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Seeing everyone in attendance, Sarutobi Hiruzen lightly coughed and said, “I believe everyone already knows about the fallout of the recent Land of Rivers’ mission.”

Hiruzen had just started speaking, when the Aburame clan’s patriarch stood up, deeply bowed to him, and said, “Hokage-sama, please give Ryoma a chance.”

Hiruzen blew out a mouthful of smoke, ignored the patriarch, and continued, “The mission’s failure resulted in a heavy loss to the village. Someone needs to bear the responsibility for this. Ryoma, what do you think?”

Hiruzen stared at Ryoma with a meaningful look.

Ryoma stepped forward under everyone’s gaze, bowed impassively, and said, “Hokage-sama, please don’t punish White Fang-sama.”

Hearing this, everyone’s expressions towards Ryoma turned strange. Sakumo himself was puzzled.

Hiruzen frowned and asked, “What do you mean?”

Ryuoma answered in a low voice, “A shinobi must prioritize the mission. In order to save the hostage, I didn’t care about being poisoned and asked White Fang-sama to take away the hostage. I never imagined he would act on his own to give up the mission and exchange the hostage for the antidote, wasting my painstaking efforts.”

Hiruzen never imagined Ryoma would blame the innocent. His complexion became gloomy. “You mean to say this was White Fang’s fault.”

Ryoma nodded and said, “Yes, I didn’t do anything against the shinobi code during the mission. I was even willing to use my life to complete the mission. But White Fang-sama, despite having completed the mission, decided to give up. He’s not qualified to be a ninja.”

“You can ask him whether I asked him to save me or not back then. However, considering he was trying to save me, I don’t want you to punish him.”

Hiruzen looked at the silent Sakumo. He was so angry that he smiled as he said, “Good, you explained this so well. Even if it was his dereliction of duty, in the end, everything happened because you were poisoned. Could it be that you have no responsibility?”

Just as he said this, Hiruzen realized his error. And at this time, Danzo impatiently jumped in the conversation, “Hiruzen, the one who committed the fault was White Fang, not Ryoma. Ryoma was just not strong enough. Even if he died in the mission, no one would have said anything. But it’s not fair to make him bear the responsibility.”

“As the Hokage, how can you blatantly make Ryoma bear the blame for White Fang’s blunder? Won’t this dampen the spirits of Konoha ninjas?”

Hiruzen hastily explained, “I don’t mean that…”

Danzo snorted coldly, “Even if you don’t, from what you said just now, you’ve already agreed this was White Fang’s fault.”

Hiruzen took a deep breath, looked at the senior officials and patriarchs, and said, “Everyone should be able to see who was at fault here.”

But who among these patriarchs and senior Konoha officials was not an old fox? They all thought this issue didn’t concern them. Moreover, irrespective of what they said, it would offend one side.

Calling it White Fang’s fault would offend Hiruzen and Sakumo. Calling it Ryoma’s fault would offend Danzo and Aburame clan.

Seeing that no one was speaking up for Sakumo, Danzo inwardly scorned and thought, “Hiruzen, you still don’t understand people’s hearts.”

“In any case, I can see it’s White Fang’s fault. As a shinobi, not giving priority to the mission was a mistake. White Fang, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Danzo used Hiruzen’s tactic and turned the table on Sakumo. However, Sakumo was a proud person, who was not good at words play. He stammered, “I…”

Danzo sneered but pretended to be concerned, and said, “Can you explain why you, as a ninja, gave up the mission midway? Is it because your comrades are more important than the mission itself?”

“Yes.” Sakumo nodded.

Hearing Sakumo’s admission, a smile of success appeared on Danzo’s face as he said to Hiruzen, “A ninja is just a tool. His mission must take precedence over all else. This is the agreement between every village and the employers. When the employer issues the mission, should we tell them that if the mission is dangerous, we’ll first save our companions?”

After Danzo finished speaking, Sakumo immediately knelt to Hiruzen and said, “Sorry, this mission was my dereliction of duty. I’m willing to accept any punishment.”

Hiruzen glared at Danzo and solemnly said, “In any case, I’m against punishing White Fang. After all, he has made military exploits for Konoha and carried out countless S-ranked missions. His contributions make up for this mistake.”

Since Danzo had achieved his goal, it didn’t matter whether Hiruzen punished White Fang or not. It was enough as long as someone else took the responsibility.

Danzo stood up leisurely and said in a victorious tone, “I can’t stay in this meeting any longer. If you want to vote on whether to punish White Fang or not, just count my vote against it. Let’s go, Ryoma, we don’t have anything to do here now.”

Hiruzen looked at the Danzo with a gloomy look. He then turned to everyone present. However, they all chose to avoid his gaze. Hiruzen looked at Sakumo, who was kneeling in front of him, and deeply sighed, “Disperse… White Fang, return home and rest. Konoha needs you in the future.”

“Yes…”

After walking out of the Hokage Residence, Danzo confirmed no one was around and whispered to Ryoma. “While Hiruzen hasn’t reacted yet, spread what happened at this meeting as quickly as possible.”

“Yes.”

……

A few days later, a rumor spread throughout Konoha. The target of the villagers’ verbal criticism shifted from Ryoma to Sakumo.

“How can White Fang-sama make such a stupid mistake? Aburame Ryoma was willing to exchange his life for the Land of Rivers’ exclusive missions. But he still gave up the mission.”

“A big figure like him isn’t short of money. So, he doesn’t care about the life or death of the lower-leveled ninjas.”

“That Ryoma is from Anbu, and White Fang is Anbu captain. A person of White Fang’s stature already doesn’t care about money, he cares about power. I guess, he gave up this mission to gain Ryoma’s allegiance.”

“Is it so deep? I didn’t even think about it.”

“Sandaime-sama is already quite old. He might already be secretly looking for a successor in recent years. White Fang wants to compete for the position of Hokage.”

“This explanation makes sense.”

“The Hatake clan has only a few members. As long as White Fang becomes the Hokage, the Hatake clan will become wealthy in just a few years.”

“Why is he so selfish, thinking about just himself and his family?”

“Why would other people consider us?”

“In any case, regardless of what others think, when White Fang wants to run for the Hokage, I will be the first person to object.”

“Stop talking, White Fang is here, if he hears it, you’re done for.”

“I’m not afraid.”