Itachi had never felt much respect for Shimura Danzo. Everything he did for the man was only for the sake of the village.
But after seeing what Kaede Kitahara had revealed in the diary, he frowned so hard his head ached. Danzo's actions were even worse than he had imagined.
The person Itachi intended to intimidate on his next return to Konoha was none other than Danzo.
Yet when he saw the entries about Danzo transplanting Hashirama Cells and stuffing his arm full of Sharingan, his composure cracked.
The Third Hokage once praised him for having the mindset of a Hokage at a young age. Meaning, unlike naive idealists, Itachi could see the world from a ruler's perspective. He never believed the village was spotless or free of darkness.
Konoha was a militarized giant, a machine of violence. No matter how loudly it preached the Will of Fire, there were always things done in violation of it.
Everything was for the village.
That, to Itachi, was the heart of the Will of Fire.
But Danzo's actions crossed a line he could not tolerate. Hashirama Cells and the Sharingan were connected to the two clans that founded Konoha.
And looking at reality, where were those clans now?
The Senju Clan had faded into silence. The Uchiha Clan had been wiped out in a single night.
Danzo dared to violate both legacies. Rage flared in Itachi's chest, but he forced himself to breathe. Anger solved nothing.
But something else bothered him far more. The diary revealed an alarming fact: Konoha would allow Danzo to serve as the 5.5th Hokage.
That alone made no sense.
The Fourth Hokage had already been in the Third's grand-student generation. How could the Fifth Hokage possibly be Danzo? And 5.5th Hokage implied that the rightful Sixth was supposed to come next.
If Danzo sat in that position, even temporarily, then just how badly had Konoha deteriorated? What kind of collapse in leadership would allow such an old schemer to gain the village's endorsement?
The thought filled Itachi with dread.
Could this be connected to Pain's invasion of Konoha?
He saw the image of Pain leveling the entire village with Shinra Tensei. His whole body tensed.
The village he sacrificed everything to protect, erased like that?
Did Danzo become the 5.5th Hokage because of this catastrophe?
He knew little about Akatsuki's true leader. Only that he was called Pain and bore the legendary Rinnegan, the eyes said to belong to the Sage of Six Paths.
But he didn't know what the Rinnegan could do. The video didn't show much. Only that Pain could seemingly fly, and that devastating technique, Shinra Tensei.
It didn't resemble any elemental jutsu he knew. It wasn't wind, even though there was no color. Wind Release was about slicing and storms.
This technique felt like a force radiating outward from Pain himself.
The footage was too short to analyze further.
But it explained why someone like Danzo would end up as the temporary Hokage. If Pain had destroyed Konoha, the Fifth Hokage must have died in that attack.
Itachi's heartbeat quickened, but he held himself still.
He had never fought Pain, but he knew for certain he couldn't defeat him. Akatsuki's core members were all S-rank missing-nin. Any one of them was a Kage Level threat. Fighters who were wild and unstoppable in the outside world were docile within Akatsuki.
That alone proved how terrifying Pain was.
If Itachi acted rashly, the consequences would be fatal. Especially because Pain didn't trust him. He could see that clearly. Some information was always withheld from him, far beyond what his rank should've allowed.
He had no access to Akatsuki's inner secrets.
The only things he knew were Pain's name and his Rinnegan. Nothing about the abilities, the limitations, or how it compared to the Mangekyo Sharingan.
So he had lived cautiously in the Land of Rain, every movement watched. Even messenger birds would immediately be detected. The endless rain carried traces of chakra. Beneath the downpour lurked a monstrous presence with immeasurable chakra.
Something beyond human.
Shippuden really forced everyone to conserve chakra, the diary continued. Not like the later arcs where people start piloting mecha and fighting aliens. At that point, chakra basically stops mattering. But right now, before everyone grows up, you still have to play it safe. After all, Danzo will someday be the 5.5th Hokage. Even if it's brief, the man ends up fleeing the Five Kage Summit like a sewer rat while the other four Kage chase Sasuke. The only one who ran was him. It's hilarious. No Hokage in history has ever run like that.
Back when he lost to the Third Hokage by one step in front of the Second Hokage, that loss became lifelong. A man who spends his whole life stirring up shadows in the dark thinks he can be Hokage? After crawling underground so long, he forgot how real combat works. That's why he had the legendary moment of trying to stab Susanoo with a kunai. Dying in Sasuke's hands was honestly the most dignified end he could've hoped for.
Hatake Kakashi stared at the diary. His resentment toward Danzo was obvious. But the information buried in these lines was enormous.
Just as he suspected, Danzo had indeed held the Hokage title briefly. That was how the 5.5th Hokage joke came to be.
Why 5.5th and not Sixth? Because he must have died before serving for long, killed by Uchiha Sasuke.
But normally, even one day as Hokage made someone an official Hokage. So why the half-number?
There was only one explanation. His title was stripped afterward.
Likely because he fled the Five Kage Summit.
Kakashi could imagine it now. The Five Kage Summit only happened in eras of massive crisis. Historically, the last time the Five Kage met openly was when Senju Hashirama reshaped the ninja world and distributed the Tailed Beasts.
For them to sit down together again meant only one thing. Either an even greater crisis loomed, or the Fourth Great Ninja War exhausted everyone until they were forced to negotiate, just as Kaede implied.
Either way, having the Hokage flee was disgraceful.
Only someone like Danzo could make such a mess out of the most important negotiation in the world.
He was the darkness of the ninja world, after all.
"Died by my hand?" Uchiha Sasuke's eyes lit with a cold spark as he read.
He had already sworn to kill Danzo and avenge the Sharingan stolen from the Uchiha Clan, but he had never expected the confirmation to arrive like this.
In the future, he would succeed.
He would personally avenge his clan.