Danzo's face was grim, his scalp tingling.
Yes!
He wasn't a fool; he was a bit confused at first, but now he understood.
These Ninja Clan must have defected to the Uchiha!
Nonsense.
The entire Konoha was under strict surveillance by the Barrier Squad. How could they not notice such a large number of people leaving the Village?
And in the current Konoha, there was only one place they could go.
The Uchiha!
Thinking of this, his face grew even worse. The Uchiha were already difficult to deal with; with so many Ninja Clan joining them, how arrogant would the Uchiha become?
Also... more importantly, how was he going to explain this to Hiruzen?
If Hiruzen knew that his actions had caused the major Ninja Clan to defect to the Uchiha, Hiruzen Sarutobi would probably tear him apart.
What to do?
Danzo's mind raced. After a moment of thought, he slowly spoke.
"Tell Hiruzen I won't be going."
"Root received intelligence that something has happened in the other Ninja Villages, and I need to go deal with it immediately."
"Yes, that's it!"
At this moment, Danzo's face was full of solemnity.
As if a major event had truly occurred in the other Ninja Villages, urgently requiring him, Danzo, to go and deal with it.
The Anbu Member was dumbfounded.
What the heck!
If you do this, how am I supposed to explain?
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead: "Danzo-sama, but the Hokage instructed..."
"Alright, shut up." Danzo interrupted directly, his tone quite serious: "If you truly delay a major Village matter, can you bear the responsibility?"
"Just report this to Hiruzen, you don't need to worry about anything else."
After speaking.
Danzo didn't hesitate at all, directly using the Body Flicker Technique to leave.
Yes.
He wasn't stupid!
Now that all the major Ninja Clan had defected to the Uchiha, if he went to Hiruzen Sarutobi, the enraged Hiruzen Sarutobi might actually summon Enma and stab him out of the Village with a staff.
So?
He's gone, he's gone!
Anyway, he wasn't the Hokage; Hiruzen Sarutobi was the one who should be anxious.
As the Hokage, he was more anxious than himself!
If this matter couldn't be resolved, then his position as Hokage wouldn't be stable. So, he would wait until Hiruzen Sarutobi finished dealing with it; that would be his time to return to Konoha and achieve great things!
Anbu Member: "..."
His mouth twitched.
Looking at Danzo's departing figure, he really wanted to stop him, but the man's status was too high; he simply didn't dare to stop him.
No way.
After all, he was the Hokage-sama's companion. No matter how big a mistake he made, at most he would be scolded by the Hokage, and then everything would go back to normal.
But what about himself?
If Danzo held a grudge against him, he could go pick out a burial plot right now.
What to do?
At this moment, the Anbu Member was completely bewildered.
But, sigh!
He finally let out a helpless sigh, then returned to the Hokage Office with no other choice.
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi sitting behind the desk, his face now as dark as ink and his aura as chilling as a prison, along with the two elders standing beside the Hokage, his body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
However.
He still respectfully knelt on one knee, then spoke in a very steady tone.
"Reporting — Hokage-sama!"
"Danzo-sama's Root received a secret letter stating that other Ninja Villages have made some small moves, and he needs to go deal with them immediately."
"He will return after he has dealt with it!"
After speaking.
The Anbu Member, kneeling on one knee, couldn't help but start sweating on his forehead.
Then, immediately after.
Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could even speak, Utatane Koharu shrieked.
"What? Danzo ran away?"
"That damn guy caused such a huge mess, and then you tell me he ran away?"
"Why didn't you stop him!"
Utatane Koharu's face was extremely grim, and she immediately started yelling at the Anbu.
Even Homura Mitokado was furious.
Yes!
They already knew what had happened at this point, which was why they immediately told the Anbu to notify Danzo for a meeting.
But, damn it.
That damn scoundrel Danzo just packed up and ran away?
"Enough!"
"Now is not the time to shift blame. The key is to find a way to solve the problem as quickly as possible."
"Alright, you may leave."
Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed the table, breaking his seventeenth pipe, which showed how furious he was at the moment.
However.
He still waved his hand at the Anbu, allowing him to leave directly.
He clearly understood that if Danzo wanted to leave, the Anbu wouldn't dare and couldn't stop him. Now that the major Ninja Clan had defected to the Uchiha, his manpower was already stretched thin, and he couldn't just get angry and further alienate his subordinates.
Upon hearing this, the Anbu felt as if he had been granted a great pardon.
He quickly left the Hokage Office without a word, his back completely drenched in cold sweat.
No way.
When he came to work at the Anbu today, he found that almost half of his Anbu colleagues hadn't shown up for work, leaving only resignation letters on their respective desks.
This time, things were serious!
The remaining Anbu Members immediately reported it, and then Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was enraged, immediately sending people to conduct a targeted investigation.
And the matter of the Ninja Clan was not meant to be concealed, so it was naturally investigated immediately. Thus, Hiruzen Sarutobi, furious to the extreme, immediately assigned this unlucky fellow to find Danzo.
But, damn it.
Who would have thought that scoundrel Danzo would be so shameless, that at the first sign of trouble, instead of trying to solve it, he immediately thought of running away?
Damn you.
You've completely screwed me over!
As for why this matter only came to light today, this Anbu Member was actually quite clear.
Although the Anbu was filled with many civilian Ninja, the true core Ninja were all Ninja Clan members. This was the fundamental reason why the major Ninja Clan frantically relocated last night, yet were never discovered by the Village's higher-ups.
Whether it was the Anbu, the Barrier Squad, or the Intelligence Department and Interrogation Department, all were filled with a large number of Ninja Clan members.
Now that these Ninja Clan were leaving, the members of these departments naturally helped conceal it.
After their clan territories were emptied, these people would finally leave... The Hokage Office was filled with a heavy atmosphere.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two had grim expressions, and for a moment, no one could think of a solution. After all, this incident happened too suddenly, leaving them completely unprepared.
No choice!
Who would have thought Danzo would be so ruthless? His authorization was only seven people per clan, but this guy dared to secretly increase it to seventeen, and each clan also had to provide five Jonin.
Good heavens.
This was practically asking for the lives of those Ninja Clan!
Especially the Aburame Clan, it was utterly inhumane, demanding that the clan leader, Aburame Shimi, lead the entire clan to join Root?
Damn it, truly ruthless!
When he received this news, Hiruzen Sarutobi almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
It was at this moment that Jiraiya jumped in through the window.
"Old man..."
"Why did you call me so urgently? What did the Uchiha do now?"