Chapter 420: Conspiracy
Although she said she could answer this question, Haruno Sakura knew that this question was not easy to answer.
Should she answer truthfully?
Of course, Danzo tried to take advantage of Haruno Sakura's situation, but instead had several of his subordinates killed by her. Danzo wouldn't dare to bring this kind of thing to the table.
But in any case, killing ninja from the same village—even if they were Root ninja with malicious intent—was not a good thing and went against the spirit of Konoha. So, if this matter was exposed, it would put an ugly blemish on Haruno Sakura's flawless resume.
So, this was what the advisors were relying on, thinking they had leverage over Haruno Sakura?
Koharu Utatane hoped that Haruno Sakura and Tsunade would think so, and then treat this incident as a tacit political deal—this time you let me go and hold my leverage, next time you have a bargaining chip to make me let you go.
It wasn't like that at all. The advisors and Danzo had been playing power games for many years. They never believed in so-called tacit political deals. Someone would always break the rules. Even black and white agreements could be violated at any time, let alone unspoken tacit understandings.
What they wanted to do was to strike at Tsunade's reputation—by stigmatizing Haruno Sakura.
First, suspected of holding back in the battle with Uchiha Itachi; second, killing Root ninja monitoring the battlefield; finally, Haruno Sakura secretly conducting human experiments in the past few years.
Hehe, stringing these together, doesn't it smell a bit like Haruno Sakura is about to defect? Even the contact person for the next home, the "Akatsuki" organization, has been found.
Of course, there was no evidence, only rumors, but the advisors felt it was enough—wasn't Hatake Sakumo driven to death like this back then?
As for saying that a Hokage's disciple couldn't defect... people still vividly remembered Orochimaru's example!
As for whether doing so would be self-destructive... with the integrity of politicians, would they care about so much?
Well, maybe they would care about those things, provided that—they first gained power and suppressed Tsunade, rather than being pushed out of the core power circle step by step by Tsunade.
And as the first step of the conspiracy, first lure the girl into lying to wash away her actions. A person who lies is not trustworthy.
Yes, Koharu Utatane had specifically left a way out after the question. As long as she followed the sentence "the murderer who killed them was from Akatsuki," everyone would tacitly reach a consensus to cover this matter up, and then you're good, I'm good, everyone's good—
As long as the girl thought so.
Then, just when she thought she could land safely following the steps, Koharu Utatane would strike back, throw out the second autopsy report, and tell everyone that those eight people died from Monstrous Strength or Ice Style!
Making Haruno Sakura and Tsunade lose all face.
Ideally, make Haruno Sakura the second Hatake Sakumo, so as to completely suppress Tsunade!
In short, these three old fogies who were more reluctant to leave power as they aged had prepared many vicious and despicable ideas to avoid being cleared out of the power center by Tsunade, just waiting for Haruno Sakura and Tsunade to fall into the trap!
Koharu Utatane looked at Haruno Sakura with eyes hiding expectation, waiting for her answer.
Haruno Sakura didn't make her wait too long.
After considering for a moment, she said slowly with a cold face: "If you are talking about those Root ninja in the cave, I know the cause of their death."
"One of them indeed died at the hands of Akatsuki."
Koharu Utatane asked again: "Then what about the remaining seven?"
"The remaining seven..." A smile full of malice suddenly appeared on the girl's face, "Why don't you ask Lord Danzo Shimura who brought the Root ninja to intercept me at that time?"
She stood up suddenly, and surging chakra burst out without warning!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Several cyan water snakes instantly shot out from the girl's white wrist at high speed, disregarding the noble status of some people present, brushed past the gaps in the seats, pierced through the door with lightning speed, and rushed out!
The sudden attack almost scared everyone out of their wits, especially the two advisors who had lived in comfort for many years. Their performance was even worse; they screamed and almost shrank under the table. The moment the high-speed water flow passed their noses, the two actually had the illusion that their hearts stopped beating!
Koharu Utatane suddenly realized that with the strength Haruno Sakura had shown recently, if Sakura was accidentally forced to defect by her, it would probably take only a tenth of a second for Sakura to take her head... Even if Tsunade, the Third, and a group of elite Jonin were present, they probably couldn't stop her!
"Bastard..." She gritted her teeth and cursed, crawling out from under the table. Her voice trembled a little, unknown whether from anger or fear, her face livid, "Haruno Sakura, what are you doing!?"
"What am I doing?" Sakura sneered, "There was a rat eavesdropping sneakily outside the door. I just invited him in."
"You...!"
The surging chakra aura on Haruno Sakura was really astonishing, actually forcibly suppressing the old woman Koharu Utatane so she couldn't breathe. No matter how many heart-piercing and smearing words she wanted to say, she couldn't utter them!
She could only watch helplessly as Sakura's slender fingers moved, controlling the water snakes to bind the two men in black outside the door and drag them back into the conference room—
Including an old man with bandages wrapped around his head.
"Oh," the girl deliberately made her tone exaggerated and affected, "Isn't this..."
"Lord Danzo Shimura?"
The cyan water snakes looked slender, but they were incredibly tough. Danzo, whose strength was not weak, was firmly bound and dragged in like a dead snake.
Danzo Shimura, one of the high-level executives of Konoha and the leader of Root, was actually treated like this...? The scene was really somewhat bizarre, leaving people speechless. The Jonin Squad Leaders and Anbu Captains were already numb. It was a fight between gods; they couldn't afford to offend either side, better to just silently be spectators.
What was even more bizarre was that the Hokages didn't say anything, and Danzo actually didn't open his mouth to reprimand Haruno Sakura angrily...
"Haruno Sakura, put him down quickly!" Koharu Utatane was furious and anxious, pointing at Haruno Sakura and shouting, "You bastard, how dare you be so disrespectful to your elders and offend your superiors? What a disgrace!"
"Hehe," the girl sneered, gently wagging her scallion-white index finger, lifting Danzo Shimura up high, and said softly, "Don't worry, Advisor Koharu Utatane-sama. Maybe the venerable Danzo likes being tied up?"
"Is that right?"
"Lord-Dan-zo-Shi-mura?"
Haruno Sakura completely tore off the facade!
Incredibly, Danzo Shimura actually didn't struggle desperately or resist. He just widened his eyes, looked at Haruno Sakura coldly, suppressed the anger and humiliation all over his body, and said word by word: "Is that enough, Haruno Sakura?"
He was actually yielding?
Koharu and Homura were simply about to go mad with anger!
Humiliated like this by Haruno Sakura!
And actually remaining silent!
How can this faction convince the public in the future? The faction leader was treated like a dog and didn't dare to resist; reputation and prestige were all gone! Even if you can't beat Haruno Sakura, you have to make a gesture!
Homura Mitokado almost crushed the glasses in his hand. The anger in his heart could simply break through his forehead and rush into the sky. That bastard Danzo Shimura must have hidden some key things from them. Being treated like this by a little girl without uttering a sound, either he was beaten miserably by Haruno Sakura before, or she had huge leverage over him, or he was extremely afraid of Haruno Sakura!
Yes, the advisors indeed had the idea of discarding Danzo as a shield at any time, but this time they were pitted by Danzo first!
Koharu Utatane finally realized that the development of the situation had a tendency to go out of control.
Shouldn't they be playing with Haruno Sakura thoroughly with their skillful rhetoric and political means?
Why... did you flip the table as soon as you came up?!
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