The next day.
Inside the Konoha Prison, adjacent to the former Uchiha Compound—
Gurgle. Gurgle.
The rhythmic rolling of wheelchair wheels shattered the oppressive silence of the cell block, a sound that reached the deepest cells, announcing a visitor to those forgotten by the world.
Danzo Shimura lay sprawled on the floor, unable to even lift himself. He looked like discarded trash, his attention drifting in and out of focus. As the sound ground to a halt, his eyes finally focused on the figure standing beyond the iron bars.
"So, it's you, Hiruzen," Danzo rasped, his voice dry as dust.
He was a shadow of his former self—listless, emaciated, and broken. The sharp, calculating gaze that had once commanded Root had vanished completely.
"That's right," Hiruzen Sarutobi replied, his voice heavy. "Besides me, no one else would bother visiting a worthless piece of trash like you."
Menma had slaughtered the Shimura Clan, decimating ninety-nine percent of Root's active forces. He had stolen Danzo's Kotoamatsukami and shattered his limbs. In doing so, he had utterly crushed his spirit.
Hiruzen continued, his tone laced with bitter resentment. "Sigh... Danzo, your actions were far too impulsive. You should have trusted your old partner more instead of being so stubborn."
The Third Hokage looked ten years older, as if he were on his deathbed. He was strapped to his own wheelchair with cloth bindings, his hands gone and his legs useless. Without the restraints, he would have slipped right off the seat.
"If you had just told me you possessed Shisui's Kotoamatsukami earlier, things might not have ended like this," Hiruzen grumbled. "I wouldn't have lost my reputation, my limbs, or the Hokage position. You could have remained my assistant!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious that Danzo had kept the Sharingan a secret. If he hadn't hidden it, Hiruzen would have let him use it on the still-immature Menma. Instead, he'd been forced to rely on his subordinates researching a "Personality Sealing Technique"—and look where that got them. Danzo had watched it all unfold from the shadows, cold and indifferent. He never once considered helping the village; he was only ever in it for himself.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi!" Danzo's voice suddenly boomed, startling the guards. "So you came here today just to shift the blame onto me?"
The one-time ruler of Root, now a cripple, suddenly found his voice. Clearly, Hiruzen's words had struck a nerve.
"You bastard! You aren't even Hokage anymore, and you're still pointing fingers at me?" Danzo roared, slamming his head against the iron bars. He glared at Hiruzen with pure venom. "You say I didn't tell you? Have you forgotten what I said after Menma killed Mizuki?"
"I told you the Jinchuriki had become dangerous! I asked you to hand them over to Root so we could restrict them! I wanted to use Kotoamatsukami to ensure their unwavering loyalty to the village!" Danzo coughed, his voice cracking with rage. "But you were too wary of me! You just wanted to use the Jinchuriki to consolidate your own power! You completely disagreed with my approach!"
"And now, you have the audacity to blame me for not telling you?" Danzo's face twisted into a sneer. "Hiruzen Sarutobi! How dare you? Is it because you're more of a hypocrite than I am?"
As Danzo finished speaking, Hiruzen's face turned grim. He had come to vent, to make himself feel better by pinning the blame on Danzo. But he hadn't expected such a vicious counterattack.
"I won't argue with you," Hiruzen said, suppressing his anger. "We were both at fault for what happened. But tell me, why did you drag over fourteen hundred ninja from my Sarutobi Clan into your petty war with Menma? And don't forget Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado. Two great clans, reduced to nothing but a few newly graduated genin! Do you have any explanation for that?"
When Hiruzen had learned yesterday that the conscripted clan members had been wiped out on Danzo's orders, he had nearly vomited blood. Adding the deaths from the raid on the Uchiha compound by Minato's group, the Sarutobi Clan's strength had shrunk by sixty percent.
"Hmph. What explanation do you want?" Danzo scoffed, completely fearless. "Might makes right. Do I need to teach you how the world works?"
Danzo was a dead man walking. The Shimura Clan was finished, and Root had been reduced to a handful of stragglers by Menma. With nothing left to lose, he wasn't about to give Hiruzen any respect. Not cursing the Third's entire bloodline was already a favor.
"You... Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Hiruzen choked on his own breath, coughing violently. Just as Danzo wondered if the old man would keel over and die right there, the Sarutobi ninja pushing the wheelchair stepped forward, patting his master's back to help him breathe.
After a long moment, Hiruzen finally calmed down. This time, he skipped the insults and got straight to the point.
"I want the intelligence and experimental data from your Root bases outside the village," Hiruzen demanded coldly. "You've already wiped out the elites inside Konoha. You can't protect the external bases anymore, so you might as well compensate me with them."
Although most of the Root ninjas were dead, the intelligence and research results were a considerable asset. It would be the perfect compensation for the Sarutobi Clan's devastating losses.
"Heh heh... So that's what you're really after," Danzo sneered, his expression screaming, I knew it. "You want Root's legacy? Fine. But you have to get me out of here first and let me join the Sarutobi Clan."
There weren't many ninja left at the external bases—just a few dozen chunin and one or two Elite Jōnin. With so few defenders, a minor attack from another village would wipe them out. It was better to go with the flow and join the Sarutobi Clan. Maybe he could find a way to make a comeback.
After all, he was quite adept at fighting Hiruzen for power.
"No problem," Hiruzen said, surprisingly agreeable. "I can get you out of here today."
He was confident that Danzo, stripped of everything, couldn't cause any trouble, so he readily agreed.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen quickly informed Tobirama Senju of his decision.
Tobirama Senju agreed without objection. Throwing Danzo in prison was just a way to store trash. If Hiruzen wanted to recycle him, fine. Tobirama Senju still needed to recruit more Sarutobi ninjas to fill the vacancies, so he had no reason to hold a grudge against a useless Danzo.
Besides, he had more important things to do—helping Jiraiya become a qualified Hokage and researching ninjutsu to seal or erase personalities.
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