Impure World Reincarnation

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Hashirama's words caused Danzo's body to tremble violently, and his spirit was greatly shaken.

It was as if the god in his heart had rejected his actions.

Danzo had always believed that the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was the true Hokage.

And that the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was a god.

But...

Danzo, despite convincing himself all these years that he had a clear conscience, found himself speechless at the simple question just posed.

Selfish?

Indeed!

Danzo had always harbored personal ambitions; he wanted to become Hokage, to replace Hiruzen Sarutobi, and to stand in that position to contribute to the village.

"???"

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were full of questions.

What happened to Danzo's arm?

Both of them looked at Danzo's right hand but saw only bandages, yielding no answers.

What exactly was going on?

They exchanged puzzled glances, each seeing the confusion in the other's eyes. They began to suspect that the First Hokage might know something.

Danzo's expression grew extremely tense. The excuses he had used to deceive himself were ruthlessly exposed by Hashirama.

"I... I... everything I did was for the sake of Konoha!"

Danzo took a deep breath and repeated his statement. He clung to the belief that the First Hokage couldn't know much.

He had only mentioned the arm.

Perhaps he had sensed the Hashirama cells in the arm.

Danzo knew that Hashirama had taken the cells sealed in Konoha, so he wasn't too surprised.

"Then explain your right arm. I'll give you a chance."

A playful smirk tugged at Hashirama's lips. He could easily kill Danzo.

After all, this was someone he despised when watching the anime.

His biggest crime was being ugly.

Especially that right arm.

Utterly disgusting!

Hashirama had always believed in a saying while watching anime.

His values depended on the villain's appearance.

As long as you looked handsome, you were in the right!

Good looks were justice!

Unfortunately...

Hashirama shook his head at Danzo's face. Justice had long departed from this person.

"First Hokage!"

"Ever since your death, Konoha has had a hidden danger—the Nine-Tails!"

"There are no more ninja in the village who can use Wood Release!"

"No one can restrain the Nine-Tails!"

"Except..."

"The Uchiha clan!"

Danzo's voice became low and cold. He never felt he had done anything wrong.

"This arm is the result of our research!"

"Hiruzen and I exhausted all efforts to study your cells, aiming to cultivate Wood Release ninja."

"Hiruzen agreed to all of this!"

Danzo started to shift the blame onto the Third Hokage.

Even if he couldn't completely clear his name.

Danzo was determined to drag the Third Hokage down with him!

"Is that all?"

Hashirama's face showed a hint of disappointment as he listened to Danzo's inadequate explanation.

Was that all the defense you had?

It was clear that Danzo had been spoiled by the Third Hokage!

For years, the Third Hokage had largely turned a blind eye to Danzo's actions, tacitly condoning his behavior.

"Hmm."

Danzo thought that his explanation was sufficient and hoped it would be enough to clear him.

"I have a few questions."

Hashirama smiled at Danzo, clearly enjoying the feeling of having everything under control.

This wasn't just about a cat-and-mouse game anymore.

It was more like the cat playing with the mouse.

Not taking full advantage of this opportunity would be a waste.

"You conducted experiments early on, which caused many sacrifices. Later, the Third Hokage stopped the experiments. Why did you continue them in secret?"

Hashirama entered interrogation mode, wielding a significant information advantage. From the start, this was a disparity of levels.

The secret Danzo thought he had...

It was only a secret in Danzo's mind.

Even if he believed he was the only one in the ninja world who knew it,

as long as it was depicted in the anime,

Hashirama would know!

That's the power of intelligence—just by having information, Hashirama could easily navigate the ninja world.

"I…"

Danzo's lips twitched. What he wanted to say most was, how did you know?

This burden had already been shifted to Orochimaru!

In the Third Hokage's and the village's view, it was Orochimaru conducting secret experiments, unaware of Danzo's support behind the scenes.

Perhaps the Third Hokage had some suspicions, but there was no evidence.

How could the First Hokage possibly know?!

"No… that's not true!"

Danzo denied it vehemently, certain that there was no evidence. Even if Orochimaru said something, Danzo could dismiss it as Orochimaru's own claim.

The blame he had carefully shifted to Orochimaru couldn't return to him!

After all these years,

the number of times he managed to offload the blame was few and far between, and he was used to carrying the weight of it.

"Then let me ask you this. When you successfully cultivated a Wood Release ninja, Tensho, why did you keep it a secret and not inform the Third Hokage and the village? Isn't that contrary to the original purpose of your experiments?"

Hashirama's eyes flashed with intensity, and his entire presence became even more formidable with his question.

"That… because… I wanted to raise Tensho in secret. Before he had enough strength, a Wood Release ninja could easily become a target for other villages!"

Danzo's mind raced, and he hurriedly provided the most plausible answer he could come up with in the shortest amount of time.

Admittedly, it sounded somewhat credible.

At least it was enough to make Hashirama think that this was a somewhat acceptable explanation.

"Then let me ask you this. Why did you secretly contact Hanzo of the Salamander behind the village's back?"

Hashirama didn't care about Danzo's answer.

No matter how Danzo responded, Hashirama had already formed his own judgment about him.

What he was doing now was to continuously probe Danzo's soul, to see what kind of answers he could provide.

These questions

were about things Danzo had done.

Yet very few people knew about them—almost exclusively members of Root, who were bound by the Curse Seal of Silence, unable to reveal anything about Danzo.

"…"

Danzo was on the brink of collapse.

Each question felt like a sharp knife, continuously stabbing into his heart.

First Hokage!

Have you truly been living in a pure land all these years?

Where did you get all this information?

"I… I… I did that to counter potential external threats and to preemptively strike against emerging new powers!"

Danzo began to sweat, his bandages soaked through. For the first time in years, he felt that his bandages were a bit too tight.

(End of Chapter)