The five Root ninja?
Yōkō thought to himself, With me here, rest assured, they've all gone to where they belong.
Not a single one was missing.
Yōkō said: "At the time, I was smashed deep underground by Uchiha Madara's Wood Dragon."
"The battlefield shifted from the surface to underground, and I was fighting Uchiha Madara's Wood Release roots."
"As for the five Root ninja, I don't know what happened to them."
This couldn't be blamed on Fox, could it? Fox had voluntarily offered to cover the retreat. Jiraiya and Lynx managed to return, so why didn't Ki make it back? Shouldn't Ki reflect on himself?
Ki and the four new recruits all died in the Land of Rain. The reconstruction of Root had collapsed once again.
How tragic.
Danzo glanced at Jiraiya, his eyes filled with anger, and asked again: "Fox, we know the general situation of the mission. Give us your assessment."
Yōkō noticed Danzo's hostility towards Jiraiya and quickly added fuel to the fire:
"I believe this severe loss could have been avoided!"
"Lord Jiraiya stayed behind in Amegakure, constantly teaching ninjutsu to three orphans, one of whom was an Uzumaki remnant."
"If Lord Jiraiya had reported earlier that an Uzumaki remnant was his student, we wouldn't have been so passive, caught off guard by the person behind the Uzumaki remnant."
"Uchiha Madara, for some reason, is secretly supporting the Uzumaki remnant."
"The two sides have joined forces!"
"The Uzumaki remnant undoubtedly harbors hatred for Konoha, and Uchiha Madara is the same, his hatred for Konoha likely even greater."
"On the surface, Uzumaki Nagato is Jiraiya's student, but in reality, he is more likely Uchiha Madara's student!"
"Even the previous losses suffered by Root, the Shimura clan, and the Sarutobi clan could have been revenge by the Uzumaki remnants, supported by Uchiha Madara!"
Yōkō's words were like a final verdict, providing the most reasonable explanation for everything.
Who would dare target Konoha's Root, the Shimura clan, and even the Sarutobi clan, which lost a promising young talent about to be promoted to jōnin? No ordinary enemy would have such audacity.
If the perpetrator was Uchiha Madara, everything made sense.
Uchiha Madara had the ability to deal with Konoha; he had helped build half of Konoha, after all.
Yōkō thought to himself, Uchiha Madara, since you're about to die anyway, you can carry this burden for now.
As for Uchiha Madara refuting it... ha, would the village believe him, an Anbu squad leader, or believe Uchiha Madara?
Jiraiya shot up from the sofa, glaring furiously at Fox.
But remembering how Fox had risked his life to cover the retreat, he couldn't say Fox was deliberately targeting him.
Jiraiya turned to the other higher-ups and said:
"I have something to say!"
"How could I have possibly imagined the village would have a feud with the Uzumaki clan?"
"If you higher-ups didn't say anything, who could have guessed that Konoha secretly facilitated the Uzumaki clan's destruction?"
The Third Hokage shouted sternly: "Silence! Jiraiya!"
After this exchange between master and student, the Hokage's office fell silent.
Yōkō thought to himself that the actions of the higher-ups were beginning to alienate some of Konoha's ninja.
Jiraiya was a very traditional ninja – traditional in his fighting style, traditional in his beliefs, his thinking closest to the ideology of Konoha during the First Hokage's era.
Jiraiya's disappointment with the higher-ups represented a tear and internal conflict in the village's long-standing propaganda.
Konoha always emphasized bonds, emphasized sacrifice, emphasized obeying and sacrificing for the village, while in reality, the village higher-ups were exploiting the sacrifices of Konoha ninja.
Jiraiya was now feeling this tear in his values.
The village had previously propagandized that the Uzumaki clan was Konoha's most important ally, even having the Uzumaki clan emblem on the ninja flak jackets.
Now he discovered that Konoha's behavior regarding the Uzumaki clan's demise was strange.
This caused a tear in his values, making him re-evaluate the village, starting to doubt the village and doubt himself.
