"You bastard, why are you only coming back now?"
Danzō, wearing the Hokage straw hat, tossed the documents in his hands onto the desk when he saw Renya follow Hiruzen inside.
"I went out for a walk. I just got back and heard you two arguing—what happened?" Renya asked, pretending not to understand.
In truth, he had only caught the gist of it; the exact details weren't very clear.
He only vaguely knew that Danzō seemed to have killed some shinobi from Sunagakure.
"It's nothing big," Danzō said indifferently. "Hiruzen is overreacting to a minor issue and keeps exaggerating the impact of this."
From his point of view he had only killed a few undisciplined Sand shinobi. But Hiruzen kept yammering in his ear.
It irritated him enough to spark the earlier clash.
"Danzō, what do you mean by 'overreacting to a minor issue'?" Hiruzen snapped, clearly upset.
"Killing shinobi from another country during peacetime can easily be construed as intentionally provoking conflict!"
He didn't want such an incident to spark a war between the village and Sunagakure.
If they just took a step back, they could avoid a war.
Is it so wrong to prevent a war at minimal cost?
"Intentionally provoking conflict?" Danzō snorted and shot back, "Hiruzen, since when did you start thinking about other countries' feelings?!"
"Danzō, what are you implying?!" Hiruzen's face flushed. "Are you questioning my loyalty to the village?"
He was only thinking of the village, and Danzō was saying that about him.
It was too much!
If Renya hadn't been there, he would have slammed the door and left already.
"It's not that I doubt you—it's just that as Hokage I can reasonably question whether the Hokage's aide is truly loyal to the village." Danzō narrowed his eyes.
"If you're loyal to the village, then why expect me to be the one to make concessions to Sunagakure?"
"Danzō, you're being extreme!"
"Enough, Hiruzen, you must understand—"
"Stop, stop!" Renya hurriedly cut off their dispute.
If he didn't intervene, Danzō and Hiruzen would fall into their classic lines and legendary confrontation again.
"Talk. Weren't you two going to explain the whole sequence of events to me?" Renya looked at them with an odd expression. "Why are you two at each other's throats again?"
Honestly, the two men had completely different personalities and working styles.
Working together often meant clashing and irritation.
Arguments typically ended with "Hokage, you repent!" and nothing else.
Renya couldn't understand why Tobirama had put both of them in the same office.
At Renya's words, the two men calmed down for a moment.
"Sunagakure's shinobi crossed into our territory several times. We warned them at first, but they paid no heed…"
"You must understand, people's patience has limits. They were caught again by our patrol shinobi. This time, I did not let them go—I ordered them executed."
"But Hiruzen thinks I went too far."
Danzō looked Renya in the face. "Do you think my handling of it was wrong?"
"No, of course not!" Renya answered without hesitation. "You deal with scoundrels like that."
Ever since Danzō had become Hokage he'd become more 'merciful'—he had only just now decided to execute those who invaded the Land of Fire.
If Renya had been in charge, those who first trespassed into the Land of Fire would have died the first time.
Sitting in the Hokage's seat required weighing many factors.
Danzō brightened at Renya's words.
Renya was his close friend, and their thoughts were nearly identical.
As for Hiruzen?
They were simply on different paths.
"Renya, you agree with this?" Hiruzen's face turned ugly.
This was bad—really bad.
With Renya supporting Danzō, he would only act more decisively.
Konoha was doomed!
"Yes—what else?" Renya replied.
"Hiruzen, you're far too soft. True respect isn't earned by yielding; it's forced by overwhelming strength!"
Like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha—many disliked them, but no one dared to stand against them.
The root cause was their invincibility; opponents were forced to submit.
Without great power, those two would have been chopped to pieces long ago.
"But if we step back, we can avoid so many unnecessary incidents!" Hiruzen persisted.
If Danzō had not ordered the execution, there wouldn't be a demand for compensation from Sunagakure now.
His thinking was simple: if everyone yields a bit, everyone will be happy.
Unless it's a moment of crisis, only then should one strike back.
This approach solves many problems at minimal cost. Spend a little to avoid a war—what's not to like?
Compensation money is nothing compared to war losses!
Unfortunately, both Danzō and Renya disagreed with him…
"If you back down, they'll only think you can be bullied and will become more brazen. Never give others the power of choice," Renya argued, insisting that matters of principle must not be compromised.
In the original story, after the Third Great Ninja War, the Cloud envoy abducted a Hyūga and was killed by the arriving Hyūga Hiashi.
Afterwards, the Cloud Village blamed Konoha for failing to protect their envoy and demanded Konoha hand over the corpse of Hyūga Hiashi.
To avoid war, Konoha had to accept the Cloud Village's terms; eventually Hyūga Hiashi's younger brother took his place and died.
At its core, wasn't this caused by Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen?
Exchanging a few cannon-fodder envoys' lives to save the clan head's life—that was quite a bargain.
Absurdly, Hiruzen didn't refuse; he agreed!
To prevent such things from happening again, Renya intended to change Hiruzen's personality completely.
"But—"
Hiruzen attempted to speak, but Renya cut him off mercilessly.
"Alright, Hiruzen. In this matter I support Danzō. You really should change your ways; learn from Danzō more."
Danzō's decision here was without fault.
"If Sunagakure dares to threaten Konoha with this, then we should start a war!"
Renya's expression was cold, his voice void of emotion.
Those clowns hadn't learned their lesson in the last war; they deserved another painful teaching.
Hiruzen could only sigh helplessly.
Perhaps he had been too cautious in dealing with this.
He lacked Danzō's decisiveness and boldness…
"Renya is right!" Danzō couldn't suppress a smile.
Having a friend who shared his thoughts felt good.
Danzō immediately issued orders to the ANBU.
"Tell Sunagakure that Konoha will offer no explanations or compensation. If they have objections, then let them speak with strength on the battlefield!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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