyuga Clan Head was very respectful, lowering his stance very much.
And before Hiruzen Sarutobi could speak, the Hyuga Clan Head proactively said.
" regarding the rumors about the Hyuga clan, I have already heard. That is an utter and complete rumor. This is a trick by other ninja villages to sow discord in our Konoha."
"Most likely it's the Hidden Rock Village."
"On the cards they scattered last time, they specifically mentioned our Hyuga clan."
"But my Hyuga clan will absolutely not fall for it."
"I will definitely discipline my clansmen well."
This attitude satisfied Hiruzen Sarutobi greatly.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi faintly felt it sounded somewhat familiar.
When the rumors about the Uchiha clan appeared back then, Fugaku Uchiha had also guaranteed the same to him.
But the result was that the Uchiha clan still rebelled.
"Hiashi, you are very good not to be affected by rumors. I'm relieved. However, just disciplining the clansmen isn't enough. The rumor matter still needs to be investigated."
"Within the Hyuga clan, there will definitely be people who have thoughts because of this."
"What we need to do is not simply gag them."
"But to let them know that this is a rumor."
"I don't wish for anything similar to the Uchiha incident to happen again."
Hiashi Hyuga nodded heavily.
"Lord Hokage, our Hyuga clan absolutely won't."
"And I won't be like Fugaku Uchiha, unable to control the situation within the family."
Hiashi Hyuga was very confident about this point.
After all, the Hyuga clan had the Caged Bird Curse Mark.