Chapter 346: Tsunade—"I Am the Hokage"
Tap tap tap!
Urgent footsteps echoed through the corridor of the Foundation's underground base.
The Fifth Hokage Tsunade, accompanied by the two elder advisors and a squad of ANBU guards, marched forward with solemn expressions.
"Lady Hokage!"
The Root ninja guarding Danzō's office visibly relaxed upon seeing Tsunade, immediately stepping aside to make way.
Tsunade led the group, arriving at the doorway. The moment she looked inside, her grim expression grew even more severe.
On the desk, Danzō's severed head faced the door. His right eye socket was hollow, and fresh blood still trickled out.
On the floor beside the desk lay a headless corpse, surrounded by dark red blood.
"Has the scene been disturbed?" Tsunade asked.
"No," one of the Root guards replied, shaking his head. "Once we discovered Lord Danzō had been attacked, we locked down the area. Nothing has been touched."
Tsunade entered the room. Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane followed close behind. As they saw Danzō's empty eye socket staring at them from the desk, their bodies froze.
"Danzō…"
They murmured in disbelief. That such a scheming, elusive man had been killed—and inside his own underground base office—was unthinkable.
Who had done it?
Who had the power to kill Danzō?
Their shock slowly gave way to fear. If someone could silently kill Danzō here, surrounded by seals and Root shinobi… they could easily kill anyone else too.
The two aging advisors were clearly afraid they'd be next.
"Tsunade, you must find out who did this!" Koharu snapped, her tone authoritative.
Homura added fiercely, "That assassin infiltrated this facility and killed Danzō silently. It's too dangerous. You must bring them to justice."
Tsunade ignored them and instead examined the room carefully. But there were few clues. Aside from handprints on Danzō's corpse and forehead, there was nothing.
Just two fingerprints—far too little to go on.
"Any discoveries?" Tsunade asked one of the ANBU nearby.
This ANBU, wearing a black-and-white dog mask, specialized in chakra sensing—especially residual traces.
Since Danzō had died not long ago, there should have been residual chakra from the attacker.
But the masked ANBU shook his head. "I couldn't detect any foreign chakra."
Tsunade's expression tightened. She turned to another ANBU.
This one was from the Inuzuka clan—his nose even more sensitive than a dog's, and his ninken even more adept at tracking minute scents.
Danzō's office was a sealed chamber with weak airflow. Given how recently he'd died, the killer's scent should've been strongest here.
But all they found were the smells of Danzō and the other Root members.
The ANBU looked at his ninken, which shook its head. He turned to Tsunade and echoed, "There are no unusual scents."
"How is that possible?!"
Homura and Koharu were stunned.
No chakra.
No scent.
And the murder happened inside the most secure place in the Foundation's headquarters.
If not for the cursed Tongue Seal placed on every Root member—ensuring absolute loyalty to Danzō—they might have suspected one of them.
But betrayal by a Root ninja was impossible.
The Tongue Seal was as absolute as the Hyūga's Caged Bird Seal. Only death could break it.
That was how Danzō had kept full control of the Foundation even after Tsunade became Hokage.
So if it wasn't a betrayal, then who?
Who could infiltrate this place, assassinate Danzō instantly, and leave no trace?
Homura and Koharu instinctively looked toward Tsunade—then shook their heads.
Even she couldn't do this.
"What's with those looks?"
Tsunade had caught the glance and snapped at them, her eyes fierce.
"Are you really thinking about internal strife right now? If you two geezers have nothing better to do, get out of here. Stop wandering around."
She had brought them here to leverage their knowledge and familiarity with Danzō—hoping for a lead.
Instead, they looked at her like she was a suspect.
Tsunade could barely restrain the urge to bury them both.
"How dare you speak to us like that, Tsunade!"
"We're your elders—your senior advisors!"
Tsunade retorted coldly, "And I'm the Hokage. Don't forget that."
…That shut them up.
Her final line—"I'm the Hokage"—left them speechless. For the first time, they understood the resentment Danzō must've felt when Hiruzen was in charge.
But they had no choice.
This was the Hokage.
The two elders said nothing more, but neither left. Not until the killer was found could they rest easy.
"Stubborn old fossils…"
Tsunade scoffed, then turned back to the Root ninja. "Was the barrier triggered?"
"No."
"Any signs of a struggle?"
"None."
Tsunade's brows furrowed deeply. No noise, no chakra traces, no scent—only two fingerprints.
How did the killer get in?
How did they kill Danzō without a sound? Could it have been some kind of powerful genjutsu?
She looked at the empty socket of Danzō's right eye.
As a master medical ninja, Tsunade hadn't seen Danzō often, but she had always sensed that chakra in his right eye—it had to be a Uchiha's Sharingan.
Now that it was gone, the killer's goal seemed clear. A Sharingan. Likely a strong genjutsu user.
With that in mind, she approached Danzō's corpse and began unwrapping the bandages on his right arm, unlocking the hidden mechanism.
And the moment she did—
BOOM!
A torrent of wild chakra erupted. A massive tree grew directly out of Danzō's right arm, piercing through the ceiling and into the floor above.
Tsunade backed off, eyes cold. The others bowed their heads silently.
Koharu and Homura even turned away, unable to meet her gaze.
"Desecrating my grandfather's legacy… dying like this is what you deserve!"
Tsunade cursed bitterly in her heart, then resumed searching for clues.
Ten minutes later—
The only thing she could confirm was that the killer was a man, and relatively young. Nothing more.
"Bring him to ANBU's interrogation chamber."
Since there were no leads at the scene, there was only one option left:
Interrogate Danzō's head directly. Search his memories.
Soon, Homura and Koharu left the Foundation base carrying Danzō's head and body toward ANBU HQ.
Tsunade remained behind to handle the Foundation's reorganization—then she would head to ANBU to join the investigation.
(END CHAPTER)
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