The Third Hokage's voice was firm and severe:
"The destruction of the Uzumaki clan was a tragedy born of greed!
After the First Hokage founded the village, he distributed the Three-Tails and Six-Tails to Kirigakure to achieve a balance of deterrence."
"Kirigakure's sealing technique level was very poor, and the Three-Tails remained in a wild state for a long time."
"The Uzumaki clan saw an opportunity and actually plotted to seize Kirigakure's Three-Tails."
"This behavior not only disrupted the First Hokage's plans but also provoked retaliation from Kirigakure."
"Konoha dispatched over 2,000 ninja for emergency reinforcement, but in the end, we were still one step too late."
"Who could have expected the Third Mizukage to personally go to Uzushiogakure? And who could have expected that Kirigakure would be willing to cede the guardianship of an important port in exchange for Kumo and Kiri joining forces to annihilate Uzushiogakure?"
"Jiraiya! Konoha's only responsibility in the Uzumaki clan's destruction was failing to anticipate Kirigakure's determination and providing reinforcements too late."
"Besides Konoha, which village was willing to send 2,000 ninja to rescue the Uzumaki clan when they were in crisis?"
At first, Jiraiya thought he might have been wrong, but then he immediately raised his head and asked: "Then why didn't the Uzumaki clan members come to seek refuge in Konoha? They must have had a reason for not doing so, right?"
Danzo loathed Jiraiya and said:
"That's enough from you two, master and student!"
"Stop arguing about the pointless issue of the Uzumaki clan's destruction. What is there to say about an already destroyed clan?"
"The Uzumaki clan was insatiably greedy and ungrateful. Instead of seeking revenge on Kirigakure, the Uzumaki remnants target Konoha at every turn!"
"This clan deserved to be destroyed!"
"The problem now is that Jiraiya failed to report the identity of his new student, causing Root and Anbu to suffer from massive intelligence misdirection."
"Jiraiya took in an Uzumaki remnant as a student, so naturally Root and Anbu believed they could take this Uzumaki remnant. Yet Jiraiya actually intervened to stop them."
"If Jiraiya hadn't stopped Fox, wasting so much time, how could my Root have suffered such heavy losses?"
"The true master of these Uzumaki remnants, these homeless dogs, is Uchiha Madara!"
"Jiraiya! You must take responsibility for the huge losses suffered by Root and Anbu!"
Yōkō thought to himself, Keep arguing, more fiercely! Where are the personal attacks? The venomous curses? The swearing on your families?
Jiraiya retorted: "How do you want me to take responsibility? If you hadn't come to snatch Uzumaki Nagato, how would you have suffered losses?"
"If we didn't capture Uzumaki Nagato, were we supposed to wait for you to finish teaching the Uzumaki remnant, so he could attack Konoha for revenge?"
In the original story, when Uzumaki Nagato attacked Konoha, Jiraiya bore some responsibility.
His mercy led to Konoha gaining a great enemy.
His death at Nagato's hands was, in a way, atonement for his initial mistake.
"Jiraiya!" Danzo shouted sharply:
"You made an unauthorized stay in Amegakure, disregarding the Second Shinobi World War, ignoring the deaths and injuries of so many chūnin and genin in the village!"
"Rogue ninja!"
"Such behavior would make any Konoha ninja a rogue ninja!"
"You teach the village's enemy and even take the village's enemy as your student!"
"Such behavior would have any other Konoha ninja executed!"
"Anbu! Seize him!"
Yōkō perked up upon hearing this. A fight would be great.
Although Danzo was evil, these judgments of his weren't wrong.
If Yōkō had stayed behind in Amegakure, he'd probably be hunted as a rogue ninja by the village by now.
Let alone taking in orphans from an enemy country as students.
How many lives did he have to dare do such a thing?
Jiraiya's status was special; he possessed the Mount Myōboku inheritance and was doted on by the Third Hokage. If it were anyone else, Danzo would have killed them long ago.
Before anyone else could react, Jiraiya, in his anger, began forming hand seals first.
His hair elongated, getting ready to stab towards Danzo.
***
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(Chapter End)