"Lord Hokage, don't you plan to give us an explanation?"
Inside the Hokage's office, envoys sent by various countries directly stated their purpose.
News that members of the Uchiha clan had secretly captured jinchūriki from different villages had already spread.
Everyone knew that the Uchiha clan was in Konoha, and this matter was absolutely inseparable from the Hokage!
Facing everyone's questioning, Shimura Danzō showed no emotion on his face.
"Do you have any concrete evidence?"
Hearing this, the envoys couldn't help looking at each other—they really had no evidence.
"Just because the leader of Takigakure said it casually, you treat it as the truth?"
Shimura Danzō looked at the lead Takigakure envoy, his gaze turning unfriendly.
"Empty words mean nothing. Do you have any solid proof?"
The Takigakure envoy instinctively lowered his head, not daring to meet the Hokage's eyes.
On the night the Seven-Tails jinchūriki was captured, he wasn't even present.
Faced with Danzō's questioning, he couldn't refute it for the moment.
Indeed, relying solely on the Takigakure leader's one-sided account was not enough to prove it was done by the Uchiha clan.
Seeing that the Takigakure envoy couldn't answer, Shimura Danzō then looked at the other envoys present.
"And what evidence do you have?"
The envoys from the other countries all lowered their heads, unsure what to do.
Their village's jinchūriki had disappeared without a sound—they hadn't seen the culprit at all.
As for whether it was really the Uchiha clan, who could say for sure?
"Lord Hokage, I believe our leader wouldn't speak recklessly…" the Takigakure envoy said through clenched teeth.
Though he didn't dare offend Konoha, he dared offend his own leader even less.
And he felt that his leader wouldn't fabricate something out of thin air.
Since he said it was the Uchiha clan, then it must be the Uchiha clan!
Shimura Danzō didn't speak, only quietly staring at him.
The atmosphere in the office instantly dropped to freezing point. None of the envoys dared to even breathe loudly, afraid that one small mistake would offend the Hokage.
The person under the greatest pressure was undoubtedly the Takigakure envoy.
Just as he was about to piss himself in fear, someone knocked on the office door.
The oppressive atmosphere instantly dissipated.
"Come in."
Uchiha Tanaka entered the office with a dark expression, coldly sweeping his gaze over the envoys.
These damned people actually dared to spread rumors about the Uchiha.
Absolutely unforgivable!
Their Uchiha clan had always honestly stayed within the village, yet people from other villages were spreading rumors that they were secretly capturing tailed beasts.
Wasn't this bullying honest people?
If this weren't Konoha, he would have long since let these people know the price of slandering the Uchiha.
"Lord Hokage, I'm here."
"The Uchiha clan head is here. If you have any doubts, you can ask him."
Shimura Danzō said to the envoys.
Only then did the envoys dare look toward Uchiha Tanaka, whose face was grim.
"You claim that Uchiha clan members captured your village's jinchūriki?"
This was utter nonsense!
Why would the Uchiha clan, with nothing better to do, run to other villages to capture tailed beasts?!
Were they bored out of their minds?
"That's right. Our leader saw it with his own eyes—he had a pair of Sharingan!"
The Takigakure envoy said with a serious expression.
Uchiha Tanaka: "…"
If that person really had the Sharingan, then it was indeed one hundred percent an Uchiha.
But he could guarantee it wasn't someone from their clan.
Because to quietly take away a jinchūriki without a sound required tremendous strength—something impossible without overwhelming power.
And within the clan, the only one capable of doing that was Uchiha Kagami.
But he dared to guarantee that Uchiha Kagami would never do such a thing!
So if it wasn't Uchiha Kagami, yet possessed immense strength and had a pair of Sharingan…
Tsk tsk, who could it be?
So hard to guess!
Uchiha Tanaka subconsciously glanced at Shimura Danzō.
Could it be that the Hokage wanted to secretly capture tailed beasts, but Renya accidentally exposed himself?
And now he planned to deny it to the death…
And then push the blame onto the Uchiha clan as a scapegoat?
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
"Where's the evidence?"
Uchiha Tanaka looked displeased as he stared at the Takigakure envoy, his tone unfriendly.
"Other than what your leader said, do you have any other concrete proof?"
For a moment, the Takigakure envoy didn't know how to explain.
What evidence did he have?!
"Our Uchiha clan has no one capable of quietly capturing a jinchūriki!"
Uchiha Tanaka said angrily.
"Jinchūriki are incredibly powerful—how could they possibly be taken away without a sound!"
If the Uchiha clan really had someone that strong, someone from their clan would have become Hokage long ago.
His words left several people speechless.
Those capable of silently capturing a jinchūriki were extremely rare in the entire shinobi world.
And among those with the Sharingan, there might only be that one person!
Uchiha Madara.
No—perhaps there was another.
Uchiha Renya was also highly suspicious…
They should have thought of this earlier.
Back then, on the battlefield, he had killed the Four-Tails jinchūriki and the Eight-Tails jinchūriki.
If he made a move on the remaining jinchūriki, the chances of success would be extremely high.
The range of suspects had already narrowed down to just two people.
"Lord Hokage, may we meet Uchiha Renya?" After privately discussing it, the envoys decided to confront Renya face to face.
As long as they met Renya, they could tell from the conversation whether he was lying.
Those who could serve as envoys all had some skill.
Otherwise, the Kage of each village wouldn't have sent them to Konoha for negotiations.
"What do you want with me?"
Renya pushed open the office door and swaggered in, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
From beginning to end, he didn't even open his eyes to look at them once.
Just a bunch of small fry.
Even if they really knew it was him, so what?
In any case, after some time he would tell Madara-sama the truth. He was already too lazy to keep acting.
He wasn't even afraid of Madara-sama—why would he be afraid of a few insignificant envoys?
Seeing Renya, the envoys instinctively took a step back.
A person's reputation casts a shadow, and the title "Konoha Poison Master" had long thundered through the world.
During the war, he had single-handedly killed three Kage and two jinchūriki.
Such a terrifying figure was not someone they could afford to provoke.
To put it bluntly, even their own Kage would have to be extremely cautious when facing Renya.
"Po-Poison Master-sama, ha-have you… have you seen our village's jinchūriki?"
The Takigakure envoy said tremblingly.
If he had known it would be like this, he would never have come to Konoha.
"Never seen them," Renya said calmly. "Anything else?"
"N-no, nothing else." The Takigakure envoy lowered his head and quietly retreated behind the others.
The envoys from the other villages, seeing this, didn't know whether they should speak up.
For a moment, the office was completely silent.
"If you have nothing else, you can all get lost and go back."
Renya impatiently waved his hand at them.
"Y-yes…"
Hearing this, they immediately turned around without hesitation, afraid that if they were any slower, they'd be killed. But just as they were about to leave, they were called to stop.
"Wait. The Kirigakure envoy, remember to tell the Mizukage to strengthen the protection of jinchūriki. Don't let them get snatched away again."
If the difficulty didn't increase, Madara would say he was slacking off again.
"O-okay…"